FABB Blog

 

FABB Video: Bike Parking 101

Finding good bike parking in Fairfax can be a challenge. Fairfax County recently adopted bicycle parking guidelines that will be applied to future developments, but it's very difficult to retrofit bike parking at existing retail and commercial establishments. Even when there is bike parking it is often inadequate and installed in the wrong location.

We recently produced a short, 4 1/2 minute video showing examples of good and bad bike parking. When we ask for bike parking we need to be specific. The best bike parking is a simple inverted U rack located on a hard surface, near the building entrance, preferably covered. If you like the video, please share it with others. If you ask for bike parking, use the bike parking guidelines as a reference.


Rackspotter is a web app that can be used to identify bike parking locations. It was developed by BikeArlington and has been expanded to allow us to identify bike parking locations in Fairfax County. Please consider adding to the Rackspotter database.

Labels: bike parking, bike parking guidelines, bike parking video, video

posted by Bruce Wright at 7:44 PM permalink

 

More renters want secure bike parking

Home is where the bike is appeared in the Washington Post recently, describing how more and more renters are asking for secure bike parking when they look for a home to rent. Most apartment buildings in Fairfax County either have no bike parking or the parking that's provided is inadequate. We hope this will change in the near future as Fairfax adopts new Bicycle Parking Guidelines and county officials encourage more developers to provide safe, convenient bike parking.

From the article:
Kudos to WC Smith for providing good bike parking and the bike repair station. They are setting a great example for others to follow.

Labels: bicycle parking guidelines, bike parking, wc smith

posted by Bruce Wright at 12:28 PM permalink

 

North County Government Center still without bike parking

Plenty of room for bike parking in front of the North County Government Center

The new North County Government Center was opened in January of this year. When we inquired about bike parking we were told it would be installed any day now. When we saw the graphic depicting the rack we noticed it was a "wave" rack which is not recommended by the current draft bike parking guidelines. We suggested that U racks, which are recommended by most jurisdictions around the country, be used instead. We were told U racks would be installed but seven months later there's still no bike parking.

Earlier we reported on new bike racks improperly installed at the Providence Community Center. U racks were used but they were installed on the edge of the concrete, meaning that one wheel would be in the grass. After we complained, additional concrete was added to the edge and one of the racks, which was too close to the adjacent railing, was removed.

We've been advocating for bike parking guidelines since 2007. The guidelines still aren't final and the county still hasn't figured out how to purchase and install racks properly. They are making progress, but it's been much too slow.

Labels: bike parking, bike parking guidelines, bike racks, hunter mill district

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:30 AM permalink

 

Developers providing better bike parking

According to the Wall Street Journal article Developers Build Luxury, Bike-Friendly Buildings, with the surging popularity of biking, some developers are finally providing state of the art bike parking for their tenants. All too often bike parking provided by developers has been inferior, both in quantity and quality. It's encouraging to see that some developers realize that in order to attract cyclists, they need to provide much better bike parking.
Other than in Tysons, Fairfax County does not yet have bicycle parking guidelines. As we've noted many, many times before, the county has been working on developing bike parking guidelines since 2007.  Even when those guidelines are approved, the requirements are minimal. Let's hope market forces, i.e. tenants who demand better bike parking, will lead to developers understanding the importance of quality bike parking.

See an earlier article in the Post about good bike parking in DC area apartment buildings.

Labels: bike parking, bike parking guidelines

posted by Bruce Wright at 11:07 PM permalink

 

WUSA9 report on bike parking at McLean Metro station - Update

We've heard that bicycle parking at the McLean Metro station regularly fills up by 9 a.m. most days. There is room for 26 bikes on both sides of Route 123 and the racks on the south/east side are the ones that fill up. Those on the north/west side are difficult to reach and there are few residents on that side of 123 to use the racks.

Martin DiCaro of WUSA9 TV interviewed Navid Roshan-Afshar of The Tysons Corner and me to discuss bike and auto parking at the McLean station. See his story Bike parking shortage along Silver Line. The 700 space private lot is mostly empty. The good news is that WMATA plans to add more bike parking in the near future.


Update: See the PlanItMetro blog entry about adding more bike parking at the McLean station.

