Criticism of £100,000 'Grass covered' bike stands built 'to keep seats dry'

Lots of valid comments here.  Is no-one else curious as to who is going to mow the grass, and how?  Anyone fancy doing the risk assessment?

I wonder whether there's scope for NCP to re-purpose some of its real-estate for bike parking.  The could use the lower floor which could be secured with a gate and a entrance / exit code - but we'd have to pay, of course.  I guess cyclists are used to commuting door-to-door and not paying for parking.  

Either way the above illustrates that the selection of the type of bike parking should be taken out of council hands (as should most things) and decent produce designed, produced and procured at scale. 

Supposedly having plants near roads does decrease some of the CO2 pollution from vehicles, (well apparently in some studies) so I do wonder if that is the reason someone went with these grass roofs options. 

But don't councils approve massive reinforced concrete monstrosities to shelter cars from the elements? I mean, had they been secure lock-ups for said cars, then . . .

£10,000 per pike park location does sound steep. Better to have more locations, grass roof, lighting and solar panels all seems a bit wasteful.

But not impressed with the comment that they could put in a lot of parking spaces for that money. As all possible land is already in use for parking in most city centres, and creating more spaces far away would be pointless. Not to mention not encouraging increased car use.

That's just a bus stop shelter with a few bike racks, and as for being eco, they aren't really, as the effects of manufacture have to be taken into account, and an un-necessary  aluminium structure is quite energy intensive.  I can't see too many people being persuaded to cycle because when the wind is in the right direction, their saddle doesn't get wet.  It also limits the number and types of bike that can be locked up.

Far better would be more secure cycle rack locations covered by cctv.

But that roof is never going to stop the rain blowing in anyway. It grinds my gears when I see such ineffective design, especially when as a cyclist you are expected to be thankful for it.

Shoe covers (10 for a quid, from my hardware shop, which is never cheap, but PPE that hasn't trebled in price) a perfect shape to keep my leather saddles dry when left out. They last a while, but eventually the elastic dies. Less than 2g.

But, as I had previously advised, don't store them under the saddle, very convenient of course, but they rip on the gubbins of the saddle adjusters and they do fall out which is wasteful and littering, and occasionally leaves you without a dry saddle.

The rest of the bike can be soaking wet, but I want to at least start my journey with a dry saddle.

I'd go for having more bike parks without roofs than just 10 with roofs. If it's raining then I'm going to get wet from road spray etc. so it's rarely important to keep the bike dry (and I wouldn't be locking up my best bike in a public location anyway).