blue192

I can think of two main reasons for this: First, the business owner leases the space and it is up to the property owner for outside improvements like bicycle parking. And second, we as bicyclists should let the business owner know that we would like to shop at their store more often but lack a proper space to park said bicycle.

retswerb

There's a time and a place for this, sure; it's excellent to communicate the request directly to the business owner when possible. At many stores, though — even small ones — the only person I interact with may be a cashier who isn't paid enough to care about the well-being of the business and won't bother to pass along the message.

livedarklions

I think we're running into a regional perspective thing here, because that diagram looks like a snow clearance nightmare to me. It kind of makes my point, though, in that the spacing of the bike racks has absolutely nothing to do with the number of and location of the individual store fronts.
Large racks can be placed in parking spots on the street, btw. This arrangement works well in the few places I've seen and used it. One car space can easily accommodate about 5 bikes.

Daniel4

Many years ago, after a long bike ride, I stopped by a Tim Horton's ( a very popular coffee shop all across Canada) for a coffee. To this day, there are no bike racks at any of their locations. So I normally lock my bike at the nearest iron fence or whatever there was. At one location it was a railing at the entrance of a retirement home.

So once I rode right into the drive-thru. None have bike racks but they all have drive-thrus. When it was my turn at the microphone, I waited for a while before I noticed that behind me was the line of cars going all the way into the street and the staff was running in and out taking their orders, not mine.

So when I walked to the window I asked what was going on and the reply was that I wasn't supposed to walk up. Well, that could have taken as much time to tell me as any other coffee order instead the management chose to waste everybody else's time. (There was an earlier occasion at a different location, I was served at the drive-thru with my bike, no problem.)

I later searched the Tim Horton's website to offer my feedback but there was none. Do I can't remember if I did or not but I think I searched the email for the HQ or CEO and requested that all Tim Horton's install bike racks because cyclists are customers too.

mschwett 

it’s pretty much the standard template for more urban areas in north america. i’m not an expert on snow clearance but this is how sidewalks are done in moderate to high density areas of chicago, milwaukee, boston, new york.

and yes, the spacing of the racks has little to do with individual entrances. like on-street parking for cars, the spacing of the bike parking is based on other fixtures of the public right of way like trees and curb ramps and utility vaults and so on. new construction is still required to provide them in many places but it’s within a radius of the front door, not directly and exclusively adjacent.

agreed that the “bike racks in a parking space” thing works very well in locations with parallel street parking. we have quite a few of those here.

anyway, this is not rocket science. it’s a “problem” which has been solved in a number of ways, very cheaply, all around the world. i’m not just making this up or speculating - as i mentioned above i’m a licensed architect in multiple states and have designed and built projects which in aggregate include a thousand or more bike parking spaces/racks. it’s not an undue burden on a new business or building to add them in nearby public ways, and it’s not a significant cost for the city to add them on their own to areas without them or without the short term prospect of new businesses.

livedarklions

I don't think we're disagreeing much here, I'm just saying that there's a lot of situations where the city is going to be in a far better place to coordinate their construction and placement.

If that's a standard template in the US, I'm rather surprised. I don't recall seeing bike racks spaced like that anywhere. One or two per block would be a lot in my experience if you don't count bike share docks.

retswerb

Looks to me as though this shows proper placement in each of these locations, without the presumption that they would be simultaneously placed in all these locations concurrently.

livedarklions

TBH, the general rule around here is that racks aren't placed in any of these locations. They're also mostly oriented the other way in the few places I see them.
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mschwett 

yes, it’s a diagram attempting to illustrate all the possibilities, from a local “better streets” program which serve as design guidelines. most cities have them and most are somewhat similar in concept.

mschwett 

the other direction works well when the sidewalks are 12’ or more, otherwise the bikes block the accessible way.

totally agree - outside of new development or major remodeling, this is done most easily by the city itself. here, for example:

of course, the united states being what it is, there is no “standard” but every “better streets” plan i’ve ever seen for an urbanized area is similar in concept. building -> frontage zone (doors and so on) -> clear accessible through pathway -> street furniture/tree zone. it’s actually also codified by NACTO, the national organization of transport officials - but that has no binding power over anyone. https://nacto.org/publication/urban-...nts/sidewalks/

anyway, way deep into the rabbit hole but bottom line, these things are pretty easy to solve in an urban environment, new businesses/buildings should have to provide them in the public way, but the vast majority of businesses are existing, not new, so the city should have a program to put them in. many cities do, i’m sure more do not.

outside of my professional life, i actually tested out the local program by which you can request one. called in, gave the location, a few weeks later there was a bunch of spray paint on the sidewalk, a few days later a bike rack.

livedarklions

Thanks! This is really informative and you've been really patient with my casual, not so well-informed opining.

mschwett 

maybe some BF members can get their cities to install racks! we get spoiled around here, the infrastructure is better than average by north american standards.

4130NewJersey

Doesn't do much for theft prevention....

Daniel4

It's so obvious, it must be a trap.

Troul 

businesses would need to be incentivized to not only install such ped-cycle parking, but also to maintain & safeguard it for its patrons in order for it to be truly successful imo..

tcs

I've been hearing versions of this story for 40+ years. Say 15x 30# bikes + 75# for the rack. When you pick the rack up, those bikes are going to fall in every orientation. Hmm.

tcs

My local transit agency installed some BikeLids at select light rail stops as a trial. They were ecstatic about the near 100% utilization. Actually, the covered parking shells were being used by adjacent apartment dwellers for bike storage.

mschwett 

we have some of those at commuter rail stations. never seen anyone sleeping in one or using for long term storage - i think the pricing scheme discourages that.

i’m of mixed opinion about them. more secure, yes, but takes many times the space per bike of either a freestanding rack or larger scale bike facility.

at some point, the advantages compared to cars start to dwindle a bit.

tcs

The ones here in Parts Unknown are free to use, first come first served. The rules say you can't use them overnight, but the transit agency doesn't budget any money for a crew to go out at 2AM to cut locks and remove bikes.

I even spotted one empty and locked - perhaps the apartment dweller was 'reserving' his Lid while he was out on a ride.

mschwett 

they're actually more common than i thought!

unfortunately their website is trash, impossible to tell how much it really costs (appears to be around 5 cents an hour) and some kind of deposit is involved. i actually don't see any mention of any sort of overnight surcharge or restrictions, etc.

veganbikes

It is a lot to carry I will admit, I don't know how full the rack was but I do believe his story as I trust him quite a bit as I had worked with him for many years and know his caliber and quality.

mschwett 

reminds me of the old stories about harleys being stolen. "four guys, two pipes, a pickup truck, and 15 seconds."

Korina

Prepare to be sick with envy.

Nyah

I fully agree that there needs to be more offerings available. I had to order my front cargo rack from Holland because no retailers in the US offer a decent one for 20" wheel bicycles. Racks in general don't get much attention from US bicycle shops, which tend to market bicycles for competition-oriented riding, rather than utility-oriented.