The Quadrus Centre Tenants: Why Don’t You Ride?
Some people love the architecture, and some loathe it. Let’s face it, there’s a certain element of Borg Cube about it, and some of the tenants are cyborgs. The receptionist also once told me that “resistance is useless”, though that’s an entirely different story.
But as an office space the Quadrus Centre’s not bad at all. I know a few people who’ve been there a couple of years no, and I’m a regular at the café on the ground floor (free wifi with the very reasonably priced coffee helps . . .). It’s about half way between my house & my business partner John’s place, so it’s ideal for our Monday morning meetings. It’s a ten mile ride from home, going through the Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel.
And to top it all, there’s good bike infrastructure around the Quadrus Centre:
- Off-road bike paths, that I’d give a score of 7/10. Praise indeed from me!
- Lots of bike racks
- The bike racks are under the cube’s projection, so they’re sheltered from any rain
- There’s good lighting around the site and cctv for extra security
- There are showers inside
- There are all sorts of storage cupboards for keeping bike stuff in
- The café does great bacon bagels - the fuel of champions.
So how come whenever I park my bike there, this is what I see? Click to enlarge:
That’s right - Wilf’s all alone in the bike parking area.
I don’t know why this surprises me - it’s pretty common for mine to be the only bike parked when I’m visiting places where people work. The only place where this isn’t the case is North Tyneside Council offices, where they obviously have a great bike-to-work scheme, and first rate parking that’s even better than this.
It’s just that I’d have hoped that a place like the Quadrus would have people working there who were more entrepreneurial than your average punter . . . more open to ‘new’ ideas . . . and more open to the idea that when something isn’t working (like, say, driving everywhere), then just maybe, it might be worth trying an alternative. Because the funny thing is, the car park’s always completely full - if you drive (and don’t have a disabled badge), it’s usually not so easy to find a space:
Maybe people drive because they live too far away . . . or maybe it’s because the Quadrus is right next to some pretty good roads, and it’s just to easy to drive.
If you work there, or for the centre’s managers, TEDCO, I’d love to hear from you about this!
Addendum:
And if you do work there, and you’d like to ride, except you can’t because of some problem or other - let’s call it ‘X’ - you might find it useful checking out the Bike To Work Book. The free sample chapters available from www.biketoworkbook.com include ways for you to get over that ‘X’ problem, no matter what it is.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 01/26/2009
- Time: 19:09:50
- Total Time: 2:22:00.00
- Calories: 1856
- Distance: 35 miles
- Average Speed: 14.79 mph
I suspect it is that easiness that has the biggest effect. How many marks out of ten do the roads get (for driving) ? And how much of a difference is made when you consider the journey all the way from where people work to their office ? While the paths near this building might be OK, they’re of little use if they don’t form part of an extensive network for people to make their journeys on. If they don’t get anywhere near where these people live, then they’re probably not really very useful to them at all.
Here’s another snippet which might be of interest. A Dutch employer’s organisation is calling on employers to encourage their employees to cycle to work because it saves millions of Euros per year in reduced sickness. It was on the radio news all day yesterday.
I work at NTC in cobalt, and youre right, there’s loads of people who bike to work.
We’ve only just started the bike2work scheme, the last i heard only about 10 people had actually got their bike in their hands as yet, but there are lots more people people interested. The building was commissioned with things like cycling in mind, there are two showers on every floor, and loads of lockers. Around the back, covered bike sheds with pass-code locks on them, I am confident leaving my bike here that it will be fine all day which is more than I would have been at Wallsend Town Hall.
The introduction of the bike2work scheme has been a good launchpad for the Bike User Group (BUG) ran by the cycle officers, I think, and they are doing all sorts, I’m told they are going to be starting a series of bike maintenence sessions called Dr Bike, how to do basic stuff, and buying some basic kit to keep on site in case people need a patch or whatever i am guessing. I am very impressed at their energy and ideas, and there is a lot of enthusiasm at the moment around cycling at work.
It seems right to me the comment david makes above on how vital a connected extensive network is to enable cycling. I only started biking to work when the council moved to Cobalt, i can get from my home in West Moor OK, there is a great big stretch of Great Lime Road to cope with, but luckily a virtually permanently deserted wide empty smooth path running all the way beside it that seems so much more inviting than the road with its trucks and buses. Illegal, I know.
Other than that, there are loads of decent cycle/bridal paths and wagonways that are great fun to hoon around on at lunchtime. All of this enough of an incentive to get on a bike for the first time in about 30 years, and I’ll be picking up my very own Wilf from EBC this weekend, and parking the £100 halfords hunk of metal to the very back of the garage.
Yep - I’ve used those bike racks / garages behind your new offices, when I’ve visited the council. Sweet! I mean absolutely first rate. Whoever spec.d them needs a good pat on the back.
I’ve not used your showers though . . . in my defence, it was well below freezing outside, I’d ridden nice and easy (go hard on the ice, and you find out how hard ice is!), so I really didn’t need to. Maybe next time . . .
Good luck with your new bike. It’s traditional to Christen them with a bottle of sparkling beverage. Don’t spill it on the bike though, as it’ll degrease the chain. No - just pour into a glass, and then down your neck.