1. What is an End of Trip Facility

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1 ANDREW MORSE Partner / Senior Traffic Engineer Parking and Traffic Consultants andrew.morse@parkingconsultants.com WHY WE NEED MORE END OF TRIP This paper and the accompanying presentation has been prepared to present the subject of why more End of Trip Facilities (EOTF) are required. An end of trip facility is a fancy term for a place to lock bikes, store items in lockers and have a shower and are generally used by people who cycle or run to work. They are usually located at the workplace and generally speaking, are retrofitted into the basement car park. The topic of this paper is related to several considerations, including the need for more EOTFs, which is driven by demand, and also the need for safe and good design practice to encourage use, and thereby drives demand (hopefully). The paper explores the growth in demand in Australia, what drives this growth and how we compare to other global cities. 1. What is an End of Trip Facility End of Trip Facilities (EOTF) are precisely that, facilities for use at the end of a trip. To be more precise, EOTFs generally comprise a secure bicycle lock up area, lockers for belongings and showers/change rooms. A good definition is provided by the (Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works, 2014), which states that: End-of-trip facilities are designated places that support cyclists, joggers and walkers in using alternative ways to travel to work rather than driving or taking public transport. The full service EOTFs, i.e. those that include showers and lockers, are typically located within the workplace for use by people who cycle or run/walk to work and they form a growing part of what buildings are required to provide, either as a policy or market driven offering. Occasionally, the term End-of-Trip facility extends to include any infrastructure that supports the use of bicycles, from bike racks through to the fully equipped EOTF. In order to facilitate a change in mode split, it is very important to match the type of facility with the associated land use. The following table summarises the requirements for a sample of common land uses: Land Use Residential Workplace Shopping Centre High Street Retail Facilities and Considerations Secure internal bike lock-up, typically within the car park as individual storage cages or multi-user cages with secure access linked to the building security. Secure internal bike lock-up, typically multi-user cages with secure access, showers, change rooms, personal lockers. Some facilities also provide a clean towel service, clothes cleaning service and bike parts vending machine. Secure bike lock-up area preferable located undercover. Should be located in close proximity to areas of high activity and either located in close proximity of the entrance, or supported by clear directional signage. Perhaps the most basic form of facility, this should comprise a secure rack system within the public domain (e.g. the footpath) by way of hoops or similar.

2 Andrew Morse University WHY WE NEED MORE END OF TRIP They should located in areas of high activity and in close proximity to shop entrances. Grouping large numbers of bikes is not a priority, but facilities should be well spaced along the high street setting. Secure bike lock-up area preferable located undercover. Should be located in close proximity to areas of high activity and best located in activity hubs, e.g. next to a Campus café etc. Some University facilities also provide bike servicing/repair services. The type and quality of each facility can determine a person s mode choice. For example, having a secure, covered and well-designed bike rack at the entry to a supermarket may affect your travel mode decision compared to the alternative of no bike rack and nowhere to leave a bike in close proximity to passive surveillance. More importantly for the retailer, the person may still choose to ride, but to an alternative supermarket where better facilities are provided. In the following examples, Figure 1 illustrates a well located bike facility, which is adjacent to the store entry and an area of high pedestrian activity. This location is also partially undercover and in sight of the store security person and till area. The shopping centre illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 not only doesn t provide any bike facilities at all, but actively prohibits the use of bikes in the centre. This is possibly driven by safety concerns within the plaza area, however, placing well located bike racks at the entry points would encourage cyclists to not only use the centre, but to dismount and lock up rather than riding through the centre. Figure 1 Example of a Well Located Retail EOTF

3 Figure 2 Shopping Centre with No Bike Facilities Figure 3 Cyclists are Prohibited from the Centre Here is an interesting example of a bike rack that stretches the definition slightly. This is at a café in Melbourne where there is no space on the footpath or in the entrance of the building, so you simply

