Hometransalt.org
Bicycle Blueprint
Introduction

NYC Cycling
1. NYC Bike Policy
2. State of NYC Cycling
3. Cyclists & Streets
A Bike and a Prayer


Riding Infrastructure
4. Street Design
5. Bridges
6. Road Surfaces
7. Greenways
8. Parks
Bicycles and Transit
10. Reducing Traffic


Security
11. Bicycle Theft
12. On-Street Parking
13. Indoor Parking


On the Job Cycling
14. Bicycle Messengers
Fifth, Park & Madison
15. Freight Cycles
16. Gov't Cycling


Reducing Risks
17. Accidents
Three Who Died
18. Air Pollution


Bicycle Education
19. Schools
20. Public Education


Appendices

      Chapter 9:
Bicycles and Transit
a) Bicycles and Mass Transit
b) Rail-Station Bicycle Parking
c) Europe and Japan
d) United States and New York
e) Bicycle Parking Costs
 Station Parking Conditions in the New York Area
g) Ride-and-Bike
h) Bicycles on Transit Vehicles
i) New York City Transit Authority
j) Bus Access
k) Ferries
l) Chapter 9 Recommendations

Station Parking Conditions in the New York Area

Read the latest news on this subject.

In the U.S., bicycle theft rates are about twice as high as Germany's and five times higher than Japan's. [20] In the New York City area, with additional problems of vandalism and transit operators' ignorance of bicycle feeder potential (or their unwillingness to accommodate it), most public places, including transit stations, are unsafe for storing bicycles. Bicycle commuters fare better in some suburbs, where many commuter rail stations have a cadre of regular bicycle users; still, stations with bike racks are a minority.

New Jersey Transit appears to be the leader in bike parking among NY-area transit providers; it claims to have at least a thousand bike parking spaces at 46 stations. As of late 1992, NJ Transit was equipping its 20 North Jersey Coast Line stations with several hundred more parking slots, and was seeking a $238,000 federal grant to install additional racks as well as 100 bike lockers. And, in a NY-area first, NJ Transit is installing ten bicycle lockers at its park-and-ride bus stop in Oldbridge.

MTA Car Parking —
Full Speed Ahead Despite High Costs

Metro-North has budgeted $22 million to install 3,000 new car parking spaces at its stations in 1993, a cost of over $7,000 per space. Although similar data for the Long Island Rail Road weren't available, the pace of car parking construction appears similar to Metro-North's. In addition to a new 725-car garage in Huntington, the LIRR was scheduled to complete four other car lots in 1992; 10 other new lots are being negotiated with communities, and another 19 are being studied.

Of the Huntington project's $10 million cost, $6.2 million is to be paid by the LIRR and the MTA, with the rest coming from the NY State DoT and the Town of Huntington. Similarly, a recently completed $518,000 addition to the Freeport station lot was financed 75% by the LIRR and 25% by State DoT. With the new Huntington garage, the 4,400 daily commuters now have 3,385 car parking spaces, or 77 per 100 train commuters — vs. 5-10 per 100 in the Netherlands. According to State Senator Norman J. Levy, powerful chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, “A parking space for a commuter is just as necessary as a train ticket.”

Source: “LIRR Adds Parking Spots As Ridership Keeps Slipping,” The New York Times, Nov. 29, 1992, Section 13.

At the same time, continued reliance on single-occupancy automobiles, even for short trips like commutes to train stations, is squeezing auto parking at suburban stations, creating new areas of auto congestion and air pollution and spurring expansion of costly, sprawling park-and-ride lots. Waiting lists for train-station parking spaces exceed 500 names in some suburban towns, [21] and 15,000 additional car parking spaces will be needed to accommodate demand in New Jersey by the mid-1990s, according to one estimate. [22]

In contrast, an aggressive region-wide program to expand bike-and-ride facilities, coupled with safe feeder routes, would enable transit agencies and regional planners to forego expensive park-and-ride expansion (see sidebar). This would help contain the overall cost of suburban transit service while maintaining the character and environment of the communities.

NOTES:
20. Walter Grabe and Joachim Utech, “The Importance of the Bicycle in Local Public Passenger Transport: Facts and Experience from Selected Countries,” UITP Revue, March 1984, International Commission on Traffic and Urban Planning.
21. “LIRR Nightmare: Impounded Cars at a Journey's End,” The New York Times, Feb. 12, 1992.
22. “Railroad Boom Brings a Parking Crunch,” The New York Times, May 9, 1988.


a)
Bicycles and Mass Transit
b) Rail-Station Bicycle Parking
c) Europe and Japan
d) United States and New York
e) Bicycle Parking Costs
 Station Parking Conditions in the New York Area
g) Ride-and-Bike
h) Bicycles on Transit Vehicles
i) New York City Transit Authority
j) Bus Access
k) Ferries
l) Chapter 9 Recommendations

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