Fobbing Us Off

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Our surveys over the last year show us in 1st place among city centre businesses for the word ‘fob’ appearing in customer conversations. We’ve had enough of the word, and luckily East Midlands Railways are now dealing with enquiries about the outdated, unsafe and insecure model of cycle parking at their customer service desk at Sheffield station. But do come in and talk to us about bikes instead, we’d be delighted.

So, why are fobs so out of date when it comes to any kind of public bicycle parking? After many years of talking to the police and large companies and local governments about what works, what’s safe, and what’s secure for contemporary cyclists, we have a pretty good idea of what needs consigning to the past.

Old fob, old bike, old technology

The modern cycling world includes a fast growing number of e-bikes for families, businesses and individuals worth several thousand pounds, all targeted by thieves, and all very useful for a hilly city. Once the market and the government get to grips with the popularity of e-bikes, they’ll also become much more affordable, and before very long, e-bikes will be the norm, and motorless bikes will be the exotic outliers.

Today’s world also includes a wider variety of people cycling, with many more families and people with disabilities making journeys on expensive cycles. Not catering for these people is foolish, and frankly, discriminatory.

E-trike on Ecclesall Road

So, what is a fob? It’s very much like the medieval technology of a metal key. It allows the person with that fob / key in their hand to access something, like a large parking space with dozens of e-bikes costing several thousands pounds. Like a metal key, a fob can be handed to someone else, or lost at the pub. And we’ve seen online noticeboards where fobs are freely exchanged and handed to someone else, so no-one knows who’s using it.

So a cycle hub accessed by a key, or a fob, will have unknown people entering at any time. Such a cycle hub is nether secure nor safe, for any of those users mentioned above. One of the important arguments against low security cycle parking is that people feel nervous about parking there, not just for their bike, but for their own personal safety too.

A modern, forward-looking high security cycle parking hub will have controlled access, so the hub manager and other users know that people using it are registered to do so. We do this via a phone app connected to your phone (and your phone only) and paid for via a bank mandate, and with working CCTV and secure doors. If you use our hubs, anyone else in there will be known to the system, to us, and can be monitored on CCTV.

So think about those 4,000 + fobs still circulating for the nine year old Sheffield station cycle hub, bought for £10 to use for evermore, or handed on to someone else when you move away. That £10 for life barely covers the cost of the fob and its first registration, it certainly doesn’t pay for hub upkeep, CCTV monitoring, removing abandoned bikes or fixing broken ‘security’ doors.

Old CycleBoost bike left, possibly abandoned, in the station hub

The last time the door at the station broke down, we asked and asked for it to be repaired by EMR, but while we and Sheffield waited, bikes were stolen, and unregistered people used the hub for all kinds of things. We reckon around 50 bikes have been stolen from the Sheffield station hub during periods when the doors have not been working properly.

Just last week, the door at our new Meadowhall Hub was vandalised, and because we manage the place, we sorted out the locking and security problem within a couple of days. No miscreants got in, and no bikes were stolen.

We’ve been asking EMR to let us take over full management of the station hub for many years, a solution many of their staff are keen to see as soon as possible. But the decision has not yet been made.

If you’d like a high security cycle parking facility at Sheffield station, where you and your bike are secure and you feel safe, you might like to let the current managers know your thoughts.

Delivery By Christmas? We Can Ride To Your Help!

Russell’s Bicycle Shed deliveries is offering help for fellow Sheffield business people struggling to get their Christmas deliveries out to the city.

Russell making a Christmas delivery

Delivery rider and business-owner Russell Cutts said: “It’s a hard enough time for local businesses just now, so as a Sheffield delivery company, we want to help this Christmas. With the disruption in the mail service this year, if businesses contact us soon we’ll do everything we can to get their Sheffield deliveries where they need to be by Christmas.”

Russell and team have been building their business over the last year, with clients including the NHS, Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, Sheffield Council, Citizens Advice Sheffield and Zed’s Wholefoods. Now they’re asking any local business with urgent deliveries to make to get in touch at: https://www.russellsbicycleshed.co.uk/deliveries .

