Newton is out ahead of Boston and other communities for once on biking: we had the first on-street bike parking we know of in the area, last Saturday, June 13. The event was seeded by four members of Bike Newton, who rolled up to JP Licks Ice Cream shop in Newton Centre, found an empty parking space, parked our bikes and paid the meter. Other bikers, single and families, joined the space; the number of bikes grew to more than a dozen, at which point the adjacent spot opened up and we took that one too. This photo shows a couple of interesting things: bikes parked in pedestrian spaces, indicating lack of bike parking; some bikers riding on the sidewalk, rather than street, presumably because they felt safer on the sidewalk; and the remarkable indifference of bystanders, who treated this as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have in a metered parking spot.
Monday, June 15, 2009
On-Street Bike Parking in Newton
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8 comments:
Bikers are a danger to car-drivers when they bike on the streets. They are a danger to pedestrians when they bike on the sidewalks. Biking in the city should be banned.
That was a joke, right?
Somehow I think a over two tonne vehicle to more dangerous to a bicycle than vice versa. Laws of physics and all that.
As far as biking on the sidewalk, it can be done when they aren't a lot of pedestrians in a one area and the biker is going slowly. Newton needs more bike lanes actually.
I've been wondering why no one has created a coin operated bike lock, similar in concept to bus station lockers or ski locks. Instead, I'm forced to lock my bike to a parking meter, which I'm sure annoys a lot of people. Newton's villages don't have easily locatable bike locks, but have lots of parking. Go figure?
The Stop and Shop in Watertown doesn't even HAVE a usable bike lock.
I applaud Newton for supporting biking and for your group for the on-street parking. It would be more ideal if the city had designated spaces that didn't take away from the vehicle spots, but also didn't impact pedestrian access.
That said, having moved from Minneapolis, which is a very biker friendly city, it's very hard to believe the things both drivers and bikers do in Newton to make the streets unsafe for everybody. Yesterday driving along Auburn Street away from Auburndale village, a biker came along my right side biking the opposite direction from me - which is incredibly unsafe. Bikers need to remember to obey traffic laws like any other wheeled vehicle on the road. If the road is unsafe, it's far better to walk along the sidewalk than go against traffic.
The next hot summer's day - when I have been on the bike and feel like an ice cream reward - do you know where I will be headed? Answer: I'm not sure but I know for certain that it won't be to J.P. Licks (not that it's their fault, necessarily, but the one thing that will de-motivate me will be the specter of a bike meter next to their shoppe)
uh, am I right that some of you have misunderstood what happened?
I believe they paid the meters and parked their bikes in what is usually an auto parking spot. Or am I contributing to the confusion?
Hey MatC - I saw your blog - see you are into skateboarding - which is not a crime - and thought - how about a skateboarder occupation of a metered parking space? A skateboard is a vehicle in my book. And many people don't want them on sidewalks. This should be legal, at least in Newton. I would just recommend getting a group of skateboarders to do this together, possibly together with a bike or two to demarcate the space.
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