A letter of appreciation and encouragement
The local council has recently installed a rather fab temporary bike rack outside a busy city pub, as part of the Bike Week celebrations:
As you can see it turns one parking space for a car into secure parking for around 10 bikes. They're planning to replace it with permanent normal racks later, and say they're intending to provide an alternative parking space somewhere where there are currently double yellow lines. They invite comments to transport.delivery@cambridgeshire.gov.uk, so I decide to write and encourage them:
Dear Transport Delivery Office, As someone who has lived in Cambridge for many years, and still works in the city, I am writing to congratulate you on the temporary cycle parking outside the Kingston Arms which has been installed for bike week. I'm delighted to hear that this will be replaced with a permanent installation at a later date. The pavements in this area are often fully or partially blocked by parked bicycles, and this should help relieve the pressure considerably, making the area much nicer for both cyclists and pedestrians, with very little inconvenience to motorists or residents. I'd just like to note that I don't think an alternative parking space should be necessary in this case, especially as it's not clear where it would be suitable. May I also encourage you to extend this scheme to other streets, and to consider installations outside busy shops as well as other pubs. Yours faithfully, Eleanor Blair