close access to bathroom, break room w fridge, microwave and blender, easy departure route so you don't have to walk through the office looking geeky.

a place to charge baterries near you
a place to dry wet clothes besides locker, gloves, socks, shorts, pants, tops, jackets, helmet liners, the works. no way that stuff is gonna dry in a locker. my last place had an awesome boiler room near the break room and private bath w shower

Those are great ideas, and everybody seems to have covered everything else. The few things that stand out to me with my current situation are:

1) If there were more than a couple of people using our area we'd run out of space to hang up our cycling clothes. Each of us uses several hangers to dry our layers and the amount of rod space we have is pretty small. If they are expecting you to not be drying your clothes all over your cube they are going to have to be very generous with the hanger space they provide and it should have a heater underneath it. Luckily even though on busy days a good dozen people cycle in to my work apparently, only me and one other guy hang up our clothes in the cycle commuter locker room.

2) Towels. I work at a hospital so towels are provided by our linen service, but the par is low and restocking it seems to be frequently forgotten or not done for whatever reason. I've taken to stowing a days worth of towels in my locker so that I'm not caught out. If your work is going to provide towels they are going to have to be flexible and proactive about making sure that there are enough towels to properly support people commuting by bicycle. It is discouraging to cycle in, expecting to be able to shower and then be frustrated by there not being any towels there were you expected them to be. How many towels are needed will most likely vary depending on the season as more people will cycle commute during nicer weather. If they aren't going to provide towels, than at the very minimum they need to provide even more space to hang them up, and ideally they would actually provide at least and dryer and preferably a clothes washer as well. I don't see the washer as terribly necessary, but a dryer would be REALLY nice for those days when you get soaked on your way in. My gear is usually almost completely dry by the time I have to put it back on, but I work 12 hour shifts, I suspect if it only had 8 hours to hang there I'd be getting back into soggy clothes and gloves, which is discouraging to bike commuters.

3) Staggered start times. If it isn't critical that everyone punch in at the same time, it'd be nice if the cycle commuters had a choice of coming in a little earlier or a little later so their isn't a bottleneck at the showers with all the cyclists showing up and wanting to use them at the same time.


If I were designing my dream facility, the bicycle parking area would only be accessible by people who have requested access as bicycle commuters and are given a passkey to that area. Access would be through a large power door that popped open for you when you waved your badge at the reader a short ways away, so that the door was open by the time you got to it. On the inside there'd be a button to press for the door to open for you on your way out. Maximize convenience and minimize frustration to make bicycle commuting more attractive to more people.

This last is based off of some of my experiences with our cage at work. During the day, when the weather is nice, it fills up to close to capacity because it is the most central of the cages on my hospitals campus. Even then, there are less than twenty people using it. Two or three electric bikes, a few MTB-commuters, a few cross bikes including a fairly old Bianchi, a few road bikes, a few comfort bikes, a new beach cruiser(!), a few tourers, including a nice Davidson (Ti?) with S&S couplers and homemade lights...you get the idea. Anyway, I've decided that since our cage is only accessed via a key that you have to ask Parking Services for, and the only people who actually in and out of the cage are the cyclists who also commute to work, the chances of any of them wanting to steal my 20 year old mountain bike are basically non-existent so I almost never lock up when I park in the cage, and I think that is how it should be. You shouldn't even have to worry about locking up your bike in a cage at work. My frustrations with our cage are that everyone leaves a lock at work and so there's inevitably a lock banging against my bike when I go to park it, and that the big metal door only stays open about 1 time out of 10 and so crashes noisily shut and is a struggle to get through. A lock storage area and a power door would eliminate these frustrations.

Definitely a small workshop with a stand or two, floor pumps, tire patch kits, lubes and basic tools. It wouldn't have to be large - maybe a 12x12 room, with a small workbench and pegboard with tools. Cost for stand(s), bench, tools and everything would likely be under $1000. Cheap.

