Bicycle Network: Parkiteer Bike Cages

Train commuters get the message

21 February 2013. Hundreds of thousands of Melbourne train travellers are now getting the message that riding to the railway station is an option for many commuters.

In recent days Public Transport Victoria and Bicycle Network have placed full page advertisements in Mx Magazine, extolling the virtues of the Parkiteer secure bike cage system.

The Parkiteer cages are a great option for commuters who live too far from work to ride all the way. By riding to the station instead they can get some of their daily exercise quotient, and well as cutting back the road congestion around railway stations.

Driving to and parking at railway stations is a strange Australian habit. Few places in the world have car parking at suburban railway stations. Land is too scarce and expensive to waste as car storage.

Riding to the station is an easy choice as most commuters live within comfortable riding distance of their local train stop.

Right place, right time for change

Riders have embraced the new bike cages at Mordialloc and Huntingadle stations, with usage rates some of the highest on the Parkiteer network.

The two cages are well above the network average, as seen in the chart below.

Sunbury cage is also tracking well against the network average, as commuters realise how convenient riding to the station can be.

Lock Down

With more and more registered users per cage, security has never been so important. With some many different users, security can sometimes be tedious task for all parties involved. There are some simple measures that each member can take to ensure security for their bike and other users.

Simply using a quality D-lock can ensure further added security aswell as using a secure faclity such as Parkiteer.

Unauthorised access or holding the door open can allow an unregisterd members access to a cage which can be a major security issue, ensuring the door is securly closed after accessing and departing can highly increase the security level of each Parkiteer cage.

To assist in this, over the coming weeks, Bicycle Network Victoria staff will be placing reminder stickers on a number of parking rails in each Parkiteer cages to promote registered members to securely lock their bike before leaving the cage for the morning. New signage will also be install on the front and inside of a number of doors.

For tips on locking your bike correctly, click here.

Take a swipe

1 August 2012 As the Parkiteer program grows we are keen to get a better understanding of how many people are using the cages each day. The key to this is to encourage everybody that uses a cage to make sure they swipe their card each time they visit.
The reason for this is not only to count the number of users but to also for security reasons. If by chance you lose your card and need to get access to the cage it’s easier for our systems to facilitate this if you’ve swiped in.

Behaviour Change

1 August 2012 The core ideas behind the Parkiteer cage program are to promote cycling as a viable mode of transport even for the short distances. We use a range of behaviour change tools and strategies to try to encourage more people to use the cages more often.
One key concept is social diffusion, which is the idea that we are all of us influenced by our friends, families and fellow respected community members in the things we do. In other words, the more people see and hear about large numbers of people riding to the Parkiteer, the more likely they are to try the new behaviour themselves. “Research suggests, however, that once a minority of people have adopted a new sustainable behaviour that personal conversations play the pivotal role in the behaviour being adopted more broadly.” – So says Professor Doug McKenzie-Mohr in his book Fostering Sustainable Behaviour.
As we all know to make a positive change we don’t have to be hippies driving a VW Kombi van, the simple act of riding a bicycle each day can facilitate the growth of the Parkiteer cages and cycling a viable mode of transport for short distances.
 

Parking the easy way on the Sunbury line

28 June 2012 Commuters at Sunbury and Diggers Rest stations have 26 new parking spaces available to them each day, thanks to the opening of a Parkiteer bike cages at each station.The cages have been installed as a part of the Sunbury electrification project.

With parking a car at Sunbury becoming increasing difficult, it is expected that more people will make their short trip to the station each day by bike. Statistics show that the door-to-door travel time between car and bike for a 3km journey is very similar; once you factor in the time it takes to find a car park.

Both bike cages are located at the station entrance, so riders can be on a city bound train within minutes of parking their bike in the cage.

The Sunbury and Diggers Rest cages are available to any Parkiteer member, and are open now. Bicycle Network Victoria will implement targeted behaviour change interventions to increase the awareness of the cages and the benefits that they provide to commuters.

The Sunbury bike cage is featured in the Sunbury Weekly here

To apply to use the Parkiteer network Register here

 Sunbury Parkiteer

Reducing parking stress

18 May 2012 With station car parks bursting at the seams, the option of riding a bike to the station and parking quickly and easily is a wise choice.

The ‘Best parking Spot’ banners have been moved to Seaford, Chelsea and Bentleigh Parkiteer cages, in locations where drivers need to walk past the bike cage to enter the station.

Time spent riding a bike to the station is similar to that of driving a car, factoring in the time taken to find a parking spot and walk to the station entrance.

The banners will remain on the cages until the end of June, when their effectiveness will be evaluated, and the next intervention launched.

Bayswater Parkiteer usage leaps upwards

3 April, 2012 A Bicycle Network behaviour change initiative rolled out at the Bayswater Parkiteer bike cage two months ago, has seen a 20% increase in the number of riders using the cage.

The campaign included the erection of a banner on the cage promoting the fact that Parkiteer offers the “best parking” at the station, that is often badly congested with commuter vehicles.

The campaign was designed after commuter surveys identified the inconvenience of not being able to get a car park as a burning issue. Bayswater station, in Melbourne outer eastern suburbs, has 400 car parking spaces to service the 14 morning peak hour services to the CBD, though the high demand for parking often sees cars overflow into nearby streets.

In the wake of last month’s initiative, the number of riders using the Bayswater cage jumped to 237, up 49 on the previous month, as more people discovered the convenience of being able to park literally at the station entrance.

Bicycle Network manages the Parkiteer network on behalf of the Department of Transport. The network includes 50 cages in both metropolitan and regional locations.

