A Parking Mystery

The manager of the building where my office is writes:

It has been brought to our attention that there is a lack of space on the bike racks near the B2 ramp in the garage. This problem may be caused by people who have abandoned their bikes, and by Clients who are using the bike racks for long term bike storage. To be fair to the daily bike commuters, Clients should not use the bike rack for long term storage.

Of course, an alternative possibility is that the racks are crowded because bike commuting has grown in popularity. But they're going to test their theory out by "removing all bikes that are left on the bike racks in the garage after 9:00 PM on Wednesday, June 18" and then they will "place the bikes in storage for a period of two weeks, after which time, they will be donated to charity." I'll be interested to see what they come up with, but personally I doubt that mass bike-abandonment is really the culprit here.

Either way, eliminating two car parking spots would make room for many bikes, so objective shortage of space should never really be a problem for a garage-equipped building looking to accommodate bike commuters.

Photo by Flickr user Mobikefed used under a Creative Commons license

Comments

Thanks for the biking advocacy. It probably wouldn't be hard for you to find out who some of the other bikers are, and ask the manager to put in more bike racks.

Posted by Allan | June 18, 2008 9:25 AM

Reminds me of Amsterdam where (it seems) there was a huge number of abandoned bikes, without counting the untold number of bikes at bottom of the canals.

I think bike parking is more of a problem than it seems. In NYC, even if you have a cheapo walmart mountain bike you have to lug around a heavy chain if you plan to leave it alone for more than 5 minutes. And even then the seat and the front wheel are vulnerable.

Posted by MS | June 18, 2008 9:33 AM

We have bike parking in the building where I live - an apartment tower built about 7 years ago on the Queens waterfront. It's mostly unusable, though, because it's crammed full of bikes that have clearly been left to rot over the last half-decade.

I've proposed to the building management that they try to do something about this - say, announce that residents must claim their bikes and keep them for a 24 hour period, and that any bikes left on the racks during this period be cut away and discarded - but they haven't done anything yet, and as such the bike parking remains extremely inconvenient to use.

Anecdotally, I'd say this cuts down on my own bike usage.

Posted by Dave Hughes | June 18, 2008 9:40 AM

They might want to clear their action with the police. Those bikes are not their property, and there must be an established law for dealing with property that us suspected to be abandoned on your land.

A better approach is to put tags on all the bikes and deal with the bikes whose tags are not removed a few days later.

Posted by Omri | June 18, 2008 9:44 AM

They might want to clear their action with the police. Those bikes are not their property, and there must be an established law for dealing with property that is suspected to be abandoned on your land.

A better approach is to put tags on all the bikes and deal with the bikes whose tags are not removed a few days later.

Posted by Omri | June 18, 2008 9:45 AM

Just as soon as the people who make decisions about which building their business rents space in start biking to work, the building manager will add more bike racks. So long as the only bike commuters are messengers and low-level munchkins, the bikers are likely to be treated as second-class citizens. That is the way life is.

Posted by y81 | June 18, 2008 9:46 AM

The problem with the tagging idea is that there will always be people who know full well that their bikes are using up space and are never used, but they keep thinking that one day they will use them. They don't want to deal with storing them elsewhere, so they'll go down and remove the tags just like the people who actively use their bikes. The exact thing happened in my building when I lived in a condo, and, at the time, I was one of the culprits. Now, I am 98% car-free, but live in a house where the garage is full of my bikes, while the car gets shat on by birds.

Posted by peejay | June 18, 2008 10:04 AM

y81, MattY works for The Atlantic. Everyone below the level of "publisher" is a "low level munchkin."

Posted by Tyro | June 18, 2008 10:06 AM

Worksman Cycles sells steel bike racks. A 33 bike rack costs about $30 a bike. I'm sure you get a limited amount of parking with your apartment. Why not suggest a limited amount of bike rack space per apartment and charge accordingly?

Posted by joejoejoe | June 18, 2008 10:10 AM

Of course, an alternative possibility is that the racks are crowded because bike commuting has grown in popularity. But they're going to test their theory out...

More likely they've already "tested their theory out" by seeing how many bikes disappeared at night, or on weekends. It's not like you need to take such drastic measures to see how many people are storing their bikes at work or abandoning them.

Posted by right | June 18, 2008 10:15 AM

Bikes stored on outdoor racks for long periods of time tend to get messed up through exposure to weather. Abandonment is not an infrequent occurrence. I'd say the building owner isn't being unreasonable.

Posted by Spike | June 18, 2008 10:15 AM

Or all you bike types could lease your parking spots to car types, pocket the money then spend it on bikes, bike racks, cabs, Zeppelins or whatever. All hail the free market!

Posted by joejoejoe | June 18, 2008 10:22 AM

The parking ramp in my office building has set aside same parking space for lockers capable of holding several bikes. Renting one of those lockers costs $100 per year. Pretty cheap when compared to the cost of car-commuting and parking.

In an earlier biking-related thread someone said that bike manufacturers don't really make a commuter bike. I think that is starting to change. During my last visit to the bike shop they pointed out a spiffy new Trek bike designed for commuting. Fisher had a similar model. I don't have $1000 I want to spend on a new bike, since my old one is serviceable, but those bikes looked pretty good to me.

Posted by Edward, the mad shirt grinder | June 18, 2008 10:27 AM

In Amsterdam, for years almost every bike was painted black. In the 1960s after the Provos won a seat on the city council they proposed that the city buy white bikes and leave them all over town for people to use. The council rejected the idea. Wiki: the Provos decided go ahead anyway. They painted 50 bikes white and left them on streets for public use. The police impounded the bikes, as they violated municipal law forbidding citizens to leave bikes without locking them. After the bikes had been returned to the Provos, they equipped them all with combination locks and painted the combinations on the bicycles.

Posted by red@cted | June 18, 2008 10:46 AM

Generally, abandoned bikes are obvious. They are usually of poor quality to begin with (people aren't abandoning bikes that cost $500+) and, as mentioned above, the weather does a number on them as the components, chains, and even spokes get pretty rusted. Tires get kicked in and warped.

The best thing to do is to tag all the bikes warning that they will be confiscated if not removed within 2 weeks. Although the plan here is also fine.

Posted by lfv | June 18, 2008 10:51 AM

I'll be interested to see what they come up with, but personally I doubt that mass bike-abandonment is really the culprit here.

It's pretty common in Oahu.

Posted by Kolohe | June 18, 2008 11:00 AM

You wanna see bikes!? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeades/2590394296/in/set-72157594584218089/

I'll try and get a better picture in the daytime. Course, Japan has bicycle fairies to move them around and arrange them and everything. Matt, you might be interested in how they do the bike thing over here. I can get some photos for ya with descriptions, or maybe you can talk your bosses into funding a trip over here (I know some good bars around here).

Posted by Jeremy | June 18, 2008 11:01 AM

No (parking) zealot like a (bike) convert.

Posted by Klug | June 18, 2008 12:31 PM

Somebody might want to rethink locking their bike to a parking meter. Couldn't you just lift the bike up?

Posted by dan | June 18, 2008 3:56 PM