I don't have showers, lockers, bike racks, etc. However, I can bring my bike into work and park it right next to my desk. I don't break a huge sweat on my way in to work, it's a slight downhill route, about 7 miles (6+ miles of it on an MUP), and it only takes me about 25 minutes. It's anywhere from cold to quite cool every morning (I can't say I've ever ridden into work where the temp was above 60... most of the year it's 30's and 40's) so I don't get hot and sweaty. For those days that I do break a bit of a sweat, I just sit in front of the fan without my jersey on for about 5 minutes before I change into my work clothes.

The "design" for a bike friendly office becomes a whole lot easier if you change to a policy that allows employees to bring their bikes inside and park them in their office or cubicle.

People have pretty well covered everything I'd like to see.
In reality, here's what I get (and I know it's way better than a lot of places, so don't think I'm complaining):

- Space to park my bike in a spare cubicle which is used for furniture storage.
- Locker room with 3 showers.
- Fitness Center (separate room with 2 treadmills, 2 ellipticals, a stationary bike, a rowing machine, a couple adjustable benches and a 5 - 50 pound dumbbell rack.)
- Tuesday/Thursday lunchtime yoga class; free to all employees, led voluntarily by an employee
- An exercise raffle: people who walk or run at lunch or bike-commute get a raffle ticket per day. End of the month there is a raffle for something like a $25 gift certificate to REI or someplace similar.

Do I really care if my company provides me with a pump, tools, locked bike cage, etc?
Nope. I carry my tools and the like along with me.
Do I need my company to provide me with towels?
Nope. I bring my own; it's not that heavy and we have space in the locker room to dry things.

The design (or lack thereof) may seem easier, but then you have too many negatives that could nix bringing bikes inside altogether. Many modern cubicle farms don't have room for parking a bike at one's desk. Not to mention having to shoulder the bike up a flight or two of stairs, or else having people drag sometimes wet bikes into an elevator or across carpeting.

My current office isn't ideal, but it's close. I have a lockable bike box on the highest covered floor of the attached garage. Since it isn't on the ground floor, I could probably leave it unlocked and in fact some coworkers do. I ride my race bike most days during spring and summer so I don't take the chance. We have a locker room. The lockers are for day use only, but it doesn't matter because I can store a few days worth of clothes in the bike box if I want. Or I'll just throw them into a small backpack.

We have an unwritten rule about flexible times. My phone is on all the time, I work every day of the year for at least 1 hour, and I get some flexiblity in return so I can take kids to practice, see games, go to parent/teachers conferences, and leave a little early to miss rush hour. Not that rush hour is a big thing in Omaha. It would be nice if they made it a formal policy though. I start work at 4:30 am, work for a while, work out for an hour, and come into work by 7:00 am. We have an early morning meeting every day. I could see the workout getting changed to a commute.

yes shift your work sched. my last boss was awesome like that. I always arrived earli anyway but especially on days when I bike commuted. I was showered and dressed and nutrified long before anyone else showed up. then I left at 4 instead of 5. I got less traffic to fight each way as well.

This is a great idea. Our company has a wellness program that was brought on by soaring health insurance costs. I could see them adding something like this to the program.

The problem with most locked bike cages is that the lock and even the latch is cheap and the easiest thing to break to gain access to a dozen or more bikes.

My company recently added the commuting bike station you mention. with a work stand and some tools/pump. They've always had the gym you can join for $30/mo with a dry cleaner and laundry service etc. I have the ideal cummiting situation. However I wish for more poeple to take advantage of it. I'm the only bike parked at work for the past month. I work in a large Tower ~ 4000 people in down town Atlanta. I feel like the weirdo that rides his bike to work.

I guess it's all about what environment you work in. I have an office (not a cubicle) and my bike is within five feet of me at all times. And yes, I'm allowed to bring my wet bike onto the elevators and into the office (even drag it across carpeting.) As far as "wet" is concerned, I don't think it's a big deal... I haven't seen anyone come inside from the rain and remove their wet shoes before entering the building, elevator, or office. I consider myself fortunate to have my own office for my bike as well as a clothing rack where I can store a full week's wardrobe within my office. My office is my workspace - it's designed to get things done. As far as meetings and impressing someone (rarely happens) I can schedule a conference room.

