January 17, 2008
City's First Bike Lot Just Needs 200K to Roll Forward
Preliminary rendering of what the bike parking lot could look like, courtesy The 34th Street Partnership
A group of business execs in the 34th Street Partnership are teaming up to build what would be New York’s first bikes-only parking lot; it would be located on space secured on West 33rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.
As currently envisioned, the lot would have a full time attendant and hold 100 bikes, with room to expand. (The 2,600-square-foot lot is being provided by Stonehenge Management.)
Now the partnership just needs some friendly corporation to cough up 200K a year to fund the project. And if and when it happens, don’t count on finding a spot to lock your tall bike, punk. Most of the spaces on the rack will cost an unspecified fee; only “some” will be open to the rabble.
What the parking lot looks like now, photograph courtesy The 34th Street Partnership
The city has no plans to build bike lots like this, but they have been installing more bike racks. They added 800 in 2007, bringing the citywide total to 4,000. And the company that’s building the new bus shelters and newsstands has begun installing the first of 37 bike shelters; they’ve been popping up in Fort Greene, Long Island City and next to the Union Square Barnes and Noble.
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This is a nice start, but not enough. 100 bikes? That's a tiny fraction of who's riding to work, or who would ride to work.
What a waste of space. I could park two good SUVs in that lot.
200K a year seems pretty reasonable for a big brand like Dunkin, Nike, Gatorade, et al. I'd hope they get a more fitting sponsor than McDonalds, but hey, cash is cash.
Let's do the math 100 bikes, $200,000 a year. Hmm? That's $2,000 per bike divided by 261 work days minus the holidays and vacation days, lets say another 21 days. Equals $8.33 plus tax per day. That's if the bike shelter is working at full capacity.
How about using public transport you idiots? It's cheaper and it is dry and warm. Plus drivers and pedestrians don't have to dodge your every move.
A vest pocket park would be a better solution for the space.
Most of the spaces on the rack will cost an unspecified fee......the partnership just needs some friendly corporation to cough up 200K to fund the project
"reading comprehension" snoopy, it's a good thing.
Snoopy, why don't you try doing the math? You obviously don't know the true cost of creating parking lots. Paving over the lot for regular parking would cost about the same, if not more. And you can fit, what, four cars in that lot? $50,000 per space sound better to you? Ask any corporation in the burbs how much they paid to create their parking lots and they'll tell you each parking space can cost as much as the car.
"Head in the sand" people like you is why this world is in such big trouble in terms of congestion, pollution and global warming.
Zodak, you beat me to it. The article says that the other lot upon which this project is being modeled charged $149 for the year, so based on 240 days of use, it costs .62 cents a day.
Sorry, I'm all for biking to work but I doubt this lot will ever be even 25% full. Plus it will be a great place for bike theifs to hang out, unless of course there is a gaurd, but who's going to pay for that? And who's going to pay the taxes on the lot? And will there be a daily charge? And if there is a daily charge then oh boy! the complaints there will be from bicylists!
Just put more bike racks on the street.
This is for the primadonnas who buy suburb and country (flashy and over-engineered)bikes that cannot be left out on the street. The truth of the matter is that any beater can be parked safely on a busy street with a bit of forethought and planning. Bikes do get stole, but mostly the ones that are poorly locked (just a wheel) and "fancy."
The times said
Which I take as evidence of TA's Bourgeoise middle class yuppy bone-fides. Don't want it stolen, don't buy a tour-de-france ready whip.
The NYT article says "All they need is a corporation willing to pay as much as $200,000 a year to sponsor the idea."
It seems to me that Snoopy has a valid point.
It says up to $200,000 per year as a subsidy for 100 bikes under the watch of a full time atttendant (though I note it does say with room to expand capacity).
It is hard to argue the green efficiency of the idea benefiting 100 bikes when $200,000 would purchase a year's worth of monthly unlimited-ride metrocards for 200 riders.
Spirit of 76, your point depends on the conclusion the only alternatives are a car or bike parking lot. You could just as easily plant some trees in the space and be environmentally friendly, at a much lower cost. Or put the space to some other productive use.
Rocknrop, the $149 is the charge to riders, which is not the same as the cost of the project.
Makes me wonder, if people think this is a good idea, why not have subsidized public restrooms with full time attendants? Those would be a convenience and serve everyone, and be much better than those ridiculous 8am-8pm 15 minute-per-customer machines.
eyekantspel, Snoopy's post is referring to the cost to bikers (How about using public transport you idiots), by incorrectly calculating that it will cost a rider 8.33 to park his bike as opposed to a 4.00 round trip subway ride.
And your "200 metrocards" alternative assumes that a space for 100 bikes will encourage only 100 people to use their bicycles to commute, ignoring the greater benefit that more people would be encouraged to cycle if they knew there was a safe, monitored place to store their rides.
I ride to work everyday and I dunno what wimps need a parking lot for their bikes, but I agree that if this encourages even a few people to bike more often it'll be a great thing. I guess it'll be cool, cuz you might not need to bring a lock, if it's monitored, right? A good chain weighs as much as a good bike.
but hey - at least it won't be some ugly new building going up in the space.
well, more people up to the capacity of this bike parking facility, which right now looks like 100.
I provided the metrocard alternative just to show how many more people would benefit from the same subsidy.
I fail to see a greater benefit in encouraging people to cycle. I like riding a bike as much as anyone - and would regularly ride 25 miles a day before moving to NYC - but on city streets, it's unsafe for everyone involved. There are tradeoffs made in chosing to live in a busy city. If you want to enjoy a nice bike ride, stick to a park where it's allowed, or move to the suburbs.
