Streetsblog regular Glenn McAnanama sent in a flier from Columbia University police [PDF] alerting faculty, staff and students to a recent bike theft.

Video stills like the one at right appear to show a man -- pictured more clearly on the flier -- walking away with a bike after removing the front wheel. (Hal would probably give that lock job an "F.")

This is not a huge deal, but as Glenn points out, it's nice to see campus security treating bike theft as an actual crime worthy of its attention. "This is the second one of these [fliers] I've seen in as many weeks," he writes. "Imagine if NYPD were this concerned."

Of course, prevalence of bike theft also raises the issue of secure parking, or lack thereof, on campus. Any Columbia-affiliated folks care to weigh in?

The revised bill, which would require building managers to provide bicycle access to tenants who request it, divvies up responsibility for enforcement between DOT and the Department of Buildings differently than previous versions, Streetsblog has learned. Core provisions intended to expand bicycle access to buildings remain unchanged.

The bill, now supported by 35 co-sponsors, would come up for a vote at the council's next stated meeting,  scheduled for Wednesday, July 29.

The last time we checked in on the Bicycle Access Bill, it was still sitting in John Liu's Transportation Committee after other legislators, including sponsor David Yassky and 31 additional supporters in the City Council, had expected it to reach the full floor for a vote. Then came an outpouring of e-faxes from cyclists asking Liu to get behind the bill.

Today, a number of people have forwarded us an invitation from Liu's office to hear him explain his position this Friday. Read it after the jump.

Dear Fellow Cyclist:

Thank you for reaching out to me about your support for legislation in support of expanding bicycle access to buildings in our City. This is an issue I have fought for over the last couple of years and my position on it has been clear and consistent, notwithstanding recent efforts by some folks to misrepresent my actions and statements on this.

I wanted to take this opportunity to invite you to meet with me so I can give you the latest update on bike access legislation. Can you meet me at City Hall this Friday July 24 from 4:30-5:30pm? (to try to accommodate those who have regular work-hours). No need to RSVP (but you can if you’d like) and feel free to pass this along to others who may be interested.

John Liu
Member, City Council
Chairperson, Transportation Committee

We're hearing that Liu is now prepared to support the bill. An aide at his office said he would explain all at the Friday meeting.

Does anyone believe that John Liu's position on bicycle access to buildings has remained consistent since last September?

A cycling advocacy group has been flooded with e-faxes pushing Councilman John Liu to schedule a committee vote on a bill allowing bicycles in some office buildings. Transportation Alternatives has received more than 800 messages in four days. "We've never had anything like it, not even at the height of the congestion pricing drama," a TA spokesman says. The group is delivering the messages to Liu, who questions whether the bill would improve bicycle access. Bill sponsor David Yassky is running against Liu for city comptroller, but Liu says that has nothing to do with his position. He previously backed a stronger bike access bill that, unlike this one, lacked mayoral support.

Our calls to Liu's office have yet to be returned, so we can't expand on his rationale that the bill won't improve bike access to office buildings. At this point, Liu doesn't really need to explain himself. The fact that the committee chair with jurisdiction won't move a bill supported by the mayor, 29 other Council members, and the city's best-known advocates for cycling speaks volumes.

A few months ago, John Liu was all for bikes in buildings.

Danny Kanner, a spokesman for bill sponsor David Yassky, confirmed this afternoon that the landmark piece of legislation has yet to clear John Liu's transportation committee. "The bill has been laid on council members' desks for eight days, which is typically what is done before a bill comes before the full council," said Kanner. "That was done with the anticipation that it would be voted out of the transportation committee today."

Liu's office has not yet returned requests for comment. But here's what we know.

• When a previous version of this bill surfaced in the council in 2006, John Liu was a co-sponsor.
  
• Last September, Liu joined Yassky and Tish James on the steps of City Hall to call for better bike access to buildings. Rally speakers noted the odd aversion many building owners display toward letting bikes inside office buildings, and the manifold benefits of legislation to correct that bias.
  
• In March, Liu switched from the crowded public advocate race to the somewhat less crowded comptroller race, in which he faces two other candidates from Queens -- and Yassky.
• At the last transportation committee hearing on the bill, Liu started questioning whether DOT should have jurisdiction over bicycle access to buildings. No one else on the committee voiced similar concerns. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri assured Liu that their agencies would have it covered.
• Today, Liu's committee did not meet and advance the bill despite the widespread expectation that it would do so.
  

