2. News

All Trails lead to Lilydale Station

25 August 2010. The Parkiteer cage at Lilydale station opened last week and local riders took advantage straight away with bikes parked in the cage from the first day.

With the continued works on the Lilydale - Warbuton Rail Trail we expect that more local riders will begin using the cage upon the completion of the bridge over the Maroondah Hwy and the redesign of the York Rd intersection.

Click here to sign up for cage access today.

New Cage at Marshall Station

17 August 2010. A new Parkiteer cage has opened at Marshall station, south of Geelong.

The cage at Marshall station will provide an alternative transport option for commuters as patronage at the station continues to grow since its reopening in 2004.

As the residential areas around Geelong continue to expand it's great to see that bike riders are being catered for.

Click here to see the cage locations.

Access All Cages Across Victoria

27 July 2010. The Department of Transport have approved the modification of Parkiteer cage access so cage members can access all cages. This means when you sign up you get access to over 40 cages across metropolitan and regional Victoria.Initially this will be trialled for 6 months (from today) with a view to being permanent if no issues arise. This is exciting news as the decision allows commuters greater flexibility as well as the potential to increase overall cage usage.

Fill a Cage in a Day - Werribee Station

29 July 2010. Thank you to all the Parkiteer members who rode to the Werribee Parkiteer cage yesterday. We managed to get 19 bikes in the cage which is a great result for the middle of Winter and will help us campaign for better riding facilities in the local area.

We'll be out and about again next month so stay tuned to find out if we're coming to your station.

27 July 2010. Following on from East Malvern last month, the Bicycle Victoria team plan to ‘Fill 1 cage in a Day’ from 6.30am this Wednesday (28 July) at Werribee Station.

Werribee Parkiteer members will get to enjoy a complimentary coffee from Team Degani and as a valued Parkiteer Member you’ll also receive a complimentary puncture repair kit! We encourage Parkiteer members across the network to ride to the station on Wednesday as Parkiteer usage numbers are used to highlight the importance of riding facilities in your local community, so help us help you and ride to the cage on Wednesday. Wednesday’s forecast looks perfect for a morning ride so help us fill all the cages!

Bicycle Repairman visits East Malvern Train Station

23 June 2010. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Bicycle Repairman!

Bicycle Victoria's newest superhero Bicycle Repairman, and his Super team visited East Malvern train station to spread the word about Parkiteer cages. Bicycle Repairman used his super powers to convince a number of car drivers to ditch their cars and start riding to the station.

There was free coffee, apples and special Ride On magazines for commuters as well as free bike checks and puncture kits for Parkiteer cage members.

Stay tuned to find out when Bicycle Repairman and the Super team will be in your area!

New Cages at Laverton and Coolaroo

18 June 2010. New Parkiteer cages were opened at Laverton and Coolaroo train stations this week.

The Laverton cage is set to be one of the busiest on the network with 35 people signing up before the cage had opened. Fortunately two cages were built at Laverton to cope with the expected demand.

The total number of cages on the network has now climbed to 46.

Please click here to register for a cage.

50,000th Usage of a Parkiteer Cage

 

8 June 2010. Jian Zhu was the lucky 50,000th user of a Parkiteer cage when he checked his bike into the Werribee cage on Sunday 30 May. To celebrate this milestone Jian was given a new Trek commuter bike.

Jian is pictured here being presented with the new bike by the Minister for Public Transport, Martin Pakula and Bicycle Victoria Chief Executive, Harry Barber at Caulfield Train station.

The event was a hit with the media with four television crews, two radio stations and the two major daily newspapers attending the event.

New Online Payment System

24 May 2010. Bicycle Victoria has introduced a secure online payment system in order to streamline the sign up process for new Parkiteer cage applicants.

The new process means that applicants can now pay their deposit 24 hours a day and can do so at the same time as registering for the system. This should mean an increase in registrations and an increase in cage usage.

Please click here to register for a cage using the secure online payment system.

Chelsea and Newport Promotion a Success

21 April 2010. Bicycle Victoria staff handed out Parkiteer flyers at Chelsea and Newport stations on Friday 16 April.

The trial is designed to create awareness of the cages as well as providing interested commuters with information about the cages.