4 hook your bike in the air, out of the way. There is no security, and probably no need given the level of activity happening around the café. However, knowing that this is provided might make somebody ride rather than drive. Figure 4 Imaginative Example of a Café EOTF 2. The Rise of the Bicycle The bicycle hasn t really risen, it s always been with us and in fact represented a higher proportion of mode share in the past. As road traffic volumes have risen in the major cities, the bike has suffered by being squeezed out, where the roads only cater for vehicles in large numbers. However, there is a growing consensus that the bike provides an excellent form of transport within our cities and towns as long as the appropriate facilities are provided. This extends to the broader road network, e.g. dedicated cycle lanes, share paths, on-road cycle lanes etc. through to the problem of how to secure the bike at the end of the journey, and how to convert the cyclist into an acceptably dressed and groomed person for the workplace. All of these things have to line up, in order to produce a notable shift in modal choice and in many of our cities, road and planning policy, the needs of building tenants and the need for buildings to remain competitive are facilitating this change. As with shifts in behaviour on a large scale it is difficult to pinpoint whether the new facilities are driving a rise in bicycle use, or whether the rise in use is pushing the need for improved facilities, either way, the following statistics make it clear that the rise of bicycle is here and as an industry we need to ensure that this growth is sustainable and accommodated within our infrastructure planning. For policy makers and employers, the EOTF is a relatively small, but equally important part of the shift towards increased bike usage. According to the study, Cycling to Work in Melbourne (VicRoads) the total number of cycle trips to work rose from 10,821 in 1976 to 21,584 in 2006, however, the following graph of the

5 results indicates that the 1976 figure was fairly consistent until 1996, following which there was a large increase over the following decade. In fact this rise was 175% over the decade, or 5.8% per annum. Figure 5 Number of cycling trips to work in Metropolitan Melbourne The use of bicycles has also slightly risen as a percentage of mode share, from 1.3% in 1976 to 1.6% in 2006, which isn t a dramatic rise as a percentage, but in terms of numbers, the increase of almost 10,000 bikes being ridden to the workplace between 1996 and 2006 needs to be accommodated in EOTFs and applying this growth rate, a further 16,200 bikes needing to be accommodated between 2006 and The story is similar across Metropolitan Sydney with a rise in journey to work cycle use rising 38% between 2006 and 2011 and as a proportion of mode share cycling increase 25% over the same period reaching 1.06% in In line with this rise in cycle use, various State Governments and Councils are investing in increasing the coverage of cycle routes through a mix of off-road paths, to shared paths and on-road treatments. In this regard, there is clearly a need to accommodate this growing form of transport and the ability for commuters to consider the bicycle as a proper alternative to the car. 3. It s a Question of Space Not wishing to point out the obvious, but cyclists take up less room than cars, and space is a serious issue confronting most of the world s cities. In Australia, each capital city continues to create more road space for cars in areas where this can be accommodated. Where road expansion cannot be accommodated, improvements in traffic management and intelligent information services are being implemented. The additional space required for roads is also being sought underground, with an increasing number of tunnels beneath our cities, with two further tunnels planned in Sydney to link existing motorways. The following photographs compiled by Des Moines in 2010 demonstrate clearly the different space required for 40 people in cars, a bus and 40 bicycles.

6 Figure 6 Space Required to Transport 40 People by Different Modes The point of the photos is well made, however it is unrealistic to expect that all 40 people in this example would convert to cycle commuting. However, if just 10 people switched to the bike, an entire lane would be free for use as a dedicated two-way cycle lane, which provides a great deal more capacity than an equivalent traffic lane. By comparison, the saturation capacity of an unrestricted car lane has the capacity to carry 1,850 vehicles per hour (AUSTROADS, 2013) where a paper Operational Analysis of Uninterrupted Bicycle Facilities prepared by (PATRICK, NAGUI, HUMMER, & MILAZZO), which studied a number of cyclelane statistics from around the world concluded that In summary, the saturation flow for a single 1-m (3.3 ft) to 1.2-m (4-ft) bicycle lane appears to be between 1,500 and 5,000 bicycles/hr with a majority of the observations falling between 2,000 and 3,500 bicycles/hr. Bearing in mind that a contraflow dedicated cyclelane of 2.4m can accommodate two lanes at 1.2m width, this doubles the effective capacity to 3,000 7,000 bicycles per hour. In dense city situations it would be necessary to undertake network modelling (or surveys of existing cyclelanes and adjacent roads) in order to assess the actual capacity comparison, however on face value, it is clear that space efficiency of bicycles will play an increasingly important role in the planning and growth of our cities. In this regard, the EOTF is critical in receiving the increasing number of people who will choose to ride to work.