Labels: bike parking, mclean station, wmata

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:32 PM permalink

 

Bike parking counts at Wiehle station

We live near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station and ride by the station most days. We've been stopping by the three bike parking locations at the station and counting bikes since the station opened, usually around 10am.

There are 10 U racks at the south station entrance, with a capacity of 20 bikes. On the north side there are 16 U racks outside the bike room that hold 32 bikes. Those racks are free and under cover. And then there is the secure bike room that can hold over 200 bikes.

Over time the number of bikes has gradually increased from a low of 61 on the second count to a high today of 107. If you compare the high number with the 2013 Metrorail bike parking census conducted by WMATA, the Wiehle station would rank 3rd in the category "Top Stations for Total Bikes Parked".

Here's a chart of the counts from July 31 to August 28:

The free bike room racks were over capacity 6 of the 10 days, at capacity 1 day, and under capacity 3 days. The south racks usually were in the 12-14 bike range (of 20 capacity), so there was usually place to park there. The bike room was at about 1/4 capacity with plenty of room for more bikes.

While it's great that people are using the existing racks and there is plenty of capacity in the bike room, the free bike parking at the Wiehle station needs to be expanded soon, especially on the north side nearest the W&OD Trail. We think many commuters are using the W&OD Trail to reach the station, many going to/from the Reston Town Center and other locations on the north side of the station. Ultimately there will be bike racks on the plaza outside the station entrance; those racks should be installed as soon as possible.

Information about the bike parking is located in several places online. If you visit the WMATA Wiehle-Reston East station page there are 10 lockers listed. Those are located on the south side of the station, next to the 10 U racks that are not listed. The bike parking on the north side is not listed either. If you visit the Silverline Metro Wiehle-Reston East page it incorrectly lists 15 racks on both the north and south sides. It also lists the 200 spaces in the bike room.

To rent the lockers you need to contact WMATA. To rent space in the bike room you need to contact Fairfax DOT. We were contacted recently by someone who tried to park their bike in the free racks outside the bike room but the racks were full. He checked the WMATA Bikes & Metro leaflet and there was no contact info about the bike room. He asked staff at the station but they didn't know how the system worked. Metro police told him to call the WMATA bike locker number, 202 962 1116, but they don't control the bike room. Not wanting to lock his bike to the fencing around the racks he gave up.

There is a sign next to the bike room that lists the Fairfax County DOT phone number (Information and  Lost & Found, 703-877-5600). There is also a sign on the door to the bike room with the county logo with the text County of Fairfax Virginia, Wiehle-Reston East Bike & Ride, not to be confused with WMATA's Bike & Ride, a completely different system.

People don't care who controls what at the stations; they just need clear information about how to use the facilities. Ideally there would be one point of contact for all bike facilities at the stations, but that will likely not happen for a while.

Labels: bicycle parking, bike parking, wiehle station bike room

posted by Bruce Wright at 1:12 PM permalink

 

Wiehle-Reston East bike room photos

The bike room at the Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail station is completed. The room will hold over 200 bicycle and contain two small repair stations. There will be an annual fee of $75 to use the room, which works out to around 25 to 30 cents/day vs. $4.75/day for car parking. The room is located in the parking garage on the north side of the station, not far from the W&OD Trail. There will also be unsecured parking just outside the bike room and bike racks scattered throughout the plaza in front of the station. On the south side there is parking for 20 bicycles.

Thanks to Maggie Parker of Comstock and photographer David Madison for these photos.

Labels: bike parking, wiehle station bike room, wiehle-reston east

posted by Bruce Wright at 7:47 PM permalink

 

Bike parking at Tysons Metrorail stations

We received these photos and info from Chris French, a FABB member who works in Tysons, about bike parking at the new Silver Line Metrorail stations along  Route 7: 

Labels: bike parking, dulles metrorail, Tysons

posted by Bruce Wright at 2:06 PM permalink

 

Exploring Fairfax County by bike

The W&OD and Mt. Vernon trails are the two primary bike facilities in Fairfax. Both of those trails have become overcrowded. The W&OD Trail is one of the premier rail trails in the U.S. On busy summer weekends it seems that every cyclist in the county has decided to ride the trail. I think many of us are in a trail rut; we need to get off the trail and explore the county.