So far the response has been great with a large number of commuters signing up to use the cages.

We'll be out again next month but at a different station and with a couple of surprises in store. There'll be more information in the next In the Loop member e-newsletter.

Ferntree Gully and Noble Park get Cages

7 April 2010. Two new Parkiteer bike cages opened at Ferntree Gully and Noble Park station last week.

The cage is great news for bike riders in the area and will lead to an increase in commuters riding their bikes to the station.

As you can see from the images below, on the day that Bicycle Victoria inspected the cage at Noble Park there were 20 bikes parked on either side of the station.

Please click here to register for a cage.

 

Busy Week for Minister Pakula and Parkiteer Cages

15 March 2010. It's been a busy week for the Minister for Public Transport Martin Pakula and the Parkiteer cage program.

On Friday 12 March the Minister attended the official opening of the Nunawading station Parkiteer cage (see below) and then on Monday 15 March the Minister was at Marshall train station, on the Bellarine peninsula, to announce a Parkiteer cage would be constructed there as part of a car park upgrade at the station.

The Marshall station Parkiteer cage will be the third in the area and usage should be high going on the popularity of the cages at Geelong and South Geelong.

Work is expected to be completed by the middle of this year.

Please see the state government website for the official Marshall station announcement.

Minister for Public Transport opens Nunawading Parkiteer cage

12 March 2010. Today, Minister for Public Transport Martin Pakula and Federal Member for Deakin, Mike Symon, opened the Parkiteer cage at Nunawading Station.

"This will encourage cycling as a practical transport option with riders able to safely secure their bikes and catch the train or bus to other destinations for work, school or leisure and it further improves public transport facilities in the eastern suburbs by providing an integrated intermodal transport hub, encompassing SmartBus and train services," Mr Pakula said.

Minister Pakula and Mike Symon were joined by Member for Mitcham Tony Robinson as well as members of the Whitehorse Cyclists.

Please click here to register for the cage.

 

Nunawading Parkiteer almost there

5 March 2010. The Nunawading Parkiteer cage is complete and will open as soon as works in the surrounding area have been completed.

As you can see from the images below the cage is all ready for business but as there is still construction going on in the access area bike riders will have to wait a bit longer.

The cage is expected to be open for use on Monday 15 March. 

 

 

New Station at Coolaroo to include a Parkiteer Cage

2 March 2010. The new train station currently being constructed at Coolaroo will include a Parkiteer cage. Bike riders in the North West of Melbourne will be well serviced as there are already Parkiteer cages at Glenroy, Broadmeadows and Roxburgh Park.

At this stage a completion date hasn't been advised but more information will be posted as soon as it comes to hand.

Please click here to register for the cage.

New year ravers use more cages

3 February 2010. The start of the year has resulted in a sudden flood of people switching to the bike for the journey to the local railway station, according to data collected by the Parkiteer bike cage system.

More than 100 people signed up to use Parkiteer cages in January which is a 25 per cent increase on the best month of 2009.

Why the sudden increase? Has there been a string of New Year resolutions, with commuters pledging to do that little bit of extra exercise during 2010? Or has the message landed that driving a car only a few kilometres to the station is a waste of money and scarce energy.

Four New Cages

In line with the growing demand, the number of Parkiteer bike cages at train stations has also increased. By the end of February there will be new cages at Ferntree Gully, Laverton, Noble Park and Nunawading train stations.

Laverton station will be only the second station (after Frankston) to have two cages installed. This is a great win for commuters in the area who have sent emails and letters to the Department of Transport requesting better bike parking facilities at the station.

To access the new cages when they open, please register your details. 

The cages are providing an active transport alternative for commuters travelling to train stations and bus terminals throughout Victoria.

Reduced $20 Bond Trial

29 January 2010. The $20 bond trial finished today at 5pm. We will be analysing the numbers to see if it made a difference to the number of people registering for a Parkiteer card.

20 January 2010. We have reduced the bond from $50 to $20 at some cages (for the rest of January) to see if the amount of the bond payment is an obstacle in people signing up to the Parkiteer cages.

