At one Planning Board meeting on the West Second Street Commons, somebody joked that there was no bike parking for the likes of Planning Director Bill Nierstedt, who practices what he preaches when it comes to transit-oriented development. At the next meeting, a 34-space bike rack had been added to the parking scheme for the 148-unit development, and everybody looked at Nierstedt, who quipped, " I don't have 34 bikes - yet."The next time I approached the North Avenue train station from Cleveland Avenue, I noticed the bike rack for four had one empty space and a sawed-off cable lock on the ground. Apparently urban bike parking requires steel chain or U-locks if the rider expects to see the bike again.
That reminded me of the bike boxes that used to exist in Municipal Parking Lot 7, next to my building. Over several years, I never saw anyone use a box for bike storage, but I did see someone attempting to live in one. He was an older man who apparently didn't like the rules at the Park Hotel, so he would slip into one of the boxes with a bottle to indulge his drinking habit. In one lucid moment on the street, he explained to me that he was a Magyar king. But when I greeted him by name later on, he was puzzled.
"How know me?" he asked.
This became a family joke with my daughter and son-in-law, who would ask the same when a bank ATM screen welcomed one of us by name. But the Magyar king's reign over the bike box came to an unhappy end when Public Works employees arrived one day to roust him and clean out the filthy box. Not long afterward, all the boxes were removed.
Plainfield has plenty of bike riders who are on the street at all hours. I recall returning from a trip to Seattle late one night to see riders out in a snowstorm. But these are not commuters who need bike racks or storage.
Until bike owners can have more confidence in parking, they are not likely to use bikes as part of their commuting strategy, even though various officials have noted how easy it would be to bike from a given development to the train station. It would take even a further leap of faith to establish a free "green bikes" project to help folks get around the city. As a dedicated pedestrian, I can vouch for Plainfield's "walkability," but it would be nice to hop a bike now and then to speed travel between points.What do you think? Will bikes be part of commuting in the near future? Do you bike around the city? Please share your stories.
--Bernice
Bicycles are easy to come by where I live in the East end . . . we look in the shrubbery and by the dumpsters for the ones discarded by West end bicycle thieves who needed a ride but couldn't afford a cab! And the bike was just lying around down there . . . I beg your pardon, what chain and lock?
ReplyDeleteWhen I took the train into the city daily for work, I now work in NJ, I often wished we could have the bike boxes that other NJTransit stops have...such as Westfield. Although, I have to admit, Westfield is a city that I wouldn't mind chaining my bike to a rack for 10hrs and return to it. Downtown Plainfield ??? Not so much. Chaining your bike to a rack in Downtown Plainfield is simply giving your bike away to someone you simply don't know.
ReplyDeleteI wrote NJTransit and the company that had the boxes at Westfield with no results.
There's too many people in Plainfield who do not respect other people's property, specially the youth in this town. And of course, the perception that Plainfield is a crime city doesn't help either. So, bike riders won't use these bike parking space until people here have some common sense and start to respect other people's stuff... That said, I wish one day programs as the above mentioned could work in Plainfield, one can only dream.
ReplyDeleteBike lockers were installed at stations along the Raritan line about 10 years ago. For some reason, none were installed at Plainfield or Netherwood. More recently, I made some phone calls to NJ Transit and Meadowlink, the entity that administers the bike locker program, to try to get some, but got nowhere.
ReplyDeleteLockers are fully rented in Westfied (I have had one for years). At $7.50/month, they are a bargain for commuters, have long since paid for themselves, and now generate income--it's a win/win. They would work at both stations in Plainfield, where many commuters live close enough to leave the car at home and bike to the train, but want their bike to still be there when they get home at night. We should all be making phone calls to our councilpersons on this one! If NJ Transit won't install them, Plainfield should.
We should also have permanent racks installed in key shopping areas, both downtown and on South Avenue (I'm thinking Times Market and the new C-town on South, Supremo and Twin Cities downtown, in addition to Park, Front and Watchung). Whether part of the budget, or of a campaign to encourage the property owners to install them in exchange for valuable publicity and good will, they will take cars off the streets and really improve our city.