Pathetic bike rack situation continues

You fashion yourself a good person. You stop driving to work. You ride your bike to the rail station. You find that although billions were spent building rail bike racks -- a rather cheap, crude commodity -- they are in short supply.

You ask yourself how this can possibly be. Of course, if you want to insert a seven-letter curse word between the "possibly" and the "be," that's your choice. I will not stop you.

I asked MTA chief Roger Snoble about this at yesterday's news conference to unveil six new rapid bus lines and he said that he's aware of the situation. And, he said the MTA would be getting the Bottleneck Blog and the Road Sage some answers soon about how the problem can be remedied.

The above photo is of one of the two bike racks at the North Hollywood subway station. Both were filled yesterday. The photo at right is of a place perhaps a third bike rack can be placed.

And what's that below? Glad you asked. That's the minuscule bike rack at the Allen Street Gold Line station in Pasadena, where city officials and Caltrans have for two years been trying to find a place to put another rack so people like me don't have to lock their bikes to the decorative fence.

It should be noted that Pasadena officials will be at the big, big, big MTA meeting this morning, lobbying for millions of dollars to extend the Gold Line. That's fine and dandy. But just a suggestion: If you want the dough for the big things, show us you can do the little things that count first.

-- Steve Hymon

Photos: Steve Hymon / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[M]

David, I understand that there are unused racks, but have people looked into why they are empty? For example, I keep an eye on the Universal City bike racks. On the northern side of the station there are always many more bikes locked up than on the south side. Many days I see the entire north side bike rack filled with spillover bikes locked to the nearby trees and railings. Meanwhile, on the south side, the entire bike rack may be empty. In this situation, the bike racks are simply not where people need them. Crossing the street can be time consuming when you have only minutes to catch the next train.

[david p.]

as a former metro employee and one who watched over bike parking, i can tell you that metro has staff that is dedicated to this exact issue. bike parking at north hollywood is a concern, and represents the PEAK DEMAND for bicycle parking at any station in the metro system, period.

later this year metro has plans to put 32 new bicycle lockers there, as well as additional bicycle racks.

there are many, MANY un-used racks and lockers through out the system.

could metro be quicker about responding? absolutely. are people at metro aware of the situation? way before you were...

[Sirinya]

Tony's comment made me laugh. Seriously, Metro, can you let somebody help you develop more ideas for bike parking? And if you wondered how to pay for it, what about allocating a small portion of the revenue you collect for reserved parking?

[Aaron Proctor]

Hilarious.

- Aaron Proctor
Pasadena Icon & Local Digintary - if you don't believe me, just ask me.
http://www.proctorformayor.com

[Rick Risemberg]

An overview on good and bad bike racks at Bicycle Fixation:

http://www.bicyclefixation.com/rackhunt_results.html

and

http://www.bicyclefixation.com/pe_artracksla.html

[Rebekah Wright]

If organizations can work to accommodate cars, why not bikes? I think I heard that 1 car parking spot is equal to enough space for 15 bicycles. I'm sure there's always bureaucracy and red tape around these things but it seems like making space for bicycles would be the easiest of the two. And the city needs to stop planning narrow mindedly around cars and make things more bike & pedestrian friendly. If they build the bike racks & bike paths, the bicyclists will come.

[SoapBoxLA]

Nestled in the middle of the photo of the NoHo Red Line Station are two Law Enforcement vehicles. They're up on the Pedestrian walkway.

What kind of anticipated crime involving a hot pursuit down the escalator requires staging two (typically idling) Law Enforcement vehicle in the valuable real estate designed for arriving and departing Transit passengers.

Park the vehicle, turn off the engine, get out of the vehicle, go for a walk, say hi to people, contribute to the success of the Metro.

Better yet, ride a bike. You can park it over...there?

[gman]

The MTA might try looking at the So. Oregon Univ. campus (Ashland,OR) on innovative ways to store/rack bicycles. SOU uses a double-deck design that is very efficient AND provides protection from sun and rain. Slick and aesthetic!

Cheers.

[Tony Fernandez]

If the MTA can't get their act together on bike racks, then maybe the train riders should take a lesson from UCLA students. They can fit about 25 bikes on a bike rack meant for maybe 6 at the most.