We don't need bike to work week
We need more bike parking for the people who already do ride. This morning was ridiculous. Took me literally half an hour to find bike parking centered on Clark and LaSalle. Why even put on bike to work week, or add all these new bike lanes into the city, when bike parking is so bad. Oh yeah, I forgot, bike parking doesn't make for a nice photo op for the mayor and Active trans...
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Julie Hochstadter on -
amen!
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Permalink Reply by Jason W on -
Oh, I forgot to add, there were bikes parked to sucker poles EVERYWHERE! I feel sorry for those people. They probably are new bike to work people, but they won't have their bikes for long...
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Permalink Reply by Joza 7 miles on -
I would think the more people riding to work, to shop to do anything will be beneficial.
If more riders are out and complain about the lack of infrastructure I can see the city reacting in the positive.
Talk to the Businesses you go to and the stores and ask them to have the city put in racks.
But hey I am just a 40 something that has learned to just get on with it.
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Permalink Reply by Joza 7 miles on
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Oh I HATE sucker poles.
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Permalink Reply by carfreecommuter on -
I'd like to think that this is a problem we'd like to have, at least in the short term. Higher ridership means more public support for bicycle infrastructure and beneficial policies. This could potentially lead to better facilities such as more office buildings offering shower/locker room access. Also doesn't Chicago have the most or second most number or bike racks in the country? I checked the Chicago bike website this morning and it listed over 12,000 for the city. As for publicity, the CDOT commissioner did make bike parking a nice photo op last summer...
(http://gridchicago.com/2011/wicker-parking-chicago-debuts-its-first...)
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I suggest you request more racks for your location. I found the Bike Rack request page on the Chicago bike website here: http://chicagobikes.org/bikeparking/#rackrequest
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Permalink Reply by Serge Lubomudrov on -
I agree. Jason is a bit unfair to the Active Trans and CDOT. More people riding increases demand for bicycling facilities of all kind, including parking, of course. In a way, we are now becoming victims of our own success, which I have to remind myself about when I can't find a slot for my bike at the rack inside the building where I work.
carfreecommuter said:I'd like to think that this is a problem we'd like to have, at least in the short term. Higher ridership means more public support for bicycle infrastructure and beneficial policies. This could potentially lead to better facilities such as more office buildings offering shower/locker room access. Also doesn't Chicago have the most or second most number or bike racks in the country? I checked the Chicago bike website this morning and it listed over 12,000 for the city. As for publicity, the CDOT commissioner did make bike parking a nice photo op last summer...
(http://gridchicago.com/2011/wicker-parking-chicago-debuts-its-first...)
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I suggest you request more racks for your location. I found the Bike Rack request page on the Chicago bike website here: http://chicagobikes.org/bikeparking/#rackrequest
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Permalink Reply by Melanie K on -
I have had luck in getting bike racks installed in certain areas that were lacking sufficient bike parking by contacting both the business itself and submitting a bike rack request with the city. Less than a year later, there were bike racks installed where I had mentioned they were needed. If there are more people requesting a need for bike racks, the more likely that more will be put in place. So, if during bike to work week it was tough to find bike parking, put a request in or contact the businesses in the area to see if they are willing to put additional bike parking.
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Permalink Reply by Jason W on
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Joza, carfree and surge, your logic makes no sense. Funneling more people towards a limited resource will only make the situation worse if there is no plan to significantly alleviate the problem. It shows lack of planning on the city's and AT's part. And the picture of the ribbon cutting underscores everything I am stating. That intersection had as much bike parking as any in the city. It was a waste of resources if the purpose was to improve the bike parking situation in the city. But hey, Proco and company got a nice photo op out of it, and that was probably the purpose all along...
And yeah, I've requested bike racks before. I've worked in the same office for over 2 years (3 summers) and it has never significantly changed. There is probably a need for 50-100 spaces in the area, especially considering most bike racks designed for two bikes are triple and quadruple parked. You guys send in your request and ask for that. Let me know how that works for ya...
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Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on -
The bike rack situation is embarrassing in a city that "claims" it wants to be bike-friendly. The new rack installation budget and department is WOEFULLY inadequate. They are a year behind even in the most generous of estimates.
It's too bad that last SOB mayor screwed us all royally with the LAZ deal. Not only did we lose control of the auto parking situation with regards to planning and regulation (and sell it for 75 years to plug one year's budget hole -payday-loan style) but when they removed all the meters they removed the majority of the bike parking infrastructure in the city. The new rack installation has been playing catch-up (if you can call falling further and further behind "catch-up") ever since.
Simply pathetic.
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Permalink Reply by Serge Lubomudrov on
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juson, you can't even get names straight . . . Just an observation.
Jason said:Joza, carfree and surge, your logic makes no sense. Funneling more people towards a limited resource will only make the situation worse if there is no plan to significantly alleviate the problem. It shows lack of planning on the city's and AT's part. And the picture of the ribbon cutting underscores everything I am stating. That intersection had as much bike parking as any in the city. It was a waste of resources if the purpose was to improve the bike parking situation in the city. But hey, Proco and company got a nice photo op out of it, and that was probably the purpose all along...
And yeah, I've requested bike racks before. I've worked in the same office for over 2 years (3 summers) and it has never significantly changed. There is probably a need for 50-100 spaces in the area, especially considering most bike racks designed for two bikes are triple and quadruple parked. You guys send in your request and ask for that. Let me know how that works for ya...
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Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on -
Active Trans and the city bike program slept most of the way through the parking meter removal and then sent out feelgood press releases when they managed to save a tiny number of parking meters in areas that had not yet been converted. And the bike parking crisis is virtually never mentioned by our advocacy organization. Were either of you paying attention in late 2008 when we went from adequate bike parking to huge crisis in the space of a few weeks? The city bike program brags that it installs 600 new racks a year citywide-- tiny drop in the bucket compared to the spaces we lost with the parking meter deal. jason's criticism is well-placed and well-deserved.
e Lubomudrov said:I agree. Jason is a bit unfair to the Active Trans and CDOT. More people riding increases demand for bicycling facilities of all kind, including parking, of course. In a way, we are now becoming victims of our own success, which I have to remind myself about when I can't find a slot for my bike at the rack inside the building where I work.
carfreecommuter said:I'd like to think that this is a problem we'd like to have, at least in the short term. Higher ridership means more public support for bicycle infrastructure and beneficial policies. This could potentially lead to better facilities such as more office buildings offering shower/locker room access. Also doesn't Chicago have the most or second most number or bike racks in the country? I checked the Chicago bike website this morning and it listed over 12,000 for the city. As for publicity, the CDOT commissioner did make bike parking a nice photo op last summer...
(http://gridchicago.com/2011/wicker-parking-chicago-debuts-its-first...)
.
I suggest you request more racks for your location. I found the Bike Rack request page on the Chicago bike website here: http://chicagobikes.org/bikeparking/#rackrequest
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Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on
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Agree wholeheartedly.
James BlackHeron said:The bike rack situation is embarrassing in a city that "claims" it wants to be bike-friendly. The new rack installation budget and department is WOEFULLY inadequate. They are a year behind even in the most generous of estimates.
It's too bad that last SOB mayor screwed us all royally with the LAZ deal. Not only did we lose control of the auto parking situation with regards to planning and regulation (and sell it for 75 years to plug one year's budget hole -payday-loan style) but when they removed all the meters they removed the majority of the bike parking infrastructure in the city. The new rack installation has been playing catch-up (if you can call falling further and further behind "catch-up") ever since.
Simply pathetic.
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