Saturday 25 November 2023

Encouraging more cycle-railway journeys

Dear PKP PLK [PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe - Poland's rail infrastructure operator] - this is not how to do things: 

Attention!
The fastening of bicycles to barriers is prohibited.
Vehicles left will be removed at the owner's costs.

More and more of these signs are appearing on Polish stations. Two are posted at Warka station, to which an ever-increasing number of passengers cycle each day to catch their trains. These signs are precisely the wrong reaction. Don't limit the place where people can't chain their bikes - increase they places where they can!

The correct response to a phenomenon that should be encouraged would be to put up more stands and put a small roof over them. At Warka there are two lots of bicycle stands - a group of five next to the station building and a group of four on the other side of the tracks by the entrance to the pedestrian underpass. Here we are in late November. It's snowing. And yet each stand has a bicycle attached to it. 

Now, the stands are designed and spaced so that two bikes can be attached to each one, but even so, that's space for a mere 18 bicycles. At a station that sees 68 trains a day passing through. And the bike stands leave the bikes exposed to the elements. So some cyclists attach their bikes to the railings in the space dedicated for wheelchair users inside the shelters on the platforms or other spaces under a roof. This behaviour indeed should not be tolerated, bikes left here need to be removed. But in general, there are more bicycle users than the number of stands provided for them. And as the number of cycle-using passengers grow, so PKP PLK should plan to provide more and more stands, while discouraging local people from driving a few hundred metres to the station.

Below: in the distance, we can see five bicycle stands, to which eight bicycles are attached; it's 24 November. Imagine the scene on a warmer day. Now, the bike in the foreground is attached to a barrier. But it's not in anyone's way...


...unlike this bike (below). This is absolutely unacceptable, the cycling equivalent of parking on a pavement. Imagine a partially-sighted person hurrying down to the stairs to catch a train on the other platform.


In the meanwhile, car parking space outside stations continues to grow. Wrong priorities, people! Unless there's a good reason, walking or cycling to the station should be the norm. Not mindlessly driving there. PKP PLK should do everything in its power to increase the numbers of cyclists riding their bikes to the station - and not to discourage them with unthinking prohibitions. Cycle stands (professional type) cost around 400zł with another 50zł for installation, each which won't break the bank at PKP PLK, but would send the right signals to commuters.

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