St.Pancras Protest
by Bonnie Alter, London on 11.15.07
Not everyone was pleased about the opening of the new Eurostar train and the St. Pancras International Station. On the big day of the first Eurostar journey to Paris, 100 hardy members of the Camden Cycling Campaign were driving around in circles, literally, at the station. Then protesters invaded the station and blew whistles before they were evicted by police.
They were protesting the lack of safe, secure bicycle parking facilities nearby. They were also upset at the one-way traffic system which complicated and endangered cyclists' approach to the place. In addition, Eurostar, despite its much publicised green policies, only allows bicycles on board "within 24-hours"; that means not necessarily on the same train as the passenger is on.
Happily there appears to be a resolution to these issues. Eurostar has agreed to let bicyclists bring their bicycles with them on the same train that they are travelling. St. Pancras has now provided 100 safe and secure parking spaces. And who said that protests don't work! :: Camden Cycling Campaign
Nice work protesters....just be glad you are in Europe. In the US, they would have called in the riot police and your cycling club would be labelled a "domestic terrorist organization" for trying to disrupt interstate travel.....of course that would assume that we were actually developing more public transport to being with.....sadly NOT the case :(
Hey that's me in the picture above!!
And at last we have a victory!
Press release below...
CAMPAIGN VICTORY – BIKES ON EUROSTAR
Following an LCC campaign, Eurostar will be opening its train doors to bikes. From April 7th cyclists will be able to reserve a place for their bike on the same train that they are travelling on.
The introduction of the ‘Bikes on board’ booking scheme follows a demonstration which took place outside St Pancras International last November by members of City Cyclists, Camden Cycling Campaign and other London Cycling Campaign groups.
Previously, bicycles did not travel with their owners unless they were fully dismantled and packed in bags. Cyclists faced delays of up to 24 hours before their bicycle arrived at their destination.
Reservations for bikes cost £20 and riders will be able to drop their bicycles off at St Pancras despatch office one hour before their journey.
Eurostar have also updated the information on their website with a section on Bicycles which starts: ‘We’d love you to take your bike!’ You can see the updated information at http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/travel_information/at_the_station/bicycles.jsp
Jean Dollimore, coordinator of Camden Cycling Campaign and one of the organisers of the demonstration, said: “At last we’ll be able to ride to St Pancras and ride away from Gare du Nord – it’s a victory for common sense and a victory for the environment.”
Mustafa Arif, chair of LCC’s cycle carriage group said “We welcome this move by Eurostar: combining bike and rail journeys is what integrated transport is all about and in this case it will make rail an attractive alternative to air travel.”
Koy Thomson, Chief Executive of LCC, said: “Eurostar has now shown that bicycles can be carried on all their trains. We need all rail operators to make bike carriage easy and convenient, and to provide secure cycle parking at all their stations.”
London Cycling Campaign also lobbied for secure cycle parking at St Pancras International. 50 Sheffield stands have now been provided in the station car park, but LCC would like to see much more bike parking closer to the station to enable people to use the dozens of shops in the concourse.