On the opening weekend of the Canada Line, the Brighouse station was jammed … with bikes. But with nary a rack to be found. The designers were evidently oblivious to the need.
It’s a curious omission, given that bikes extend the catchment area of a transit station by five kilometres or more. Yes, the Canada Line accommodates bicycles on its trains, but only a handful. And as John Pucher documents in his latest reports on bike infrastructure, this is not a workable idea in the long run – inadequate for cyclists, inconvenient for other passengers.
Instead, says Pucher, “In virtually every we reviewed, the supply of bike parking has been expanding, and many cities have been providing increasing amounts of sheltered parking, guarded parking, and state-of-the-art bike stations which provide a full range of services, including storage, rentla, repair, and showers.”
The latest – and perhaps most beautiful – bike station can be found at Union Station in Washington, D.C.:
More pics and comments on the DC station here. (Thanks to David Godin.)
In a recent discussion on planning for the Cambie Corridor, the new Canada Line stations, particularly at King Edward and Marine, looked to be good opportunities to integrate bike stations into new development. And there’s been discussion for some time for a station at Pacific Centre. But, so far, nothing.
UPDATE: More info (and better pictures) here in the Architect’s Newspaper.
One thing that was glaringly obvious when I visited Vancouver last summer is that the city has no grasp on bile parking whatsoever. Bike racks of any kind were rare, and downtown this led to any solidly mounted post or rail (and some not so solidly mounted) being used for bike parking, often protruding into pedestrian space on the sidewalk. (This is a criticisn of inadequate facilities, not of bike parking technique.) Where there were facilities, they were often not installed to be fully usable. An example would be the staple racks at the new convention center, which were installed with only about 4 inches between the post and a concrete wall. A facility that should have been capable of holding up to 16 bikes could only hold 8 because of this.
Portland Bureau of Transportation has developed detailed standards for bicycle parking facilities. Vancouver folks would do well to study these on one of the mutual admiration society field trips that happen each year.
er… that would be bike parking.
Bike parking in Japan is the best I have ever seen in the world. Every decent sized station has a bike parking facility adjacent to the station manned by a (usually) retired gentleman at his post. (They don’t do very much except watch over the bikes – apparently this is one way that senior citizens in need are employed over there.) For those who do not want to pay, there is the challenge of locking your bike up somewhere where it’s not prohibited, and hoping it doesn’t get stolen.
A large majority of train users get to the station by bicycle, and this is a convenient and cheap way to get to the station. Many people keep a bike at both ends of their journey. I honestly don’t understand why we don’t follow this example – maybe just another example of how we talk the talk in our planning processes here, but when it comes to walking the walk, we fail miserably.
Actually, there is a plan to install a secure bike parking facility at the city Hall station – it was approved by Council: http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20090723/documents/csbu2.pdf (see the last page for illustrations)
Not as fancy as a Bike Station, but still progress. (This is in addition to the bike lockers and bike racks already installed there.)
Prepare to have your minds blown: