End old / abandoned cycle rack blocking

Bristol's got much better at providing cycle racks, however, many parking positions are blocked with abandoned bikes. 

The racks are often used by people lacking storage facilities at home - which is fine.  It's clear though that people leave the city and leave their bikes behind.  Also, some people abandon their bikes after losing a wheel etc to theft. 

All this reduces short term cycle parking. 

Let's have a scheme which tags bikes and then removes them after 2 months.  These abandoned bikes could then be given to charities and sold cheaply to a new owner to get more Bristol people biking. 

Why the contribution is important

  • Increases availability of short term bike parking
  • Recycles old bikes before they deteriorate and become too rusty
  • Reduces expenditure on new racks (still needed!) by maximising use of existing ones

 

by user961282 on November 14, 2013 at 02:56PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.4
Based on: 29 votes

Comments

  • Posted by user361848 November 19, 2013 at 07:14

    This is a great idea. There is one hanging to a railing in West Street that is now in pieces. It just looks scruffy.

  • Posted by user596160 November 19, 2013 at 09:13

    As someone who cycles all over the city... I see them everywhere & some places cycle parking is very limited

  • Posted by user536903 November 19, 2013 at 17:16

    yep.. good observation..

  • Posted by user122507 November 21, 2013 at 22:20

    Perhaps we could also get the rack behind the Evening Post opened up. It would make a neat little job for someone. Perhaps showers could be built too.

  • Posted by user515911 November 27, 2013 at 11:49

    This is already Council policy isn't it? You just have to report abandoned bikes and they are removed (albeit slowly).

  • Posted by user536194 December 04, 2013 at 20:51

    This is great, but would be good to avoid police and council workers having to spending time on this. Could volunteers pick-up labels from council offices, then let council know when bike hasn't moved for the abandon period, maybe one of the bike recycle charity could be authorised to do the removal.

  • Posted by user412750 December 20, 2013 at 17:43

    Yes, and not only the cycles, but no-longer-loved security devices. So often, racks are made more difficult to access by old lonely chains and locks, still securely encircling the rack.

  • Posted by user261867 January 03, 2014 at 22:11

    The bikes that are removed could go into a cycle recycling scheme like Life Cycle have or had

  • Posted by user848220 December 24, 2014 at 09:55

    Thank you for submitting and sharing your idea. We already remove abandoned bikes using our waste fly tipping policy; and we are reviewing how we might revise our policy to include this idea. The challenge is how to determine whether a bike has been abandoned.
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