7 4. EOTF Design Having established that an EOTF is required within a building it is important to address the question of location and access, bearing in mind that access means, on bike and as a pedestrian. There are three fundamental components that need to be well connected in order for an EOTF to function effectively and safely, comprising: 1. The bike lock up facility 2. The shower/changing and locker facility 3. The access point to the building (lift lobby / stairwell) The reason item 3 is so important relates to the provision of safe pedestrian access. This is easily overlooked when designing a new facility within an existing building and I have seen many examples where the new facilities have no regard for the existing access points. The best way to assess the relationship between the three components is to picture them as closed loop. Figure 7 Relationship of EOTF Components This diagram confirms the need for safe and efficient connections between all the components. A cyclist may arrive at work in the morning, lock up their bike, have a shower and change, then walk to the building access point. A cyclist may also leave the building access point and walk directly to the bike lock-up, creating the need for the third/fourth connection, thus closing the loop. This aspect of EOTF design is critical in not only providing a safe arrangement, but also a facility users feel they want to use and it these seemingly small considerations that facilitate mode shift. Many examples of EOTF installations involve retrofit solutions within existing buildings and primarily these are located within the car park beneath the building. In these cases the location of the bike lock-up may be dictated by ready access to and from the car park vehicular entry, however the principle of the loop should still apply.

8 Quite often, the construction of a new EOTF introduces a new user group (cyclists) within the car park, previously only used for cars and pedestrians. In these instances it is essential that safe access is provided from the street to the bike lock-up and this can be achieved by painted lanes, or completely separated routes, which is best practice but often not practicable. The following images show an example of a retrofit EOTF scheme in a building in the Sydney CBD. The components of the EOTF are fairly isolated from each other, therefore a strongly identified connection was required and achieved by way of surface painted lanes and paths reinforced by wall murals and standard signage. Figure 8 Example of Car Park Access Treatment

9 Figure 9 Example of Through-Carpark Cycle Path Figure 10 Bike Lock-up with Cycle Lane and Pedestrian Path Connections

10 Figure 11 Example of Pedestrian Surface Treatment within a Car Park Figure 12 Example of Pedestrian Wall Treatment within a Car Park

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12 5. Conclusion The need for End-of-Trip Facilities is a vital component in the shift towards more sustainable modes of transport including walking and cycling. An unrestrained growth in car dependency is not sustainable within our cities and as urban density increases, so does the viability of walking and cycling as a legitimate form of transport and the potential for increased mode share beyond the current low levels in Australian Cities. EOTFs are effective in facilitating mode shift when they are appropriate for the associated land-use, are well located and of a design that encourages their use. In this regard, it is important for the property and engineering industries to promote and support the provision of EOTFs and to ensure that best practice design is implemented. 6. References AUSTROADS. (2013). Guide to Traffic Management Part 3: Traffic Studies and Analysis. AUSTROADS. PATRICK, A. D., NAGUI, R., HUMMER, J., & MILAZZO, J. (n.d.). Operational Analysis of Uninterrupted Bicycle Facilities. Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works. (2014). End-of-trip facilities. Retrieved from Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works: des/pages/endoftripfacilities.aspx VicRoads. (n.d.). Cycling to Work in Melbourne Presenter s Bio Andrew is a qualified Civil and Traffic Engineer and a member of the Australian Institute of Traffic Planning & Management (AITPM) and the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA). He has broad experience within the field of traffic engineering following his involvement with a variety of projects in the UK, Bangkok and throughout Australia. He originally trained as a Civil Engineering Technician with Ove Arup & Partners in Bristol, England, where he had the opportunity to work in a wide variety of civil engineering projects, however it was traffic engineering that interested him the most, and so he specialised in this field. In 1999 he relocated to Sydney to assist Pinnacle with an 8 month project in Sydney at the conclusion of which he decided to stay in Australia. Since that time he have continued to be involved the sector as a Senior Traffic Engineer, overseeing many projects covering a wide variety of property types and sizes. He acts as an Expert Witness to the Land & Environment Court, the Supreme Court and Coroners Court when required. He am also a Senior Road Safety Auditor and has undertaken a number of Safety Audits of all stages of road design and construction projects.