Every time I take my bike to your store, parking is nearly impossible to find. If you look out in front of the Time Warner Center on any given day, you will see scores of bikes chained to trees and signposts. Often, there is no more space for a bike. I noticed yesterday that on one of the signposts on 58th Street, there is a sign saying bikes will be removed if attached to the sign. This is not only not encouraging customers to bike to the store - it is borderline harassment of bikers.

All of this wouldn't be so absurd if Whole Foods didn't have a policy of encouraging people to drive to the store by providing FREE CAR PARKING!

From your website -
> Public Parking
> We offer validated parking with purchase! Park in the garage at The Time Warner Center on 58th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, and you can receive 2 hours free parking when you make a purchase of $150* or more at Whole Foods Market! Simply bring your receipt and parking stub to Customer Service after you check out and they will validate your parking for up to 2 hours.
>

I can't believe that in this day and age - with all the information about the impact of cars on global warming, asthma and other respiratory ailments that Whole Foods Columbus Circle, which sits on top of 5 subway lines and is adjacent to 2 bike paths, would encourage people to use their gas guzzling, polluting and noisy vehicles to shop there - while discouraging a healthy, clean and free alternative. Biking also contributes to community building as bikers interact more with other bikers and pedestrians than people in cars could ever dream of doing.

The back of your business cards are printed with "Whole Foods Core Values" - there are 6 of them. Number 5 states - "Caring About Our Communities and Our Environment" - I would say that when it comes to biking to your store, you fall far short of approaching this goal and appear to be working against it.

I know that the Time Warner Center controls the property etc - but as a major tenant there, I'm hopeful you could act in your customers (and the planet's) best interests by speaking with them and doing whatever is necessary to rectify this wrong. Only by speaking out is change possible.

My suggestions would be -

a) take some space in the parking garage and put bike racks in there and make them available free of charge to WF customers.

b) work with Time Warner and/or NYC Dept of Transportation to install a bike parking facility like the one on the north side of Union Square on the sidewalk near the store.

I think this would be a great boon for your store - you will be living up to your core values and you can generate some good press (have a ribbon cutting and invite Transportation Alternatives representatives to attend). You will also be making your employees healthier - I just got off the phone with Leticia - a shift manager - who told me that she has heard this complaint before - not only from customers, but from other team members who would like to be able to bike to work.

I welcome your comments and appreciate your time,

Steven Kopstein

@Steve interesting to hear you would be prepared to pay for bike parking - hopefully someone will provide that one day.

Steve @ #12,

And (as I'm sure you are aware) all the other racks in the Columbus Circle vicinity are full of bikes for rent.

NYC DoT, Dep't Parks & Recreation, and Planning should collaborate to dramatically ramp up the City's involvement in Central Park bike rentals and bike parking to go along with it. the current situation is laughable. Tourists astute enough to know about the sole municipal rental concession at the Boathouse are forced to walk to the middle of the Park it in hopes of finding a sufficient number of single speed 150 lb clunkers available to rent. Often they are disappointed, or so I have been told by one of the kids who works the concession. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are offering a variety of rentals at unregulated terms and prices, surely without paying any taxes to the city, and using up all the available bike parking to do it. Tourists are spending a higher percentage of their money on incidental vendors they happen to encounter while walking around the Park to get to major destinations, instead of fitting in additional destinations (where the real spending and tax revenue generation goes on) by traveling efficiently among them by bike.

The City should offer (itself or through a concessionaire like Metro Bicycles or Bike & Roll) a fleet of modern rental bicycles and tandems. Locate the rentals at kiosks located near Columbus Circle, the Plaza, 72nd Street on the East and West sides, and the southern terminus of the new B'way cycle track at 44th St., and at 110th & Lenox. Print up self-guided tour maps like the one recently released for Queens, each with a different theme (museums, kids, architecture, explore the park, etc.). Install bike parking (maybe some new "green" design will allay the inevitable aesthetic objections at the major destinations (Zoo, Hecksher, Hans C. Anderson, Carousel, Delacorte, Swedish Marionette, Harlem Meer/Dana, Boathouse, Conservatory, tennis courts, etc.) and at each of the major gates the park. The parking will serve commuters and other non-tourists, as well as tourists. Use such a system as a pilot/launching platform for an expanded bike share throughout Manhattan

Charge a modest amount for everything, payable by credit card, and the concession will more than pay for itself. It's so obvious.

The Time Warner Center is anti-bike and anti-environment. Spread the word.

So I just requested repair/replacement of two bike racks and identified them by the ID numbers on this map. Maybe that'll help get something done.

Bigger question though, how often will data be supplied and updated by Cityracks? I already see inaccuracies. The Smith/Bergen intersection in Boerum Hill has racks behind each of 4 entrances to the subway, but its not noted (and even that bike parking there alone isn't enough.... the more racks we have strategically placed, the more it will become part of the norm and get people cycling regularly)

So now that we can actually identify bike racks by number perhaps they'll come up with a way to report vandalism to individual bike racks?

This really would make a great iPhone app. Then when you can't find a bike rack in Central Park, Broadway Plaza, or the newly reopened Washington Square Park, cyclists would be able to find one nearby instead of chaining the bike to a tree guard or lamp post.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3568923176_d364846482.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3638/3568111993_8140bc39e8.jpg?v=0

http://nycbikemaps.com

http://www.ridethecity.com/

Also, when are we going to get some good organized indoor bike parking? I would love to give my money to someone who promises a place for my bike where it won't get stolen or wet while I work. I know that there are some west coast operations that provide such a service but why aren't there any here? Rent to expensive? Land acquisition costs? What about in parks? Most parks prohibit cycling on pedestrian paths and open spaces, but don't have a good place to lock and store bikes.