A number of other behaviour change strategies tailored by location, community and barrier, are also underway across the Parkiteer network, communicating the benefits, growing usage rates and changing behaviours. We carefully monitor the impact each initiative has and modify or expand them accordingly.
 

Whitehorse Sustainable Living Week

27 March 2012 Bicycle Network Victoria and City of Whitehorse joined together to celebrate Sustainable Living Week in Whitehorse.

Morning commuters at Nunawading station were made aware of the Parkiteer cage at the station, with a fresh fruit giveaway, along with Parkiteer brochures. Over 400 commuters were handed a brochure and a piece of fruit to take on the train.

Cage registrations and usage will be monitored over the coming months.

Epping station buzzing with bikes

22 February 2012 The forecourt at Epping station today was filled with commuters slurping smoothies and talking about bike parking at the station.

The hot topic of conversation was not only how good the berry smoothies tasted, but also the fantastic location of the 50th Parkiteer cage. Many people jumped on bikes and made their own drinks, while others preferred to have one pedalled for them by Bicycle Network Victoria staff.

The event engaged the community and was a great success.

The shared path between South Morang and Epping stations is due to open Monday 27 February, making it even easier to ride to the station.

Your best parking spot is right here

9th February 2012   A new behaviour change campaign was launched today, aimed at getting more people on their bikes for the journey to Melbourne’s railway stations and bus interchanges.

The campaign includes the erection of banners on Parkiteer cages at Bayswater and Croydon stations, with two more to follow at Epping and East Malvern. The message reminds commuters that the best parking in term of convenience and proximity is the bike cage.

As with all of our behaviour change programs, we will carefully monitor the impact the campaign has on daily usage rates, and modify or expand it accordingly.

New registrations for the Parkiteer program in January, 2012 are up 20% on the same period last year, and we aim to expand this growth further. More than 3220 people are now registered Parkiteer users.
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Parkiteer hits a half century at Epping station

1 February 2012 Cage number 50 opens at Epping station in Melbourne's north.

The Epping cage is a new design for Parkiteer, built into the station building, boasting a fantastic position at the top of the platform entrance. The cage has provision for 31 bikes.

There are good access paths to the cage, and with limited car parking at the station, the cage is expected to fill quickly.

New information signs rolled out to 25 cages

25th November 2011 New information signs have been installed at 20 metropolitan and 5 regional cages as part of Bicycle Network Victoria’s promotional campaign for Parkiteer.

The bigger, bolder signs are over a metre high, and are highly visible, even from a distance. The signs provide system details and a step-by-step guide on how to register.

Bicycle Network Victoria will lobby the Dept. of Transport for funds to fit the remaining 24 cages with these new signs in 2012.

Sun shines on Sunshine & Glenroy Parkiteer cages

17th & 24th November 2011 As the warm sun spread across the entrance to Sunshine and Glenroy station, morning commuters broke their focus on the footpath and glanced across at the Parkiteer bike cage.

The funky blues of Lucas Miller’s acoustic guitar attracted lots of attention, giving travellers a better start to their day than usual. Some commuters even stopped to listen to a song before continuing to work on the train.

The focus of the event was to attract attention to the Parkiteer cages and promote riding to the station, with the availability of secure bike parking. The flyer included a fitness theme.

Peak hour jazz at Reservoir

16th November 2011 Commuters at Reservoir station enjoyed the cool sounds of jazz as they made their way to the stations entrance in the morning peak.

The brass duo successfully grabbed the attention of passers-by, with many commuters asking the  question: ‘This is fantastic, can they play here every day/’

The event aims to raise awareness and usage of the bike cage at the station, and will be followed up installation of a new information sign and new brochures outlining the health benefits of riding to the station.

Bikes are huge at Bentleigh Parkiteer

Commuters no longer need to wonder what that big blue cage is for at Bentleigh station on the Frankston line.

The oversized bike image is an attention grabber, and this combined with new information signs and brochures at the station, will surely convince train travellers that the best way to arrive at this station is by bike.

Laverton bike parking takes off

15 November 2011. The secure bike parking cage at the Laverton Railway Station is officially Victoria’s busiest and often overflows during weekdays.

Bicycle Network Victoria Parkiteer program manager Ian Clarke said more than 180 local residents had now registered to use the cage, which includes swipe-card access technology, including 14 in the last fortnight alone.

“When the Laverton cage first opened in mid-2010 there were only seven people using it each month, in other words next to nobody. Today we’ve got so many people using it each day that we’ve had to upgrade the door because it’s getting so much use!,” Mr Clarke said.

“What we’re seeing is the Point Cook and Laverton community using this facility in exactly the way it was intended – as a convenient, cost effective and enjoyable way to arrive at the station. The cages offer fast transfer to the train, bike security, and an enjoyable trip to the station with no parking hassles to contend with.

“If you live within 3km of the train station you could count on one hand the number of extra minutes it would take you to get to the station by bike compared to driving a car – the locals have worked that out and now the cage is full and we’ve often got bikes chained up all around it.”

Laverton is one of 50 Victorian railway and park-and-ride stations with a Parkiteer cage.

Laverton Railway Station has a 26-space Parkiteer cage on each side of line (giving 52 bike parking spaces) but the number of people wanting to use the cage often well exceeds capacity.

“The need to expand the Laverton bike cage on Railway Ave is apparent. The last thing we want is for people not to ride because they haven’t got somewhere secure to park their bike.”

Make a comment in the hobsons Bay Leader article 23 November 2011

Read more in the Hobsons Bay Weekly 24 November 2011