11–20 of 31 posts
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.
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"…
It 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.)
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.
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 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.
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.
It 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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.