[dc-critmass-list] Pay bike parking coming to Union Station

[Luke Kuhn]

http://dc.thecityfix.com/union-station-bike-station-good-for-existing-riders-symbolism/

>From DC Indy:

  Union Station's Bicycle Transit Center is slated to open in October, offering nearly 500 instead of 150 bike lockup spots-but indoors, for a $1 a day 7 Am-7PM only access, or $100 a year for 24 hour access. Only 20 spots will be outside, nobody is saying if they will be free.

   Allowing anyone to remove free bike racks and replace them with pay parking sets a brutal precedent where more and more establishments will seek to prohibit locking up bikes on the sidewalk and put in pay-to-lock bike racks instead.

   In 2002, Union Station posted signs on all sign posts on their property prohibiting bike parking-and threatened to confiscate bikes. Those signs are long gone, but I suspect they will soon return.

   It's going to be very, very difficult to get Union Station to keep free bike racks or even tolerate the use of their sign posts once this expensive indoor facility for yuppies opens.

   If the 20 outdoor spots included in the bike center  are free, my guess is commuters will fill them first, then all of the street sign posts across 1st st from Union Station, then divide with some paying to park, and some walking a block plus from sign posts on North Capitol St or Capitol Hill locations.

   Anyone wanting to bike to  Metro in rush hour and lock up their bike will have to avoid Union Station, and anyone needing to get off Metro and use the toilets will have to use another Metro station and stop by a bush somewhere.

   If bicycle users are asked to pay to park as though they were driving cars, a key advantage of bicycles over cars disappears. Once this starts, people will ignore both their bike and Union Station, driving their car instead even if they must use a parking meter on the far end.

  I swear on the graves of all my ancestors that I will never, ever use a pay bike parking facility, no matter how "secure" or pretty!  For those of us who ride without dollars, this thing could set a disasterous precedent.

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