A Simple Solution to the Bike Rack Problem
Now that Oakland is moving to the parking station model of paid parking, and away from the old individual meter system, every removed meter means lost bike parking. A recent visit to Boulder, Colorado, showed me that there’s a pretty simple (and seemingly low-cost) way to retrofit old meter posts and turn them into bike parking. It’s cheaper than U-racks, doesn’t require post removal or concrete work to install, and is more secure than locking up to a single-headed meter. Once I track down the actual manufacture of the racks (based in Seattle), I’ll post more info (and definitely pass it along to the Bike/Ped planners for the City of Oakland).