FFX Co Parkway Trail at Route 50

The county Bicycle Route Map contains hundreds of miles of bicycle-friendly roads where few cyclists ever ride. On Saturday we decided to take a long bike trip using the route map as our guide. We chose a route that included the Soapstone Drive and Lawyers Road bike lanes, the West Ox trail to Ox Trail/Rugby Road to the Fairfax County Parkway trail.

FFX Co Parkway Trail still unpaved between Rt 50 and Fair Lakes Blvd

We wanted to check out the Parkway trail at Fair Lakes to see if it had been paved. Unfortunately the trail is still not paved. As we've reported several times in the past, the trail was closed for many months. After many requests to provide a detour VDOT finally opened the trail although it was still not paved. In April we were told it would be paved any day now. In general the Parkway trail is in bad shape. Fortunately there are plans to repave several of the worst stretches this year.

FFX Co Parkway Trail south of Lee Hwy Bad news - The trail is in bad shape Good news - The trail is not crowded

At Fair Lakes Parkway the trail diverts from the Fairfax Co Parkway but there are no wayfinding signs. We followed the Fair Lakes Parkway trail to West Ox Road toward Lee Hwy. At the entrance to Costco the trail crosses West Ox to the east side and continues across Lee Hwy to rejoin the Fairfax Co Parkway trail. At Braddock Road there is another detour that is partially signed.

We continued on the Fairfax Co Parkway trail all the way to Burke Centre Parkway where there is another FFX Co Parkway trail

Rt 123/Burke Centre Parkway FFX Co Parkway detour signs

detour along Burke Centre Parkway and Route 123. We did see a couple of signs showing a detour route, but not enough for someone who isn't familiar with the area.

We had lunch in Burke where we saw two bike racks installed incorrectly, a common theme in the county. After lunch we returned to Route 123 where we headed north for a short stretch and then followed a route on the map along very quiet neighborhood streets, a good alternative to riding on the 123 trail that is in very poor condition as you approach Braddock Road and GMU.

We ended up on Sideburn Road where we headed north to Braddock Road and on to GMU. We rode the bike lanes along Patriot Circle to University Drive, through the City of Fairfax all the way to Route 50. We could have taken the wide sidewalk but we rode on 50 to Plantation Parkway. There's a connecting trail at the end of Plantation Parkway that leads to Five Oaks Road, which turns into Saintsbury Drive after crossing Blake Lane. We passed the Vienna Metro station and continued on Vaden Drive to the trail through Nottoway Park.

Incorrectly installed bike rack at Burke Centre

From Nottoway Park there is a short cut-through trail to Tapawingo Rd. We followed neighborhood streets back to the W&OD Trail. Sometimes the W&OD Trail can't be avoided. Between Vienna and Reston the trail is about the only decent route. Usually later in the day the trail is less crowded.

During the 2 hours and 45 minutes we rode before reaching the W&OD Trail we saw a total of 15 bicyclists. It took less than 3 minutes to see that many bicyclists on the W
&OD Trail. There are many, many miles of roads and trails in Fairfax that are almost unused by bicyclists. It takes some effort to find them, but the bicycle route map is a great resource. We're told the new interactive route map is available as a smartphone app using ArcGIS. We'll write about that later.

Let's get out of our W&OD Trail rut and ride on some of the other bike-friendly routes in the county. Most county residents who are not familiar with the W&OD Trail have no idea how busy it is. They see almost no bicyclists. Why not get out and explore the county by bike?

Labels: bike parking, burke centre parkway, fairfax county parkway trail, route 123, W and OD Trail

posted by Bruce Wright at 1:27 PM permalink

 

Automated underground bike parking

Check out this article about an innovative way to store bikes; Japan's Automated Underground Bike Storage. Because of increased demand for secure bike parking in congested urban areas, an underground solution was developed. There's a video showing how it works toward the bottom of the article:

Labels: bike parking

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:25 PM permalink

 

Bike parking at Halstead Square in Merrifield

It was a beautiful day to be out riding. We needed to run some errands so we rode from Reston to Merrifield to the Home Depot and to have lunch at Lost Dog Cafe. Lost Dog is located at Halstead Square, a new mixed-use development near Dunn Loring Metro station.

