If you've been longing to get behind bars in Kitchener's downtown, wait no longer.
The City of Kitchener is inviting cyclists to apply for access to the "secure bike parking facility," aka the bike cage, in the parking garage on Charles and Benton streets. The bike cage has been finished for some time, but has basically been a storage place for the steeds of the Community Access Bicycle project. Now, those who have swipe card access will be able to park their two-wheelers here.
You can read about the parking facility and download the application form for a swipe card here.
I know that it must sound like our bicycle infrastructure is lame-o when I can get worked up about the addition of a single secure public bicycle storage, but our advances in this area have seemed to be very incremental, so I celebrate each one.
And of course, one need not be reminded that no one wanting to keep their bike for more than a day leaves it in bike cage without locking it up. Take a lock!
Well it's a start I suppose but it's also kind of ludicrous that it's closed between midnight and six am. I guess if you work overnights you're SOL.
Also I guess they assume everyone is a fair weather cyclist and they won't let people use it in the winter... which is when most outdoor bike racks are covered under snowbanks. Given all the salt on the roads and snow falling, a covered safe bicycle parking lot seems to be something most needed at winter.
I am also curious as to what kind of special programs will need access to this space? Why can't a bike valet program just commandeer some of the numerous car parking areas that are all over downtown kitchener instead of forcing people out of the one safe spot we have.
The CoK has terrible reputation with the bike parking in front of the bus station, so many bikes get stolen from the racks there and the region doesn't pay the security goofs to watch them since they are on city property. Even the security cameras don't point at the bike racks... it's pretty pathetic if you ask me.
I live too close to DT to have any use for this but I'm glad to see some progress.
Posted by: clasher | July 27, 2012 at 05:55 PM
Wonderful! As far as I can tell, it's free aside from a deposit. That's incredibly great.
Posted by: Phil Hiems | July 27, 2012 at 06:59 PM
Great! I'm so pleased to see this.
clasher - from what I can see, I think it is available in the winter; it's just that you need to renew your 'membership' yearly, and it expires on Dec 31st. But, I totally agree with it not being available 24/7 - I understand the reasoning behind, but this would mean that if you want to catch the 5:52 GO train into Toronto, you have no where to store your bike if you go to Charles st to catch the shuttle bus to the train station. ...maybe we could suggest having it open at 5 instead of 6?
Posted by: teresa | July 29, 2012 at 08:42 AM
Bill, thanks for alerting me to the downtown secure parking. I signed up and used it for my car-free visit to Kitchener last weekend.
Facilities like this should be made more readily available for tourists and visitors, especially through the two hotels within bunny-hopping distance from the entrance. I've posted about my experience and additional thoughts on my blog: http://valdodge.com/2012/09/19/secure-bike-parking-in-downtown-kitchener/
Posted by: Val Dodge | September 19, 2012 at 09:58 AM