Better Bus Shelters and Bicycle Parking

A new bus shelter on Beulah, near McConnell.

Some new bus shelters recently went up in Flagstaff for the Mountain Line.  I like these very much, especially the mountain architecture of the design.  The heavy columns of stacked rock make the shelter look strong and stately.  I strongly believe that bus riders and potential bus riders want a place to wait for bus that provides protection as much as shelter.

A handy Mountain Line/Mountain Link route map.

This one has a bench and, rather than advertising, it has good sized route map.  I've never noticed that Mountain Line has advertising on its shelters, which really is my preference.  Nothing makes a shelter less attractive than a shelter covered with advertising.  I suspect that advertising increases graffiti, something I also rarely see on Flagstaff bus shelters.

One thing I'd like to see added that would contribute to the function of this shelter would be a bike corral.  Mountain Line buses have a bus rack on the front of the bus for those who need to transport their bikes with them.  However, most rack can only accommodate two bicycles at a time and sometimes the racks are full so the rider must either leave the bike at the shelter or just continue riding.

It appears that a bus rider may have decided to leave her cute little, pink cruiser locked to this tree because of a full rack on the front of a bus.  I'm not sure the restaurant that maintains the landscaping will continue to allow bikes to be locked to one of their trees.  Too bad there's not a bike corral next to the bus shelter because worrying about what to do with my bicycle in the event that the bike rack is full would definitely be a factor in my decision of whether or not to combine bus and bike to get to where I want to go.  The transportation planners working on this project may very well have considered this idea but budget limitations made it impossible.  I've noticed other shelters in town that do have corrals nearby so hopefully some are already on the drawing board for this location as well.  Nonetheless, I think I'll drop an e-mail to Mountain Line to suggest a bike corral be added when funding allows.

In other bike parking news,  Bob and I recently joined Anytime Fitness and the club manager noted our bike gear and said that she has spoken to the property owners of Woodlands Village Center about adding some bike corrals to the location.   As we already knew, she said that many of her members bike to the club but have nowhere to lock their bikes, other than, again, trees and the railing along the steps.

We have dinner at a few of the restaurants at the Woodlands Village Center and have found only one portion of railing where one can reasonably lock bikes without thoroughly interfering with accessibility.  The ramps up to the store entries become completely inaccessible for people in wheelchairs and electric mobility scooters when bike riders lock their bikes to the railing.  I'm certain that most cyclists are not considering this when they lock up their bike to the railing, but it no less creates a problem for potential customers.

I hope the manager at Anytime Fitness is successful in getting the property owner to place some bike corrals.  As the business spaces fill up, lack  of car parking will become increasingly difficult to find.  Already during the few times Bob and I have driven their for dinner, we've had trouble finding an open parking space.  I wonder if the property or any of the businesses would be eligible for a waiver on parking space requirements if they placed bike corrals at the location.

Here would be the perfect spot for bike corrals but the shopping center has plenty of other workable spots, some of which are covered.

On My Way to Interbike!
Yes, tomorrow I hit the road early along with some folks from Bike Shop Hub to check out this year's Interbike in Las Vegas.  This will be my first year attending and I'm very excited to see all the new bikes and associated products, meet other bloggers, see the fashion show and to get inspired with new ideas about how to make SRAB a more informative resource, especially for average women who are trying to overcome the "I would do it but . . ." kind of thinking that might be holding them back taking that first step to exploring bicycling as a legitimate and life enhancing form of transportation. 

So, I'll be at Interbike Wednesday and Thursday so I'm not sure if I'll actually get to do any posting but I hope to have plenty to share when I return.  I'd love to meet up with any other bloggers who are in attendance so please drop me a message here or via Facebook if you want to try and get together.