Comments on: [UPDATE] Bicycle Parking In Downtown Raleigh

By: Steve W

Steve W — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:44:11 +0000

Great article. But I wanted to mention that buying the parking lot next to the M&F bank for bike parking would likely make it the most expensive bike parking spaces on the east coast. Maybe we could get a bike station at the new multimodal center when it’s built to offer parking, rentals, repairs and retail accessories. Either way, we need more bike racks that are immediately in front of buildings (so you don’t have to walk to a bike parking deck) and the city is currently identifying locations for exactly that. Thanks again for this article.

By: Alina

Alina — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:49:22 +0000

Yay, that’s my scooter! To my cyclist friends – sorry I’ve been hogging the rack at Hargett/Fayetteville, but it sure beats $10/day parking + gas!! In all seriousness, the city had the right idea by installing the bike racks on Fayetteville Street, but these racks are not big enough for all of the riders in the area. We need more racks and, more importantly, we need to start paving roads wide enough to include bicycle lanes so that cyclists don’t have to worry about getting run off the road by impatient Triangle drivers. I ride a scooter instead of my bike to work because biking downtown during the week can be downright dangerous; at least on the scooter I can keep up with traffic.

By: mammalpants

mammalpants — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:42:30 +0000

you could easily have 6 basic bike racks for 12 bikes take up ONE parking space. Doing this every few blocks could solve the problem, but it would be so nice to have custom Raleigh racks in the area just to reinforce the idea that Raleigh takes cycling seriously and is willing to promote it to make our community better. This would also alleviate any potential issues that might occur by having to park on sidewalks and block pedestrians…Think of it like handicapped or expectant mother parking, but for bikes and alternative transportation…

By: Leo

Leo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:45:57 +0000

Putting racks in the on-street parking areas would definitely be a more efficient use of the space. I think the racks would have to be removable for events but that is really a non-issue.

I’ve been thinking about converting car parking deck areas into bike/scooter only parking. It is a really good idea because of the very small cost to convert some space but one point that may turn people off on using it is that feeling that you are still within a car-dominated realm. A bike only area gives off the feeling that its just that, for bikes ONLY, no cars allowed. So I think this would be used much more as well as make a larger statement by the city in their support of biking and alternative commuting.

By: JeffS

JeffS — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:05:43 +0000

Kind of like the aesthetic of having the streets lined with cars?

If you wanted to keep the sidewalks clean, you could always install racks in some of the parking spaces – which could actually be a more efficient use of the space.