Great Western Coffee Shop

CTC is the National Cyclists Organisation, and based in Guildford, has many staff and visitors using the Redhill-Reading route daily.  Typically the North Downs stations work especially well with the use of cycles to reach the places they serve, and observations suggest that the cycle users taking bikes on the train deliver at least 10% of the passenger count, and the regular users work well with the regular train crew to ensure there are no problems.  This is helped by the fact that generally a string of stations all have the platforms on the same side and the lack of any proper cycle space on some units can be accommodated by placing bikes on the opposite side of the door vestibule.

CTC counts of parked bikes also show steady growth and at some locations local groups have a far clearer picture of how this is working than the train operators.

On train we've also noted the way that weekend use of off-peak trains delivers a fantastic opportunity to get out as a group, and that figure of 10% has been topped on many occasions, filling empty seats and reducing the 'carbon cost' - one reported example had 12 cyclists and 7 other passengers on a 246 seat train - reducing the 25+ tons per passenger (7) to under10 tons per passenger (19) of train being dragged around - and delivering a good reason to oppose the idea of fixed 12-coach trains for Crossrail on the pretext that you gain a handful of extra peak hour seats by eliminating 4-6 driving cabs - design it right and you hardly lose any significant capacity per train and gain immense flexibility in dealing with failed units, off peak servicing, and energy consumption.

Back to the counts - at Waterloo CTC has noted 200-250 bikes per hour passing through the main access route at peak times - and at a median revenue per passenger of say ^2000/year that is ^0.4m-^0.5m per hour of fares revenue (observations are that 40% of those bikes are Bromptons, and 20% are other folders).  At Paddington there are around 300 bikes parked - presuming that say half represent daily travel  (and indications are that 10-20% of them are kept for infrequent trips as a reliable and faster alternative to using the Tube) and a median fare for a band of Oxford-Slough travel (3900-2400) - say ^3100 x 150 - or approaching ^0.5m - to which we can add the many folding bikes (often up to 3 per carriage) pouring out from incoming trains - having a bike at Paddington is 'worth' around ^600 per year (saving on London Zones) and delivers you to work in Whitehall/West End in around 15 minutes with many able to ride through the Royal Parks as the alternative to using the Tube... a bit of a no brainer perhaps?

Yet no one seems to have any real detail on who these people are nor any pricing profile to consider for secure premium parking, or a scheme to mirror that available at Waterloo - of leasing a folding bike, fully serviced for less than the London Zones price.  Hence the appeal for contributions to a straw poll in the absence of any formal action by the rail industry, or DfT.