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Brompton calculate costs of storing a bike in London - but do the numbers stack up?

Err, probably not

We’ve seen a lot of “surveys” that leave us scratching our heads but one has puzzled us for its, well, you’ll see.

Folding bike maker Brompton teamed up with property letting website Zoopla to calculate the cost of storing a bike in London – that’s the space someone's bike takes up in their home - and it’s come up with an average monthly cost for that space of, drumroll, £43.73 per month, or £9,731.92 per year.

Unsurprisingly the most expensive place in London to store a bike (and of course, live) is Kensington and Chelsea, where a bike’s worth of space in a home – calculated at 1.4 square metres - is a depressing £27,532, while the cheapest borough is Barking and Dagenham, where it’s £4,521.

Council spends £55k turning cycle lane into car parking

It's no surprise to us bike aficionados that folding bikes take up less space than non-folding bikes, while fancy outdoor lockers for our beloved steeds are another solution for the space-poor (Brompton offers both – other models are available*).

The dilemma then might be what to do with the space you’ve freed up in your Chelsea penthouse or Hackney bed sit. Ironing board? Aquarium? Baby?

Setting aside the fact most of us can't change our flat size as easily as we do our clothing when we gain or lose an extra bike, it’s puzzling the notion cycle storage within our homes is costing us money – we don’t get to give that space back and get a refund, after all, if we get secure on-street bike storage, or buy a folding bike.

Interestingly, something that costs us all money, whether we own one or not, is parking space for cars.

Recent research from the US estimated one above ground car parking space costs, on average, $24,000 to build. As one Washington Post article argued supermarkets that supply parking spaces are passing on the cost to all of us through the cost of goods.

That's money you can't get back.

Parking requirements increase rents. https://t.co/D4gsGJNr0P

— Donald Shoup (@DonaldShoupMarch 23, 2016

As parking expert, Donald Shoup, put it: "Everybody likes free parking, including me, probably you. But just because the driver doesn’t pay for it doesn’t mean that the cost goes away. If you don’t pay for parking your car, somebody else has to pay for it. And that somebody is everybody.

"We pay for free parking in the prices of the goods we buy at places where the parking is free. And we pay for parking as residents when we get free parking with our housing. We pay for it as taxpayers. Increasingly, I think we’re paying for it in terms of the environmental harm that it causes."

We aren't saying Brompton's maths are wrong. We just think maybe, just maybe, there is a bigger problem. We just need to put our finger on what it is. 

*The problem of bike storage in high-density housing can also be solved by asking your local council for secure on-street bike parking. Hackney and Lambeth Councils in London are investing in bike hangars, covered lockable bike parking that replace one car parking space, can store six bikes and can be rented from the council for around £42 per year, or £3.50 per month. If your council doesn’t provide them, you can write to them and ask them to.

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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12 comments

Avatar
Dr. Ko | 8 years ago
0 likes

When in London I stay in a hotel, there is no surcharge for a proper bike instead of a folder! Great!

Not so great: Eurostar f***ed up their bike policy again (killing the 10 quid bike in a bag option I used in the past) so that is 50-60 quid two way for a proper bike while a Brompton folder would be 0.frown

So Brompton is right: Brompton folders are for the poor! 

And now: Please pardon me I need to take out my Lotus for a ride to the market for some free running eggs or so.

Legal disclaimer: Warning! This posting may contain traces of ironie. 

Avatar
velodinho | 8 years ago
0 likes

What a load of utter tosh.

Avatar
abusivemonk | 8 years ago
0 likes

Or live in the north. Have plenty of space, overlooking a farm, with fresh air, and plenty of space to store many bicycles. Winning

Avatar
velodinho replied to abusivemonk | 8 years ago
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abusivemonk wrote:

Or live in the north. Have plenty of space, overlooking a farm, with fresh air, and plenty of space to store many bicycles. Winning

Where? The Shetlands?

