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bike parking, Tokyo style

the bus bike rack rap

I’ve gotten familiar with the bike rack on the front of TTA Triangle Transit buses over the last few years. Having bike racks on the front of all buses is a common sense move that many municipalities have made. In fact, when I travel somewhere and see that their city buses do not have bike racks (for many years, my hometown in SC was this way), I’m taken aback. Why not?

For a city, mounting bike racks on buses is one of the cheapest ways to expand multi-modal transportation options for residents. Bus-mounted bike racks invite people to ride to bus stops from distances greater than they will walk; it just makes bike commuting (and sometimes just taking that first step to start bike commuting) a little easier.

And for the Research Triangle Park — where the suburban landscape aesthetic meets Cold War-era privacy concerns in a sprawling, regional employment hub — Triangle Transit’s bike racks make it feasible to bus to work. Bikes help make busing more reasonable while buses with racks help make biking more reasonable — you might even say they work in tandem.

All local bus systems (Raleigh’s CAT, Chapel Hill Transit, and Durham’s DATA) also have bike racks. And they are of a style that most transit systems use. Easy to use and surprisingly secure (given how quickly you load and lock your bike), the racks allow you to bike even when, for reasons of health, time, etc, you can’t bike all the way.

But when I think back to my first attempt to load my bike on a bus (back on college), I remember it being a little awkward to figure out. I could have used a simple “how-to” before I pulled up and stared at the folded metal, wondering how to secure (at the time) my precious new mountain bike.

Looks like the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) of Louisville, KY had the same idea. Instead of merely demonstrating how easy it is to use (once you know where that release latch is), they’ve produced a video to teach you with style.

Mark Dessauer, Communications Director of Active Living by Design (seen here piloting the “bakfiet”), tells me that (TARC) is one of ALBD’s grantees. To encourage folks to try the bus system, TARC put together this instructional. “The project director (Mamma Jamma aka Nina Walfoort) wrote the lyrics, the rapper is a bus mechanic, and the dancers are bus drivers,” says Dessauer. “It was cheap to make and is a big hit locally.”

Enjoy.

Triangle Transit? DATA? Who’s next?

David Byrne’s bike racks

Thanks to Adrian for pointing this out

inside the loop

disobey

Bike to Earth Day

Kim Cumber of the State Archives pointed me toward this wonderful photo from North Carolina’s first Earth Day celebration. It’s part of the Archives new Flickr photostream, which if you haven’t checked it out, you should. At least, check out the rest of the Archives’ Earth Day photos to get you psyched up for this weekend.

Earth Day 1970, April 21-22, 1970, NC State or UNC. From Carolina Power and Light (CP&L) Photograph Collection (Ph.C.68), North Carolina State Archives.

Durham Earth Day Festival 2008

Date: Saturday April 19, 2008
Time: 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Location: Durham Central Park
Theme: It’s Easy Being Green

I have seen the light…

and so has the City.

The City Racks bike racks are finally being installed. The one pictured above sits just outside The Regulator Bookshop. Look for one near you.

The Durham Bike and Ped Advisory Commission website has some photos of a few others.

Anyone who’s happy about this can email thanks to Dale McKeel,Durham’s bicycle and pedestrian transportation planner.

Asheville’s bike racks

Below are two photos of Asheville’s city-wide bike rack design. The racks range in size (width) from supporting six bikes to two, each with an “ordinary” on top. While these are not the most functional design for bike racks, they are beautiful, well-used (it was rare to see one without a bike locked to it), and complement the sense of history and community that downtown Asheville imbues.
outside the Battery Park Hotel

outside the Orange Peel

Dale McKeel, Durham’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Coordinator, says that installation of Durham’s city-wide bike racks begins tomorrow, April 8th. Read more about Durham’s City Racks program here.

Durham’s bike racks

The second in a series on Durham’s unique bike racks, here are two photos of the bike rack that sits between Morgan Imports and Parker and Otis.

Speaking of bike racks, the Durham City Racks bike parking program is a year and a half behind schedule. I spoke with Dale McKeel of the City’s Transportation department last week, and he says, “I hope to visit Ninth Street and the other locations over the next two to three weeks and finalize the locations. The contractor will then be contacted to do the installations, and this will be dependent on his workload. My goal is to have the installation completed by mid-March.”

Keep your fingers crossed.

Durham’s unique bike racks — the first in a series

Frank Hyman won’t let Columbia, SC show up Durham. So, when I posted a photo of a bad ass bike rack I saw down there, he wrote in to remind me of the Biker Bar. In his own words… (edit: this at 101 E. Geer St)

photo courtesy of Frank Hyman

Called “The Biker Bar”, met the size requirements (4 bikes) for the permit and gets used by at least one staff person. It’s all the way in back of the parking lot, at the far end of the building if you’re ever over that way. It was up 6 ft. in the air in the basement, so cut it loose with a sawzall blade (the wrong tool for every job), turned it over 180 degrees with ropes and poles, lowered it to the floor and 4 helpers carried it up a flight of stairs out of the basement. Cut holes in the pavement to cement the legs into the ground, capped the pipes with PVC caps painted black and coated it with Penetrol at Al Frega’s recommendation (he made the metal railings at Morgan Imports/ Fowlers).Voila! A homemade bike rack.

Now I want someone to commission me to make a bike rack out of cannibalized car parts!

His isn’t the only unique bike rack in town. So, over the next few months, I’ll make a point of visiting and photographing them. When I do, I’ll share those photos here.

Anyone interested in contacting Frank can learn more about him on his website, FrankHyman.com

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