As you can see from the photo on the right, there's good bike parking conveniently located near the restaurant. U-type racks are well-spaced and installed properly.

After lunch we wanted to check out the Halstead apartments. We asked about tenant bike parking and were told that there are racks in the parking garage. What we found was disappointing. There were about 6 U-racks installed just a few inches from the wall. There should be a minimum of 24 inches between the rack and the wall.

There were a couple of bikes parked to plumbing fixture. Several bikes were double-parked. There are not enough racks and they are installed incorrectly. We were told there are racks on each level of the garage. One positive is that the garage requires key access.

According to the draft Fairfax County Guidelines for Bicycle Parking, there should be 1 long term parking space for every 5 units and 1 visitor space for every 25 units. There are 436 units so there should be 18 visitor spaces (9 U-racks) and 88 long term spaces (44 U-racks).  These requirements seem inadequate in practice. Most households have at least one bicycle, many have 2 or 3 bikes. Arlington requires 3 spaces for every 10 units (p. 33). Seattle requires 1 space for every 2 units.

On an earlier trip to Halstead Square we discussed giving them a bike-friendly award. They are making some good efforts at being bike-friendly. They have the right type of parking and provide more spaces than most similar developments. The details matter when it comes to bike parking. Racks need to be installed correctly and unfortunately in Fairfax that's rarely the case.

Labels: bike parking, halstead square, merrifield

posted by Bruce Wright at 6:09 PM permalink

 

Guides to biking to the Inauguration

Biking is one of the best ways to get to the Inauguration on Monday. Metro will be very crowded and traffic on the roads will be a mess. You have many options when traveling by bike.

Transportation Nation has published Your Guide to Biking to the Inauguration. In the Burke Patch article written by Beth Lawton, Presidential Inauguration 2013: How to Bike to the Inauguration, FABB's Alan Young, WABA President Mark Blacknell, WABA's Greg Billing, and DCDOT's John Lisle provide some tips as well.

Bicycles are not allowed inside the security perimeter as indicated on the map above. There are two perimeters indicated by a dashed green line and inside that, by a red line. It appears bikes are allowed inside the area indicated in green, but be prepared for a long walk. Bike parking will be available on a first come, first served basis at 16th and I, just north of Lafayette Square. You'll need to arrive early and bring your own lock.

Labels: bike parking, inauguration

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:34 AM permalink

 

WMATA releases 2012 bike parking survey data

WMATA just released 2012 data on bike parking at Metro stations across the region. Vienna was third in two categories, Total Bikes Parked and Greatest Rack Capacity. Franconia-Springfield has the fourth most Total Bikes Parked but there's a definite shortage of racks at the Franconia-Springfield VRE entrance, with 35 bikes parked, 19 of which are not parked in racks.

WMATA has been doing a good job recently of adding bike parking capacity.
Here is a summary of the overall findings:

Labels: bike parking, Metro, wmata

posted by Bruce Wright at 8:35 PM permalink

 

FABB at bike events in Vienna

Vienna ES bike rodeo

We attended several bike-related events in Vienna this week. Around 90 kids took part in the Vienna Elementary School bike rodeo on Monday. Trails for Youth conducted the rodeo with mechanical support from both Spokes, Etc. and bikes@vienna. Bike rodeos are one of the best ways for kids to learn the rules of the road and bike handling skills. One day all elementary kids will have the opportunity to attend a bike rodeo.

Hunter and Liz at Vienna Green Expo

On Thursday evening we had a table at Vienna Green Expo. We handed out bike safety literature and bike maps and spoke to several people about bicycling in the area. A common theme was that if we had better bike facilities more people would bike.

Maple Ave Shopping Center rack

Today there were two events in Vienna. The first was a ride from the City of Fairfax to Vienna Metro highlighting the proposed route that will be signed. Six of us left from Oasis Bike Works at 10am and took the short ride to the station. A long section of the route is along Old Lee Hwy which is narrow in a few sections and needs to either be widened or have shared lane markings installed.

