NYC DOT Prepares for 12,000 Parking Meter-to-Bike Rack Conversions

Photo: Joanna Oltman Smith

The Post reported some good news this morning: NYC DOT has contracted with Louis Barbato Landscaping to make 12,000 bike racks that can be affixed to defunct single-space parking meter poles.

A few years ago, when DOT started phasing out single-space meters en masse and replacing them with Muni meters, it seemed like there was no plan to replace these de facto bike parking spaces. But since DOT has been quick on its feet to repurpose the old meters, thousands of them are going to be upgraded into bike racks.

DOT has retrofitted defunct parking meters as bike parking neighborhood by neighborhood over the past few years — accounting for about 200 new bike racks, according to the Post. With this bulk purchase, it looks like the bike rack conversions are going to scale up significantly.

For comparison, the new bike rack order far exceeds the total number of CityRacks in NYC right now, which is about 8,500. And as Gothamist points out, it’s double the number of parking meter conversions DOT was planning for about a year ago. At the same time, there were about 80,000 single-space meters before the Muni meter conversion started, so most of the old parking meters aren’t going to be maintained as bike parking.

  • Anonymous

    I really dislike these. Its so hard to lock more then one bike to these. 

  • Anonymous

    In comparison, Chicago has 10,042 public bike racks installed and Los Angeles has a paltry 4,000.

    Tokyo, with a population of 12 million people and only 45 miles miles of bike lanes and paths, has over 800,000 bicycle parking spaces. It has a bicycle modal share of 16.5%.

  • guest

    @red_greenlight1 yes but maybe since there will be so many of them it will help solve that problem anyway? and they’ll be close together, since the parking meters were often in clumps.

  • Nice heavy welded construction.  Better than the bolt on versions in other towns.

  • Doestr7153

    The racks look great.  However, could a useable bike rack/hitch/locking post be created by simply drilling a 1.5 inch hole in the existing post?  This hole could accomodate many cable locks, ulocks, and chains.  Bicycle riders could use the appropriate locking device to fit this hole.

    DLO St. Cloud  MN

  • Parkeon

    NYC SHOULD REMOVE ALL PARKEON METERS THEY ARE A POOR EXCUSE OF A COMPANY. PORTRAY THEMSELVES AS AS AMERICANS BUT REALITY THEY ARE NOT MADE IN USA AND A BUNCH OF CROOKS

  • EcoAdvocate

    and these are close to the price of staple/inverted-U bike racks, seen as standard. If you can pay the same price for 2 parking spaces, why create 1? The location is a concern as there may not be much sidewalk space in certain areas and in areas where there is such space, it may be less desirable to encourage people to stand near/park their bike to cars that may be zooming into parking spaces.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Second Life: NYC Parking Meters to Reincarnate as Bike Racks

By Ben Fried |
Headless meter poles on Madison Avenue, awaiting rebirth. Photo: Wiley Norvell. New York’s trusty single-space parking meters are a dying breed. They’ve served commercial corridors admirably, but they’re rapidly giving way to muni-meters (which are much better suited for innovations in curbside pricing, like DOT’s PARKSmart program). The downside of the shrinking meter supply: New […]

With 8 Percent Bump in 2011, NYC Bike Count Has Doubled Since 2007

By Ben Fried |
The New York City Department of Transportation recorded an eight percent increase in the number of people biking into Manhattan below 50th street this year. The bike count has now doubled since 2007, when the city’s first on-street protected bike lane was installed on Ninth Avenue. This year’s increase is less than the double-digit increases […]

Eyes on the Street: What’s Wrong With This Picture?

By Brad Aaron |
A few weeks ago muni-meters began popping up on the streets of Inwood. Naturally, this made me wonder if the city had considered turning the neighborhood’s defunct coin-op meters into bike racks. DOT has converted discarded meter poles into racks in other parts of the city, and livable streets advocates have long noted Inwood’s lack […]

Locking Up Is Hard to Do

By Ben Fried |
Is bike rack installation keeping up with meter removal? Photo: velcroTABandthewalkman/Flickr 2008 was a banner year for bike rack installations in New York City. DOT put in 1,377 racks in the fiscal year ending last July, according to the Mayor’s Management Report — up from 320 the previous year. And when DOT unveiled its new […]

Vacca Looks to Squeeze $ From Bikes, But Won’t Touch the Price of Parking

By Stephen Miller |
The headline from today’s City Council transportation committee oversight hearing was Janette Sadik-Khan’s announcement that the official launch date for Citi Bike is Memorial Day. Meanwhile, for Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca, it was another occasion to flail at bikes and defend cheap parking under the guise of holding a budget hearing. Sadik-Khan kicked off the hearing […]