Bike Station Opens Oct. 2
17 09 2009That’s right, the long awaited Bikestation at Union Station will be open for business in a little more than two weeks time! We are excited not only because of the great looking design by KGP Studios, but also because this is the first of its kind on the East Coast, so it will be interesting to see how the community makes uses of the facility.
[Photo: Brownpau]
A $4 million bike rack. Absurd. But hey, it’s mostly funded with federal dollars so we’re wasting other people’s money instead of our own, which I guess makes it cool right?
How much does even just a mile of interstate highway cost? Or a highway interchange?
yeah, it’s interesting me to see people complain about any investment in bicycle infrastructure, but the same people won’t bat an eyelash at the hundreds of millions that go into something like the springfield interchange…
IMGoph — these people also wouldn’t complain about the $30,000 – $40,000 per spot that it costs to build structured parking.
I WILL complain that it was built with tax dollars, but any profits from use of the space are going to a company in California, whose mission is to get people to pay them to “park” their bikes.
I’m all for covered bike parking, but not this for-profit model.
I’m largely excited to see this open up, but I will say that (echoing Tom A. a bit) the transition to a pay to park model in what is considered the epicenter of biking in DC except maybe Adams Morgan or 14th St is a little scary. Now, for the first time ever, parking a bike in DC is no longer universally free. What’s to stop DC from looking at other sources of tax revenue from bikes?
I’d be all for it if I was convinced that this money would be spent on improving cycling infrastructure. But the way DDOT is. I don’t know.
I find it hard to believe many people will actually use this to commute, so really it is going to be a rental station for tourists right?
i live in trinidad and am looking at a job in suitland, so i would definitely bike to union station and hop the metro there. the station makes perfect sense to me.
Yeah, it makes since for me too. I live in Silver Spring (blaa) but work in Easter Market. Taking the train to Union Station is only about 15 minutes, but all the way to Eastern Market is 45-50 minutes. Riding from Union to work would cut out at least 15-20 minutes.
oops should have checked some of that spelling before i posted. oh well.