Video: 'Cyclethrough' of Cambridge station's £2.5 million, 3,000-space Cycle Point facility

What about handcycle users, or those with trailers, or trikes, or any other non-standard bicycle?

You can see where they've gone wrong.

"Sven Töpel said: "We have been working closely with the council and Greater Anglia to come up with a scheme...."

Well as any cyclist in Cambridge will tell you, despite having Dutch levels of cycling in the city, the council doesn't have a clue about how to design a cycle facility. Which is why Cambridge has cycle lanes in the dooring zone of car parking, a major new cycle crossing that had to be taken out and redone and multiple other examples of art of the incompetent cycle facility planner. That they have come up with a cycle park up two flights of stairs is no surprise. What would be a surprise would be them coming up with something sensible.

"British shouldn't copy Dutch cycle infrastructure" shocker?

As people who attended the presentation to Cambridge Cycling Campaign's meeting heard, the first design iteration was for a much longer but narrower cycleable design (with lower capacity) with a less steep incline (which you need because not everyone is fit).

But the effect of this is that you end up walking a longer distance having parked the bike, increasing the maximum time from 1m58s (yes, they have modelled the timings) to about 3 minutes. Some of that you would make up by cycling up, of course, but with the volume of bikes it seems to me that would be limited.

Imagine making the brilliant (cycleable) Amsterdam station cycle park half the length (meaning more floors). It would be a challenge for many people to cycle such an incline:
http://www.cyclestreets.net/location/20306/

Am not particularly keen on the message of a cycle park that you walk in, and the time analysis needs to be checked, but there is at least some logic with a cycle park of this volume and throughput.

Can anyone provide evidence on how many large Dutch cycle parks can be cycled up?

Stairs! Good one. How about two 1/3, 2/3 width tidal ramps. Both one-way depending on the time of day. Or ANYTHING else.

So the current convenience of parking a bike and a relatively short walk is foregone and the space given over to car parking! Clearly the concept of speed and convenience was totally lost on those who came up with this concept, extend your ride by cycling AWAY from the station entrance by 30" to 1' parking the bikes (1'-2' and them making a 1'-2' walk back to catch the train. Given that most bike trips to the station will be in the range 5' to 15' the increased journey time (30-100%) will be a seriously perceived failure of this project. Bikes will be locked to the tree guards and steelwork on the direct route to the trains - has no one observed the behaviour of the current users?

A Dutch or Swiss station would have taken the opportunity presented by reconstruction to the station forecourt to dig down at least 1 level and provide a ride-in facility underneath the whole forecourt, which has a short flight of steps up to the station entrance, with a lift access as well (to cater for those who use cycles as mobility aids). I do wonder if the cycle parking building has this provision for those unable to use the wheeling ramps.

The access routes down to this undercroft area can also double up as subways to grade-separate routes for pedestrian traffic to cross the access to the car park, and get to bus stops on the opposite side of the road (ie coming in from Addenbrookes)

The design of the stairs with wheeling ramps looks rather different from that normally seen, although the rake does seem to take account of the fact that the standard 34 degree staircase is too steep. Normally the wheeling ramps are placed at the sides of the stepped access, largely to remove the hazard of a flat ramp to trip over in the middle of the steps. For safety withe there should be handrails down the middle of the twin wheeling ramps shown, or the steps should be split down the middle with a central ramp (2-sided) and side ramps against the wall.

But my comment still stands that the best place for the cycle parking is underneath the bus stops and car parking space right at the front of the station, and if the rail authorities had any sense, should include further parking spaces on the roofs of the platform canopies and parts of the building where the presence of parked bikes does not affect the visual impact of the historic detail of the original buildings.

They have stairs with gutters on the famous multi-storey bike parking structure in Amsterdam, near the railway station. And tiny women manage to push their enormously-heavy Dutch city bikes up and down them OK. Roadies with elaborate cleat systems on their stiff, crabon shoes, on the other hand, don't cope so well.

Why cant the stairs just be ramps?

gazza I think the grey "lines" in the middle of the stairs are for rolling bikes up and down next to you

Stairs? Bloody Stairs in a bicycle park - Obviously designed by a non-cycling person...

A lot of money and it's still crap. I despair.