Work Making it harder for me to commute...
 

This is my first post and I'm sorry if this is a recurring issue and has been addressed in the past, but I just copied and pasted it from a local board to save some time....

This morning I received an email:


share with you associates


Please be advised that there is a bike rack provided for associates at the DAC. Locking bikes to parameter fencing is not acceptable, direct your associates to discontinue this practice.


Thank You,

Building Maintenance / Facilities Department


This was directed towards me, and only me, as I am the only associate at the institution and location (that I know of) that commutes to and from work on his bike. The "rack," is made of feeble steel, placed in a parking spot in the main public parking area (directly in front of a main road in Raleigh), is not anchored, not in a lit area that is frequently passed with foot traffic, and the rack can be easily moved and cut into with the correct tools (it's roughly 30-40 lbs).

I have asked in the past whether or not this will change and have asked again for some compromise and have yet to await a response. Building security will not allow me to bring the bike inside as it may be a hazard towards other associates as there was one other incident in the wwwaaayyy past. I am fine with not bringing my bike into the building, but the alternative is rediculous to many riders. I will try to take pictures of the rack....

If I don't here back, is this something I might be able to take up with HR? I hope to here some responses.

Thanks again and have a good day.

A. change companies to a bike-friendly company (they tend to be more interesting co-workers anyway)

B. don't commute by bike

C. continue to lock the bike up to the perimeter fence

my order of operations would be C --> A --> B

There's a few options that I can think of.

1. lock the bike somewhere safer that's within walking distance
2. use a bike that's "disposable"
3. explain your concerns to your boss/HR and ask what could be done
4. Offer to anchor the rack yourself
5. Offer to purchase and install your own (small) locking post or anchor

Ugh, that sucks. Every time I bring my bike into my building, dripping with dirty slushI despite my attempts to shake the snow off the studs, I hope nobody catches me and forces me to leave it outside in the elements.

I would suggest a few things:
1) Contact the city about getting a proper bike rack installed
3) Get a folding bike that you can bring inside with nobody the wiser
2) Find a guy with a truck and haul the rack away yourself ;)
4) I'm guessing there's no such thing as a "parameter" fence, so technically you could continue locking up to the perimeter fence...

Are you in Raleigh NC? Maybe contact someone at a local bicycle club, many times they will have ties to government organizations that could help you out. http://www.ncbikeclub.org/ is one that I just found through a google search. It's certainly worth a shot.

Well, I would lock my bike to that existing rack. If you have a cable lock, run it through the wheels then to the rack. It would take someone pretty crafty to go over there with a cordless grinder to try and cut the rack, plus your cable without being heard to take a bike. Sounds like too much work to me and they would pass it up. Best of luck.

Continue locking your bike to the fence and bring up your concerns to your maintenance. If they are resistant to either installing a rack on the company's property or properly bolting down the existing rack, then get HR involved.

^^^ This ^^^

Especially at work, go thorough channels.

But first, get the facts on what constitutes good bicycle parking facilities.

Search on "bicycle parking facilities design" and choose the resource that you think the Facilities Manager will most respect. There are resources by government agencies, bike advocacy organizations, bike rack vendors, and case studies.

If you are, in fact, in North Carolina, the NC DOT has a manual (either online or buy it in print) and a video (either online of buy the disk.) See Chapter 8, Supplemental Facilities.

I sort of like this one in part because it's from 1994. While the photos are dated, the principles remain the same. It enforces that these principles are well-known and have stood the test of time. Nobody came up with this stuff overnight after Facilities bought the POS rack. They should have known these things already.

It may also be helpful to go in with some pricing of several types of acceptable racks and lockers, and for comparison, the price for paving a parking spot. (I've heard everything up to $30K, but I certainly question that figure.)

Go in with the attitude of, "Thanks for your concern. I'm concerned too and don't like having to use a fence. I don't use the rack because it's not secured and it's in an unsafe location. I brought these design guidelines to help us figure out what works for you, for the company, and for cyclists."

When escalating to HR, use the same tactic. There, you can also put it in terms of "accommodating workplace diversity".

Is there better parking somewhere else, maybe within a one-block radius? E.g., if you can lock it outside a police station, that would be a good option :)

Isn't there a higher density of criminals in and around police stations?

No, you're thinking of courthouses.

Yes. They are easy to recognize though, because they are usually in uniform and carrying badges.

WRT bike rack, I would put something in writing that if your bike is stolen from the bike rack, you plan on pursuing every legal means to hold the company accountable for the price of the bike, time off work, etc. if it gets to the point where they absolutely refuse.

Or government.

Along with other advice you have received, I would say put your concerns in writing by sending a letter to maintenance outlining the problems with the existing rack. And double check the spelling as you are not very good at that. I'm not trying to be cute - it will make your letter much less effective if it contains obvious spelling errors like "parameter" for "perimeter", "here" for "hear", etc. Once they have the letter, it's much harder for them to avoid dealing with your concerns.

I thought a lot of American companies were eligible for federal support to encourage greener transportation. Does this apply here?

Our office has a bike rack outside because it got us a LEED point when we were getting the building LEED Gold certified. :D But nobody really ever uses it. Even though I bring my bike to work for lunch rides I still keep it by my desk.

Since the original email was apparently sent to all in the building, I'd reply to all asking if Building Maintenance / Facilities is accepting liability for any loss or damage to bicycles locked to the bike rack that is lightweight and not secured. Sounds like they're too (expletive deleted) to confront you directly, so they're trying to shame you by broadcasting and getting all your coworkers to rag at you. Reply to all would be equally acceptable to share your concerns that they haven't addressed. Next salvo, should it come to that, would include the British Medical Journal's article that concluded there's a 20:1 benefit in longevity over death during cycling, and asking if it's company policy to drive up health insurance costs for everyone by discouraging someone who's trying to reduce medical expenses.

(If you couldn't guess, I don't like to play fair with poultry-excrementing bullies.)

I second the Reply All, unless everyone was BCC'd. At least then everyone will know that there are issues/concerns with the facilities that have been provided.

That sucks! I would try to compromise. First look at all alternatives inside. Pick one or two that would be out of the way of people. Then try to get people on your side such as ask them would they have a problem with the bike being at such and such a place. If that doesn't work, get yourself a beater that is so messed up nobody would dare steal it.

I am blessed, my bike comes in, has it own parking spot inside. I just happened to be the only bike commuter at my workplace too.. ;)

Luck to you..

spivonious and tsl give the best advice.

Don't be preachy or demanding. Pose it as a question that you're sure they'll want to solve. See if you can frame it as something that won't cost them much or anything. Maybe there's grant money for this sort of thing. Or maybe if you went one level up, the person might say, duh, what a no-brainer, let's put in a modern rack in the right location.

But don't listen to me as much as to tsl. Follow his advice.

Move the rack, and lock it to the fence where you were previously locking your bike. Lock the bike to the rack.

OK here is an odd alternative... buy a junk van and park it in the company lot and use it as your own private bike locker.

That's hilarious.

I saw genec's suggestion in this forum a couple of years ago. It's a nice idea, but even a junk can can cost money, and the workplace would have to allow a permanent eyesore on their property. But hey, it could work.

At least that is more reasonable than my first thought:

Take the rack some weekend and the next week send a bill to maintenance for a replacement bicycle and see what their response about not being responsible says.

Gets the point across and leaves only the fence to lock up to.

Be careful sending emails to the whole building or company. If they determine that it cost enough time for everyone to deal with that email (reading, replying and accidentally copying everyone again, deleting, etc), then it won't put you on good terms with your uppers. I've even heard of people getting let go for accidentally CC'ing the whole company, but I'm sure it's rare.

Overall tsl's response is the best; to emphasize a few additional comments:

Since this is work, you need to maintain the illusion of cooperation just as they are presenting the illusion of a company policy. (In my experience, a single bicyclist can't cause problems with one bicycle, so it's been ignored or an exception made at places I've worked in the past; if this is new at your workplace, it looks like someone took exception to your bicycle or you personally.)

To provide the substance and illusion of cooperation,
(i) find a good design for a resonable cost and present any local or state standards if they exist
(ii) do not reply to all - it is unlikely that many of your co workers are invested in this and you don't want to annoy them unduly
(iii) yes, pay attention to spelling - (ridiculous, hear back). It probably shouldn't matter, but it will make you look better prepared and competent than someone that didn't check state standards before installing the rack.

Depending on the quality of the rack and the neighborhood, you might
Find safe parking outside of work (may be easy if you work in town and carry items off the bike, a problem for suburban/rural locations with the nearest safe bike parking miles away)
Secure the rack your self; if it is easily disassembled (bike rack at my last job; juveniles removed bolts and stole a bicycle) you might replace with secure bolts or have local juvenile delinquents disassemble or just steal rack (I'd be careful of doing this your self depending on security or suveillance.)

If the rack is in a regular parking spot surrounded by other cars, you might find an old pick up truck and accidentally back into it or run over it; this is not as obviously as deliberate as removing the rack altogether (and happens to local wheelbender racks on a regular basis).

If the rack is damaged or disappeared, it needs to be an unforeseeable accident or juvenile vandalism (both happen regularly here), while you are trying to help them a reaonable solution.

Good Luck

PS Yes, this comes up on a regular basis, but asking is fine since the details are different at each work place.