The next opportunity to move the bill will come in July, when the full City Council is scheduled to hold a stated meeting. "David and a variety of advocates have worked hard on this bill, a bill that will reduce congestion, carbon emissions, and improve public health," Kanner said. "It should pass."

Last September, John Liu stood on the steps of City Hall to support bicycle access to buildings. Will he follow through on that commitment?

We Are Not There Yet -- Bicycle Access to Buildings Bill in Jeopardy

Your voices are needed. Now! With the expected passage of the Bicycle Access to Buildings Bill slated to take place at tomorrow’s City Council meeting, we are concerned to learn that there still may be some strong opposition to the bill. Please immediately call Council Member John Liu, chair of the Transportation Committee, and let him know that you support this bill and that we need his support too!

Information:
Council Member John Liu
Chair, Transportation Committee
City Hall office: 212-788-7022
District office: 718-888-8747

Advocates have been fighting for this legislation for years. Its passage would make it much easier for thousands of cyclists to ride to work -- boosting bike commuting by as much as 50 percent -- and one last push from supporters can help put it over the top.

I did end up buying a folding bike this weekend -- a Montague DX -- and proudly carried it, folded in half, into 3 Times Square this morning, after having been told by a security guard that folding bikes were OK to bring in to the office. Except, it turns out, they’re not. The only way you’re allowed to bring a folding bike into the building, it turns out, is if it’s packed up into a bag. Otherwise, no dice.

I suppose my next hope is that NYC's bike-friendly new transportation commissioner will install some permanent bike parking in the acreage of Times Square she recently pedestrianized.

I'm sure the property managers at 3 Times Square have concocted some far-fetched safety-related pretense to explain why folding bikes have to be in a bag to get inside the building. But let's get real. This is about appearances. There's some notion of office building propriety that the mere sight of a bicycle would violate.

At this point, the best hope for Felix Salmon and other cyclists rests with the New York City Council, especially transportation committee chair John Liu and Speaker Christine Quinn. How much longer will thousands of New Yorkers have to wait before they can ride to work without worrying about theft?

Will the real John Liu please stand up? The councilman plays to the crowd at last year's Tour de Queens. Photo: qmaparks/Flickr.

Before I get to that, a little explanation is in order about the current status of the bill. This is the second committee hearing on Intro 871. It's been reworked substantially in the seven months since the first hearing, with both transportation advocates and the real estate industry weighing in. The bill has also been tweaked since Streetsblog posted the revised text earlier this month. I don't have the most up-to-date version available, but based on today's testimony, there are two notable changes:

• The bill now clearly states that building owners can claim an exemption if "secure" bike parking is available nearby. This should close a potential loophole in previous language, which granted exemptions for buildings near "sheltered" bike parking. That's the good news.
• The bad news: The bill no longer requires buildings that have a passenger elevator but no freight elevator to provide bicycle access. Previously, any building with a passenger elevator big enough to accommodate a bike had to comply.

The current legislation is still strong enough to merit the support of transportation advocates, but the loss of passenger elevator access is significant. Said bill sponsor David Yassky, "My hope is that at some point in the future, the bill will be amended to include passenger elevators." We have a request in with the Department of Buildings to determine how many buildings this exemption would affect.

Most of the questioning and testimony this morning centered around enforcement. Intro 871 relies on a "tenant-driven" process: Building owners have to provide bike access if a tenant requests it, and they may deny the request if their freight elevator can't accommodate bikes. Council Member Daniel Garodnick suggested that the final bill should spell out exactly how the city will determine whether building owners have legitimate reasons for denying access. Sadik-Khan agreed.

This addressed one of the major shortcomings Liu found in the bill, but the committee chair wasn't satisfied. In a long, combative exchange with Sadik-Khan, he questioned why DOT "is involved in this bill in the first place." Sadik-Khan and Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri had already explained that DOT and DOB would jointly monitor compliance with the bill. Undeterred, Liu launched into a digressive speech about the city's lack of enforcement of "stoop-side stand" regulations. Claiming that sidewalk vending stands present a pedestrian safety hazard, he accused DOT of "inconsistency" for proposing to inspect bicycle access to buildings while leaving stoop-side stands unmonitored. Liu, it should be noted, has vocally opposed the pedestrian safety improvements underway in Times Square.

While the committee chair was dragging out the proceedings, two bike commuters sitting next to me left the council chamber before they had a chance to testify in favor of the bill. They had to get back to work.