I guess that my colleagues and I don't really understand why a bike needs to be inside in the first place. Do one of two things:

1. ride a commuting bike not a carbon race bike
2. reduce crime in your area if that's an issue

You'd never bring a car into the office and carparks were only created to save land space, not to cover them from the elements.

I guess we just view a bike and a car as the same thing ... transportation.

What am I missing here?

edit: I should also say that I've worked several places that have separate indoor and outdoor shoes. Everyone just keeps a pair of indoor-only shoes on a shoe rack in the corridor and changes in order to not track mud/dirt around all day.

http://lostinstockholm.com/2012/01/1...es-off-please/

in Germany, we also have "house shoes" for all people including maybe 6-8 pairs for guests.

why roll a dirty bike through a place of work or living?

It's very difficult to toss a car in the back of a truck and drive off with it.

We don't have any pick up trucks over here. That's a serious comment. Even the local farmer tows his horses with a Mercedes wagon.

http://etherealland.com/apeman/2007/...pickup-trucks/

But, like I said ride a commuter bike or lower crime.

That was my thought as well, or at least a small work bench for fixing flats, patching tubes etc.

My bikes have some pretty expensive "bling" on them that can easily be removed by thieves (even in a separate bike lock facility.) Battery operated lights, cycle computer, pump. With a simple bike wrench my bottle cages, fenders, racks, and some pretty pricey saddles can disappear. All these things make my "transportation" safe and comfortable. The removable items, yes, I could remove and reinstall them each day (or each time I got on the bike, for example lunch time) but it would be a pain and take a few minutes each time (time that I would rather use elsewhere.)

I ride a commuting bike - it's a steel touring bike with a leather brooks saddle (i go to extremes to keep it dry), tubus rack, ortlieb panniers, shimano hub generator wheel, B&M generator powered front and rear lights, several expensive flashing red lights. I have more money invested in my bicycles than I have invested in my car.

During the summer, I ride a carbon fiber bike (17 lbs.) It's fine as a commuter when I don't need to haul a lot. However, several times a week I ride with a group that meets less than a half mile from my work. I'm not fit enough to ride my commuter (40 lbs) and stay with the group. So, my bikes are not always just for transportation.

Steal my car... I don't care, just don't even touch my bikes.

As far as "reducing crime in my area?"... I already have a job, and crime reduction is not in the description.

I don't know... in Germany you change shoes when you come into the house and apparently nobody is a thief. That's just not the way it works here in the United States - you wear the same shoes inside as you do outside, and if you make it easy for someone to steal something... it will be stolen. Apparently our society has not advanced to the level of yours.

It just seems like an impractical soluble to an easily solvable problem ... using the right tool from the start ... which you already own :lol:

IMHO, you really need the following for bike commuters:
1. Secure bike storage (may be just a bike rack in a good neighborhood or secure facility)

Really nice adds the following:
1. Covered, secure bike storage
2. Showers

Of the rest of the things mentioned above, a way to dry bike clothes would be very, very nice. 21" CDT was super, while I had one...

The rest is overkill. Why not ask for help pushing the cycling commuter up the big hills on the way to and from work?

A top priority for me: Several high-resolution video cameras monitoring the bike racks/storage areas. Keycard access to would also be very valued.

The new building will be nicer overall, but I will miss my big office with door. They're "right-sizing" our working spaces and providing more "colaborative work areas" to improve our team synergistic, blah, blah, blah. I don't work with the people in my office. I work with one of our offices in another state, so most of what I do could theorectically be done from home without anybody noticing me gone. I'll trade in my office for a smaller space in a cube farm and have to move to a conference room to talk to people in another state on conference calls. Or if I need my computer, bother other people around me. The only con I've found so far.

Maybe I can sell carbon offset credits for biking in instead of driving.

Sounds like the cage at Children's :) I used to park my Bad Boy at the Giraffe entracnce, and there were always plenty of bikes. Sure, I would lock it, but I don't think I ever heard of anyone losing any parts or accessories there (for the year and change I spent there).

I tried lowering crime, but it took so much effort I didn't have any time left to ride my bike, and it didn't really seem like I was making any progress anyway.

Plus, you looked kinda funny in tights and a cape... :)