Friday, July 30, 2010

Parking. Will We Have Enough?

Final thoughts on bicycle parking... One way I judge the increase in bicycle ridership is by the number of bikes I see parked. Lately, it seems like every rack I see is full (not to mention trees, signposts, and the like). At Georgia Tech, school is out for the summer but nearly every spot is taken at the racks, and only a few spaces are left on the street. What will happen when classes start up in the fall?
I've parked at the rack at Peachtree Center a number of times in the past, and I was the only one there. These days, it's nearly full with roadsters and smart commuter bikes (and the occasional scooter). Same with the secure racks inside various MARTA stations.

And that's where we are now, in the dog days of summer, with half the city seemingly on vacation. What happens if more and more people start riding? Is there an impending bicycle parking crisis in the future?

2 comments:

  1. I don't understand why universities don't have an overabundance of bike parking. I mean really, how expensive is it to put bike racks in everywhere, as opposed to parking decks??!

    Unfortunately, I don't think most other places will do anything unless people begin to really complain and they think they are losing a significant amount of business.

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  2. That's a nice problem to have! Much better than having no bikes parked around at all.

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