The last time we checked in, the bill had some worrisome provisions in its exemption mechanism. Building owners could skirt the requirement by providing "sheltered bike parking," which doesn't necessarily mean "secure bike parking."

The hearing gets underway at 10 a.m. at City Hall. If you'd like to speak up about the need to make this bill as strong as possible, Transportation Alternatives is organizing testimony. Check the latest issue of TA's StreetBeat for details.

This is a nice change of pace from all those evening news segments about how to beat parking tickets (some of which may have been written by this road-raging sociopath).

Howard Thompson, of "Help Me Howard" fame, filed an item on last night's PIX news about how hard it is to get the police to take bike theft seriously. The victim he profiles, Tadree Coppedge, was able to obtain security cam footage of the theft after cops at the 9th Precinct rebuffed her request for help. Now, Thompson reports, two detectives are looking into it.

Good to know those cams are trained at the right angle, since it seems no one on the street notices this stuff.

After an initial hearing in the City Council last December, the different parties -- including transportation advocates and the real estate industry -- headed to the negotiating table. The revised bill is now scheduled for a second hearing later this month, and you can peruse the latest version online.

This iteration of Intro 871 includes several new provisions, but the basics are intact: office building owners would have to grant access to bicycles if an employee or tenant requests it. Crucially, landlords won't be able to skirt the requirement simply because their buildings have only passenger elevators, not freight elevators. As long as the passenger elevator is big enough to accommodate a bike, cyclists would be able to bring their rides inside.

Mayor Bloomberg's office voiced support for the bill, which takes a page directly from PlaNYC. "It's something we want to see move forward very quickly,"  spokesperson Marc LaVorgna said. "We're working with the City Council on putting a final bill together that can be passed and that can work." LaVorgna confirmed that some aspects of the bill are likely to change before it comes up in committee, but declined to specify which provisions might be adjusted.

A spokesperson for Christine Quinn's office said it's too early for the Council Speaker to comment on the draft legislation.

One thing to keep an eye on as the bill progresses will be the exemption mechanism.

As Intro 871 is currently written, landlords don't have to comply if their building is within 600 feet or three blocks of "covered off-street or indoor no-cost bicycle parking." Depending on what that language actually refers to, large swaths of buildings could skirt the requirement while their tenants are left without adequate, secure bike parking. We have a request in with the City Council to clear up the definition. (One theory is that this language refers to bike parking in garages and attended parking lots, which would become much more common under Intro 780, sponsored by Council Member Oliver Koppell.)

Building owners can also obtain an exemption by providing "sheltered bicycle storage in public/private plazas," another hazy term that we're trying to pin down.

Hearings on both the Bicycle Access Bill and Intro 780 are scheduled for the Council's transportation committee at 10:00 a.m. on June 15.

Via the Facebook news service (subscription required), WNYC's morning radio host reports that thieves have spirited away his bicycle, and he's thinking about how to secure his next ride. If you're Brian Lehrer's Facebook friend, you can now follow what promises to be an encyclopedic discussion of bicycle locking. Do we sense an opening on tomorrow's show for the master of bike theft prevention, Hal Ruzal? Or perhaps a hard-hitting segment about why it's taking the City Council so long to move the Bicycle Access Bill?

With Bike Month well underway and lots of new cyclists hitting the streets, we need a sage to remind us how easy it is to roll your bike. So, once again, I'm pleased to present immortal Bicycle Habitat mechanic Hal Ruzal in the last chapter of his exclusive Streetfilms trilogy on proper bike locking. Hal is calling it "your final warning."

This time around Hal not only grades the ability of anonymous locker-uppers, but also shows you how he secures his own bike, so you too can score an "A" (or at least have a decent shot at an A- or B+). And if you can't get enough of Hal's stories and musings, don't miss our first two chapters: "Hal Grades Your Bike Locking" and "Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking."

Photo: Department of City Planning [PDF].

We've said it before and it's certainly worth repeating: This zoning change is a good step forward that will bear fruit in the long run; the missing piece -- and it's a big one -- is bike access to existing buildings. To that end, the Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871) would provide a much more substantial and immediate benefit to bike commuters by allowing them to bring their rides inside the workplace, if their employer consents. The legislation aims to reverse the policies of New York City landlords and property managers, most of whom don't allow bikes inside. By drastically reducing the risk of theft, the bill could boost bike commuting by as much as 50 percent.

After holding a committee hearing on Intro 871 last fall, legislators are currently tweaking the bill's language. We have a request in with sponsor David Yassky's office to determine when the revised bill will come up in committee.

Intro 871 would make it much easier to -- gasp! -- bring your bike to work. Photo: Transportation Alternatives [PDF]

Should the zoning amendment pass, it would be good news for New York City bike commuters in years to come. The lack of a secure place to put your ride is one of the main obstacles to commuting by bike, and the zoning change will gradually alter the equation as new housing, workplaces, and commercial development get built. (The amendment now includes exemptions for low-income housing, but not the bike parking-for-car parking swap proposed at a previous hearing.)

A related measure, the Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871), could deliver immediate benefits to nearly all bike commuters in the city by improving access to existing workplaces. As things stand, most landlords and building managers simply don't permit people to bring bikes inside. Intro 871, sponsored by David Yassky, would help remedy the situation and has already progressed through one hearing in the transportation committee. A revised version of the bill is expected to be released in the next few days, and Yassky's office is "very optimistic" that a second committee hearing will take place within approximately six weeks, according to spokesman Danny Kanner.

Intro 871 is one to keep a very close eye on. While a majority of the council has signed on as co-sponsors, the Real Estate Board of New York has signaled its opposition the bill. Not that the pro-bike side is without its own heavy hitters. A group of high-powered business leaders and lawyers sent this letter [PDF, or follow the jump] to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, asking her to continue the "championing of sustainable, healthy and cost effective transportation modes" (disclosure: Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton is one of the signatories). Quinn's office has not returned inquiries about her stance on the bill.

Dear Speaker Quinn,

We write to you today as professionals and as cyclists. We are both business people and lawyers and we wish to be bicycle commuters. Many of our peers as well as employees of the companies we own, manage, and work for are discovering the physical, mental, and practical benefits that come with cycling. Yet there is a crucial inequity that separates us from those who commute by car: secure storage. It is not only this imbalance, but the opportunity for a solution, that prompts this letter. We urge you to continue your championing of sustainable, healthy and cost effective transportation modes by supporting City Council legislation Intro. 871, The Bicycle Access Bill.

When people drive to work they have several ways to store their cars. They can look for a curbside parking space, they can park in an off-street garage, or they may even have a parking facility in their destination building. Cyclists have to deal with issues of access, inconvenience, and security. Although the DOT and some BIDs have made great strides in providing curbside bike racks, supply has not kept up with demand in midtown and the financial district. Most riders have to chain their bikes to whatever sign, pole, scaffolding, or rack they can find in the vicinity.

A good bike is of value to both its owner and a thief, so many of us are reluctant to leave our bikes on the sidewalk even when racks are available. The better the bike, the more likely a theft. Some 70,000 bikes are stolen every year in New York City and less than 2% are ever recovered. Every time we ride to work, we gamble on whether or not our transportation will be there for the ride home, many of us will not cycle to work if we can’t park indoors.

Bicycle commuting is efficient in many ways. Riding to work allows people who are committed to fitness, but who work long hours, to combine transportation and exercise. More bicycle commuters mean fewer private and hired cars on the city’s clogged streets and fewer passengers on overcrowded subways and buses. Moreover, people who cycle to work have been shown to be more productive and happier on the job. And, as property owners and managers who permit access to buildings have already discovered, it will not increase operational or insurance costs.

PlaNYC 2030 calls for the promotion of cycling as a sustainable mode of transportation. Because Intro. 871 is an important step in achieving this goal, we urge you to support it.

The gathering threat.

The bill also includes language requiring bike parking in new buildings, mirroring a zoning amendment unveiled by the Department of City Planning earlier this week.

Yassky spokesman Jake Maguire stressed that the bill is about access. "It's a no-brainer that if you want people to stop driving and relieve crowding on subways, you need to allow people to bring their bikes to work," he said. "Hopefully this bill will have a speedy hearing and a speedy debate in the Council. With the support of 30 members we expect it to pass before the end of the year."

To review: The bill provides for bike access to existing buildings (which will constitute the vast majority of commuting destinations long into the future), and bike parking in new buildings. A few weeks ago transportation analyst Charles Komanoff gave us a quick-and-dirty estimate that bike commuting could rise up to 50 percent as a result of universal access to workplace buildings.

Crain's Insider has reported that the Real Estate Board of New York opposes the Bikes in Buildings Bill. REBNY President Steve Spinola sent a letter to Streetsblog Wednesday outlining his organization's stance, and confirmed his opposition to the new bill in a phone interview this morning. He questioned the city's legal authority to mandate bike access and cited concerns about liability, arguing that access should be expanded voluntarily by building managers. More on that exchange later.

