

How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities - dan_sim
http://www.slate.com/id/2225511/

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potatolicious
There's more to encouraging bike use than bike parking. I live in Seattle,
where bike parking is plentiful - but yet I'm still apprehensive to ride many
places because of snarly, downright dangerous traffic.

Bike parking will only be an issue once enough streets have bike lanes, and
the law properly protects bicyclists against hostile drivers. As it is most of
the city is still off-limits to me unless I feel like weaving through a crowd
of fast-moving 1-ton pieces of steel piloted by irate people. I don't even get
far enough to have to worry about where to place my bike.

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jrockway
Interesting. I have spent a bit of time on my bike in Seattle, and the thought
of traffic never occurred to me. I think drivers there, like in Chicago, are
used to cyclists and shouldn't cause you any problems.

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potatolicious
It's certainly better than some other cities I've lived in - but I live and
work downtown, and navigating downtown streets on a bicycle to/from work is an
intimidating proposition. Not many of us who work here do it - and I commend
the brave souls who do :)

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davidcuddeback
I partially agree with you. I lived in Seattle's International district this
past summer, and biked quite a bit. At first, I was apprehensive about the
traffic, but it wasn't bad once I got past my first ride.

One resource you might find helpful is the maps on Seattle's Department of
Transportation website:
(<http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikemaps.htm>). They show the streets
that are safer to bike. When I lived there, I biked southbound on 5th because
I live on 5th, but that felt a little sketchy around 5th and Pike. According
to the map, 2nd has a bike lane that I could have used for going southbound.

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davidcuddeback
This reminds me of an article I read a few years ago, which talked about
cities designed for walking.* Most cities have a code that requires that every
new development must supply X number of parking spaces per Y square feet of
land. However, all these required parking spaces spread out a city's points of
interest. By requiring fewer if any parking spaces, some cities were able to
achieve a higher density of points of interest. By two points of interest
being closer, they are therefor more walkable. The article mentioned San
Francisco as an example of a city that doesn't require many parking spaces,
and consequently it is rated as the most walkable city in the U.S.

Personally, I always walk when I go to San Francisco. That's partly because it
is so walkable (my points of interest are usually near Market St or along the
waterfront), but also because it's impossible to park there. I often won't go
to San Francisco if I want to stay out later than the public transit (BART)
runs, because it's usually too much of a hassle to park. That second reason is
the point of Slate's article.

* I would post a link to the article I read, but I couldn't find it after a few minutes on Google.

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ahlatimer
The non-profit I work with is interested in bringing biking to my home town
(El Paso). We're first going to create some "artsy" bike racks for local
business. Hopefully that'll raise awareness for bikes, and perhaps we can get
city council to back us on adding more bike racks/bike lanes/etc.

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jrockway
Just make sure they're functional. Nothing is nicer than a properly-used
"staple":

<http://trimet.org/images/portlandmall/bike_staple.jpg>

It may not be a work of art, but it is very effective. (The only problem is
that many cyclists don't seem to know how to use them correctly. You lean your
bike against the long part!)

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ahlatimer
We'd probably go with standard bike racks if biking was our only concern. It's
not. We're also trying to draw people to local businesses in a town dominated
by franchises. It might be gimmicky, but if it gets people to explore a
little, it's worth it.

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jrockway
The first comment is amusing; tow trucks for bicycles? It is easy to fix a
flat on your bike; stick a stick-on patch over the hole in the tube, inflate
with your CO2 cartridge, and ride on. You don't even need to remove the wheel!

(When you get home, you can fix it "forever" with a glue-on patch.)

I think one of the biggest problems facing cycling advocates is the general
lack of knowledge among people "considering" cycling. They don't know how to
ride in traffic, they don't know how to maintain their bike, etc., etc., so
they get scared and never try. (I didn't know these things when I first
started riding as an adult, but Google fixed that problem for me in about 15
minutes.)

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blhack
There really is something cool about knowing that you could completely tear
the machine that you're using apart, and put it back together again with the
tools in your backpack.

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eru
My recumbent bike came torn apart in a box via mail.

On the up-side I know exactly how it works and I appreciate its simplicity.

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scotty79
I encourage all people who enjoy seeing lots of bikes on the streets to visit
Florence, Italy. When you are there buy bike for 50 euros and sell it for the
same amount when you leave. There are literally hordes of bikes parked
everywhere. In this city crowded with tourists you can safely ride a bike
though dense crowd, and leave your bike anywhere next to fifty other already
parked there.

Of course bikes do get stolen as everywhere else so locks are obligatory, but
herds work for bikes as well as they work for herbivores.

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JLaramie
It is miserable parking my bike in NYC and the threat of it getting bent and
hit on the sidewalk is terrifying.

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jrockway
I agree here. I don't understand the big deal about bringing them into your
building with you. They are smaller than a person and 10% of the weight. What
could possibly be a risk? Why would people even consider it unacceptable to
bring your bike inside?

(I have not tried yet at my $new_job. Soon. I know nobody in my department
would care, but I am sure security would complain.)

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spicyj
Most bicycles, though smaller than people, are much more inconveniently shaped
and harder to manuever or get out of the way.

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jrockway
No more inconvenient than people with those backpacks with wheels.

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InclinedPlane
Parking is not the gating factor for bicycle commuting in any city. Finding
roads and paths to ride on without raising your chance of getting killed
significantly is the difficult bit.

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Tiktaalik
The entire article is explaining why this isn't the case. Would you drive to
work if you knew that you wouldn't be able to park your car anywhere? Of
course not. This is what is faced by cyclists. Sure you can leave your bike on
the street (if it's not raining) but as the article states the rate of theft
is so exceptionally high that it's idiotic to do so.

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mscarborough
Do most offices not allow you to park your bike inside, but out of the way?
Perhaps I've been more fortunate than I thought to not have that problem.

Parking is not the be-all-end-all solution (proper bike lanes is also crucial,
and showers/lockers are a requirement for an additional subset of potential
bikers) but obviously it helps lower the barrier to entry for enough people.

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joe_the_user
I live in Berkeley and ride constantly. I occasionally have trouble finding a
pole to tie my bike to but generally I have absolutely no trouble.

I'd say parking is only a problem in places like New York City and maybe
Chicago. Traffic, on the other hand, is something that scares a lot of people.

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jrockway
Incidentally, automobile traffic moves about as quickly in the city center as
does bicycle traffic. Outside of the center, a bike moves about as quickly as
a city bus. (Seems like I play leapfrog with a bus every time I ride down
Roosevelt or Damen.)

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joe_the_user
Indeed, bus leap frog is one my less favorite games but I've played it quite a
bit...

