Who took the bikeable out of walkable/bikeable living?

Somehow, the City of Kitchener has lost sight of the "bikeable" part of the walkable/bikeable community model, at least as far as the redevelopment of the city's downtown goes.

I vaguely recall, when the first stories came out back in 2007, that King Street was going to become "people-friendly" with "narrow roads and increased bike paths." I'm quoting a Record writer's story, so may not reflect accurately the intention of the planners, but I do recall the architects' drawings that emphasized pedestrians, cyclists, bike racks and streetside patios. The intention appeared to be to dethrone the car as king of King Street.

As I was walking along the new, improved King Street the other day, I noticed how many bicycles were chained to the railings around trees or to the protruding natural gas pipes outside of office buildings and wondered, "Where are the bike racks?"

So I walked the "new" stretch from Frederick to Gaukel. Over the three blocks, there are three (3, count 'em, 3) new bicycle racks, each capable of accommodating four bikes placed there by friends who knew what they were doing. There were also two older bike racks, that may belong to the city or may belong to the property owners, that could between them accommodate 21 bikes if you really jammed them in.

And how many parking spots were there in the same stretch? Forty. (40. Four-oh.)

Oh yeah, the car has been dethroned. Long live people-powered transportation. Anyone who rides a bike knows that the pleasure of using a bicycle to shop is that you can pedal, stop, lock, shop, unlock, continue. A bicycle is just walking with wheels, and key to that is safe places for your bike while you're inside. Three new bike racks? Two of them on the east side of the street and one on the west side. This is supposed to encourage people to come downtown?

Here's my tip to urban planners everywhere: spend a week doing what you think your clients will do. Walk or bike around your walkable/bikeable/liveable city. See if it really is liveable. What will make it liveable?

For cyclists who hope to meander through the downtown, spending money so they can fill their wicker baskets with provender and fill cash registers with moolah, what will make it liveable is bike racks.

Comments

[AlanM]

Clearly city planners didn't read all of the current research, from multiple communities, that proves in spades that when some car parking spots along downtown streets are turning into bike parking (with racks and protected by bollards), retail traffic and sales increases.

The first knee-jerk reaction when this is proposed comes from business owners who jump up and down, shout, scream, threaten and everything else to squash the change.

When it happens though, they all sheepishly lug their heavier loot bags to the banks.
...alan

[Jeff S.]

I think they should install more natural gas pipes to lock bikes onto. They're much more tamper-proof than a regular bike rack: who in their right mind would mess with one?

[Bill]

When I had my old all-metal Kryptonite U-lock, I was irrationally afraid of locking my beast to natural gas pipes. One spark and I'd be airborne! Now, they look like one of the best things going.