Northeast - MD/DC: Bike Rack Vendors for Bike Valet?

The University of Maryland College Park is looking to try out bike valet as part of Maryland Day, an annual event held on April 30th that draws immense crowds. To try and deter driving and increase cycling to the event, the DOT here is going to implement bike valet for the first time.

Could any of you point me towards local bike rack suppliers that might be ideal for this sort of event? I'm assuming it would be cheaper to rent, would that be right?

Thanks in advance!

I biked to Maryland Day from Arlington two years ago. My wife took Metro and we met up there. Worked out well and we plan to do it again this year.

I'm not sure I'd use a bike valet unless you had it in several locations. The campus is so spread out I need the bike to get around. Maybe instead of a valet, rent the racks, put them in several locations and advertise/print fliers/print a bike map to encourage people to bike.

Can't help on the rack rental, but you could contact WABA. They often run the bike valet at big events around the mall.

Good luck. I'm looking forward to it.

@cc_rider: We are planning to put in three bike valet locations as well as a system for moving bikes from one bike valet location to the next (via small trucks/carts) so that if you find yourself on the opposite side of campus from where you originally parked your bike but close to another bike valet location, you can just pick up your bike from there.

Another reason (besides encouraging cycling) why DOTS might be interested in the valet option is because they may want to encourage people to walk more to get around. Maryland Day has a lot more families and little kids around, so safety between cyclists and pedestrians may have been an issue.

You can always rent French Barricades. Look for a low bottom rail.

We use standard security fence

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6571_100942638075_513493075_2045043_2096233_n.jpg

@cc_rider: We are planning to put in three bike valet locations as well as a system for moving bikes from one bike valet location to the next (via small trucks/carts) so that if you find yourself on the opposite side of campus from where you originally parked your bike but close to another bike valet location, you can just pick up your bike from there.

Another reason (besides encouraging cycling) why DOTS might be interested in the valet option is because they may want to encourage people to walk more to get around. Maryland Day has a lot more families and little kids around, so safety between cyclists and pedestrians may have been an issue.

Interesting idea, but I'm not sure how practical it is.
Looking at the schedule for what I want to see, I need to go from the Mall, to the Smith Center, back to the Mall, to the Ag building, back to Smith and the Mall again, and I need to move quickly. Unless you are banning cars from the roads to allow shuttle buses to move freely, I'll be biking around campus.

@Bezalel and The Human Car: Thanks for the suggestions, looks like the French Barricades/security fence would work great for this plus they are probably much easier and cheaper to find. Very helpful.

@cc_rider: You bring up very good points. I believe it's going to be a goal of DOTS to try and close down more roads in the future (as of yet there are only two segments of Regents Rd closed on MD Day and no plans for closing any more). Ideally Campus Dr. would be closed to vehicular traffic (other than shuttles) but unfortunately it's not the case right now. I'm currently a student on campus and I bike not a long ways from my off-campus housing. As someone who commutes via bike to the event, I hope you don't mind if I send you messages now and then for your input on this upcoming bike valet program.

Email whenever you like. My wife is an alumni of both UM St Mary's and College Park, so we are up there from time to time. I usually like to bike there from Virgina.
I've used other bike valets a few times - at the Jefferson Memorial during cherry blossom and during the EU open house (Finnish Embassy). Wasn't too crowded so it worked ok. Also used it for the Tour of Hope, but there were so many bikes there was a big line to pick-up and it took a long time to find the bike (their tracking system was not very good).

Hello fellow UMD student. That sounds like a neat idea- I'd personally hold onto my bike to get around campus but from what I'm seeing here the security fence seems like the best option. :)

Bump

Three days to go and it looks like the weather will be perfect.

bikeumd - are the bike valet plans on track? Where will they be located?

I'm looking forward to the event. Will probably try to leave Arlington about 8am to get some miles in before arriving at UM around 10.
Suggestions on what to see/do (what I've enjoyed the last time I was there)
the fire shows, especially the fire tornado
the insect zoo
forensic display (small but interesting)
ice cream at the ag building (skip the liquid nitrogen ice cream, long wait for not much)

I took my son, dropped off the bike by AVW, and watched and walked the loop all the way up to the CSPAC valet station and back down.

You can sorta see my green iBert child seat in this picture (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100323391567558&set=o.113115015368119&type=1&theater).

I have to say, the biggest unexpected perk of the bike valet is that they corralled my 16 month old son while I unloaded and loaded my bike.

Security fencing can often be rented from tent rental outfits or staging rental companies.