Vienna Mayor Seeman cuts the ribbon

From the station we rode to Maple Ave Shopping Center to take part in the bike rack ribbon-cutting. Center shops offered discounts and other goodies and bikes@vienna contributed a bike that was raffled off (the winner will be announced on Monday). Mayor Seeman and Councilwomen Kelleher, Cole, and Sienicki were in attendance.

Eleven custom inverted U-racks are installed along the front of the shopping center. There's been a need for the racks here for a long time and it's great that the center management worked with the Town and Cris Janoski and others on the Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee to install the racks. Thank you!

Breezer Greenway donated by bikes@vienna

Good things are happening in Vienna. What about in your community? Do you have good bike parking at local stores, schools, businesses? If not, why not ask store owners to provide it? Print out the 12 Bike Parking Essentials for Retailers flier and hand it to them. If you need help, let us know.

Update: Read the Vienna Patch article on the bike rack ribbon-cutting celebration, Maple Ave Shopping Center Welcomes Bike Racks

Labels: bike parking, mayor seeman, vienna, vienna bicycle advisory committee, vienna elementary school

posted by Bruce Wright at 5:14 PM permalink

 

Guide to grocery store bike parking in Arlington

BikeArlington has teamed up with bike blogger Brian McEntee of Tales of the Sharrows to present the Ultimate Arlington Grocery Store Bike Parking Guide. Brian visited 16 grocery stores in Arlington, took photos and rated the bike parking. It's a great way for utility cyclists to check out what the parking situation is before shopping at a specific store.

It seems that Arlington has many of the same problems with substandard bike parking as Fairfax, despite having good bike parking standards. Several of the racks shown are either incorrectly installed or not the recommended type of rack indicated in the standards.

We need a similar guide in Fairfax but given our size and the number of grocery stores in the county, it will be a challenge to put it together. It would also be nice to have a group like BikeArlington to support cyclists in Fairfax.

From the guide:

Labels: arlington county, bike parking

posted by Bruce Wright at 6:19 PM permalink

 

New bike racks at Vienna Metro station

The Vienna Metro station is a popular destination for many Metro patrons. We were pleased to hear recently that WMATA has installed 32 new inverted U racks at the station. From the PlanItMetro blog:

Labels: bike parking, Metro, vienna

posted by Bruce Wright at 9:06 AM permalink

 

Bike parking facility planned at Franconia-Springfield Metro Station

WMATA is in the final stages of planning an indoor, enclosed bike parking facility at Franconia-Springfield Metro station. It will likely be located in the new parking garage shown on the right in the photo. The project is funded through a TIGER I grant for multimodal improvements at the station.

A similar bike parking facility, referred to as "Bike & Ride", is being constructed at the College Park Metro station. BikeLink is providing the parking system.

There will be approximately 30 U racks. WMATA is experimenting with two double-decker racks, similar to the Dero Decker, at the College Park station. If the single U racks are being used to capacity they can be replaced with additional double-decker racks. This could also be done at the Franconia-Metro station.

Access is controlled by a key card and hourly rates will be very affordable. The station will be accessible 24 hours, with a lower rate charged between evening and morning rush hours. This would allow commuters to arrive by Metrorail pick up their bike in the morning to ride to work. In the afternoon they would bike to the station from work to leave the bike overnight. A bicycle repair stand is also planned, similar to those installed in Cambridge, Mass.

There are two main locations under consideration, Options 1 & 2. A third location, which is closest to the station entrance, has too many constraints. While Option 2 is furthest from the station entrance, it is more accessible to cyclists entering the station grounds from the NE. Many cyclists arrive from the Franconia-Springfield Parkway trail using the circular ramp shown on the right side of the air photo above. A new trail is needed where the ramp enters the station since the road is one way at that point. There is a sidewalk on the north side of the access road parallel to the Parkway that could be widened. The downside is that it's about a 350 foot walk to the station entrance.

Option 1 would require creating a new entrance where there is currently a wall. A new trail would also need to be built leading to the entrance. Another trail or sidewalk is needed to lead from the bike entrance to the station entrance since access through the garage is not planned.

Many cyclists also access the station from the south, parking on the opposite side of the tracks and walking into the station from there. There is limited room for expanding this parking.