Avatar
abusivemonk replied to velodinho | 8 years ago
0 likes
velodinho wrote:
abusivemonk wrote:

Or live in the north. Have plenty of space, overlooking a farm, with fresh air, and plenty of space to store many bicycles. Winning

Where? The Shetlands?

No. Lancashire or Yorkshire will do just fine.

Avatar
Slartibartfast replied to abusivemonk | 8 years ago
0 likes

abusivemonk wrote:
velodinho wrote:
abusivemonk wrote:

Or live in the north. Have plenty of space, overlooking a farm, with fresh air, and plenty of space to store many bicycles. Winning

Where? The Shetlands?

No. Lancashire or Yorkshire will do just fine.

 

well, unless you want to live in a (decent) town or city. 

Avatar
abusivemonk replied to Slartibartfast | 8 years ago
0 likes
dglsdms wrote:

abusivemonk wrote:
velodinho wrote:
abusivemonk wrote:

Or live in the north. Have plenty of space, overlooking a farm, with fresh air, and plenty of space to store many bicycles. Winning

Where? The Shetlands?

No. Lancashire or Yorkshire will do just fine.

 

well, unless you want to live in a (decent) town or city. 

There's nothing decent about living in towns or cities.

Avatar
Username | 8 years ago
1 like

The problems of finding bike storage, and ease of access to that storage, are not to be underestimated.

 

I'm lucky to live in a building with a secure communal store. It enables me to have a choice of bikes which I can access quicker than getting the car out of the garage.

However before the new year I was house-sharing in Greenford. Typical post war semi-detached. We put the bikes in the garden shed. But what a schlepp that turned cycling into, typically: shoes on, walk to shed, unlock shed, unlock bike, relock shed, wheel bike to side gate, unlock side gate wheel bike to other side of side gate, relock side gate, back into house, shoes off, walk through house, shoes back on, set alarm, lock front door, retrieve bike from side passage, cycle.

When cycling takes that effort just to leave the house it's little wonder most prefer to hop in the car sitting on the driveway.

Avatar
festina replied to Username | 8 years ago
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Username wrote:

However before the new year I was house-sharing in Greenford. Typical post war semi-detached. We put the bikes in the garden shed. But what a schlepp that turned cycling into, typically: shoes on, walk to shed, unlock shed, unlock bike, relock shed, wheel bike to side gate, unlock side gate wheel bike to other side of side gate, relock side gate, back into house, shoes off, walk through house, shoes back on, set alarm, lock front door, retrieve bike from side passage, cycle.

When cycling takes that effort just to leave the house it's little wonder most prefer to hop in the car sitting on the driveway.

Sheesh, if 'getting the bike out of the garage', as it's known to many, feels such an effort best not ask about actually having to pedal the thing.

Avatar
Sara_H replied to Username | 8 years ago
0 likes

Username wrote:

The problems of finding bike storage, and ease of access to that storage, are not to be underestimated.

 

I'm lucky to live in a building with a secure communal store. It enables me to have a choice of bikes which I can access quicker than getting the car out of the garage.

However before the new year I was house-sharing in Greenford. Typical post war semi-detached. We put the bikes in the garden shed. But what a schlepp that turned cycling into, typically: shoes on, walk to shed, unlock shed, unlock bike, relock shed, wheel bike to side gate, unlock side gate wheel bike to other side of side gate, relock side gate, back into house, shoes off, walk through house, shoes back on, set alarm, lock front door, retrieve bike from side passage, cycle.

When cycling takes that effort just to leave the house it's little wonder most prefer to hop in the car sitting on the driveway.

 

True that - I had a similar routine in my previous home, it was a pain. My new house has a porch where we can store our bikes so we're streight in and out - much better.

Avatar
WolfieSmith | 8 years ago
2 likes

If £43.73 per month is £9, 731.93 per year  perhaps Brompton should be adding up my Scottish Power Dual Fuel bill? The mathematics seem similar. cool

Avatar
Stratman | 8 years ago
3 likes

The £9.7k is their estimate of the purchase price rather than the annual rental cost.

Still agree with Laura that the survey doesn't make sense - click bait  and I've responded

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