WSJ: Developers Build Luxury, Bike-Friendly Buildings

[Emm]

Finding a bike-friendly home was one of the reasons we rented a house in Alexandria close to the MVT. Has anyone else ever choose to live (or not live) in a building due to their bike facilities?

At the house I’m renting now I have an entire garage for my bikes, hoses and a driveway/yard to wash them, and if there’s broken glass in my driveway, it’s my own fault. I lived in River Place East in Rosslyn for 6 years prior to this, and their poor bike facilities ultimately led me to move out even though my landlord and apartment were great. They had a huge bike room, yet it had zero space for bikes. Bikes were locked to other bikes, or just left unlocked (I just kept mine in my living room). It was just super disorganized, and the space was used very inefficiently (I believe the South building redid their bike room though, I heard good things from the tenants there). There was also no place to wash your bike unless you used your bath tub, and you had to take your bike in and out through the loading dock–which was ALWAYS–seriously, every single day for years–covered in shards of broken glass. Not to mention drivers in the parking lot never paid attention to bikes or the speed limit, leading to some downright frightening commutes. Since it’s a coop my landlord couldn’t fix those issues for me, and the building mgmt couldn’t have cared less.

[PotomacCyclist]

Did Dorothy Rabinowitz approve this article? If not, it’s another clear sign of the all-powerful and omnipotent “bike lobby.”

(Sarcasm intended, for new readers who aren’t familiar with Rabinowitz and her rant against bikeshare in NYC.)

[nicefixie]

@Emm 95472 wrote:

Finding a bike-friendly home was one of the reasons we rented a house in Alexandria close to the MVT. Has anyone else ever choose to live (or not live) in a building due to their bike facilities?

At the house I’m renting now I have an entire garage for my bikes, hoses and a driveway/yard to wash them, and if there’s broken glass in my driveway, it’s my own fault. I lived in River Place East in Rosslyn for 6 years prior to this, and their poor bike facilities ultimately led me to move out even though my landlord and apartment were great. They had a huge bike room, yet it had zero space for bikes. Bikes were locked to other bikes, or just left unlocked (I just kept mine in my living room). It was just super disorganized, and the space was used very inefficiently (I believe the South building redid their bike room though, I heard good things from the tenants there). There was also no place to wash your bike unless you used your bath tub, and you had to take your bike in and out through the loading dock–which was ALWAYS–seriously, every single day for years–covered in shards of broken glass. Not to mention drivers in the parking lot never paid attention to bikes or the speed limit, leading to some downright frightening commutes. Since it’s a coop my landlord couldn’t fix those issues for me, and the building mgmt couldn’t have cared less.

I originally selected my apartment building based off its accessibility for cycling and for the bike room that it had. The “free” bike room lasted for a few months and now residents have to pay for it. Those who don’t want to pay the monthly bike lodging fee now trudge their bikes through the lobby and into the elevator. This should get interesting in the winter months when bikes start coming in with wet tires..

[lordofthemark]

@nicefixie 95675 wrote:

I originally selected my apartment building based off its accessibility for cycling and for the bike room that it had. The “free” bike room lasted for a few months and now residents have to pay for it. Those who don’t want to pay the monthly bike lodging fee now trudge their bikes through the lobby and into the elevator. This should get interesting in the winter months when bikes start coming in with wet tires..

I would be willing to pay a nominal fee if it would get rid of the bikes that appear to never be ridden, but which clog up the bike room. Though it might lead to us giving the beater MTB to Phoenix and buying a CaBi membership instead.

[Steve O]

@lordofthemark 96245 wrote:

I would be willing to pay a nominal fee if it would get rid of the bikes that appear to never be ridden, but which clog up the bike room. Though it might lead to us giving the beater MTB to Phoenix and buying a CaBi membership instead.

When I lived in Philadelphia the bike room in my building eventually filled up with what were almost certainly abandoned bikes. People moved away and left their bikes behind. Like some experiences shared here, it became almost impossible to find a place to put anything, even though it was a big room. Like silt behind a dam, eventually the entire room would be filled with unused bikes and become entirely useless. I believe this is a very common problem for any building that provides an unmanaged bike room.
To overcome this problem, buildings need to institute some sort of simple registration process and/or a nominal fee–like $3/month. The fee by itself is insufficient without some way of knowing which bikes are abandoned.

To get rid of the silt in the first place, they need to tag all the items in the room with a note saying that anything that still has a note on it in (pick your number) months, will be donated. At the same time they need to notify all the residents that they have placed the notes and that they need to register their bikes and remove the note.

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