Photo: kate at yr own risk/Flickr

Last month, Newmark Knight Frank, a real estate and property management firm, installed an indoor bike rack at 520 Eighth Avenue, a corporate office building that serves 86 businesses and 5,000 employees.

Adam Mansky, a tenant who works at the Center for Court Innovation, asked building manager Peter Troisi if the building should install a bike rack. "I told him I would look into it," Troisi recalls.

Troisi called Eric Gural, the Executive Managing Director at Newmark who is in charge of running the building, and the two agreed that the rack was a good idea.

"Riding bikes to work is a good thing, and we want to support that," Gural explains. "It would not be the same if tenants asked for a free candy machine."

"It was simple," Troisi said. "We ordered it from a catalogue, it came in four weeks, and we installed it ourselves." The rack, which cost $600 and holds ten bikes, is located in the freight entrance to the building. According to Troisi, four to five commuters use the rack every day. If demand increases, says Gural, Newmark will happily install another one.

"Some buildings might say, 'We have 5,000 tenants, and we are only helping five so it is not a big enough impact,' but we don't see it that way," says Gural. "If it had impacted other tenants' ability to get freight we would not have installed it, but that was not the case."

The building has long accommodated bike commuters; before the rack was installed, tenants could bring bikes up the freight elevator and store them in their offices. Now commuting is more convenient because tenants can drop their bikes in the rack and ride the passenger elevator instead waiting for the freight elevator.

Mansky, who has been commuting for 18 months, says the building's accommodations have made all the difference. "I have been able to convince a few of my colleagues to commute with me, partly because I tell them they won't have to leave their bikes outside," he says.

Installing a bike rack into a corporate building is not as simple as it sounds. "It is not as easy as putting a bike rack into your house," says Gural. "The key is cooperation from everyone involved." The building owner, building manager, and management company have to agree. Consensus was relatively easy at 520 Eighth avenue because Newmark both owns and manages the building.

520 Eighth Avenue also had the advantage of good space and security, which some corporate buildings lack. There was space for a rack in the large freight entrance that does not take in as much freight as it used to, and the existing security camera reduced worries about liability.

The good news is that Newmark will probably install bike racks in more buildings. Gural has started LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications in all the buildings he manages -- a certification from the U.S. Green Building Council awarded to buildings that meet the highest green standards. By installing a bike rack, buildings earn points toward the minimum number required to get a LEED certification.

In the meantime, the tenants at 520 Eighth avenue could not be happier. Mansky applauds the efforts of Troisi and his staff. "I feel totally welcomed," he says. "It makes my commute that much easier and more fun."

Front row l-r: Tish James, Paul Steely White, John Liu, David Yassky. Photo: Mike Infranco.

With the fallout from Wall Street taking a toll on city coffers, Mayor Bloomberg has a lot of tough calls to make. The "Bikes in Buildings" bill [PDF] is not one of them. It's a lay-up -- a simple rule change that promises big gains for bike commuting. The bill, also known as Intro 38, would require commercial landlords to allow tenants to bring bikes inside buildings. No storage requirements attached.

On the steps of City Hall this morning, City Council members David Yassky, Tish James, and John Liu joined Transportation Alternatives' Paul Steely White and a band of advocates to urge passage of the bill. In total, 30 members of the City Council have already signed on to the measure, a majority of the chamber.

A similar pledge to promote bike storage in commercial buildings is enshrined in the transportation plank of Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC. As the speakers were quick to point out, "Bikes in Buildings" is an even easier lift.

"It's simply to mandate that you have to allow access to bicycles, and then you let the landlords figure out, case by case, what's the most efficient way to do it," said Yassky. The way things stand now, he noted, even if businesses encourage employees to bring bikes to work, most building managers won't let it happen. "You can bring a dolly or a stroller, but not a bike."

Reversing this widespread policy would address one of the major obstacles to bike commuting, especially among people who already ride: the lack of a secure place to keep bikes at work. Rigorous projections of the bill's effect are not available, but, drawing from his decades of experience analyzing bike traffic, former TA president Charles Komanoff gave a rough estimate that "universal bike commuter access to buildings would cause at least a 25 percent increase and perhaps as much as a 50 percent increase in bike commuting."

