Secure Parking in W1

Motorcycling
1

Hi all… I’m just doing a bit of research and thought you lovely lovely London Bikers might be able to help…

The Background

I’m the asset manager for an office building in Hanover Square which has a secure underground car park. Hanover Square is here

http://streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=528874&y=181111&z=1&sv=Hanover+Square&st=1&tl=Hanover+Square,+W1&searchp=newsearch.srf&mapp=newmap.srf

bounded by Oxford Street to the north and Regent Street to the East.

Now I’ve noticed hundreds of bikes parked in and close to the square in the bays that are absolulutly chockka block full of bikes and peds by 08:45/08:50. Luckily I got to use this car park before my beautiful SV was nicked, so I’d fly straight in and not have to @rse around looking for a space or wonder how many new scratches would be on my bike when I finished work. Mad

Here’s the thing… I often used to wonder if people would pay, and how much they would be prepared to pay, to have a guaranteed, secure, designated bike parking bay to park up in each day.

Lots of benefits there I’d think, apart from the obvious security issues, the benefit of having your own space means at least an extra 15 mins in bed each morning as you don’t have to join the parking space hunters circling around W1 trying to park up!

The Sell :Rolling Eyes:

Basically, I have several empty car parking bays that aren’t being utilised and are fairly hard to shift at the quoting rents as the people who can generally afford £4,000 p.a. for a bay, in addition to the daily congestion charge, usually want it to be in the building that they occupy.

I’ve spoken to my client about transforming some of the car bays into bike bays… I think 6 bikes into one car slot is comfortable, and charging for secure parking as a method of at least reducing the liability for the void business rates bills. (private car parking spaces attract business rates which is a cost to the client).

£300 p.a. or £25 /month for secure 24/7 parking would be my marketing price.

Agreements would be based on an annual Parking Licence with a break clause by either party giving 1 months notice in writing at any time after the first 3 months. the licence fee would be payable quarterly in advance.

The Research Question :?:

What do you think? How much interest do you think would be out there? Is this too much, (I don’t think so at the equivalent of 2-pints of lager per week) or do you think it’s just right, or not enough???

2

That seems very fair, I’d pay it being as I have to pay £24 a day to park the car when I’m working in Chelsea.

3

I would also pay it i’m sick of having to adjust my mirrors everyday cause some git bumped into my bike due to the loaded bays in W1. If it does kick off let me know and i’ll be your first customer!

4

i pay £3 a day in the local ncp (W1H) which equates to £60 a month say - worth every penny for the piece of mind

there’s several bikes that use the car park - you’d be lucky to get more than 3 bikes per space

5

i’d be interested mate, possibly two in fact. my girl lives round the corner from there. she wants to get a proper bike but can’t leave it on the street. I could do with occassional parking in the area closer to hers (it’d work out more expensive for your spot but i reckon the premium would be worth it.

I think its going to depend on how the spaces are orientated/access to how many you’re going to fit in and not have the same prob with damaging the other bikes/being able to get in and out.

6

Sounds good to me, would sound even better if you could arrange to put ground anchers in as well.

7

Thanks for the feedback. Some interesting comments, especially RE: number of bikes to each bay… might have to revise slightly but these spaces are easily accesible and quite roomy. Maybe reduce to 5 per space.

To be honest, the car park is secure enough at the moment to render ground anchors uneccessary.

Roller shutter door operated by swipe card to enter / exit, CCTV surveillance and regularly patrolled by the building security guard.

I was going to look into getting some old lockers installed for storage of lids, boots, waterproofs etc. no changing facilities though so you’d still have your leathers to worry about unless you don’t mind stripping off next to the bike, (maybe not in January!), but it would at least save having to carry the lid around all day at least.

From the feedback I’ve had so far it’s looking like a goer and might go ahead quite soon… I’ll keep you posted.

8

I’d be interested sure. Keep us posted.

9

That sounds like a good plan - the monthly fee is very reasonable.

10

That fee is very reasonable

the fees for parking in Canary Wharf for bikes are £2 a day - so that works out to about £40 a month…

11

That’s a good price and if it was closer to my old office (Green Park) I would have taken your arm off. Thankfully I have secure parking with my new job now. We get about 6 bikes into a bay but that’s because we all work for the same office and it’s first come, first served. Certainly not a squeeze like it is on the road but if you were letting individual spaces you would need to mark them out accordingly so I think 5 would be more realistic.

A lot of people won’t ride their nice bikes into town because of the parking and take the train or old hacks instead. You could tap into this market quite succuessfully I would imagine. Good location too.

In 6 years of biking around Green Park I found my bike lying on its side 3 times, a broken steering lock once and countless scuffs and wing mirrors knocked. I had 3 colleagues who had bikes written off by buses hitting them on the end of the bay and 2 thefts as well. £25/month is a bargain.

12

Parking Spaces are now available to rent at the favourable price of £25 + VAT per month. This is the price for LB members… prices will be increased for other marketed sources.

If you’re interested please get in touch as spaces are limited!

Cheers,