Coventry blogger attacks Virgin Trains for returning £300k cycling grant to DfT

Virgin are reported to be renewing staff passes through to 2014....

But it sounds like the money was the DfT's not Virgin's - so why should it matter who's going to have the station from 2013? Even if Virgin loses the contract, they've not spent their own money, have they?

If DfT says "here's money to spend on cycling" why not get that money working asap?

Or, did Virgin just do the corporate equivalent of taking the cash, sticking it in an ISA for a couple of years, then giving it back?

Maybe this demonstrates that this "franchise" nonsense is totally unhelpful and unrealistic - train companies want to get away with spending DfT money, OUR money, and make it look like they're the ones doing good.

Thank you Road CC for featuring this.

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To be fair to Virgin, if the contract's up in the air I'd have thought any major spending would be on hold. Not sure they're "holding cyclists to ransom"

There were about 70 schemes featured in the DfT announcement in March. Most "went Dutch" on funding, but this one didn't - so it is our money they have put on hold, not theirs.

There were also 5 months from the announcement until the franchise result in August, by which time they could have made some progress. They were fully aware at the time of bidding that the franchise was due for renewal, it wasn't as if it was sprung on them by surprise.

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Virgin did the honest thing by saying they could not commit to a long term project

What is long term about installing a bike hub that was well overdue and already planned and funded? Chances are it would also be full by the time it was built - even more likely by the time it ever happens.

Bike Hub aside, a short term measure of introducing a few extra racks could be implemented in days or perhaps weeks. They have shown no interest in doing that, all they have done is come up with more excuses.

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The blogger seems to want to shoot the messenger rather than the villain who is the government.

Other way round. It is the government who came up with the cash, Virgin who have refused to use it. Virgin have expanded car parks at all 17 stations they manage, but their cycle parking record is terrible. They are acting as if they've only been running trains for 15 weeks, not 15 years.

As for the franchise itself, well I think they are both as bad as each other. Clearly, the DfT has screwed up. The "Anything But Branson" attitude was unacceptable. However, so are Virgin peak fares. I have just taken a "peak" Virgin Train which was continuing to London with no more than 25 people in each carriage - and that was a "cramped" Voyager, not even a Pendolino. Also, this used to be an off peak service. So my sympathies are limited!

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I'd check your figure for Leamington Spa though, Chiltern's official count is 128 space

The figure will have come from a visual count, but as you have called me up on it, I will have to go back and check (unless we have someone who is from there?). There are multiple racks (2 deep iirc) on the down platforms, more still on the up - north / west facing end on both, and there are even more outside the station front.

I'm not sure that any TOC keeps particularly accurate bike parking figures?

Mr Lowe, many thanks. That was a good read.

How exactly can they show total commitment to a franchise that they potentially have only for another 2 weeks and the decision of wether they maintain it is out of their hands?

A golden oportunity missed by Virgin Trains to show their total commitement to the future of their franchise.

Golly, sounds like actual balanced facts there Mr Lowe, very refreshing change from the usual frothy sensationalism found in Internet comment sections. Chapeau.

Well hairyairey you do seem to be an informed source as they say in Modern Railways. Maybe you should tell the guys at Road cc that the franchise terminates on 9th December 2012, when the new 'Winter 2012-13' timetables start.

The car parks detail is interesting effectively we've paid for the developments to the tune of £40m as even if Virgin (the tenant of Network Rail) pays out, they are then obliged to 'sell' the betterment to the landlord and pay an enhanced lease charge for the station, and NR write down the cost over 20-30 years (they get the £40m from track access charges, and ... the Treasury - our taxes). In theory the same deal for cycle parking but until now the money has been chicken feed compared to the other works done at a station, and the messy bureaucracy of passing the cash from a to b to c, has been generally ignored. But with the first 1000 bike space station now with us (and its NOT Cambridge or Oxford) and shortly to add even more spaces, we are now dealing on a bigger scale.

Looking at those car park enhancements £2.5m got just 30 exta car park bays for Penrith at a staggering £83,333 per space. It certainly won't be paid back at the rates that VT charges for parking there. At Preston the 450 extra spaces cost around £23,000 each but the car park languishes about 40-50% filled even with the annual season ticket price cut by 40%, and car use is falling. The bike racks however are well filled. Wigan NW likewise is not very well used, and at Crewe a whole leased additional area gets very little use because it is such a long walk back to the station. Coventry might just fill up a bit more though.

Glasgow Central is not a Virgin run station, it is Network Rail Major Stations, and I'm puzzled by your comment. Might you be thinking of the cycle parking outside the retail unit which has been empty for ages, and I had hopes to see used as a cycle hub? Well someone reckons it will work as a catering outlet (as if we really need more of those) and it might help that the fish & chip shop next door recently went up in flames. Those racks were I think provided by Glasgow Council and were more popular as seats for the kids hanging around waiting to go to a show in town. The land might belong to Network Rail though.

The £300,000 was the only sum awarded to Virgin and was not just for cycle parking (£1000/space is a bit steep) it was for "300 space purpose built cycle point, including a mixture of secure storage of cycles (racks and lockers), covered with cctv, lighting and associated signage"

If it does get reallocated perhaps it can go to London Midland or Chiltern for stations in the West Midlands (like a cycle hub in Moor Street perhaps?), or maybe Network Rail can do the work as the Landlord, which they have done elsewhere, stepping in as manager of last resort for the station, in much the same way as DOR was being prepared to take over the WCML franchise on 9th December, but for some reasons not that well explained Virgin were given an extension to the franchise.

I'd check your figure for Leamington Spa though, Chiltern's official count is 128 spaces, unless you know of a secret location where the other 172 places are.

Oh and amongst many informed sources the preference is for the C word over the F word - concessions work pretty well for London Underground, Overground and London Buses, and get shot of the silly bidding wars, replacing it with basic contracts to run the trains whilst the government collects the fares, and we get rid of the huge pile of TOC-specific fares, and all the confusion that causes..

Rant off?

Coventry station has not had any improvements (other than a new car park) in the 15 years (I've had to use it myself on occasion). The next excuse will probably be a lack of space to put cycles (especially if the new platform for the Nuneaton service is built - a bit pointless though if they extend that service to Leamington Spa...)

Virgin are spot on. The problem here is the franchise system. Long franchises like Chiltern encourage investment and give much needed stability (as the Virgin fiasco has recently shown). And the franchising system was devised by... politicians.

Blame your MP, not Virgin Trains.

“Why should Virgin Trains be able to hold Coventry cycling passengers to ransom by not spending money that has already been given to them by the Department for Transport? Simple answer they are not holding anyone to ransom. If someone else gets the franchise the DFT can now give them the money. Virgin did the honest thing by saying they could not commit to a long term project for something they had no contract to support. The blogger seems to want to shoot the messenger rather than the villain who is the government. Is he a Tory supporter perhaps?

There were (very small) signs up at Glasgow Central (also Virgin-run) saying that the only remaining bike storage was going to be removed imminently. Didn't get a response from Virgin or ScotRail when I tweeted at them.

Would love to see Jim Rowe give his thoughts on the matter.

“If we were to get a 15-year franchise, we could do a lot of things in 15 years – including putting up cycle storage.”

Virgin's shamelessness knows no bounds. Their franchise for the West Coast began in 1997... 15 years ago.

To be fair to Virgin, if the contract's up in the air I'd have thought any major spending would be on hold. Not sure they're "holding cyclists to ransom"

"“All train operators are sympathetic to cyclists,” he claimed. “It fits in with our green policies.”"

What complete and utter bollocks.