modernjess

In honor of the official "bike to work" day here in Minneapolis I thought I'd share this.

My company employs about 25 people and more than half of us ride to work at least some days, on average about a third ride in every day and a few of us year round. We just expanded our offices and we insisted on adding a dedicated bike parking area. It's warm, secure, has it's own entrances. No shower yet, that's phase 2 if there is enough demand.

So this is me officially bragging - I'm proud that we made it happen, the employees that cycle love it and the ones that don't love showing it off. attached photo
Bike Parking..jpg

dcrowell

Half bike-commute? I want to live in Minneapolis. I already have the studded tires.

Pedaleur

Don't make me post a picture of my work... ;-)

It's pretty cool they did that, though. I assume space is at a premium, hence the hangers?

modernjess

Space is a resource too, so we figured we'd try to be as efficient with it as possible. We have more space for overflow, and honestly we have no rules against parking them anywhere you want, but this is the dedicated space, it makes it automatic, easy, and convenient. So everyone uses it. We've even got sweet old schwinn speedster in the lobby for anyone to use for local errands.

And "they" is me, I'm a cyclist and I'm one of the owners.

gerv 

I've read that as many of 3.8% of workers are bike commuters in Minneapolis. At that rate, it'll soon be Portland. In fact, Portland might be Minneapolis.

LesMcLuffAlot

What about in winter? The top bikes will drip brown goodness on the bottom bikes.

rubic

My employer provides us with dedicated bike lockers with excellent security locks.

Greyryder

Arrive early, to get the top bunk.

Epicus07

I imagine if they are riding in foul weather they will look plenty dirty as it is.

Pedaleur

Ah, I didn't get that from the OP. Well done!

jbman100

We have several cyclist where I work with my commute being the longest at 13.6 miles. We had a bike rack in a nice area at one end of our building right oputside the securty office. One night about a year ago while the officer was making his rounds someone drove up and stole the rack. lol Now we have a nice storage area inside the building at the other end. The boss is considering a 3 sided enclosure with a roof at the original spot because the strorage area is starting to get full as more people here are riding to work.

modernjess

Yeah, I know what you mean, and we thought about that but at this point there is only about 3 of us that ride through the winter. Of course I'd love to see those numbers go up but it's a tough sell. So the upper "berths" will be mostly empty.

bmt074

In my building they provide 5 bike racks in the basement of the parking garage. From late spring to mid-fall it can be difficult to find a spot to lock up if you get in after 9 or so. There is definitely some heavy bicycle usage at my workplace. Granted, in the winter the racks are basically empty.

buzzman

the college I teach at had pretty poor bike parking and I complained my first two years there only to be promised, "we're working on it." Turns out they were! We now have a 50 bike capacity bike room with #'d reserved parking, video surveillance, a card swipe entrance, heated, well lit and with benches to sit on while you get yourself organized before or after your commute- no showers yet but there are places at the school I could easily shower if I wanted.

The only thing is they only clean the floor at the end of the school year- but I love this because my bike parking spot is easily spotted by the pile of sand and salt since I'm the only dedicated full year round no-matter-the-weather commuter.

dcrowell

Hire me and the number will go up. What does your place do?

In all seriousness, I have been talking to my wife about moving to Minneapolis for a couple of months now. It'll probably be a few years though.

rorban

I get to park my bike about 20 feet from my work station between material racks. I can always keep an eye on it which is a huge plus for me.

striker_dj

that is nice. I get to lock my bike to the handicap parking sign by the back door.

KLW2

We have nice bike lockers at the entrance door to our company fitness center..

Breathegood

I am the only bike-to-work person at my office that I know of. I try to put it out of the way in a corner, but there is plenty of space to park my bike.....and I don't even need lock it up because it's a secure area. I get to park next to these guys:

Piaggio P180 Avanti. This one belongs to my client. I should see if I can get a photo with my bike leaning against it


This was just a temporary tennant last week, but was worth a photo:


This week there is a B-17 a parked at the hanger next door, but that's not my garage, so no photo. There are usually 2-5 aircraft in the hanger at any given time. I have my own locker and a shower.

Doohickie

My building is in the middle of a secure parking lot with two guarded entrances. I heard there about 2000 people in the building but only a handful of ride to work with any regularity- maybe 5 on a good day. We lock our bikes up although I doubt we need to. Next to the office building is a small shower/locker room building with bike parking adjacent to it. Not bad.

Artkansas 

At the last place I worked, 50% of the employees commuted by bike.

The other guy drove an SUV.

Brando_T.

I've got a sweet situation currently - an outside door that leads right into our office space, with a corner where I can stash my bike, and a locker to put clothes.

Not concerned about security, as I work in a police station.

Jim from Boston

I've got a similar situation with an outside door leading to a little used corner just a few steps from my office. I can just hang my cycling clothes out to dry, and if it rained and they are soaked, I have access to a big floor fan to dry them out.

I work in a hospital and have access to scrub suits I can wear (appropriately) during the day, and a loker room with a shower and a towel supply.

Bat56

My four year old is looking over my shoulder. He just said, "Are you gonna get an airplane?"

ha!

krusty

Most people I know worry about their bike when parked at work. Security is always a concern. I ride to work, and my parking place is covered for bad weather. I have showers and a locker for my clothes. Security with machine guns are standing about 50ft from my bike all shift (seriously, I work in a nuclear plant).