The Bike Racks I Want To See More Of

This is not a post about perfect urban planning and what the most beneficial type of bike rack is. This is about the bike racks I want to see for my own personal use.

A couple of weeks ago Randy posted this article on Urban Cincy about the new Fountain Square garage racks. Per usual, everyone has their opinions about what’s best for the city’s bike culture as you can read in the comments.

I however, don’t commute to downtown (I live here), and I rarely leave my bike locked up for any extended period of time. Normally I’m out riding for fun, and I may stop to poke my head in a store or something of that nature. Centralized bike parking is of little use to me, and most of the time my bike is locked up to any number of singular post-like objects. That’s why I would like to see more of the parking meter ring racks within the city.

You see, instead of forcing people to congregate at one spot to lock their bike up, you can ride closer to your destination and park (generally) with your bike within view. Again, this does little for the commuter who needs to lock his ride up for hours at a time (or take it up to their office). It does help those people who are already out and about and on a whim decide to pull over and stop in somewhere.

Both types of bike parking help the city economically. Parking for commuters encourages alternative transportation for workers in the city (boosting payroll tax revenue by keeping those workers in the city) while the racks I would like to see more of cater towards the food/shopping crowd (boosting sales tax revenue and supporting local businesses).

The important thing when discussing bicycle and bike parking theory is that we all do things a little differently, with different ends in mine. I’m not going to say that Fountain Square racks are dumb or useless because they certainly serve a purpose, just not mine. It can be difficult to remember all of the different ways people use their bikes in the city, and consequently it can be hard to plan for. From what I’ve seen Cincinnati has actually done a pretty good job at including a variety of people from different facets of the biking community as they form new policies and install new and improved infrastructure.