Members login

• Home
• About Cycle Shrewsbury
• Join in
• Sustrans Connect2
• Kids
• Commuters
• Cycle routes
• Bike services
• News and events
• Add your event
• Diary
• Blog
• Charity rides
• Media
• Photo gallery
• Tips and advice
• Cycling for sport
• Useful links
• Contact us

Cycle to Shrewsbury station day

Cycle Shrewsbury's promotions manager, Emma Bullard, gives us the lowdown on last week's cycle to Shrewsbury station day.

By 8am on Tuesday 2 March I was at the front of Shrewsbury station interviewing smokers about their views on facilities for cycling to the station and taking bikes on on trains. Most were happy to answer a few questions - of course it was hard for them to escape as they couldn't pretend they were in a hurry. It's not the greatest place to spend an hour, but it gave me a chance to see that the temporary cycle parking we put in was already being used. Permanent stands will go in soon!

I couldn't complain about the early start and my cold fingers, as two of our helpers, Chris and Sheila,  had started at about 6am, handing out surveys to commuters to be returned to us later in the day.

About seven of us spent the day at the station, interviewing passengers and counting cyclists and parked bikes. One of the people we surveyed was John Grimshaw, the founder of Sustrans and adviser to Cycling England, who was visiting to have a look at progress.

John had plenty to say in response to the survey; one of his points was that combining cycling and train travel is going to become much more mainstream and train companies need to make it part of their plans. The online booking system for taking a bike on a train is a nightmare, according to John and other people we interviewed.

Wrexham and Shropshire trains are talking to us about how to provide for cyclists. They can take more bikes than other companies, and want to attract visitirs to Shropshire from other stations on their route, but they need to get the information out and we are working with them on publicity.

During the day I met up with Sara Basterfield from CTC and Chris Rowlands from Wrexham and Shropshire. Sara had brought her Brompton with her so we got her to give Chris a demonstration.

Altogether we got about 160 completed surveys, and the results will be up
on the website soon.

It feels very different being at the station for a whole day. There are definite patterns of activity; sometimes nothing happens for about half an hour and the place is deserted, then suddenly it fills up. The station staff were all very friendly and helpful, and interested in what we're doing. They're now looking after the "pit stop box" at the customer assistance point, so I hope that gets well-used.