Whilst we are starting to get a picture of where Cardiff’s bike parking is, one thing we need to keep our eye on is where it isn’t.
We’ve previously bemoaned the lack of additional provision for large events, but in some areas our day-to-day needs are not being met either.
We’ve been building up an interactive map of the current provision, but what this cannot tell us is where the pressure points are, or where there is unmet demand. We’ve all seen it –bikes chained to traffic signs & railings because the bike racks are full or worse still, not even there at all.
There is currently no means to add these pressure points to OpenStreetMap in any meaningful way, so we need to take another approach.
Photographic evidence…
What we could do is build up a photographic library of full bike racks, or bikes chained to signposts, fences, railings and gates. However, that could become unwieldy and may not get us anywhere.
What would be better is if you spot any areas where bike parking is inadequate, take a photo on your phone and either tweet it or email it to the local councillor. You can find each councillor by ward on the council website and the contact details for each can be found if you click on their thumbnail.
Sheer weight of numbers…
If one person contacts the council and says “we need more bike parking over here”, the council can (and indeed has) in some cases responded with the line that “there is enough in the area already”. However, if a few of you get in touch with the council for a given problem area, they are more likely to listen.
As we’ve said on a number of occasions, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. You can bet that drivers are not hesitating to ask their councillors for more car parking.
We agree that it shouldn’t work that way, but if a councillor wants to be re-elected next year, they’re not going to go out of their way to annoy the ones who are making all of the noise.
Cardiff By Bike 