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Put up bike racks

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Downtown Parkersburg is dotted with creative bike racks.

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Strategically-placed bike racks, like this one at a Parkersburg coffeeshop, can increase traffic and business.

“I would ride my bike to work if there was a safe place to lock it up.” That’s what person after person told the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals when they were writing their Biking Parking Guidelines.

Forty percent told the association they would ride their bikes around town if they had a safe place to park them.

With high gas prices, people say they want bike racks at places where they often go: work, grocery store, library, post office, downtown.

“If we can get people riding more by making it safer and giving them a place to lock up their bikes, why wouldn’t we do that?” asked Jamie Jeffrey, director of Charleston’s KEYS 4HealthyKids. “It’s great exercise and a big return for not much money.”

 

Want more bike parking in your community?

 

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Huntington’s Ritter Park is often full of bike riders. One attraction: bike racks!

 

  • List likely places for bike racks.. If there were a bike rack at this place, people might ride their bikes there (store, downtown, post office, library, school, etc.)
  • Get business sponsors for  commercial bike racks
  • Hold a Creative Bike Rack Contest. Parkersburg and Charleston did! Bike racks as public art! Parkersburg put the winners in a public art exhibit at the local gallery.

Information and resources:

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Why not ask local artists to design bike racks?

Go to the Index square to find other pages of ideas that will help you get a bicycling program going in your community.

 

Have something to add ? Write it in “reply” below, with your contact info, in case we have questions.

3 Comments

  1. Thanks, Sherry! Fixed it!

  2. Who should I contact for a 6th grade project on helping the community, and I chose to do it on how few bike racks there are. So who should I contact for questions?

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. What are your community’s next steps? | Try This - […] Put up bike rack […]
  2. Encourage road biking | Try This - […] Install bike racks at frequently-used places like grocery stores or restaurant areas […]
  3. Build sidewalks … and they will walk and run. | Try This - […] see these Try This pages: funding, open streets, bike racks, build trails, fitness = economic […]
  4. Adopt a complete streets policy. | Try This - […] see related Try This pages:  bike racks, make safe biking map, encourage road biking, apply for bike-friendly […]

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