There are currently 83 bikehangars in Richmond, nearly all of which are fully occupied with waiting lists for spaces.
Richmond council is planning on adding more to help to alleviate some of the demand for the existing units while also improving geographic coverage.
This aligns with the council’s new Climate and Nature Strategy, which includes strong pro-cycling proposals. Alongside the draft Transport Strategy now in development, the aim is to encourage more residents to choose walking, cycling, or public transport over driving a car.
The council has offered a range of potential target locations across the borough including these in Barnes and Mortlake & Barnes Common wards.
The council said, residents requested these locations, primarily through the request form on their website and
.. the waiting lists for existing bikehangars are also taken into consideration. The locations represent a mix of the most requested streets, and streets in areas where there are no other bikehangars nearby.
If you have not seen one, a bikehanger like the one above in the photo, houses six bikes and takes up the space of about half of a car parking bay. The hangars can only be accessed by registered users. They have a hydraulic opening mechanism that keeps noise to a minimum when the hangars are opened or closed.
The council said,
Most bikehangars are placed within on-street car parking bays, but some are also placed on pavements where there is space to accommodate the bikehangar without impacting on pedestrian accessibility
Notes & thoughts
Richmond council’s demand-led approach to increasing the availability of hangars is the right one.
The number of bikehangars is a good indicator of the strength of cycling aross the borough. There are about 195,000 people living in the borough in about 81,000 households. 75% of those have on average 1.06 cars which means there are about 64,400 cars in the borough. In that context, 960 bikes stored on the street seems modest. I wonder how many there will be in 2030 or 2043 when the council’s new Transport Strategy ends?
Residents have complained on social media and WhatsApp group about the need to surrender car parking spaces for bikes. (More accuratley half a car parking space - see above). Richmond council believes there will be a drop of 6% in the number of vehicles across the borough by 2043. That means fewer car parking spots are required. Meanwhile, we need to plant more trees on our streets and create more water gardens to counter climate change as well as provision more bikehangars. One car versus 12 bikes is a good trade-off. The council should better articulate its long-term approach on this issue.
These first two batches of hangars look to be positioned senstitively. Those I have seen are not directly in front of someone’s front window. Long may that continue. At some point they will maybe to be positioned more aggressively. As I write this, for the third day running, the view from my living room is blocked by a large white van which towers over our small front garden. And that replaced a new Land Rover Defender which did much the same. I am not sure which is worse - a hanger or a massive vehicle?
My response to the council’s draft Transport Strategy included a suggestion for more bike hangars in the borough. Like many in this part of Barnes, we have no rear access to our home. No hangar means hauling the bike through the house. Every time. Not good.
I proposed a specific location via the council website: Cross Street. If the hangar goes ahead, they’ve now got my request to take one of the bays.