Comments on: When Old Parking Meter Poles Go, So Often Does Bike Parking

By: jass

jass — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:13:06 +0000

Brent, meters run on batteries not power.

By: Charles Siegel

Charles Siegel — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:32:35 +0000

They did the same thing in Berkeley. It has been almost a year without enough bike parking downtown. They are promising to add bike racks, but the rule should be: add the bike racks BEFORE you remove the meter heads.

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:24:02 +0000

Someday those meter poles might also function as charge stations for electric cars. I'm guessing they're somehow wired in order to provide power for the meter itself, so it might be relatively easy to convert them to supply power. Too, they may end up being another source of revenue for cash-strapped cities.

By: gd

gd — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:23:58 +0000

it's fine for MTA to look to the "prize" of bike corrals and other more "dynamic" bike parking solutions, but that doesn't reduce the need to have a plan in place for every block where meters might be removed. It's imperative that the MTA adopt a policy to not remove any meter on a block until (1) a survey has been done of the bicycle parking usage and situation on that block and the immediate vicinity, and (2) a location-specific plan, with funding and strict deadlines, is put in place to replace/provide bike parking to conveniently serve the area where the meters are being removed.

By: AJ

AJ — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:21:40 +0000

Downtown Sacramento has had the same issue recently and installed some similar looking devices on some of the old meters.