How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#2There'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.
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#3There'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 wea…
Showers (and lockers if other lockable storage is not available) at work places would be needed, too, for bike commuting to be viable for a lot of people.
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#4The 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.
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#5It is miserable parking my bike in NYC and the threat of it getting bent and hit on the sidewalk is terrifying.
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#6I 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.
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#7I 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.
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.)
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#8It is miserable parking my bike in NYC and the threat of it getting bent and hit on the sidewalk is terrifying.
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.)
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#9The 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.)
Re: How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities
#10There'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 wea…
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.