IF you want, leave someone near the bikes.
It’s not like they are sanctified spaces.
Make a stink, but be calm with IKEA and other parkers and explain the situation.

Can you bring bikes on board?
Yes. The crew will help you fasten them to the rail on the front deck (they cannot be brought into the interior cabin).

I found out about that after they turned me away.

As an example, look at Metro North’s policy:

http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/getaways/bikerule.htm

Occupancy Limitations i. On weekdays two (2) bicycles will be permitted per car with a maximum of four (4) bicycles per train. Bicycles shall be placed in the two rear cars of inbound trains or the two front cars of outbound trains unless otherwise directed by train crew. Groups of more than four (4) bicyclists traveling together must make advance arrangements with Metro-North for carriage.

Sort of open-ended, isn’t it? What if you show up at a station and there are already 4 bikes on the train? (Not a large number considering the number of cars per train.) What you do is hope for the courtesy of a conductor who will judge the situation and, if there’s room, let you on. Otherwise, you wait for the next one. Why? Because MetroNorth is in the business of providing rides for people, not people with bikes. So, even in a case with a defined, written policy, there has to be room for discretion. Seems reasonable.

No one ever said that the ferry had a definitive “policy” about cyclists. What they do have is a flexible courtesy that goes beyond what you’ll find on city buses. In fact, I’d wager that if you pressed the store or the water taxi service to make an absolute policy on biking so that people could at least make concrete plans, they would come down on the side of banning bikes on board altogether. Be careful what you ask for.

Again, this is a PRIVATE ferry service offered as a complimentary benefit to customers and the general public. As it stands now, it seems very reasonable: if there’s room, you get on. If there isn’t, you can wait for the next one or you can lock up your bike at the pier and pick it up when you come back. It’s a positive step!

It probably won’t take alot to get Ikea engaged in a lot of other good local work as it seems that they aim to please.

It is not reasonable for the ferry to have a bike policy that varies depending on the discretion of whatever captain happens to be running the ship that day.

In fact, that’s no policy at all.

It would be more reasonable for the ferry to just ban bikes altogether so, at least, people transporting themselves by bike would know what to expect and could make travel decisions based on a consistent policy.

I don’t think anyone saying that the ferries are the exclusive use of IKEA shoppers. In fact, the company has repeatedly said that anyone can use them and that’s a great benefit to the community, especially for people who live in Red Hook and need to get into Manhattan. But even Metro North limits the number of cycles per car and I believe you’re not supposed to take them on at rush hour. People on foot should always get priority over people with bikes. So I don’t think it’s a problem that IKEA limits bikes on the ferry.

Also, comparing this ferry to other ferries doesn’t work. The Staten Island ferry is huge and can fit hundreds of passengers, and the number of bikes it takes as a percentage of its total available space is small. This is a water taxi, and probably fits no more than 50 or 60 people. Should the boat not allow more passengers on because limited space is taken up by bikes? Seems pretty reasonable that the water taxi lets bikes on when there is room and doesn’t when there isn’t. If I showed up to ride the ferry and was told there was no room, I’d be pretty ticked if I saw three or four bikes being rolled on. As it stands now, they load people first and if there is room for bikes, they let them on at the end. Fair enough.

The parking AT the store is a totally different issue, Davis, and I think you are conflating that issue with the issue of bikes on the ferry. Of course the store would never be built without enough car parking and it would be nice to think that someone somewhere viewed bike parking as an important part of a community. But to think that a private company has to allow bikes on the ferry at all times, even if they worked something out with the city in exchange for permission to build, seems a bit much for now. Remember, this ferry is FREE even if you aren’t shopping at the store. Aside from the parking issue, I think the ferry as it operates now is very reasonable in terms of its bike policy.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06232008/news/regionalnews/ikea_berth_pangs_116788.htm

I’m not quite sure why you think that IKEA should definitely allow bikes on the ferry to eliminate the “crapshoot” element.

Really?

What if motorists faced the same dilemma, d? Drive on over to IKEA — maybe we’ll have parking today, or maybe we won’t. It’s up to the store manager’s day-to-day discretion.

It’s a ridiculous policy borne of the mindset that bicycles are recreational and not part of a city’s transportation network.

The ferries were negotiated and established as a part of community benefits agreement when the IKEA project was initially approved. The ferries are supposed to serve as an additional transportation link for anyone traveling between Manhattan and Red Hook. The ferries are not exclusively for the use of IKEA shoppers. Cyclists should be accommodated as they are on pretty much all the other ferries in the New York Harbor.

And if cyclists really can’t be accommodated for some legitimate reason, then the policy should, at least, be consistent from day to day.

So, if you bike to the ferry and only intend on shopping at the store, there’s little reason to bring your bike with you. The ferry landing on the IKEA side is steps from the entrance to the store.

Whether or not there’s a secure bike rack at Pier 11 is another story, but it seems reasonable to bike to the ferry, lock up, take a ride on the ferry, shop, get back on the ferry to Manhattan, and ride home. It also seems reasonable for IKEA to not always allow bikes on the ferry.

There were a ton of fences by the entrance, and a lot of bikes were locked up to it. No one harassed me about locking my bike up to the fence.

As for streets congestion, I didn’t actually notice that much, even though there were a ton of cars parked. Maybe this is due to the time that I left (late Saturday afternoon), and the exit that I took (the east side, versus the west which had a lot of buses).

So, once again, someone who drives a car is fully accommodated, while a cyclist faces a crapshoot: *maybe* (if Venus and Mars are in alignment) you can take your bike on the water taxi and *maybe* there’s a rack or fence you could lock it to.

This is one reason why more people don’t use bikes for transit and running errands. I find the anger, frustration, and disappointment expressed here completely appropriate.

The bike and trailer loan system is a wonderful idea (and certainly another reminder of how far behind we are here in promoting cycling as transit), but not without a major drawback, which is having to return the darn thing to IKEA and pick up your old bicyle (that’s two extra trips). I think the more bicycle-friendly approach would be to have a city-wide (or county-wide?) bike share program that included in the inventory some bicycle and trailer set-ups. At the very least, maybe IKEA could have a drop-off point at some major transit hub, and if you initially rode a folding bike that you hauled back in the trailer, you’d be all set.

Regarding bike parking, there are fences and rails, but it’s a crap shoot. Technically, you are not allowed to lock your bike to those railings. There is tons of parking for cars; perhaps they could give one over to bike parking near the entrance to the store so it has the security of many eyes watching it.

To be honest, IKEA did a great job with the park near the store. The area near the water is landscaped nicely, there’s lots of outdoor seating, wide walkways, and the old cranes are preserved beautifully. If more stores like this figure out ways to reconnect the people to the waterfront, it will be worth it.

Also (and I’m surprised no one else brought this up yet) IKEA of Denmark has started a bike and trailer loaner system to make it easier for people to get bigger items back home via bicycle. Zakkaliciousness of Copenhagen Cycle Chic fame does a good job of describing the system on his other blog, Copenhagenizing. (See http://tinyurl.com/54hwc6)