Bicycling

Bike parking scarce at DC USA

by David Alpert   •   March 10, 2008 9:58 am

Friends and Smarter Growthers tell me that the new Target in Columbia Heights has been a rousing success, except for the bike situation. According to reports, there were bicycles locked up all over the place this weekend because, when spending $42 million for a parking garage, our government didn't build enough bike parking.

Meanwhile, the taxpayer-subsidized garage was about half full midday on the weekend. Only the Target is open so far, so that may change. Remember, the garage needs to be about 95% full, ten hours a day, to break even. But if bike parking is already scarce while car parking is plentiful, we've already gotten it wrong.

Update: here's a picture from Cheryl Cort of Coalition for Smarter Growth. I count at least seven bikes and zero bike racks; one bike (toward the background) seems to be blocking some pedestrian walking space. Cheryl also says there is room for racks along the building's edge that is currently empty.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.