“Bike Love? Show Me the Parking!”
Monday, January 12th, 2009
Written by Stephen Box, Hollywood Resident and Bike Activist http://SoapBoxLA.blogspot.com
The most elegant solution to L.A. traffic is simply to pedal to where you need to go. If cycling is not for you, at least give some respect to those who choose to ride. Here’s why: Cyclists are the “indicator species” for a healthy community.
Cyclists favor well-maintained streets free of potholes and debris. They prefer streets with moderate vehicle volumes and speeds, an environment that is likewise safer and more hospitable for drivers and pedestrians.
Surveys in San Francisco found that local businesses benefited from “traffic calming” through their districts, which included accommodations for cyclists.
Finally, an increase in the number of cyclists in a neighborhood – which means more eyes on the street – has a direct relationship to a reduction in crime.
In other words, what’s good for cyclists is good for your community.
As for supporting cyclists, one of the simplest things you can do is to make sure that your neighborhood offers cyclists a place to park their bikes.
The simplest and most effective bike rack is the inverted U which is inexpensive, simple to install, holds two bikes securely, is space efficient and requires no maintenance. They simply need to be located in a highly visible, convenient and well lit area and they will fill up with bikes.
The City’s Department of Transportation offers three excuses for not putting more inverted U racks in our neighborhood.
1) “The City of Los Angeles has no money for bike parking.” Good try but not a good excuse. Funding is available but the City doesn’t apply for Safe Routes to School or Bicycle Transportation Account funding for bicycle parking. Both programs dispense millions of dollars each year and the City of Los Angeles has failed to simply put bicycle parking on their list of priorities.
2) “There isn’t always room for bike parking.” Again, good try but not a good excuse. Our streets are littered with newspaper racks along the red curb no-parking zones, all of which are great spots for the inverted U racks parallel to the curb. A little survey work and I assure you that there is plenty of room for abundant bike parking. Some cities even attach a ring to parking meters so that bikes can be secured but here in Los Angeles, it’s actually illegal to lock a bike to a parking meter.
3) “There isn’t any way to get developers to include bike parking in their projects.” Actually, LA’s municipal code already requires projects over 10K square feet to include bike amenities including bike racks at a minimum of 2% of parking and as close as the handicapped parking but even the City of Los Angeles violates this ordinance in its facilities, demonstrating that the real issue is simply political will.
All of the talk from our leadership about a bikeable city is tested when we look for the bike parking.
If you want to change the character of your community, look around and try to find the bike racks. If you’re shopping, ask the merchant to put bike racks in so that people can ride to the store. If you’re a parent, ask the school administrators to put racks in so the kids can ride to school. If you visit your Councilman at his office, ask for the bike parking and if there is none, ask why not. Most of all, remember that the developers in your community will do what we insist they do.
Parking for cyclists is a little thing but it goes a long way to supporting cycling and in encouraging cyclists.
It’s time to ask our City leadership to set the example by providing bike parking at all city facilities and to follow through on their commitment to enforcing the law by requiring developers to include bike parking in all projects.
“See you on the Streets!”
p.s If you’re interested in more information on bike parking, visit Bicycling Info.