Press Article
LONDON LITE - Wednesday 20 June, 2007
Get on a cycle path to profit
How bike ‘superhighways’ will boost property prices
By Ben Felsenburg
HEAVY traffic, even heavier parking fees and those extortionate congestion charges mean that since 2000 the number of cycle journeys in the capital has almost doubled. Currently 250,000 of us commute to work on two wheels every day.
The typical London commute of four miles takes an average of 22 minutes on the bike — against the 40 minutes it takes on public transport — plus, cycling is free.
Cycling is soon to become even more popular, too. The Mayor’s office has promised new cycling “superhighways” that will make it safer and easier for people in residential areas to cycle to the centre of the city. Soon we will also have thousands of cheap rental bikes that you can use for a few pounds each day. The same system has proved a huge success in Paris.
A Transport for London spokesman says: “We’re putting a £500m investment into cycling in London over the next 10 years. We’re already offering free cycle stands to businesses for their employees and match-funding showers and lock-up facilities. The plan is for cycling in London to grow by 400 per cent by 2025.”
Life for the capital’s bikers has vastly improved in the past few years. No longer do cyclists have to dice with death along congested highways — there are many more cycle lanes and if you live in the right area you can start your working day by pedalling alongside the canal or through the park. And the Mayor’s plans mean we can look forward to more of these routes.
This financial commitment to investing in London’s cycle paths isn’t dependent on who gets in as mayor — Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone’s closest rival, is a keen rider himself so will also be fully behind the new “superhighways”.
And while people looking to buy properties have always traditionally checked out the Tube and bus routes, today they are vetting locations for their proximity to a good cycle route, too. Not surprisingly, this is having a knock-on effect on prices.
Tom Bogdanowicz, development manger of the London Cycling Campaign, says: “Recent studies have shown that being close to a cycle route can have the effect of adding up to 10 per cent to the value of a property.
“It’s rather like being near a Tube station or a good school. As well as getting you fit, it’ll often get you to work faster than any other mode of transport and it’s more reliable.”
In Clapham, which is set to be one of the beneficiaries of the cycling corridor scheme, Alistair Summerfield, sales manager at estate agency Douglas & Gordon, says being near a cycle route already has its benefits for homeowners.
“Round here you see a lot of parents dropping their kids off to school on bike and then going on to work themselves. South of the river more and more people are cycling to work as public transport hasn’t kept up with the numbers moving here.”
Jo Eccles, director of Sourcing Property, a property-finding company specialising in central London, says more and more of her clients want homes in areas close enough to the office so they can cycle to work easily. She’s particularly noticed a sea-change in the City.
“In the past, my banking clients wanted the car to bring them to work in the morning. Now they’re looking for time-efficient ways to tick the exercise box and the bike’s just perfect for that.”
Eccles cycles from her home in Pimlico to her office in Chelsea every day. “It used to take me 30 minutes by Tube plus a few minutes walking at either end. Now it’s only 15 minutes on the bike, plus I can enjoy window-shopping along King’s Road on the way.” The one bugbear many people find is the lack of cycle parking across London. “One thing people don’t like is neighbours’ bikes being stuck in their hallways in communal buildings,” Eccles says. “If there are bike racks or other kinds of parking provision it just makes life a lot easier. I’d definitely encourage developers to include them. The bike is the fastest-growing trend.”
In east London, developer mycityPad has a multi-million-pound scheme for seven buildings with 500 units on Fish Island by the Olympic Park. “We’ll have one cycle space for every resident,” says mycityPad commercial director Jonny Barrett. “We see more and more homebuyers cycling and making sure we provide for them adds to the attractiveness of the scheme.” Still not sure you want to swap your car for pedal power? Here, we talk to a London couple who believe that two wheels are better than four.