Create Good Bike Parking
Oct. 18th, 2021 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithHere are some tips for good bike parking.
It's good to have bike racks near apartment buildings, storefronts, parks, or other places people congregate. Bikers spend more money than drivers when shopping, and biking improves health. If your area has high bike traffic, check for other amenities such as a bike wash, repair rack, or publicly accessible showers. These raise the appeal and comfort of biking to better serve a busy bike community.
It's good to have bike racks near apartment buildings, storefronts, parks, or other places people congregate. Bikers spend more money than drivers when shopping, and biking improves health. If your area has high bike traffic, check for other amenities such as a bike wash, repair rack, or publicly accessible showers. These raise the appeal and comfort of biking to better serve a busy bike community.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-18 01:01 pm (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2021-10-18 10:46 pm (UTC)Biking supports the local economy in various ways. Bikers and pedestrians don't have car expenses and travel slower, encouraging them to shop more. Both bikers and walkers spend more at local businesses than drivers. Compare types of transit and business results. People-oriented streets are the most economically productive. This makes sense when you consider that they have many more businesses per acre than far-flung car-oriented neighborhoods.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-20 07:35 am (UTC)https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/436991408830677005/886430559147012126/image0.jpg hope the image works. is a self contained explanation of potential security problems (photo taken by me)
and yes, I know the owner could have locked their bike up better, but they shouldn't have had to?
Well ...
Date: 2021-10-20 08:44 am (UTC)* A simple rack is sufficient provided it is quite sturdy and located in a busy area to discourage people from sawing through it. Anything with a large central tube can be greatly enhanced by adding a heavy chain type of stationary bike lock that can be pulled out to secure a bike. This is fine for many areas, average bikes, and short-term storage.
* High-density parking is a variation on this. Here, 1 car parking space = 14 bike parking spaces.
* A stanchion is a bike rack that you slide your bike into and it locks in place to secure the frame and one or preferably both wheels. This is better for quieter places, moderately expensive bikes, and/or parking for more than several hours.
* A bicycle garage is a small enclosure that holds a bicycle inside. This is good for secluded places, expensive bikes, and/or long-term parking.
* Onion style is a Terramagne-American approach for "I have a bike instead of a car" levels of expense. The outside is a garage, and inside it has one or more stationary locking devices. These often have some kind of security coverage too.
- Another T-American feature is not a lock but a bicycle registry. You can file your bike with the local police and they'll give you a little license plate to bolt onto it, making it very difficult to steal and then fence. You can even have it GPS chipped if you want, although that's less popular.
There are variations. This device includes a garage with stanchions on top, so people can choose the desired level of security.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2021-10-20 08:54 am (UTC)my dad said bike registries were much more common when he was a kid. you'd go to the police station and register your bike, and they'd note the color and model and then give you a sticker for your bike. apparently they fell out of fashion or something
edit: did a quick google and apparently bike registries still exist, but are less well known in L-America
Re: Well ...
Date: 2021-10-20 09:06 am (UTC)* If you require a license to use a bicycle, fewer people will bike.
* If you require bicycles to be registered, fewer people will bike and they will own fewer bikes.
* If you require helmets and other safety equipment to bike, fewer people will bike and some will do so in hidden places where help is less available in case of accidents.
* If you charge money in the above or other ways, you make biking unaffordable to many more people.
* If biking requires interacting with any kind of official, people with bad experiences of officials will avoid biking.
Of course, once you've killed off the biking activity in your area, you no longer need the program, so it shuts down.
T-America handles it with honey instead of vinegar. A bike license is not required, but is the first form of ID that most people earn as children. (Another is a bus pass in its ID form, but that's usually a little later.) It indicates that you're responsible enough to travel locally so people don't pester you. Registry is optional but gets you perks, like fairly good retrieval of stolen bikes and sometimes a free repair day. You can register individual bikes on a pay-per-piece basis, but if you have a bike license, then all your bikes are covered. There are services that just give a sticker, but the police have real metal license plates that are difficult for thieves to get off.
Re: Well ...
Date: 2021-10-20 09:10 am (UTC)