BIKE CORRAL COUNT
2012 SEA 8 WS 0
2013 SEA 16 WS 0
2014 SEA 30 WS 0? (projected. 25 now)
Bikes are good for local business districts. When we travel by bike, we shop and dine locally, instead of at malls and big boxes. Bike corrals are good for business. That’s why Seattle is installing bike corrals in local business districts.
Except in West Seattle.
Our West Seattle businesses deserve better treatment!
With the support of the West Seattle Junction Association merchants, we have been working for 18 months to get SDOT to install one bike corral at the busiest block in the Junction. The Junction Neighborhood Association and the West Seattle Transit Coalition have joined us in this effort. All we are asking for is one bike corral in West Seattle. The only timeline we have from SDOT is sometime in 2015. We are asking our elected representatives for help!
The city’s bike corrals are funded by Bridging the Gap levy, so all of us who rent or own property in Seattle are paying for them. The California Junction has over 600 “free” car parking spaces, paid for by the businesses, built into their overhead cost, and indirectly paid for by all their customers, including all who arrive by foot, bike and bus. We are asking for some benefit for the costs we pay.
Bike corrals park 8 to 12 customers in the same space that parks one or two customers arriving by car. Instead of congesting the sidewalks with bikes, they efficiently use the curb lane. The location we are requesting is not a car parking space. Bike corrals will help increase parking in a neighborhood that is rapidly getting more dense with apartments that have limited car parking.