Living Car Free - No Elevator for you! Does your building make you take the service elevator?

For those of you that live in apartment buildings or take your bike in to work in a high rise, does the management allow you to travel up the passenger elevator, or are you supposed to take the freight or service elevator?

I was kinda treated a bit differently than I'm used to in NYC the other day because I had my bike with me. I'm thinking that if you use your bike to commute or get around, you should have the same right to a passenger elevator...

Never been "forced" but never worked in a hi-rise either. lived on 4th floor of a no-elevator dorm for a while, hiked that!!

The management has the right to set rules for their elevator however they want. It's their elevator...

I was kinda treated a bit differently than I'm used to in NYC the other day because I had my bike with me. I'm thinking that if you use your bike to commute or get around, you should have the same right to a passenger elevator...

How about the same "right" to bring stuff aboard a passenger elevator as a motorcycle commuter with his means of transport, or a gardener with his trusty wheelbarrow? If I were you I'd think/worry about some other violation of "rights."

How about <snip> a gardener with his trusty wheelbarrow?

Oh yeah. I hate that. Those gardeners want to bring their filthy wheelbarrows everywhere. They're a bane to city living, I tell you. Just the other day I couldn't lock my bike because of all the wheelbarrows in the way.

Back on topic: I ask first before I even view an apartment. I looked at 4th-floor loft a while back. The landlord and the manager both said the bike was okay on the elevator. Took it for a test ride and would have worked just fine. I didn't take the place because it was advertised as including heat, but the lease said heat wasn't included. I don't need landlords like that.

or a gardener with his trusty wheelbarrow? Totally agree on the wheelbarrow! But why not create an allowance for bicycles, just like a shopping or laundry cart or baby carrage is allowed?

When I worked at the headquarters of Security Pacific National Bank, I had to use the service elevator. It had a better class of people if you ask me. :) Much friendlier, that's for sure.

Now I just roll my bike in the back door and pop down the kickstand in the breakroom. Oddly, our company is the only one in the building to actually have a door directly to the outside, so I feel special.

Never been forced to, but when I go to work, I go in the door by the loading dock. That leads to the service elevator, which I take up. I guess part of it is just trying to fly under the radar so that nobody complains. There are a couple of other cyclists at the office however, but I have never caught up with one to ask them what they do.

We do have a wave style rack next to the loading dock, but given a choice I would rather have the thing next to me at the office.

What's the difference?

If there is a service elevator in the building where I work, nobody has told me where to find it.

Nobody seems to mind the bike being in the regular elevator.

What's the difference?

Between bringing a wheelbarrow, motorcycle or a bicycle on a passenger elevator? - None.

Between using the freight elevator and the passenger elevator for the OP? None except an easily damaged ego.

Between using the freight elevator and the passenger elevator for the OP? None except an easily damaged ego.

That depends. A building where I used to make deliveries as a bike messenger (no, I never tried to take my bike inside there) required messengers to use the freight elevators. I could have saved several minutes each time I went there had I used the passenger elevators, because the freight elevators were slow, poorly designed and overused. I was paid on a per-delivery basis, and if not for the fact that the dispatchers would have gotten mad at me, I would have refused any jobs with that building as source or destination.

What's the difference?
..

Between bringing a wheelbarrow, motorcycle or a bicycle on a passenger elevator? - None.

How bout a wheelchair? Should they have to use the service elevator whenever possible, or only when their tires are dirty, or never?

At my old apartment building I never had a problem taking it up the passenger elevator - which is a good thing, since it was the only elevator and I lived on the 6th floor. My current apartment building does not have an elevator, so it's a non-issue.

As for work, I use the passenger elevator. If they wanted me to use the service elevator, I wouldn't really have a problem with it, but so far it hasn't come up in the year and a half that I've worked there. There are a few other bike commuters in the building who use the passenger elevator, too.

The management has the right to set rules for their elevator however they want. It's their elevator...

Can they make a person take a wheelchair in the freight elevator?

I ride with a fellow who can not walk far, but rides well enough, could he consider his bike like a wheelchair, i.e. an aid to his handicap?

What's the difference?
Possibly, about 20 - 30 min in the morning, due to deliveries, especially in New York City high rise buildings


Can they make a person take a wheelchair in the freight elevator?

Not in the US, due to ADA guidelines that even specify the required space in a passenger elevator required for a wheelchair to turn around.

The only way to get to our basement (where most bikes in the building are stored) is via either the passenger or service elevator. Everyone takes there bike in the passenger elevator.

Can they make a person take a wheelchair in the freight elevator?

I ride with a fellow who can not walk far, but rides well enough, could he consider his bike like a wheelchair, i.e. an aid to his handicap?

My guess is he can't consider his bike like a wheelchair. If he were using it to get from one place to another indoors, (and it if it were perfectly safe and worthwhile to do so) then he would have a good argument for having the same rights with his bike as wheelchair users.

One thing people seem to miss is that in the USA (and a lot of other countries) there is no blanket rule against "discrimination"-- only against discrimination based on sex, race, disability, and a couple other things specifically provided by law. There is no law against discrimination based on favorite mode of transportation, so my employer could fire me for riding my bike to work, for walking to work, for saying i wanted to ride my bike to work, for saying my favorite color is blue, etc. Burger King can discriminate against cyclists in the drive thru and they could refuse to serve people in lycra or people wearing bike helmets (or people seen arriving by bike) inside the store too.

But my employer, or burger king, is not allowed to tell me what elevator to take based on my being a Christian, being a man, being white.

There is no law against people being idiotic.

