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A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

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11–20 of 307 posts

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#11
post #5

Seems like a good way to regulate escooters. Better for cities than sidewalks, better for companies than permitting the construction of infrastructure. Flexible enough to adjust to demand.

Santa Monica is doing something similar for escooters, and calling them "drop zones"[0].

[0]: https://la.streetsblog.org/2018/11/08/santa-monica-installs-...

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#12

> A light, quick, cheap solution so good, it should be copied the world over. It is. This can be seen all over... SF, LA, DC, Austin, Ann Arbor ... I have seen this everywhere (in the US)

Where in Ann Arbor? I live in it and have never seen a structure like this.

They have similar things downtown, I believe there's one across the street from the Fleetwood Diner.

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#13
post #9

My first thought? Bring a flat-bed and you have 10 bicycles.. Are there any security features in this concept?

> Are there any security features in this concept?

The fact that you'd need a flat-bed to steal the bicycles is a security feature. People steal bikes because the penalty isn't serious. Who is going to risk a felony and their tow truck license for just a few bikes?

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#15
post #11
post #5

Seems like a good way to regulate escooters. Better for cities than sidewalks, better for companies than permitting the construction of infrastructure. Flexible enough to adjust to demand.

Santa Monica is doing something similar for escooters, and calling them "drop zones"[0]. [0]: https://la.streetsblog.org/2018/11/08/santa-monica-installs-...

It's regulation, but it's kind of forcing infrastructure and government to deal with a problem when maybe the model should be that these companies are forced to rent small areas of corners, parking lots, etc. for corrals and charging, kinda like the Fotomat drive-thru camera film development, or snow cone stands.

Seeing dead scooters laying in the streets here for days sucks, and while remarking the street makes sense in denser cities, it's a now semi-permanent eyesore too.

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#16
post #9

My first thought? Bring a flat-bed and you have 10 bicycles.. Are there any security features in this concept?

Yeah... maybe "light" wasn't quite the right term to use here ;) I would hope that it could be somehow secured to the pavement underneath, but since this is Twitter-level content, there's not much for detail.

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#17
post #15
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Santa Monica is doing something similar for escooters, and calling them "drop zones"[0]. [0]: https://la.streetsblog.org/2018/11/08/santa-monica-installs-...

It's regulation, but it's kind of forcing infrastructure and government to deal with a problem when maybe the model should be that these companies are forced to rent small areas of corners, parking lots, etc. for corrals and charging, kinda like the Fotomat drive-thru camera film development, or snow cone stands. Seeing dead scooters laying in the streets here for days sucks, and while remarking the street makes sens…

I wasn't familiar with rental e-scooters before my latest visit to Ann Arbor, but now I am, because people leave them in the middle of the sidewalk. Fuck you if you're handicapped, I guess.

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#18
post #11
post #5

Seems like a good way to regulate escooters. Better for cities than sidewalks, better for companies than permitting the construction of infrastructure. Flexible enough to adjust to demand.

Santa Monica is doing something similar for escooters, and calling them "drop zones"[0]. [0]: https://la.streetsblog.org/2018/11/08/santa-monica-installs-...

Seems to still require permitting and construction

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#19

> A light, quick, cheap solution so good, it should be copied the world over. It is. This can be seen all over... SF, LA, DC, Austin, Ann Arbor ... I have seen this everywhere (in the US)

The innovation is that these are temporary, and are an experiment. If the temporary one attracts significant usage, it's replaced with a permanent one. If not, it reverts to car usage.

I love these sorts of tests. The cost to try this for a week/month/whatever is super low, and if it fails you move on.

Ideally these sorts of things are run by a non-political portion of a city government, nothing riles business associations more than the risk of losing parking.

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#20

> A light, quick, cheap solution so good, it should be copied the world over. It is. This can be seen all over... SF, LA, DC, Austin, Ann Arbor ... I have seen this everywhere (in the US)

Where in DC? I've never seen it.
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