Most of the cages we have chosen have another cage nearby that will still have a $50 bond. In this way we’ll be able to compare the rego numbers and hopefully see if the reduced bond has an effect.

The stations included in this trial are:

Bendigo
Broadmeadows
Cranbourne
Croydon
Doncaster
Kyneton
Morwell
Seaford

Second Cage for Frankston Station

19 November 2009. A second cage has opened at Frankston station due to an increase in the number of people riding their bikes to the station. It's great to see that 40% of all cage users are car drivers that have made the change to riding their bikes.

Cages Open in Doncaster and Moe

6 October 2009. The final two cages in Stage 2 of the Parkiteer program have opened at Moe train station and Doncaster Park and Ride bus terminal. The 16 cages added to the network in stage 2 make 39 cages in total.

Cages Open at Reservoir and Glen Waverley

1 October 2009. Two new cages have opened at Reservoir and Glen Waverley. There are still cages at Moe and Doncaster Park and Ride to open soon in Stage 2 of the Parkiteer cage program.

Twelve New Cages Open

23 September 2009. There are now twelve new Parkiteer bike parking cages open at train stations in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. These are East Malvern, Cranbourne, Sunshine, Oakleigh, Heidelberg, Chelsea, Seaford, Berwick, Morwell, Melton, Bacchus Marsh, and Kyneton.

 

New Cages Open at Chelsea and Oakleigh

1 September 2009. Two new cages have opened at Chelsea and Oakleigh station with another 14 to be opened in the next few weeks. There are 11 Metropolitan cages and 5 Regional cages. The new cages include the first Parkiteer cage at a bus terminal (Doncaster).

Parkiteers get in gear

26 February 2009. The 18 Metropolitan cages built by the State Government in late 2008 have now been open for business for two months. With people returning to work and school, registrations have been coming in a steady flow.

Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Brighton Beach are showing the way as commuters clearly demonstrate that the provision of secure bike parking is not only getting more people riding more often but those who were previously driving to the station have now converted to bikes.

At Brighton Beach the introduction of the Parkiteer cage has seen 14 people previously driving to the station now riding. The balance of cage members were already riding or using other methods to get to the station.

This clearly shows the investment in the cages has more than paid off in health, congestion and parking benefits.

This scenario is not unique as other cages are demonstrating a consistent pattern with at least 50% of cage users ex-drivers; At Bayswater 70% of cage members are ex-drivers.

The typical catchment for the cages appears to be mainly within the 1-3km radius of a cage, with some stations getting riders from further afield as the attraction of a Zone 1 ticket or demand prevails.

The five regional cages came online this month with Castlemaine riders leading the way.

We are working with the Department of Transport to facilitate the rollout of the further 10 cages recently announced by Minister Kosky. We believe that priority should be given to areas of demonstrated demand.

Currently this is being measured by the waiting list for the Connex lockers at stations

Ten more Parkiteer cages announced, total of 33

11 Jan 2009. Ten more Parkiteer cages are being added to the Victorian transport system, Transport Minister, Lynne Kosky announced today.

The new cages join the 18 already built in metropolitan Melbourne and five in country Victoria.

Eltham is first cage completed

October 2008
The Bike Parking Cage at Eltham Station will be arriving soon. Click on 'Email me updates' above to be kept up to date.

The department has appointed Bicycle Victoria to manage the Eltham Cage. As part of this service we will be managing the registration process and providing user support.

You can apply to become an Eltham Parkiteer soon.

 

Eltham station is the first proud owner of one of these cages, which can accommodate 26 bikes securely and undercover for free.

Bicycle Victoria wants to make it easy for you to integrate with the public transport by bike. That’s why we are working with the Department of Transport to get 20 free, undercover bike parking cages on several stations across Victoria. We want to see more of these across the network in future.

As a cage member these cages will allow you to park your bike undercover, secure and for free at one of the participating stations.

At this point it hasn’t been finalised where all of the 20 cages will be located. In coming days we will provide a process for you to register your desire to get a cage installed at your preferred station. Click on 'Email me updates' above to be kept up to date.