How Many Bikes?
Apparently the wonderful University of Lincoln have acquired some bicycle storage huts, allowing students with everybody’s favourite two-wheeled transit method to lock them up securely. Students have to provide their own padlock, but this is only to be expected and is no more unusual than any other bicycle storage method. However, I spotted a slight problem in the message telling us about this.
There are three huts by the GCW Library and a further six by the Sports Centre on the Brayford campus.
So by my maths that’s a grand total of nine secure bicycle huts. For a student and staff body of somewhere in the region of 30,000. Six of these huts are no closer to campus than half of the student accommodation, meaning for day-to-day uni business we have exactly three bicycle sheds. These are only actually in the immediate vicinity of four bits of the university - the GCW Library, the Engine Shed, the Tower Bar, and the LPAC. This leaves the Main Building, Science Building, MHAC Building, Architecture Building, Harrison House, Student Support Centre, The Shed, EMMTEC, Health Centre and Library Bar with very little (if any) in the way of cycle storage.
Now, I know that it’s all meant well by the university, but this doesn’t seem to have been a well thought out plan. Storage huts offer marginally more security than a straight bike lock, but at the cost of space. Some well planned cycle park racks could hold 20 or 30 bikes each, easily, and be dotted around the uni. There’s a space between MHAC and the Library Bar, there’s a huge empty space down the side of The Shed, there’s plenty of empty grassland close to the boathouse, there’s a gap between Harrison House and the Architecture Building, and there’s a massive empty space down one side of the Science Building.
Students aren’t going to be encouraged to cycle if there’s bugger all space to park them.
Tags: !enough, bicycles, Lincoln, storage, stupidity, university, WTF?