Park-and-Ride Centers Gain Speed
Bikestation leads the way for two-wheel commuters
It’s early morning in Seattle’s Pioneer Square district, where commuters scurry between the train station, the bus and ferry terminals and various coffee shops en route to work. But in a quiet corner of this neighborhood, a different set of commuters, wide-awake and full of energy, stream in and out of an historic brick building.
This building is Seattle’s Bikestation, the Pacific Northwest’s sole bicycle-only parking center. The facility is akin to the city’s many park-and-ride car lots: it is designed for people who bike and then take public transportation to work. Yet, unlike park-and-rides, Bikestations include on-site security personnel, changing rooms and more – during daytime hours only. After-hours, members access the building via a key-card, enabling them to safely leave their bikes parked overnight if necessary.
Bikestations are modeled after European and Japanese facilities that often accommodate thousands of bike commuters. The Dutch National Railway alone maintains almost 200,000 bicycle parking spaces. Bike parking areas can house hundreds more bicycles than cars, therefore they encourage many more people to cycle rather than drive to public transportation stations or park-and-rides.
Bikestation Long Beach, which opened in March of 1996, was the first facility of its kind in the U.S. The success of five Bikestations along the West Coast has proved that if you build it, they will come. According to Andrea White, Executive Director of Bikestation, 30 percent of the non-profit organization’s members would not commute by bike without the availability of Bikestation services. “That number is astounding,” she says.
According to a recent survey conducted in Santa Barbara – which mirrors surveys done in other cities, says White – most potential bicycle commuters would opt for human-powered transportation if they had secured bike parking, showers, changing rooms and the option to rent a bike when necessary.
None of the Bikestations have showers due to building restrictions at the sites, (many of which are at public transit stations) but they all offer secure bike parking and most have changing rooms. Many also offer on-site bicycle repair shops, a snack bar, bike lockers for secure after hours parking, rental bikes and access to a car-sharing program – all for $1 a day or $96 a year.
“This is a great way for people to go from having an inactive, indoor lifestyle to having an active, outdoor lifestyle,” says Todd Boulanger, Senior Transportation Planner for the city of Vancouver, Wash., and a Bikestation board member. Last year, he won an Alice B. Toeclips Award, given annually to local bicycle advocates by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), for his work on getting a future Bikestation built in Portland.
“Given the outdoor lifestyle and focus on sustainable design in Portland,” Boulanger says, “It’s a great place for a Bikestation – and building one will fill a gap here on the West Coast.”
According to Boulanger, it takes $300,000 or more to outfit a Bikestation. Membership and parking fees cover only 50 to 60 percent of the maintenance and administrative costs, therefore the organization relies heavily on government, private and non-profit partnerships to help offset its expenses.
For example, the Seattle Bikestation recently closed for two months while the Bicycle Alliance of Washington (BAW) moved into the building. Members will now benefit from the BAW’s advocacy and education programs, in addition to Bikestation services. The building, which can accommodate 75 bikes, is at 80 percent capacity, but Andrea White would not be surprised if there is soon a waiting list.
“The concept is exploding,” she says, noting that she often receives calls from new cities wanting to implement the Bikestation model into their own transportation systems. Within the next year, Bikestations will open in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Washington, D.C.
Portland’s facility will most likely not open for another two to three years, says Boulanger, since funding has not yet been secured. Potential sites include Portland State University (PSU), Pioneer Courthouse Square and the Rose Quarter.
With the City of Portland, PSU, Tri-Met, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and a local property management firm invested in the project, it’s only a matter of time before the Portland Bikestation concept becomes a reality.
Seattle residents who are fed up with early morning bumper-to-bumper traffic, however, should take a spin down to the Pioneer Square Bikestation – on their bike of course. After touring the building, complete with a visit to the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, even the most die-hard car commuters could be convinced to start taking the bike lane to work instead of I-5.
For more information about Bikestation, see www.Bikestation.org; for information about the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, see www.BicycleAlliance.org.
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