I just visited Portland, and took a number of pictures of their biking infrastructure, which is truly awesome.

One of the most remarkable discoveries was the commuter tram that runs from a lot of high rise apartments at the Willamette River to a hospital/university complex at the top of the hill. It's a heavily used piece of the transit system (your TriMet ticket works on the tram), and there is NO large parking structure at the bottom. Just three light rail lines and two bike paths and a valet bicycle parking lot that has to be seen to be believed.

I think what impressed me most was the endless stream of patients, doctors, nurses, aides and others commuting on the tram. and realizing that nearly all of them were either going to ride their bikes or take a TriMet light rail to their homes. They all looked fit and happy. I suppose that geography has a lot to do with the success of the tram; they built as many parking garages as they could around the hospitals, which are located on a hill, and there simply wasn't any more room for more multistory parking structures.


Valet bike parking by Steve Carter, on Flickr

Although the valet parking was not entirely full, the surrounding streets had bikes parked everywhere



Valet Parking from the tram by Steve Carter, on Flickr