Nowhere to park

Foreword: Almost two weeks ago Kelowna experienced another cyclist death. I want to express my deepest sympathies to the friends and family of the man who died. We now have three deaths in the last 10 months, which represents a high rate for the size of our city. I can only call out for more respect, more visibility, and more awareness on everyone’s part. 

 

Nowhere to park

Everyone knows that if you want people to come to your business, you need parking, but people seem to think that it only applies to cars. You need a place for your employees to park their cars for the day and you need spaces for customers. 

What about employees and customers who ride bicycles?

When you drive down the road and your attention is caught by a cool looking new store, do you immediately start looking for a parking spot? If you can’t find a spot, do you make a mental note to go back another day? I’m betting that you make a note to come back, hoping that your memory will store the idea long enough for it to happen. 

What happens with that same scenario if you’re on a bicycle?

More than likely you’ll turn your handlebars in the direction of the attraction and start slowing down for a visit. What do you need first and foremost? A safe place to lock your bike while you go explore this new found wonderland.

You’re used to looking for “rockstar” parking with your car (i.e. right next to the front door) and maybe you’ll go a couple of doors down the block if you see a good bike rack within sight. Otherwise you might use a parking meter (illegal) or a parking sign (bad idea if the bike can be lifted high enough) or a conveniently-sized tree. 

What you’re not going to do is lower the kickstand and leave your bike out there for the next opportunistic rider. Sadly we don’t live in a perfectly respectful world.

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Parking around town

If you’re in a car what do you do when you can’t find an open parking spot at Orchard Park Mall? Thankfully for most drivers there are plenty (hundreds) of spots for big hulking cars in the parking lot. There are only five bike racks for approximately 35 bikes. 

If you go downtown there are spaces for 110 cars along Bernard from Abbott to Richter. In that same span there is parking for over 70 bicycles. This is a great example of provisioning parking for what you want to be the reality.

The Coast Capri Hotel used to have a bike rack out front. As a popular location for meetings and open houses it now has no bike parking, so you either walk, take the bus, or drive. Talking with the hotel staff, they do provide bike storage for hotel guests but have said that the mall administration is responsible for any racks around the perimeter. Chatting with the security guards inside the mall revealed that bike theft has been rampant, and that all discussion should go to the mall administration.

The downtown Safeway will be making improvements to their bicycle parking in the near future. Those familiar with the store will know that there has only been a short five bike rack bolted onto the sidewalk near the east doors. Soon they will be removing this inadequate rack and replacing it with two brand new ten bike racks positioned at the north-east corner of the lot (at the corner of Bernard and Richter). 

Shoppers Drug Mart on Bernard has just installed a six bike rack in front of their entrance, after lacking any such facilities since the downtown revitalization.

Bike to Work Week coming up

For office buildings, my own for example, there are public spots out front for four bikes along the sidewalk. My bike is usually locked in the stairwell, and my coworker has to bring her bike into the office as there is someone else using the other stairwell. 

In preparation for Bike To Work Week next month I checked with all the tenants to find out how many want to ride. We have a small building, and 11 people want to ride to work but feel there isn’t anywhere safe to put their bikes. As a result, they plan to continue to drive. 

I can’t say who our landlord is, but I’ve been trying to cajole them into building a real place for us to secure our bikes, it would go a long way to relieving parking pressure and encourage us renew our lease. Just sayin :)

As bike riders

As bike riders, we should be supporting the businesses that are making an effort to provide safe and secure bike parking. 

As bike riders we should be asking our employers for the benefit of secure cycle storage for the workday. 

The future will see more pedal powered trips, that’s what the City wants, that’s what will reduce the stress and frustration of all road users in Kelowna. 

As a last thought, think how the Kelowna Rockets games are, in terms of parking. People park blocks away because the lots fill up and the public on-street parking disappears too quickly. How many bikes could the area in front of the entrance doors handle? 100? 200? And the walk to your seats becomes quite short and easy.

As drivers

As a driver you should encourage more people to cycle so that you have a closer parking space when you want it. 

Links

Here’s a great article from Mobility Lab, with relevant studies. 

The City of Kelowna has a good program to help businesses purchase bike racks. Scroll to the bottom of the page. 

A good resource if you want to know more about bike parking options. 

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.