Originally Posted by
DiabloScott
They're OK if you park laterally and take up the whole thing.
One reason they're so popular, is that the manufacturers exaggerate how many bikes they can hold, and people who never have to use them believe it.
This - never happens.
I rarely see bikes parked under the "waves", and have never seen a rack like the one above with every slot filled (13 bikes in the photo above). You'd be more likely to see bikes on the two ends, and on the top of each of the waves... capacity of about 7 bikes.
That is assuming one doesn't get perhaps 4 chained to the rack sideways, and that is a long rack. Or, in some cases, 2 chained to the side of the rack, and the rack close enough to a wall that it is inconvenient to get behind it.
The single hoop racks can generally take 2 bikes in either orientation, depending on where the racks are.
I don't know about your regular commuters, but also consider people towing bike trailers, and how they interact with the racks.