Does anyone know any garages in Manhattan that accept bicycles? I'm assuming they charge, albeit less than they would for a car, but I can't imagine a more ideal place to park a bike. The bike would be under guard and a garage should be able to get at least ten bikes in the place that one car would take up, so if the garage charged at least 10% of the car price, they would have a new revenue stream and cyclists would have really great secure parking.
I asked one garage attendant on West 44th street, and after he finished his laughing fit, he throught about it and suggested the same price as a motorcycle. But he didn't have a rack or any way to lock it up.
How about anywhere else, such as the rest of the US, or even in Europe?
Thanks for your input.
-d
garage parking for bikes in Manhattan?
"I think there are a few garages that accept bikes, for a nominal fee, or free. Check TA's website for more info.
But I wouldn't rest too easy, knowing that some minimum wage parking attendant was looking out for my bike. These guys ain't no boy scouts. Phones, wallets, hubcaps, and other valuables disappear from my garage all the time, hence the ""Not responsible for personal property lost or damaged on these premises"" sign prominently displayed at the entrance of nearly every garage I've ever been in.
"
How about anywhere else, such as the rest of the US, or even in Europe?
While in Tokyo (Asakusa district), I witnessed a couple of multilevel parking garages for bicycles only.
80 Pine Street, on the corner of Pine and Water accepts bikes and has a rack that will accomodate 8 bikes or so.
I think they charge $1.25 per day, but the collection has been spotty to say the least.
You still need to provide your own lock, but you can leave the lock there overnight, if you wish.
- Christian
TA is the definitive source for this info. I can tell you that there used to be indoor, guarded bike parking in the garage under the police office building at 1 Police Plaza, but since the WTC disaster, they decided that they can't allow public use of that garage any more. I think this is patently ridiculous, and we should complain!
The lack of secure indoor bicycle parking is often cited as the primary reason recreational cyclists do not also cycle to work. We need this! Please do complain to TA, who may take this on as part of their ongoing advocacy for cyclists:
http://www.transalt.org/campaigns/bike/indoor.html
There is covered, guarded parking available to the public under the south arch of the Municipal Building located at 1 Centre Street (across the street from City Hall and adjacent to police plaza).
"Lynn wrote:
""Please do complain to TA, who may take this on as part of their ongoing advocacy for cyclists.""
Do you really prefer the lumbering bureaucracy of TA to the invigorating spontaneity of Critical Mass? I think that each Critical Mass should include a ride-through of a parking garage to demand our civil rights."
Last spring the City reversed its policy regarding whether City employees could bring bikes into public buildings. Due to TA's direct advocacy and support for City employees, the City agreed to install new covered bike racks at the Municipal Building and placed a security guard near the bike racks from 9-6. I work for the City agency that was responsible for this (bad) decision regarding bikes in public buildings and I can assure you that without TA's efforts this acceptable compromise would never have been reached as quickly as it was.
"I hope you didn't take me seriously. As I think Oscar Wilde said (no, I don't read the New York Times book review): ""Life is too important to be taken seriously."" Perhaps it wasn't obvious, but I was referring facetiously to some remarks in another thread (the one about the TA century: ""Who's doin' it?"")."
You forgot the smiley face.
LOL.
"Oscar Wilde also said, ""You must not find symbols in everything you see. It makes life impossible.""
I got the reference - just wanted to give a shout out to TA.
For Evan: :)"
"The Wilde quotations cited here are actually spoken by characters in two of his plays, not by Wilde himself. Yes, it matters.
""...life is much too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it."" Vera, or the Nihilists (No surprise, Mordecai obliterates the moral ambiguity, and charm, of the dialogue)
""It is not wise to find symbols in everything that one sees. It makes life too full of terrors."" A fevered wish by the doomed Herod, who knew all to well to read the signs, from Salome.
The ellipticality of discourse on this thread is maddening and has nothing to do with the genius of Oscar Wilde. Or bike parking, for that matter.
Blah!
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Back to parking garages in NYC buildings. Now that TA has taken care of one, and I have taken care of another, that leaves only 5,695 to go.
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N.B. to Mordecai: I doubt that Wilde ever had to tell his audience that he was trying to be funny.
"
"I admit that my quotation was incorrect. But I wrote ""as I think Oscar Wilde said,"" and didn't bother verifying. Wilde is great enough that he can bear a great deal of misquotation.
""The Wilde quotations cited here are actually spoken by characters in two of his plays, not by Wilde himself. Yes, it matters.""
It matters if you want to be pedantic, at least for my quotation. If one quotes Browning as saying, ""God's in his Heaven, All's right with the world,"" that would be quite wrong. But Prince Paul is one of those characters in Wilde's plays who represent the author. Another is Lord Darlington in Lady Windermere's Fan. I wonder why you quote Vera, which is not well-known and is never performed. Why didn't you quote Lady Windermere's Fan, First Act, since you seem to know Wilde's plays so well?
LADY WINDERMERE
Why do you TALK so trivially about life, then?
LORD DARLINGTON
Because I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
Wilde used to try out epigrams on his listeners until he found the right form. It's likely that he tried this one, since he thought enough of it to put it in two plays. If so, Wilde did speak it.
""N.B. to Mordecai: I doubt that Wilde ever had to tell his audience that he was trying to be funny.""
I just (mis)quoted him. I don't venture to emulate him.
"
The best place to park is in your own building. Try approaching your employer, HR department, or building manager.
I work in a huge building near South Ferry. After last August's blackout, I asked our facilities manager if a room couldn't be set aside for people to park bikes. He considered it but it never went anywhere (he doesn't have the authority to make such decisions).
This May, I approached our HR director with the same request, and he offered to take it up with the building's management. They didn't want to create a bike room in the building (security and all that). But they offered free use of a bike rack in the attached parking garage (previously $5 per day). It took all of two weeks.
So I have cycled to work every day since mid-May, except for four very rainy days.
Anyone who is interested in more details, feel free to email me.
