Metlife Building Sucks for Bike Commuters *RANT*
We're moving offices this summer from the building I'm in now that has hitching posts for bikes to the Metlife (aka PanAm) Building right behind Grand Central Terminal. I went there today to scope the place out and there's absolutely no bike racks or hitching posts to lock up to. I even checked out the entrance near the messenger center and there was nothing to lock up to. I asked one of the security guards about it and he told me they took the bike racks away when the transit strike ended in December. The only places to lock up to are street signs where it's illegal to lock up a bike. It's enforced the same way jaywalking's enforced, but still, during the increasingly frequent crackdowns the NYPD likes to pull on cyclists, my bike could legally be removed. I'll hit up the building manager about getting a bike rack installed and call the city to request that one be installed, but I'm not hopeful.
On the plus side, if you want to call it that, there's plenty of places to eat in and around GCT and if I took the train to work, I wouldn't have to go outside once I got to GCT.
On the minus side, my commute will be even shorter than it is now and there's no bike racks.
Hopefully I'll still have a job when we move to the new office.
/END RANT