I want to see how empty that bike parking lot will be the first time it snows. Or rains.
westernqueensland, so it's the cyclist's fault if they get ripped off? Nice 'blame the victim' logic. I don't think riding a $200 bike can be considered "yuppy", and given your thinking, anything better than a delivery boy's wreck is bourgeoise.
Have you ever had a bike stolen in the city? My friend, who rides a regular low-end mountain bike, has had anything and everything taken: saddle, pedals, etc. I don't think it's too much to ask to not have my bike completely stripped if I leave my bike locked up for two hours.
I'm staying out of the above debate, but I'm throwing in my good measure:
I live in Brooklyn, but I'm currently (and temporarily) working in a 15 story office building in The Hague, in The Netherlands.
The building has two large parking lots, one in front, one in the back. Each has space for approximately 150 bicycles. Every spot is taken, every day.
There is no car parking.
So cyclists get one dedicated lot set up, and everybody wants to bash it? It's not like it's taking away from something else that could be there - another starbucks?
Beaters in NYC get stolen just as frequently as nice bikes. You might just lose a seat, wheel or bars, because a messenger needs them at that very moment to work for the rest of the day. Value is irrelevant, and most bike thefts are done by organised gangs who sell the parts to couriers, and the really high end bikes out of the city. All get stolen. The fact is that NO bike chain is more than a detterent, even the 13 pound Krypto chain is a joke. I've been riding with one of those so long I have two little pieces of scar tissue on each hip, and I've still had several bikes stolen in toto or in pieces.
A bike lot with an attendant is a fantastic idea. How can people bitch about getting more bikes on the road in the city? Everyone always makes these analogies that make no sense, 'Oh 200,000 can buy x amount of this instead'. Ridiculous. Sometimes the benefits of something like encouraging bike riding, or having pretty art to look at can't be wholly quanitified in dollar figures. Like maybe if the obese cop from the above post cycled to work, he wouldn't be a lardass.
Nice it would be near my office. If they add a lot attendent or two I'm sold.
Thank you people that read the whole article. People like Zodak, rockinrope and Spirit of76 are idiots that never read the full article. Thinking Manhattan will ever be biker friendly is like thinking peace will come to the middle east in your lifetime.
Most bikers are a bunch of idiots! Except those that keep to the parks and even then %75 of them are idiots thinking that they need respect from motorists. New York ain't New Amsterdam. It's had it's growth problems over the years unlike Amsterdam which stagnated for about 400 years ago. It is nothing like Manhattan and never will be. So give it up!
So, um, how many of you bikers out there are willing to pay $149+ a year to park your bike in this lot?
Huh?
I thought so.
I've been riding in the city since the 79, and I have had bikes stolen, "in parts and in toto" (neat Latin 'eh?), but since I've started locking up the important parts with cables and chains and using serviceable but not new components, I've lost bupkiss.
Of course I've been lucky, but I'm also no longer trendy or young. SO I am rarely in the places bikes get stolen from (Manhattoes).
Rocknrope, $200 bikes can be yuppy or they can be Stealth Function Machines, it depends. But you are right, Bike thieves are the lowest form of scum, and it is their fault that things go missing. I am not a neo-marxist who exonerates the thief: incarcerate 'em. But, in a city with disparities of wealth, these things happen. I'm just glad I have a working bike right now. I hope you do to.
Bikers are the cheapest pieces of shit in the city. That's why they ride bikes.
Their holier than thou attitude makes me puke. If they want to stop polution, then I would suggest a rally beinging them all together and do a mass suicide program similar to Jonestown.
Snoopy, you're a moron. I'm glad you spend all your time on the internet because the real world probably can't handle your wisdom.
What would you rather be? An archer or a horse's ass? Make up your mind?
Bikers in the city will never coexist with motorized vehicles except in the parks where motorized vehicles are not allowed.
Our climate will not make it a feasible alternative.
DUH? Is this too hard to understand?
What would you rather be? An archer or a horse's ass? Make up your mind?
Looks to me like you've already made up yours.
^^^Typical bicyclist comment. Ship of fools that they are.
Do you realize they didn't have bicycles back in 1776? So why are you commenting?
... writes the guy who names himself after a dog. Dogs can type? Then again, Snoopy does sound more and more like a stupid mutt barking up the wrong tree with each comment he posts.
Nobody has realized that this fucking parking lot does not have a roof? you are gonna pay to park in the rain? fuck that!
Spirit of 76 will. I wonder why?
Snoopy, 76 isn't a cyclist. Moron.
People like Snoopy make the baby Jesus cry.
What idealistic fool envisioned this pipe dream? If this business model made sense (financially), it would be in place already.
I'm sure the autophobic streetblog participants have cream in their spandex thinking of this crap.
I'll park my bike for free thank you. :rolleyes:
See Spiritof76, the mistake you made was thinking that you could actually have an exchange with a halfwit. You'll know better in the future.
I am one of the people involved with this project for 34th Street Partnership.
Some clarifications on the project:
- parking will be free for day time use, only long term users will be expected to pay a yet undertermined amount.
- it is our goal for the project to help demonstrate that biking to work is a viable alternative in the neighborhood, and help foster more bike friendly features in the future developments of the train station and the west side.
- the developer will keep paying taxes on the lot, as they havein the past. They like the idea of a nice new ammenity for their tenants at the Olivia.
- theft is very unlikely as the facility will be attended at all hours of operation.
- we will scale parking capacity to meet the demand.
- this is not meant as a for profit enterprise, also no public money will be spent on it.
- it is very possible that a cover will be available for the bikes in case of rain. A full roof might not be necessary.
Thank you to all the posters for some good substantive comments.
Except Snoopy, who once again has shown himself to lack any ability to participate in a reasoned discussion.
This is a totally stupid idea. I wish they would add a car parking garage there instead.