Over the last year the City of Buffalo has been installing new parking systems that alleviate the need for parking meters. It’s a great system that cities like Toronto have utilized for a number of years. The only problem with the missing meters is the missed opportunity to install bike racks. If you want to ride your bike to Court Street then there are a couple options if you want to protect your bike. 1) Bring it into the business. 2) Lock it to a tree on top of an elevated concrete flower planter. I never thought I would ever miss the parking meters. But without them there are fewer and fewer places to lock a bike. As more and more meters disappear, fewer and fewer bikers will frequent the downtown businesses.
I asked Blue Bike’s Justin Booth what could be done to secure bike racks on streets like Court Street and he answered, “There is a city ordinance amendment approved by the Common Council in 2005. Bike parking facilities must be added to any new building or any change-of-use to a building. That pertains to the central business district and all other business districts located within the city of Buffalo. The amount of rack spaces depends on the business and the number of parking spaces for employees. There are even specifications of how the bike rack should be built to accommodate the bikes, along with ideal placement for racks. In essence there should be around 5% the number of bike spaces in relation to the street parking spaces.” If those numbers are true, then that means that there should be a lot more bike racks around town than there currently are.
As far as the missing parking meters, Justin had this to say, “The City should do a better job at making sure that the existing biking ordinances are being followed. Public bike racks are important for any city. We’ve heard that businesses that want to purchase a bike rack from the city can’t figure out how to go about doing it. In some cities there are post cards that can be sent requesting bike racks. If a business on Court Street wanted a bike rack, then there is not a process yet to get one. Even if the business wanted to buy one they would still have to work with the city on installation… and once again there is no process. Blue Cross/Blue Shield did a great job with installing their bike racks. For a multi-million dollar building, a bike rack is not a lot of money. Just think of the quality of health for their employees. Buffalo Place has installed bike racks downtown, and they are used quite frequently.”
Now it’s up to The City to encourage more biking. A first step towards doing so is to give bikers a place to lock up. If you own a business in Buffalo, take a walk down the block and make sure that your business district is bike-friendly.