Bicycle Parking

Midtown BID May Transform Empty Lot Into Secure Bike Parking

The bicycle parking laws passed in New York City last year were important steps in taking the worry out of bike commuting. But many New Yorkers are still far from guaranteed a secure place to park their bike when they get to work. So this is welcome news: The 34th Street Partnership is looking to help cyclists who commute to Midtown by converting an empty lot on 33rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues into what they hope will be a state-of-the-art bike parking facility.

By Noah Kazis

2:06 PM EDT on April 7, 2010

Above: The possible future home of a midtown bike parking lot. (Image: Google Street View) Below: The bike parking facility in Chicago’s Millennium Park. (Photo: bkusler/Flickr)

The owners of the adjacent apartment building also own the lot, which they decided to give over for community use. “They came to us and said, what are your ideas?,” said Jerome Barth, the VP of business affairs for the 34th Street Partnership. When Barth suggested bike parking, the property owners immediately latched onto the idea.

The parking would be operated by the Partnership, which hopes to make it more than just a few rows of bike racks. They plan to have room for at least 100 bikes, and potentially many more. In addition, Barth said he’s hoping to include a repair stand, showers, and a place for customers to buy drinks or snacks. For an idea of what it could turn into, check out this Streetfilm on Chicago’s deluxe bike parking facility at Millennium Park.

As usual, the main obstacle to completion is money. The property owners have
committed about half the funds necessary, so the Partnership is
looking for another sponsor to provide the rest of the funding. For now, the Partnership wants to hear from cyclists to determine the level of interest in this kind of facility. If you would use secure bike parking at this location, e-mail Lindsey Boylan, the Partnership’s operations manager, at lboylan [at] urbanmgt [dot] com.

Noah Kazis

Noah joined Streetsblog as a New York City reporter at the start of 2010. When he was a kid, he collected subway paraphernalia in a Vignelli-map shoebox. Before coming to Streetsblog, he blogged at TheCityFix DC and worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Noah graduated from Yale University, where he wrote his senior thesis on the class politics of transportation reform in New York City. He lives in Morningside Heights.

Bicycle Parking | Bicycling | Midtown

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.