Deb Shapiro, a lawyer who works near Madison Square Park, testified to the senselessness of landlords' current policies. When she asked her building manager why she couldn't bring a bike inside, she was told it came down to concerns about liability and property damage. "I know a little bit about liability issues, and this just didn't make sense to me," she said. "What damage is a bike going to do to a freight elevator? You see all these other things that can go in and out of an office building, like dumpsters and cleaning carts. What more could a bicycle do?"

Yassky had a theory about where that baseless fear of bikes comes from. "There's this feeling that it isn't the proper decorum for an office building to have people bringing their bicycles in," he said. "How outdated can you get? I think any building owner should be proud that the tenants in his or her building are biking to work. That should be a badge of honor."

Some commercial landlords are a step ahead of the curve, White noted: "Hundreds of buildings are doing this with no problem -- Class A office buildings with marble floors."

Advocates are pushing for City Council to consider the bill this fall. "We need a hearing in City Council and we really need Bloomberg to voice support for this," said White.

Here's an interview from last year with London Mayor Boris Johnson, who ousted Ken Livingstone last week. It's pretty remarkable in that Johnson spends the first eight minutes talking about buses and bikes.

• 1:54: Johnson says the first thing he would do as mayor is commission a study for a new bus design. The current articulated buses ("bendies") are dangerous and inaccessible to disabled riders, he says.
  
• 4:27: "By the way, speaking as a cyclist, I want to be absolutely vehement in my defense of cyclists and in campaigning for people to cycle in this town. I think that bendies are lethal ... They push you out into the traffic ..."
• 5:00: Johnson, who says he has cycled to work every day for eight years, encourages the interviewer to get on a bike.
• 5:40: Johnson to interviewer: "It's very very sad that people like you are so anxious about cycling, and I would like people to feel more encouraged to do it. That's a psychological barrier that we've got to overcome." Johnson then expounds on police failure to deter bike theft.
• 18:10: Johnson says he will abolish the congestion charge "As such time as I have a better replacement." Though he says he wants to be "the greenest mayor this country [has] had," Johnson says pricing in London has failed to reduce traffic and pollution. Despite these statements, Johnson has more recently pledged to reduce the congestion zone to its original size, but has no known plans to repeal the charge.

UPDATE: From Sunday's Daily Mail:

Without giving full details of his intentions, Mr Johnson said he would "reform and improve" the congestion charge on drivers entering central London, including by making it possible for motorists to pay their charge on account at the end of the month.

New York cyclists know that corporate office buildings are often not the friendliest places for bike commuters. Lynette Chang, a.k.a. "The Gal From Down Under," has been recording her attempts to enter Manhattan office towers with her folding bike. In this video she dresses up nicely, folds her bike neatly and tries to visit the PricewaterhouseCoopers building in Midtown. She is rebuffed by a meathead building manager who insists, "you don't ride a bike to a corporate office building" and, leave it outside, since "nobody steals bikes."

While the NYPD, Parks Department, MTA, unnamed authorities and, of course, bike thieves, busily clip locks and cart off New Yorkers' bicycles in great number, the Department of Transportation is making sure that not only do bike commuters have a classy spot to park outdoors, but their tushies won't get wet when it rains. Next month, cyclists will be happy to see the first of many new public bike-parking shelters popping up near transit hubs throughout the city. Word has it there was a bit of flexibility built in to the Cemusa bus shelter contract and DOT decided to get a bit creative and try this out. New York Magazine reports:

The structures are from the same company that's installing those adorable new bus stops around town. As you can see, they look very similar, except they've removed the side and rear panels for easy access for up to eight bikes. (And their ad panels will show off the city bike map or reminders to pedal safely.) The Art Commission approved the design yesterday, and the contractor will build the first 5 of 37 at commuting hubs. Look for them at 17th and Broadway, DeKalb and Flatbush, Pelham Parkway and White Plains Road, Jackson Avenue at 50th Street in Long Island City, and the St. George Ferry Terminal.

And, hey, it only took eight years. The Department of City Planning Transportation Division recommended the installation of sheltered bike parking in its 1999 Bicycle Parking Needs report:

Where space is available, the installation of CityRacks should be accompanied by the installation of a protective canopy that offers shelter from the weather. Such a shelter could be modeled after the New York City bus shelter. In addition to weather protection, such a shelter would offer the advantage of raised public awareness.

Streetsblog has been a big admirer of other city's bike parking shelters for some time (Brussels, Bogota). It'll be nice to see other cities admiring New York City.