Going Around in Cycles

01 Feb Going Around in Cycles

Dear Here to Help,

Government talks about what it is doing to help active transport. I have a new job in the centre of Newcastle, but I can’t find anywhere secure to lock my bike. There used to be secure bike lockers around the Newcastle train stations.

Why have the secure bike storage facilities been removed from Newcastle? How is anyone meant to use active transport if there is nowhere safe to store our bikes?

Thank you for your query.

It does look like Newcastle’s secure bike storage facilities have been removed. They were at train stations, eg Newcastle station. I rang Newcastle City Council and Transport for NSW, but neither had a response.

Transport for NSW’s website has a searchable list of all secure bike storage facilities they provide here. Most are in Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong. There are none listed in or around Newcastle any more. They used to be at the central train stations, as recently as the beginning of covid. You can submit a request for new secure bike storage facilities on that page too.

Newcastle City Council talks about what it is doing for cycling and active transport here. You can access their cycling plan there. However, there is no mention of secure bike parking facilities. Some information on bike racks is available. Regarding secure bike storage, Newcastle City Council refers queries to Transport for NSW.

It’s starting to sound like a Catch-22 situation, isn’t it?

There are a number of options that you can pursue to request that secure bike storage in Newcastle is re-instated to assist you commuting to work by bike:
• Contact Newcastle Cycleways Movement
• Contact Bicycle NSW
• Contact Newcastle City Council via their customer request form
• Suggest a new location to Transport for NSW/NSW government

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, February 2024. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash