Comments on: Just Give Us a Place to Park Our Bikes

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:03:54 +0000

The link to the survey was scrubbed, for some reason, So here goes once again

http://securethebike.wordpress.com/

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:00:52 +0000

Bike parking

I am working on a high-density bike parking solution that would be an automated secure and protected facility that would operate 24/7 for around 200 bikes. This could be a solution that could be a implemented in metropolitan areas with space constraints. I see that a lot of bikers yearn for one. The question of trade-offs however needs to be addressed.

Please see the following link to a survey that has been setup for this
purpose. If you could put this up and/ or spread this questionnaire, it
would help in understanding the problem from different aspects.

Once there are sufficient responses, I’ll publish the results.

By: Si

Si — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:50:51 +0000

The company that owns the building in midtown NYC, to which my employer recently relocated, last week implemented a ban on bike access literally overnight. Previously we’d been able (told by the doormen) to use the freight elevator. On Tuesday last week, we were no longer allowed to bring our bikes in at all. For some this has meant leaving their bikes locked up on the side walk. Others have gone back to relying on the subway and losing the benefits of cycling to work. All are utterly dismayed at the backwards approach of the company concerned, and the blunt manner in which the ban was imposed. To its credit, my employer has sought alternative arrangements for bike parking which will be in place shortly. However, these won’t meet the concerns of cyclists working for other tenants in the building who are affected by the ban. Hopefully, the NYC access law will force the building owners to think again.

By: BicyclesOnly

BicyclesOnly — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:40:19 +0000

Not on point for post, but Stacy mentions building supers. Why does every building super in NYC think the only way to remove debris from the pavement in front of their building is to systematically fire a hose at each square inch, each morning? Before dog waste laws were enforced, this might have made sense, but now its just a colossal waste of water that needlessly floods the drainage system each morning, with bicyclists riding by getting sprayed in the bargain. . . .

By: Stacy

Stacy — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:50:02 +0000

Augra27: Superintendents for the buildings on the block where I live seem to think its their right to cut locks after some unspecified period of time. They’re accustomed to piling up the garbage in the tree pits and view bicycles as a nuisance , whether they’re chained to building fences, trees, parking signs, or even City bike racks. And when they cut the locks they don’t bother to bring the bikes inside. They just leave them out of the sidewalk for anyone who will take them away.

LN: By any chance is this your handiwork?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/3994257467_b34ed23101.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2529/3994257393_40720662ff.jpg

By: Prudence

Prudence — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:42:18 +0000

Please check out Cooper Union’s repsonse to not having any safe bicycle parking!: http://www.smac.us/2009/10/08/this-bicycle-is-a-sculpture/

By: Shemp

Shemp — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:46:29 +0000

Kaja, you need to explain how the passage of the law reduced bike access to your building beyond just asserting that it’s gotten worse since the law was signed. The bikes in buildings law doesn’t even take effect until December.

By: BicyclesOnly

BicyclesOnly — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:35:42 +0000

NattyB, implementation is everthing; I can’t imagine many garage and buklding owners getting on board without some level of pressure and enforcement action.

As for the scaffolding, they are one of my favorite places to park, when there is not legal bike parking available. The key is locking to a load-bearing vertical element, so that thieves cannot remove the element without the scaffold coming crashing down on their heads. Also, if you lock the bike on the outside of the scaffolding structure–as opposed to the inside passageway, where pedestrians are intended to go–you avoid inconveniencing pedestrians any more than the scaffolding already inconveniences them. Plus, the scaffolding shelters your bike from the rain!

By: Augra27

Augra27 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:05:43 +0000

Amen. I was at a friend’s house on the Upper East Side, walk out and NO BIKE. The bike was tied to the only thing within dozens of feet – the building’s awning support that wasn’t in a tree planter. “F*ck… It’s stolen,” I think. Walk around the neighborhood a couple blocks here and there, stop in a local bike shop and ask if someone came by with my bike. Of course not. So I figure the delivery chop-shop ring took it and by now it’s covered in electrical tape and the fenders are ripped off. I return to the building and ask the doorman if he saw anything and reported he didn’t. I leave my number with him. After a week of moping, thinking about what bike I should get next, I get a text from my friend – “Just ran into my super. Your bike is in the basement.” I have yet to go get it (since this was yesterday I found out) and my happiness turned to anger – did these bastards clip my bike because it was on their precious awning? I hope not…

If so, they owe me $60 for a new lock.

