BIKE: Bike Lockers in UT Parking Garages

[Chris McConnell]

I'm a grad student at UT, and it seems like there are more pressing priorities
to accomodate cyclists than bicycle racks. Perhaps my building, CMB, has a
profusion of racks compared to the rest of the campus, and I never find it
difficult to find a place to lock my bike, especially compared to the school
where I did my undergrad. Instead of adding rack capacity, I wish UT would be
more agressive in designating bike routes to and through campus - for example
there seems to be no good route from CMB to PCL because of the Speedway
dismount zone.

I'm relatively new here, and I'm told that Faulkner is interested in de-biking
the campus. For example, what's left of Speedway will be torn up and replaced
with landscaping. Were there a number of bicycle-pedestrian fatalities that led
to the closure of Speedway? I also wish there were better accomodations for
students crossing 35 from East Austin to campus. Granted, adding a few bike
racks and locker is probably easier done than actually making bike commuting
practical for poor grad students priced out of Hyde Park and other campus
neighborhoods.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris McConnell
mcchris
http://www.infobong.com

Quoting Patrick Goetz <pgoetz>:

> I ran into Austin Gleeson the other day and he said "Hey! Did you hear 
> the news?  You're going to be getting bike lockers in the parking 
> garages!"  At first I wasn't even sure what he was talking about until 
> he explained that they're lockers to put your bike in.
> 
> Have any of the UT people on this list heard anything about this?  I'm 
> worried that this is going to be another sizeable expenditure on 
> something that is almost entirely unnecessary and impractical to boot, 
> just like those goofy and complicated hinged bike rack gadgets that one 
> finds at places like ACC and the One Texas Center parking garage which 
> no one can use because they aren't the right size for the vast majority 
> of bikes.  Not only are they taking up valuable space that could contain 
> useable bike racks, but they're so much more expensive than the simpler 
> alternatives.
> 
> My opinion is that 95% of bicyclists' needs will be met by simply 
> installing the same U-shaped racks that the city installs.  Cheap, 
> simple, effective, and able to accomodate recumbents and other odd-sized 
> bikes.
> 
> Anyone else have any thougths on this?
> 
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