Sustainable Transport

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Martin Linton) on securing this important debate. I have two bicycles: one in London for commuting to and from the House of Commons, and one in York. I take my bikes on the train between London and York, usually when a major service is needed. I am sure that there are people in London who do excellent servicing of bikes, but when one finds a good provider, one tends to stick with him, and that is what I have done. My supplier for major servicing of bikes is in York. Because I use two stations, I can compare and contrast. There is no doubt that facilities for cyclists are a great deal better at York. We have not 1,000 parking places—unless the railings that people tie their bicycles to are included in addition to parking stands—but 450. Waterloo is one of the busiest railway stations in the country and deals with 480,000 passengers a day, but I am told that it has only 200 parking spaces for bicycles. The station is run by Network Rail, which is bidding for authority to manage York station. I would rather see the station’s management rest with the operator of the east coast main line service. The current operator, GNER, has invested heavily in the station for cyclists and other purposes, and it has a strong commitment to its flagship station. If Network Rail is serious about its bid to take over York, it should be serious about improving cycling provision at all its stations, including York, because although 450 spaces may sound a lot, it is not enough. Sometimes, it is difficult to find somewhere to park my bicycle because the racks are full, despite GNER adding 100 or so extra spaces every couple of years. The cycle parking area is conveniently situated for GNER trains to London, but not for daily commuters from York to West Yorkshire. Whoever runs the station in future should put some cycle parking racks there. Cycle hire is also available at York station, although it is rather expensive compared with the cost of hiring bicycles at railway stations in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, it is available and I congratulate Europcar, which operates the concession. There is also secure overnight storage for cycles, which people pay for, and that highlights the security problem. My bicycle is tatty and old enough not to be attractive to thieves, but some people have bikes that cost hundreds of pounds, and sometimes more. They need to be kept secure, so security for cycle parking at stations is as important as the provision of cycle parking. Other things need to be changed at York in addition to the amount of cycle parking. We have a good network of cycle lanes and paths in and around York, but they do not connect directly to the station. It would be relatively easy to connect to the station, because one of the cycle paths runs beside the River Ouse, which is almost next to the station. There should be collaboration between the station manager, Network Rail or the east coast operator, and City of York council to make that connection. Turning to the White Paper, will the Minister consider introducing a common system for booking? Cyclists who use trains are confused, because each train operator has a different system. Some require reservations, others do not; some charge, others do not; some take a large number of cycles, others will not; and some let cyclists take their bicycles on the train during rush hour, while others do not. When the railways were privatised some 14 years ago, one criticism of the privatisation plan was that it would lead to fragmentation. One area of fragmentation is the range of different services that different train operators provide for cyclists, and I hope that the White Paper will propose a common regime. When a rolling stock company or anybody else designs a new railway carriage, they should aim from the start to meet the needs of cyclists as a matter of standard practice. As part of the brief for the east coast main line refranchising, would-be franchisees must trial and prove in-service some new trains, which will replace the InterCity 125 rolling stock, one of the fleets of trains in use on the east coast line. I welcome that brief, but I ask the Minister whether the design for the new fleet of trains has examined how serviceable and usable they will be for cyclists. I have had the same problem as my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew). I, too, have found it difficult to get my bike into the guard’s van on an inter-city train and return to my carriage during the time that the train is stopped at a station. The difficulty with GNER’s current trains is that one has to wait until a member of staff arrives with a key to unlock the guard’s van. They have to wait while one secures one’s bike, they relock the van, and then one has to return to one’s carriage. It is a cumbersome and labour-intensive way of loading and unloading bicycles, and the new fleet of trains ought to be more easily accessible to cyclists. There ought to be more provision for bicycles in the guard’s van, too. With better design, one could fit in many more bicycles. There would be fewer occasions on which cyclists were turned away because all the available storage space in the guard’s van had been taken. The same points apply to commuter trains. My hon. Friend the Member for Battersea has pointed out that if there were a reasonable number of folding seats on commuter trains, in off-peak times it would be possible simply to wheel on a bicycle and to hold it during a short journey from one station to another. It is not a solution for inter-city trains, but it is clearly possible for commuter trains. I should like the White Paper to stipulate bicycle accommodation in the design and commissioning of all new passenger rolling stock. Northern Rail is, to its credit, the first UK operator to set up a proper cycle users’ forum and to produce a cycling strategy. It is an important step forward. However, it is a shame that other train operators have not followed suit, and it should be a requirement of all train operators. I had a puncture recently on the Strand. It was late at night, I had been to the theatre and I wanted to repair the puncture at home in Victoria. I do not know what the law says about taking bicycles on buses, but very nicely, the bus driver let me take my bike on the bus, which saved me wheeling it for half an hour until I got home. I do not know whether he was bending the rules, but since more and more buses are designed for buggy and wheelchair access, one ought to be able to take one’s bicycle on buses, too. I wrote to the Minister a few weeks ago about the White Paper. I hope for a positive reply to my letter, and I hope for a positive reply to this morning’s debate.