Austin has several thousand parking meters, which are set to be replaced over the next couple of years by electronic parking kiosks at each block of metered spaces. At least, this is the latest news. A quick search through the City of Austin shows that this has been talked about for nearly twelve years. But it’s really happening now! We think.
While this will help the city reduce maintenance costs and increase the revenue they get from parking, it will also remove lots and lots of poles that are currently being used for impromptu bicycle locking all over the central city.
Toronto’s bicycle parking poles are simple posts with a circular ring attached, as in the photos seen here and here. It seems that converting at least some of our existing parking meter poles to work in this fashion would be quite cost effective and fast to implement. It might even save the city money compared to the cost of removing the posts entirely.
It’s a possibility. I personally like the “upside-down U-lock” style bicycle parking our city usually has, but any kind of secure parking is better than having none.
Of course, I would love for us to have an enormous bicycle parking center like the one in Chicago… maybe someday (and separated lanes, and on-street bike parking a la Portland from removing a space on each downtown block and… yeah). The Mellow Johnny’s bike station is a good start.
So what do you think? Should Austin try to convert some of the removed parking meters to bicycle parking, or should they remove them all and then install more bicycle parking after the fact – and if they do, how long will it take? Are we destined to have a “bicycle parking crisis” for a couple of years while things get sorted out? Will cyclists riot in the street? Will a private entity swoop in and save the day? Should I not even worry about this because we’re all going to be swooping about in our own transit pods any day now?
I know… how about a 50-story luxury condo just for bicycles…
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on Jan 7th, 2009 at 10:27 am
[...] can share solutions to livable streets problems. So maybe someone out there will be able to help Austin Bike Blog figure out what cyclists in that city should do when parking meters begin to be replaced by [...]
on Jan 7th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Seems like it might at least be a good intermediate solution to convert some of the parking meter poles to bike parking – it might even increase capacity, while keeping bikes off of other public structures (one of the reasons given for the on-street parking in Portland was to keep people from locking their bikes to cafe tables and such).
Of course, more permanent, and perhaps even on-street parking is a better way of showing a commitment to bike-friendliness. But after all, as long as you have somewhere to park, it’s a good start, eh?
on Jan 7th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
[...] Marcus wrote about the plan the City of Austin has to replace all the meters downtown with electronic kiosks and how this will eliminate thousands of [...]
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 12:49 am
[...] Austin Bike Blog – Thousands of (bicycle) parking spaces going away? What to do? Une revue des problèmes de stationnement vélo aux US. [...]
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
As a new resident of Austin (who commuted by bike in my previous home town) I’ve been very pleased with how bike-friendly Austin is. But I agree that the loss of bike parking spaces is a slow slippery slope – before you know it you’ve got nothing but the odd chain link fence.
Would it be feasible to offer to recycle some of the parking meter poles into basic bike parking spots?
Have a gang of people show up on a street with welding equipment and concrete and convert them right there and then?
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Have a gang of people show up on a street with welding equipment and concrete and convert them right there and then?
Werner,
While your idea is anarchist in nature and I like it, this form of civil disobedience would probably be frowned upon.
on Jan 10th, 2009 at 9:31 am
[...] racks for the community (Download the really big PDF of all the designs here.) With the possible elimination of thousands of de facto bike racks downtown in the near future, this could not come at a better [...]