10,000 New Bike Parking Spaces for London Schools
Speaking of bike parking, 10,000 new bike parking spaces have been installed in 400 London schools since the 2004 launch of the Mayor’s School Cycle
Parking Programme, Transport for London announced yesterday. This year alone TfL will spend £1.2 million on school bike parking (that’s $2.5 million and rising). Many of the new bike parking facilities are indoors or otherwise protected from weather and often include lockers. Jenny Jones, Mayor Ken Livingstone’s Green Transport Advisor, said:
These are
first class facilities for the next generation of London cyclists. We want young people to get the cycling habit, so that they grow up
thinking that it is just as much a regular part of London life as
getting on the bus, or Tube.
The bike parking program is part of an overall "school travel" plan to get students to walk or bike to school. According to TfL, one in five cars on London streets during the morning rush hour are busy transporting kids to school, that’s 35% of students. About 1,600 schools, or 53 per cent of all schools in London
now have a school travel plan. Every school will have one by 2009. TfL estimates that the school travel plans will ultimately help remove 4.5 million car journeys per year from London streets.
Photo: Aaron Naparstek, London, March 2007. That’s London Cycling Campaign‘s Tom Bogdanowicz in the background.