I live in a 24th floor apartment. Bikes (and dogs) are not allowed in the passenger elevators, and I like it that way. At rush hour, our elevators can get pretty crowded, and I would not want someone's wet dirty bike (or dog) crammed in there making it worse. The passenger elevators should be as quick and clean as possible.

Of course, we have bike storage in the basement, so this is not an every day issue for me, and when it happens that the service elevator is locked out for maintenance use, no one has given me trouble for bringing my bike in the passenger elevators. I just try to be extra polite to my neighbors on those days.

Shoot, just throw the bike over your shoulder and run the stairs! It's better than a stair stepper machine because it's FREE! ;)

There is no law against people being idiotic.

And since 49% of the population has subnormal intelligence, there shouldn't be.

folding. bike. brompton specifically. these are not the droids we're looking for.

:lol:

Possibly, about 20 - 30 min in the morning, due to deliveries, especially in New York City high rise buildings

Wouldn't there be the same wait in the passenger elevator due to it being full of people too? I know my wife would be rather pissed if someone soiled her clothing with their dirty bike tire first thing in the morning.

I would have refused any jobs with that building as source or destination.
That is your option; restricting the use of the passenger elevators to passengers is the building management's.


..
How bout a wheelchair? Should they have to use the service elevator whenever possible, or only when their tires are dirty, or never?


Most people, except perhaps a few BF posters, can make the distinction between indoor/sidewalk restrictions for use of a wheelchair and a bicycle; probably the same few obtuse BF posters cannot understand different public entrance/indoor restrictions for a working seeing eye dog and a pet Rottweiler.

Shoot, just throw the bike over your shoulder and run the stairs! It's better than a stair stepper machine because it's FREE! ;)

Human power RULES! One less elevator!

But it's crazy-- after riding or walking a few miles to a building, I feel entitled to use the elevator.

But it's crazy-- after riding or walking a few miles to a building, I feel entitled to use the elevator.

Use that 1/100th of a cent worth of coal-fired electricity, and use it without guilt. ;)

But it's crazy-- after riding or walking a few miles to a building, I feel entitled to use the elevator.

Who sez you can't? You are entitled, but not necessarily your freight/excess baggage.

Your bicycle is not a ball and chain, is it?

Make lemonade dude. I'd love to ride the service elevator all the time; those things are badass, and the regular ones are so boooooooring.

A building I lived in previously actually had a sign that said "no bicycles permitted in building". I brought my bike in anyways and never had any problems. I saw others bring in bikes too.

A building I lived in previously actually had a sign that said "no bicycles permitted in building". I brought my bike in anyways and never had any problems. I saw others bring in bikes too.

Lucky! people get uptight about it. In my building (a dorm) the rules expressly say that we ARE allowed bikes, and one dusty drama-queen still gave me trouble. I had to show her a copy of the building rules just to get her to leave me alone...I really wish I'd told her to just call the cops, she would've been embarrassed at how that played out.

I live on the 5th floor, I take my bike on the residents elevator all day everyday, and haven't had a problem. We have a bike rack outside my building as well, which is cool and un-seen from my eyes in other parts of this city. I am not from here, and only been car-free for a few weeks now, but I still haven't seen another building offer bike parking here. When I move to Chicago, I am for sure going to rent a building that atleast has bike storage and hopefully doesn't have a problem with me using the residents elevator. Can't wait for the move, very excited!

Shoot, just throw the bike over your shoulder and run the stairs! It's better than a stair stepper machine because it's FREE! ;)

My office is on the 15th floor so I don't think so!

My office building makes me use the service elevator too which is a real pain because the service elevator takes forever.

For starters I have to tak 2 elevators to get from my floor to the street. The building requires you to enter in the loading dock, take an elevator to the basement an then catch the service elevator to your floor. While there are 16 passenger elevators in the building there is only 1 service elevator. Believe it or not the wait for the elevator can add an extra 10 minutes to my commute.

The building requires you to enter in the loading dock, take an elevator to the basement an then catch the service elevator to your floor. While there are 16 passenger elevators in the building there is only 1 service elevator. Believe it or not the wait for the elevator can add an extra 10 minutes to my commute.
I was thinking about it, and you just said the two reasons why I originally posted, that I was directed to the loading dock/service entrance and couldn't even go through the lobby to get there. The doorman kind of also sounded like the Soup Nazi when he said "no elevator for bicycles."

The second was that it just took too long and I felt like a popsicle waiting outside a cold elevator.

My work building makes me take the freight elevator, but who cares? Why is it such a big deal?

all this "rights and entitlement" talk in reference to privately owned buildings makes me giggle. your personal rights stop where another persons begins , just like non of us have the "right" to post on this website we however are "allowed" to thanks to the person who privately owns this site.

all this "rights and entitlement" talk in reference to privately owned buildings makes me giggle. your personal rights stop where another persons begins , just like non of us have the "right" to post on this website we however are "allowed" to thanks to the person who privately owns this site.

OTOH, the person who owns this site would have NOTHING if we didn't post here.

And the person who owns the building would have NOTHING if he didn't have tenants. If somebody is really bothered by having to ride in the freight elevator, they should "post" their complaint to the building owner. He/she might change the rules if a tenant is uhappy.

No problems taking regular elevator in my apartment building or at the office.

Yes, but parking the bike in the mailroom rather than outside is a heck of an improvement. Main flaw is the building has only one service elevator (for a 27 storey office tower, with 14 passenger elevators). So if you arrive significantly late or leave significantly early you have a real wait on your hands.