It's true that, in the ramps, space for two cars = space for 12 bikes, but cars *pay* to park in ramps, while bikes park for free. The Parking Utility has to pay its staff and pay off bonds, so it's not surprising that they might be reluctant to give up income for the sake of non-paying customers.
But what if the ramps offered *paid* parking for bikes? If the Parking Utility offered sheltered parking, with a reasonable level of protection against theft and vandalism, for a reasonable price, would there be a market for this service? I don't know if something like this would be feasible in Madison, but I've noticed on the web that an organization called Bikestation (http://www.bikestation.org) offers paid parking (and other services) in several West Coast cities. Perhaps we could adapt this idea to our own needs. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck Strawser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, September 12, 2003 4:29 PM Subject: [Bikies] bike lockers, and other bike parking > Bikies, > > folks possibly in a position to *try* to do something about it are > interested to know if others on this list > > 1) want bike lockers downtown > 2) would be willing to pay for the same (and how much) > 3) would be willing to give up an evening in the future to show up *in > force* to say these things at a public meeting. > > as a related issue, providing more bike racks in city ramps has been > discussed briefly. but currently the parking utility is unwilling to put > racks in spaces for cars (even though no ramps are 100% full all of the > time, enough spaces are filled often enough that the parking utility is > unwilling to give any spaces up, even though, in general, space for two > cars = space for 12 bikes. Also, putting bike racks in (former) car spaces > would probably mean that maintenance of the racks would be the > responsibility of the parking utiltiy, rather than traffic engineering, > which currently maintains city racks, and PU may or may not do it as well > as the city. > > basically, for either of these things to happen, many people are going to > have to work to (probably) change some city ordinances, and if a public > meeting is scheduled to which no one attends, the issue(s) will die an > ignominious death (and consequently make a lot of bike adovcates look > really foolish for trying). > > so let's hear what bikies have to say... > > chuck > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