At least I still have my bike though.

By: NattyB

NattyB — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:52:38 +0000

@ Bicycles Only,

A timely post indeed, but I share your concerns about the implementation.

I only moved to NYC about 6 weeks ago but I’ve been locking my bike up to Scaffolding (The scaffodling isn’t coming down anytime soon)next to my office in the FinDist. I’m not keen on using scaffolding, but, there are literally no other options nearby. I don’t even need to bring my bike into my building, I just want a safe place to lock up. Is that too much to ask?

I share the sentiments that the other commentors have been articulating, in short — “We’re trying to be green here, please [gov't, police, state,] don’t treat us like degenerates”

By: LN

LN — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:28:24 +0000

Just take a parking space and make a bike pile by locking all the bikes together like this:
http://untitledname.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/monster-track-7-bike-pile.jpg

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:19:16 +0000

Hopefully soon people will realize that bicylcing is part of transportation too! Though there are an increasing number of businesses and communities accomodating biclyclists, it can still be discouraging! People need to understand that more and more people are taking advantage of the quicker, cheaper and more environmentally-friendly choice of bicycling as their commute! This is a great way to improve personal well being as well as being an environmentally conscious person!

On that note, has anyone heard of the Commuter Nation Ride Free Sweepstakes? I was pretty pumped to find out about it. You can enter to win FREE COMMUTING! Which includes bicycling! You can use the prize to make bike repairs, buy bike equipment, and even pay for bike parking!

Definitely check it out! You can also get more information about participating in commuter benefits, a program that can save you up to 40% on your commuting costs!

Head to http://www.commuternation.com and click on the sweepstakes link!

Good luck!

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:20:45 +0000

Then “Gilbert” appeared. With a smile on his face he informed the cyclists, “If you leave your bikes here, they will be gone when you return.”

Ah yes, that good old Western insincere smile. “Yes, my friend, you’re in a fix and I’m not going to lift a finger to help you. Have a nice day!”

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:05:59 +0000

Because of this i have stopped ridding my bike. its just too much hassle

By: Billy Gray

Billy Gray — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:46:11 +0000

I’m sure this happens all over, and that every avid cyclist has been victim to this sort of thing:

If you lock your bike to a street sign on the NW corner of Franklin & India in Greenpoint, you will find piles of trash on your bike and stickers on the seat (DO NOT ATTACH BIKES TO THIS SIGN!), left their by the landlord who sees it as his/her property. The longer you leave your bike their, the more abuse it will be subjected to. I removed it before they busted out the clippers, but I never caught them in the act (I let it go one for a full 24 hours just to see how weird it would get).

A law could help in this area, perhaps in the long-term goal of changing the culture, but it won’t do a whole lot to alleviate situations like the one I’m alluding to.

By: Kaja

Kaja — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:42:07 +0000

Intro 871 has caused loss of bike access to my office building, because the freight runs during weird hours and the building is punitively prohibiting bicycles outside of freight hours. (My employer’s strongly probike, and bikes were previously allowed by the building.)

I see no way of closing the loophole, other than rewriting our (ten-year) office lease, or shrugging the union rules which require manned freight operation. Meanwhile I’m keeping my bike at my desk for four hours a day.

F Jeffries Morris,

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:30:06 +0000

8×12 feet for a car parked on the road? No problem!

2×6 feet for a bike? Whoa there buddy, you are asking too much

By: BicyclesOnly

BicyclesOnly — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:54:59 +0000

A timely post, Sarah--over the next two months, two important New York City bicycle parking laws take effect--the bicycle access to buildings law and the bicycle access in garages law. Unfortunately, these laws are likely to change nothing without organized efforts by bicyclists to promote implementation.