This planned facility will be a great benefit to Metro patrons who bike to the station. We predict the racks will fill fast once people realize the benefits of having a secure, enclosed place to park their bikes. There are many other stations where this solution is needed, including Vienna and Dunn Loring, where the existing racks are often full and are not protected from the weather. This is a great step forward for WMATA.

We plan to visit the site in the near future to take a close look at the proposed locations. If you have comments on the proposed locations or on access to the locations, leave a comment here.

Labels: bike parking, bike station, wmata

posted by Bruce Wright at 4:29 PM permalink

 

WMATA counts bikes and racks at Metro stations

WMATA recently conducted a bike and rack count at all Metro stations. The Vienna station racks were full (blue color in far left circle), with overflow bikes (orange color)  parked to any fixed object. Let's  hope this leads to more U racks at the Vienna station.

According to WMATA, they "counted bikes and racks at rail stations over a six-week window of peak usage from May 1 to June 15 for a “bike parking census.”  Each station was counted on a sunny, warm day typically between 9:30am and 3:00pm. We wanted to learn about the general availability of and demand for bike parking in station areas. For these counts, we specifically excluded bike lockers and the Union Station Bikestation, and focused just on racks. We wanted to know how easy it would be for a new bike-to-rail customer to easily find bike parking near a station.  We counted each U-Rack as space for 2 bikes, and used our best judgment for wave, grid, post-and-ring, and other racks.

Overall Findings

• 84 of our 86  stations have bicycle racks (all but Arlington Cemetery and Stadium-Armory)
• Bike-to-rail access seems to be up significantly over the last 5 years
• There is space to park 3,540 bicycles near Metrorail stations, and we saw 2,196 parked bicycles total
• Supply is not always matched to demand at a station-by-station level. Some stations are at or above capacity today, and additional bike-to-rail customers would be unable to find legitimate bicycle parking.  Other stations have plenty of underused space. Racks at some stations are not aligned with demand – they have unused capacity on one side of the station, but overflowing racks on the other side.
• Stations where total bikes parked exceeded 100% of rack capacity: 12
• Even though a station may show some “empty spaces,” the racks may still be crowded enough that an average bicyclist would call the rack “full” in all practicality.
• Stations where we observed at least 3 bikes tied to things other than racks: 26

Labels: bike parking, bike racks, Metro, wmata

posted by Bruce Wright at 4:30 PM permalink

 

Meeting to review the Fairfax Co Green Building Policy

The Environment Committee of the Fairfax Co Plannning Commission will meet on the same night as the Gallows Rd/Rt 29 meeting to discuss the Green Building Policy that was adopted in 2007. The meeting is Wed. the 27th from 7-9 p.m. in the Board Auditorium, Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA 22035.

"At the time of the initial Green Building Policy adoption in December 2007, the Planning Commission was directed to review the policy after two years to assess the efficacy of the policy as well as to determine if any revisions were necessary, given that the green building field is rapidly evolving." Staff have reviewed the policy and developed a Draft Green Building Comprehensive Plan Policy Review Strawman. Part of the policy is to encourage more bicycling:While it's encouraging that bicycling is included in the policy, LEED specifications for bicycle facilities are inadequate in our opinion. We discussed this in an earlier post on bike parking at VDOT headquarters. The building is LEED-certified but has wave racks located 300 feet from the building entrance. Fortunately VDOT has agreed to provide inverted U racks adjacent to two building entrances for visitors and employees.

We sent comments to the Planning Commission asking for more detailed bike recommendations in the green building policy. Fortunately a final draft bike of the county's parking guidelines have been released and we hope the become county policy this year.

Labels: bike parking, LEED

posted by Bruce Wright at 10:15 PM permalink

 

Getting home on two wheels

The Post real estate section has a good article on how more real estate agents are pitching the benefits of living in bike-friendly properties as more customers demand bike parking and access to bike facilities. The article, As two-wheeled commutes grow in popularity, buyers look for bike-accessible homes mentions efforts in DC and Montgomery County to improve their bike parking regulations:
Noticeably absent is any mention of Fairfax County, which has no bike parking requirements or guidelines. The county has been developing bike parking regulations since November 2007.

Labels: bike parking

posted by Bruce Wright at 6:41 AM permalink