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Marin IJ Editorial: Bike riders should be a SMART priority
Author: The Odd Duck
Date: 11-10-2016 - 12:54
Marin IJ Editorial: Bike riders should be a SMART priority
POSTED: 11/10/16
Bicycle riders should be encouraged to ride Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, not confronted by obstacles when trains start rolling in the spring.
But plans for parking bikes at SMART’s train stations and Marin stops are hardly accommodating to riders who would either bike to reach the train or ride their bikes from the train stops to their jobs or destinations.
This is an important matter that should have been taken care of months ago.
Now SMART officials are fielding fair criticism that they have done too little too late to prepare for installing secure lockers for bikes at the stops.
SMART’s own planning — for which the transit agency spent $100,000 — predicts it needs parking accommodations for 68 bikes, but bike riders warn that’s not enough. One estimate presented to the SMART board predicted a cost of $300,000.
Train officials say the electronically controlled lockers, large enough to store four bikes, would cost $20,000 each.
Do the math and it’s a sizable investment. The $300,000 estimate is just a start.
It is understandable no one would want to leave their expensive bike chained to a bike rack — an attractive target for thieves.
BART has both bike racks and lockers at some of its stations.
The agency advises bike owners to double-lock their bikes with U-shaped locks.
SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian says the agency can go a step further and train security cameras on the bike racks.
Marin Supervisor Judy Arnold, a SMART board member, advocates a wait-and-see approach, in which the agency would add more bike parking after seeing the demand.
And then what happens if there’s not enough parking, as local bike advocates predict?
Perhaps there is a less-costly solution.
Twenty thousand dollars for an electronic bike locker is a lot of money.
Maybe not, if you can afford to spend $100,000 just to come up with an educated estimate, albeit belated, on how much bike parking SMART needs.
POSTED: 11/10/16
Bicycle riders should be encouraged to ride Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, not confronted by obstacles when trains start rolling in the spring.
But plans for parking bikes at SMART’s train stations and Marin stops are hardly accommodating to riders who would either bike to reach the train or ride their bikes from the train stops to their jobs or destinations.
This is an important matter that should have been taken care of months ago.
Now SMART officials are fielding fair criticism that they have done too little too late to prepare for installing secure lockers for bikes at the stops.
SMART’s own planning — for which the transit agency spent $100,000 — predicts it needs parking accommodations for 68 bikes, but bike riders warn that’s not enough. One estimate presented to the SMART board predicted a cost of $300,000.
Train officials say the electronically controlled lockers, large enough to store four bikes, would cost $20,000 each.
Do the math and it’s a sizable investment. The $300,000 estimate is just a start.
It is understandable no one would want to leave their expensive bike chained to a bike rack — an attractive target for thieves.
BART has both bike racks and lockers at some of its stations.
The agency advises bike owners to double-lock their bikes with U-shaped locks.
SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian says the agency can go a step further and train security cameras on the bike racks.
Marin Supervisor Judy Arnold, a SMART board member, advocates a wait-and-see approach, in which the agency would add more bike parking after seeing the demand.
And then what happens if there’s not enough parking, as local bike advocates predict?
Perhaps there is a less-costly solution.
Twenty thousand dollars for an electronic bike locker is a lot of money.
Maybe not, if you can afford to spend $100,000 just to come up with an educated estimate, albeit belated, on how much bike parking SMART needs.
Marin IJ Editorial: Bike riders should be a SMART priority