Compare the new on-street parking in front of the WABA office to the new replacement parking at DCUSA. As ontarioroader writes
It only took them two years+ to install real bicycle parking that still doesn’t comply with DC law that mandates bicycle parking spaces equal 5% of the number of car parking spaces. In DCUSA’s case that would be 50 spaces, and this rack will fit perhaps a dozen bikes max. The racks out front on 14th street don’t even count because they were installed by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association after they discovered that DCUSA was trying to claim a fence crammed in the back of their loading dock was a ‘bike rack’. I just don’t get it – there are literally acres of unused car parking spaces in their parking lot, yet DCUSA refuses to allow bicycles or motorcycles to park in it. This rack is in the loading dock area, along with another rack across the dock entrance, for a total of about 24 bikes. These racks also act as parking for motorcycles a scooters since those are prohibited from the garage. Additionally, there is no access to DCUSA from the loading dock, so after you park your bike back here you have to walk around the block to the entrance on 14th St. The final nice aspect I noticed is that from the second set of racks, the only exit from the loading dock area is to go the wrong way out the ‘in’ ramp to the garage.
Photo by PoP
What happens to someone who does not install sufficient bike parking? Why is the DC govt not enforcing?
Posted by: SJE | April 29, 2010 at 10:53 PM
They're supposed to be ticketed, but I bet they get a warning with some time to fix it. In general the enforcement of it is based on a complaint. So no one has complained to the zoning people.
Posted by: washcycle | April 29, 2010 at 10:59 PM
I'd say those 12 U racks could accommodate 24 or more bikes. Not good placement though, should be somewhere obvious to cyclists. Does the loading dock have video monitoring? Maybe their plan is for employees to park here?
Posted by: Will | April 30, 2010 at 09:56 AM
the best bike plans that deal with parking (i.e., Toronto) are very specific about the different needs and provide for differentiated requirements for short term vs. long term parking.
Unless that bike parking in DC/USA is near the attendant booth, it wouldn't likely qualify as acceptable in Toronto.
Long term parking (for employees) needs to be secure.
Short term parking for visitors (customers) needs to be close to entrances. The Denver plan says 50 feet from the main entrance.
Not sure whether the DC zoning regs adequately make these distinctions. In any case, I am working for such distinctions for Baltimore County, which has no bicycle parking requirements at all at present.
Posted by: Richard Layman | April 30, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Will, that's a good point, this may be employee parking which means it wouldn't be near the front door. But still, they need customer bike parking in the parking garage.
Posted by: washcycle | April 30, 2010 at 11:10 AM
I paced off the distance from the bike racks to the entrance - it's about 430 yards or around 1300 feet.
I suppose what pisses me off most about this is it's a DC Gov funded project and they still managed to screw things up so badly and in reality won't face any enforcement action.
Posted by: ontarioroader | April 30, 2010 at 11:13 AM