Comments on: Traffic Feels the Love From the U.K.’s Department of Transport

By: spiderleggreen

spiderleggreen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:32:47 +0000

This connects nicely with the burgeoning bike-sharing programs. Take a train downtown and hop on a bike, which you ride to work or where ever.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:46:28 +0000

Our “need” for carspace is overwhelming. A small parking lot designed for 50 cars supports at most 200 car traveling customers or potentially 750-1000 bike customers. In addition, the bike customers have more to spend as they haven’t wasted their income- wealth on auto expenses.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:31:42 +0000

Ah, from the side you’d fit more than from the end, which is what I had in mind, at least if you aren’t thinking about having enough space for a trailer. The very earnest all organic food co-op I frequent just finally decided to turn one car space into bicycle space. Previously they had the rack right up against the building (too little space) right in front of the door (bicycle obstructs access). Now even with the trailer there is space (it is a grocery store, the trailer is useful).

By: chrismealy

chrismealy — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:35:46 +0000

Bike corrals (parallel parking spots turned into bike parking) in Portland and Seattle have space for 12-20 bikes, so your intuition is right on.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:27:55 +0000

If you turn one car space in a lot into bicycle space, I’d think more like 5. If you turned the whole lot into bicycle parking, you wouldn’t need the huge extra space for turning and backing up that cars need, so you could fit in a lot more. If you, as is often the case, decide that bicycles aren’t very important and obviously are either too cheap to care about or else invulnerable to damage or theft and want them parked all tangled together with the cyclists climbing over other people’s cycles just to get access (no one suggests parking cars literally scraping against each other with the drivers climbing over the hoods and roofs to get in and out), then even more, sure. Here’s my chance to note that people who install bike racks often seem to think they need space only for the rack itself, and forget about the actual bicycles. Bicycles are a lot smaller than cars, but they do have size. No one designates car parking spaces smaller than any car, or a space that can only be parked in by lowering the car in with a crane.