News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities.

Re:How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities by potatolicious on Wednesday October 28, 2009 @05:37PM (#908888)
There's more to encouraging bike use than bike parking. I live in Seattle, where bike parking is plentiful - but yet I'm still apprehensive to ride many places because of snarly, downright dangerous traffic.

Bike parking will only be an issue once enough streets have bike lanes, and the law properly protects bicyclists against hostile drivers. As it is most of the city is still off-limits to me unless I feel like weaving through a crowd of fast-moving 1-ton pieces of steel piloted by irate people. I don't even get far enough to have to worry about where to place my bike.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities by rg123 on Wednesday October 28, 2009 @05:48PM (#908921)
Showers (and lockers if other lockable storage is not available) at work places would be needed, too, for bike commuting to be viable for a lot of people.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities by jrockway on Wednesday October 28, 2009 @06:34PM (#909019)
Interesting. I have spent a bit of time on my bike in Seattle, and the thought of traffic never occurred to me. I think drivers there, like in Chicago, are used to cyclists and shouldn't cause you any problems.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities by potatolicious on Wednesday October 28, 2009 @07:37PM (#909130)
It's certainly better than some other cities I've lived in - but I live and work downtown, and navigating downtown streets on a bicycle to/from work is an intimidating proposition. Not many of us who work here do it - and I commend the brave souls who do :)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How decent bike parking could revolutionize cities by davidcuddeback on Wednesday October 28, 2009 @11:10PM (#909408)
I partially agree with you. I lived in Seattle's International district this past summer, and biked quite a bit. At first, I was apprehensive about the traffic, but it wasn't bad once I got past my first ride.

One resource you might find helpful is the maps on Seattle's Department of Transportation website: (http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikemaps.htm). They show the streets that are safer to bike. When I lived there, I biked southbound on 5th because I live on 5th, but that felt a little sketchy around 5th and Pike. According to the map, 2nd has a bike lane that I could have used for going southbound.

[ Parent | on HN ]