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City plans transit center for bicyclists

by Sheldon Shafer
The Courier-Journal
Monday, April 2, 2009
Louisville, Ky.
 
The same federal stimulus funding that has given Louisville millions of dollars to buy hybrid buses, pave roads and pour sidewalks is handing the city $1.8 million to build a downtown center to aid commuting bicyclists. The funds will pay for most of the cost to build a transportation center at one of a handful of city-owned sites downtown, Mayor Jerry Abramson said. Metro government officials say they are talking with at least one local corporation about helping finance the project, perhaps in exchange for naming rights or other considerations. The center, a glorified bike station, "would be a great amenity for downtown residents who don't own a car, and also for bikers who commute to work," Abramson said. Abramson spokesman Chris Poynter said the city doesn't know how many commuters, including bikers, might use the facility. But he said it would also be used for people using other transportation, including buses, cabs and rental cars.

"The automotive age as we have known it is over," said biking advocate Jackie Green, adding that he believes a transit center catering to bicyclists might be useful to as many as 2,000 riders who commute to work a day. "We have to start moving about in a different manner, and this would be a step in the right direction."

Abramson said the federal funds were allocated to the state and passed through the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency to the city. He said they have to be used to develop alternative forms of transportation. Under the spending guidelines, the project must be ready to go to bid within 120 days and be completed in two years, or by March 2011, Abramson said. The project, he said, would be designed to accommodate bikers and include lockers and showers and safe storage facilities for bikes.

The center would be on public bus lines and have a kiosk with Transit Authority of River City schedules and information. And it would have a cab stand, where people could hire a taxi, Abramson said. The project could include a coffee shop, possibly another small retail shop or two and a bike-repair outlet. They probably all would be privately run, perhaps under leases that would generate revenue that the city could put back into operating the center. Abramson said the center could include a "zip" car-rental business -- designed especially for workers who perhaps have biked to work and need a car for an hour or two, to perhaps pick up a sick child from school or to keep an appointment in the suburbs. Abramson said the center might even stay open 24-7. He said the city is still considering as many as four downtown properties it owns for development. The exact components of the center will be set largely by the design, and Poynter said the city will soon seek proposals from contractors and architects to design and build the facility. Poynter said the design will be expected to solve access or traffic problems for bicyclists.

Abramson said the plans leave open the prospect of developing satellite bike stations, including possibly at the University of Louisville Belknap Campus. Poynter said one or two city-paid staff people could manage the center, perhaps paid by money from leases or rentals. Or, it could contract with a private company to operate it; the firm could recover any costs through marketing, naming rights or income from rentals. Poynter said security could be solved by having a mini-police station, or perhaps by having the police bike patrol operate out of the center.

Still, Metro Council members had questions about the center. Kelly Downard, R-16th District, said he didn't believe a bike station should be such a high priority for federal funding. Synchronizing stoplights on some main suburban highways would be a better project to fund because it would "reduce driving time, reduce exhaust and keep traffic moving faster," he said. Council member Tom Owen, D-8th, a biking enthusiast, said he favors supporting the growing number of biking commuters. But he said he wants to hear the administration explain details such as how the center will be staffed and how it will be secured and maintained.

The center would be similar to the McDonald's Cycle Center at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. The city pays McDonald's to run the facility. It sells annual memberships for about $150 to up to 500 users who commute on bikes, park them at the center and have access to lockers and showers, officials there said. The center includes a mini-police station that minimizes security problems. Summer hours of the center are 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Jim Tretter, a member of the Louisville Bicycle Club, said one of the deterrents for many people to bike to work is that they don't want to arrive at their jobs "sweaty and dirty." Having the ability to shower and change clothes at a transit center would probably be an incentive for more people to bike to work, he said.

The transit center catering to bicyclists "would certainly come in handy," said Joe Ward, who is now retired but rode a bike to work downtown most days for roughly 25 years. "It would encourage people to bike. If more would do that, we all would be better off," Ward said.