Russell has even re-christened the e-cargo bike feels for the season. He said: “ Comet is the speedy urban cruiser, Dasher is the handsome blue carry-all and Blitzen is the big box on wheels that can carry up to 600 litres or 130 kg.”

He said for local Sheffield deliveries. the team will guarantee arrival by Christmas, but do get in touch soon.

Get Help after a Collision

For all the talk about the war on motorists this is definitely a time car owners and drivers need to pay. Not only is the onus on those with more power to take more responsibility the need for compensation when a car collides with a cyclist is ever more important as the value of bikes and the costs of repair increases along with the potential loss of earnings and health implications.

When you are the victim of a collision with a vehicle as a cyclist you sometimes feel there is no recourse, no one around to help with getting your valuable form of transport fixed quickly or help getting fixed yourself.

Well there is.

CAMS has been operating for a number of years and helps cyclist's who have been involved in collisions not only get their bikes fixed but also get the necessary help and compensation to get back on their bike. We've worked with CAMS on a number of occasions and can't fault their desire and passion to get you back on your bike.

CAMS will take care of everything for you from getting your bicycle fixed immediately or replaced, along with keeping in touch about your health and paying for lost earnings or private medical care. To do this CAMS claim off the drivers insurance and so long as you have a registration number of the car that caused the collision you can make a claim.

Want to know more about CAMS.

Our Ethos: Helping All Sheffielders to Start and Stay Cycling

Some of the more vocal critics of new cycling initiatives often suggest it’s only the professional classes of south western Shefield who are interested in ordinary day to day cycling nowadays. We disagree.

We think people from the north and east of the city see the benefits of cycling as much as anyone in the south west suburbs, maybe even more so now that finances are tight, and the costs and inconvenience of public transport and car travel are increasing.

Our business aim is to spread the cycling message across the whole city: Russell was born just around the corner from our Neepsend shop, and still lives in the north of Sheffield.

Russell at work at Sheffield Station

We fully support initiatives to improve road infrastructure for cyclists and walkers, but as a business we think we can also play our part in creating a sustainable cycling eco-system, for example by opening secure cycle hubs, and by offering cyclists with little interest in bike maintenance the confidence that they’ll be able to stay moving, year in year out, through our cost-effective Club scheme.

Our delivery service is designed to reduce air pollution and congestion, but also to help local businesses keep costs down and play their part in building an efficient, productive Sheffield fit for the future.

Darren packing a delivery east of the River Don

And our long-term aim is to increase and adapt our secondhand and refurbished services to offer a sustainable reasonably priced maintenance and loan scheme to all Sheffielders, since one of the biggest deterrents to many low income Sheffielders is simply not being able to afford a decent reliable bike.

So, thanks to you for being our customer! Be assured that your continuing support will help us in our aim to increase and enable cycling in all parts of Sheffield.

Local Food, Local Delivery Service

After launching our e-cargo bike delivery service last year, Russell and team have carried medical supplies, computer equipment, documents, children’s bikes, parcels and foodstuffs, and Russell says he’s increasingly hearing from businesses, like Zed’s Wholefoods in Nether Edge, concluding that bike deliveries are likely to save them money.

“Van deliveries are getting more expensive, but a bicycle is not effected by the cost of petrol or diesel in addition to the driver, a bike delivery is just the cost of a person, so it’s by far the most financially efficient form of delivery service, particularly for short journeys,” he said.

Nicola Newman of Zed’s made a similar conclusion

“We want to do things as eco as possible, and doing deliveries by bike looks like a great way to do that. Fuel prices are rising and I’m concerned about having to pass that cost on to the customers, so we’re trying out bike deliveries on some of our routes to see if it can provide a solution that doesn’t cost the customer any more,” she said. “It may even become cheaper in future as fuel costs go up, so it’s a win win situation.”

