Yesterday, 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 de facto bike parking racks.
This story was picked up today by Streetsblogs, a transportation network we are a part of, with this picture below where meter posts were kept in Baltimore to continue service as bike parking.
Image courtesy of bosconet via Flickr.
What I really like about this option is that the icon easily identifies the post for bike parking and makes those on the street conscious that bikes belong there.
So, come on Austin, are we really going to let Baltimore out innovate us?
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 12:05 am
It’s not just Baltimore – we have these in Albuquerque, as well (as you can see here). I’ve also seen some of these in Salt Lake City.
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 6:23 am
[...] Austin Bike Blog has been following the idea of turning Austin’s downtown parking meters into bike parking, since a current city proposal calls for removing many of the meters and replacing them with electronic kiosks that accept payment for each block. [...]
on Jan 8th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Ya, Boulder, Co had the same thing happen 2 years ago, they ended up going with the same bike logo hitching post.
First time I saw it I thought it looked easily removable, you know just pulling straight up. They use 3 tight fitting clamps with carriage bolts and then the nut is installed they simply tack a little weld on the side of the nut to keep it from unthreading.
I did try the old pipe and twist trick(the same way people remove the heads off the meter post, or twist a U-lock open). I had a 4 foot long 2×4, and I jambed it in the ring and tried to spin the ring either direction, but alas it is solid.
I will and have locked my bike up to one of those, even over night!
Genius! And it’s tasteful.
on Jan 12th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Great idea and it does look good. The city would save a couple of bucks on the meter removal from the concrete which should offset PART of the cost anyway.
on Feb 7th, 2010 at 9:12 am
As an option to the poles and chains we have developed the BikeValet, Automated Bike Parking System (APBS). Some of the features include 24/7 automation, 100% off the street security, high density storage, ADA Compliant and it opertates on renewable DC Electricity. It can park regular, tandem, three wheel cargo and hand crank bikes.
It was designed to be installed into any type of existing structure. From inaccessable overhead areas in atriums and transportation hubs to basements can be used for bike paring. This APBS can also be used in conjunction with Bike Share Programs.
We are scheduled to launch this year.