It looks like Cleveland will be building its first bike station this year in a parking garage downtown. This is the first I know of in Ohio. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Don’t you wish Columbus had done something similar with one of it’s new downtown parking garages though?
en Route to a bike station (or two) in Cleveland
Submitted by Chris Bongorno | Last edited February 5, 2009 – 3:58pm
GreenCityBlueLakeLast week, I had the privilege of joining a delegation of Clevelanders on a trip to Chicago to tour and learn about the McDonald’s Cycle Center in Millennium Park. This innovative bike station features indoor parking for 300 bicycles, shower facilities, a supply and repair shop, as well as playing host to a rental and tour business. The endeavor has been very successful in Chicago and our group learned a lot about how the facility was designed and operates.
Why were we there? Because the City of Cleveland will be building its first bike station downtown later this year in one of the Gateway garages. UCI also plans to incorporate a station into its Mayfield Road Lot 45 development, a location that can serve Little Italy and University Circle residents, visitors, and employees and which will be tied closely to adjacent mixed-use developments and RTA bus and rapid facilities.
This is great news! It’s exactly what we need in downtown Columbus and elsewhere around the city to encourage bicycle commuting.
Grant Hospital is gearing up to provide commuters downtown a place to shower and store bikes.
http://www.yaybikes.com/transitional/viewtopic.php?p=10155#10155
I should say there is discussion, but sounds like it has the best potential of any plan out there…
Thanks for the link Andrew. Those types of partnerships with private fitness centers may not be a “bike station” per se, but they are a great way to make biking a lot easier without all the construction costs of a new public facility.
We need that kind of forward thinking in Columbus! But I’d settle for some PSAs to run on local TV to teach car drivers how to share the road with bikes.
How about changing the driver ed curriculum and the state driving test to better address cars and bikes?
Looks like Dayton will be 2nd. Can Columbus be 3rd?
More details on Cleveland’s station here:
http://www.gcbl.org/blog/marc-lefkowitz/downtown-bike-station-can-catalyze-mode-shift
I love that it will be open 24 hours. Chicago doesn’t have that. If there’s a downside, it’s the limited storage capacity at the station for just 38 bikes. The article makes a distinction between the bike station and bike storage, but who wants to move their bike after they’ve already showered and dressed for work? I’ve actually done this many times in Chicago, but it’s only because my office is a relatively long walk from the Millennium Park bike station. I expect these spaces to fill up fast.