Delivery customers are looking at the time and cost involved in taking goods by van through congested city streets as well as fuel costs, and recognise that their customers will value their goods arriving in a way that doesn’t add to Sheffield’s congestion and air pollution.  Some businesses are looking into electric vehicles as next spring’s Clean Air Zone approaches in Sheffield city centre. But urban transport experts note that e-vans do nothing to tackle congestion, and their heavier weight often increase pollution from particulates from brakes and tires.

Also, the lack of charging infrastructure and the high cost of e-vans may well lead to savvier businesses weighing up the costs and benefits and choosing bikes instead for their last mile or smaller loads. (An e-cargo bike currently costs around 10p to charge up for a day or two’s riding, whereas an e-vehicle can cost up to £20 or more for a single charge).

Nicola Newman says she sells general groceries ‘with a health food, ethical or ecological twist’, and believes customers will appreciate how bike deliveries can help support local shops at a time when they’re under threat from huge national supermarkets.

“We know people like to see their neighbourhoods bustling, with independent shops, and supporting local businesses like ours, and Russell's bike service is one way of ensuring our local neighbourhoods thrive.”    

“The bike is a local form of transport,” said Russell. “People might be surprised when I turn up with their stuff on a bike, but at least they know it’s not coming from a warehouse somewhere on the M1.” “

Find out about our delivery service here.

Delivering for Doctors

“Inactivity is a feature in almost every long term condition we deal with,” says Dr Ollie Hart.

Ollie and his medical colleagues have been banging on about this for years, and setting an example by cycling all the time and generally breezing into their surgeries looking like athletes.

Dr Ollie Hart

“But the way you promote exercise matters,” he says. “It doesn’t work by just wagging your finger at someone and saying; ‘You should do something!’”

This spring, the Russell’s Bicycle Shed delivery service pedalled the launch pack of the city’s Move More Active Practice network to the first 10 Sheffield GP centres to join the network. Move More GP Jo Maher hopes many more city GP centres will ask about joining the Active Practice network soon.

“We have some brilliant local advocates for leading active lifestyles in the health area already, and we want to grow that influence, because we know the value that health practitioners can have on the communities they see and support,” said Tom Hughes of scheme partners Yorkshire Sport. 

“We also know that we are facing a climate emergency and the role that travelling short journeys in vehicles can contribute to this, so using the e-cargo bike from Russell’s is a brilliant way of delivering materials to our surgeries and setting an example for others to follow.” 

Russell delivering Active Practice packs to Birley Health Centre

The idea of the Active Practice network, says Jo Maher, is twofold.

“We want to reemphasise the importance of physical activity and exercise in keeping people physically and mentally well,” she says, “and also signpost people to all the many free resources we have in Sheffield that anybody can use.”

Jo cites Active Practices setting up health walks in the Shire Brook Valley Nature Reserve, links between her own surgery in Wincobank, the Ingle Runners group and the SOAR community regeneration charity, a local physical health and wellbeing activities digital resource set up by Kira Watson at the Porter Valley primary care network, along with the ‘health coaching’ initiative used in Heeley by Ollie Hart and his colleagues.

“We talk to people about what matters to them, what’s most likely to attain a life they value,” says Ollie. “They might say they want to have more energy to keep up with the kids, to concentrate better at work, to sleep well or to have good relationships. And being physically fit makes a difference to all of that, along with things people know about like cancer, inflammation, mental health and cardiovascular health.”

He adds: “Everyone knows that physically activity is good for you, the question is, how are you going to prioritise it in the hectic craziness of your life?”

So the next step is to help that particular person find their equivalent of Ollie’s fell running or cycle commuting, which could be a gardening group, a nearby social group, the local parkrun or getting hold of a bike and exploring the local parks and trails - and then keeping their bike going to ensure the exercise becomes regular.

Jo Maher hopes all local GP centres can find a way to become Active Practices, choosing programmes to suit them, their staff and their patients, and she’s delighted the NHS is now actively supporting the idea of exercise ‘on prescription.’ Not least because a healthier and happier population will reduce the workload of NHS staff, she says.

“We’d love to reduce people’s reliance on health professionals. I think it makes people feel more in control of things.”

For more info: https://www.movemoresheffield.com/move-more-active-practice