11042 replies to this topic

[Cassidy]

Whether you think this is something that should be provided by the public or private is a great discussion I suppose but I haven't heard that tax payers will be footing a bill to secure private bikes. 

I don't think this line of reasoning makes any real sense. The COV brought the bikes downtown ... but somebody else is responsible for securing them? ... this is nonsense.

Taxpayers build car parkades, so once again your statement referencing "private bikes" is difficult to comprehend.

What's the difference between "private bikes" and "private cars" such that the COV will provide taxpayer funded services for one, but not the other?

 

Taxpayers have already footed the bill for $14 million in bike lanes, presumably so folks would ride their bikes downtown. Securing those bikes in a city with a very high rate of bicycle theft is obviously part of the $14 million equation.

 

Downplaying bicycle theft in Victoria is the ugly stepchild of downplaying homelessness and general crime in Victoria ... in that nobody with eyes that work will every buy it.

 

Go on Reddit, and you'll find pages of what folks think about the parkade attendants in Victoria as it relates to their (the parkade attendant) willingness or ability to provide any security whatsoever for the bike racks. There's dozens of pages of folks relating negative experiences locking bikes up in COV parkades. Indeed most riders would rather lock them up out on the street, with the COV parkades forming the absolute last resort. These comments are anecdotal, and anonymous - so I wouldn't hold them up as an audited poll ... but they represent an indicator that things are not all "OK" in terms of storing bicycles in COV parkades.

 

I'm amazed at the push back on this issue, it's like the Mayor and Councillors, along with senior COV bureaucrats are quite clearly talking out of both sides of their mouth. With millions more to be spent on even more bike lanes, and the excuses as to the lack of a secure lock up facility downtown coming fast and furious whenever the subject is raised.

 

It makes the entire COV bike project look utterly disingenuous, as if it's purpose wasn't to service potential bicycle commuters at all, but rather to demonstrate the personal SJW agenda of the Mayor and Council. I think folks at City Hall need to give their head a serious shake on this issue ... and I don't even commute on a bike (yet).

Edited by Cassidy, 03 May 2019 - 05:17 PM.

[Nparker]

...It makes the entire COV bike project look utterly disingenuous, as if it's purpose wasn't to service potential bicycle commuters at all, but rather to demonstrate the personal SJW agenda of the Mayor and Council....

[Victoria Watcher]

surely there is some type of public fixed bike rack that allows you to add your own lock to it to make at least most of your bike unstealable.

a system that has massive thick steel bars that go through the frame opening and each wheel’s spokes.

i’m trying to think what I can compare this to.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 May 2019 - 06:50 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

anybody know if the atrium bike room has ever been compromised? I think it does the wrong thing by advertising itself to the street with a glass storefront.

[sdwright.vic]

Shopping for new car insurance today. Went somewhere that we had insurance before. My address on on file was the one I had last time I did business with this company.

Less than a 1/2 a mile difference, the quoted me in mistake my old address.

Guess what! Because the city makes my new hood their dumping ground, me and everyone around me, pays $8 more a month for auto insurances.

[LJ]

I think if the COV is trying to replace vehicle traffic with bicycle traffic there should be a corresponding decrease in vehicle parking spaces needed. If you could get two or three bikes in secure parking in one vehicle stall, and charge the same hourly rate for each bike the increased revenue over time should pay for the cost of installation.

[Victoria Watcher]

I don’t think many or any bikes want to pay for casual parking.

[LJ]

I don’t think many or any bikes want to pay for casual parking.

If they want secured they may not want to pay but they will have to. I pay for casual parking of my car, and it's not secured.

[Cassidy]

I don’t think many or any bikes want to pay for casual parking.

The taxpayer only pays to construct the facility, at some point the user has to cover the cost of whatever overhead is required to maintain that facility, and also begin to recoup the money spent to construct the facility.

 

I would posit that if you're a cyclist, and you wish completely secure parking for your bike while you're at work ... you'd be willing to pay for it.

Your option would be insecure bike parking for free, or secure bike parking for a fee.

 

I certainly don't expect to get what I'm suggesting is required for free ... far from it. 

[Mike K.]

I suspect the business that provided this service on Broad Street stopped providing it as there was too little uptake.

[Cassidy]

I suspect the business that provided this service on Broad Street stopped providing it as there was too little uptake.

 

Indeed, but that business was around, and then gone before the $14 million in downtown bike lanes were part of the equation were they not?

I can't remember when they went out of business. (I think we talked about it earlier in this thread, but I can't find it for looking).

 

Presumably, based on data from the COV and from the various bicycle lobby groups, the number of bicycles in the downtown core every day in 2019 is many magnitudes higher than the era when the Broad St. facility was in business.

 

I'm not sure it even matters at this point, as the COV obviously isn't going to do anything about it ... and seems to avoid the issue entirely while continuing to spend millions on additional bike lanes. 

I guess it should come as no surprise though, as when one reads the cycling master plan for the COV, it doesn't address secure bike parking at all (beyond a bit of lip service saying it's up to the private sector to provide it).

 

The whole thing makes no sense, tens of millions of dollars to get bikes into the downtown core, and zero dollars on providing a safe place to park them. A incomplete plan seemingly devised for appearances only.

[Mike K.]

Investing millions into secure bicycle parking infrastructure also sends the wrong message, that if you don’t use a secure bike facility you might not see your $2,000 bike ever again.

[sdwright.vic]

I think if the COV is trying to replace vehicle traffic with bicycle traffic there should be a corresponding decrease in vehicle parking spaces needed. If you could get two or three bikes in secure parking in one vehicle stall, and charge the same hourly rate for each bike the increased revenue over time should pay for the cost of installation.

Have you seen how big secure bike storage lockers are? Maybe two per space is more realistic. Parking structures are packed now as it is...

[Mike K.]

Ismo, serious question here. Have you considered lowering the paid parking period to 8AM? Over the last year it has become harder and harder to secure a parking spot between 8 and 9AM as so many stalls are being used, but come 9AM many of those stalls become vacant when owners either move them to a parkade or do whatever. But that’s of no help when you need to be at a meeting or engagement by 9AM.

[Cassidy]

Investing millions into secure bicycle parking infrastructure also sends the wrong message, that if you don’t use a secure bike facility you might not see your $2,000 bike ever again.

But that's the case right now, with bike thefts at an all time high, and with folks like me with the intent to use a bike to commute to work ... but unable to do so because I anticipate riding a bike with a cash value that would not question whether or not it would get stolen, but only when it would get stolen.

 

Mike, if you rode your $2000.00 bike into town every day, and parked it on the street or in a parkade for 8 hours while you were at work ... and did that 5 days a week - your bike would get stolen in Victoria.

That's the rub I guess, you're either a positive thinker who believes their bike will be safe in COV parkades and on the street, or you're negative like me - and based on the stats you understand that your bike will eventually get stolen unless you step up your parking situation to truly secure bike parking (which unfortunately, does't exist in Victoria).

 

Underlying all of this is the fact that VicPD couldn't really care any less than they do about bike theft. Indeed calling a bike theft in to the police station results in an "on the phone" exchange of numbers with an administrator.

In fact the VicPD process of bike registration is predicated on the thinking that your bike will indeed get stolen, and if the police happen to find it in the course of other activities, they can get it back to you. There is zero effort to stop bike theft, as indicated by the subject of my last few posts in this thread. 

 

The COV position is a "you takes your chances" approach to bike security downtown. 

Let's be completely honest ... the COV and VicPD couldn't give a hoot about bicycle theft ... in their minds they have far bigger fish to fry.

[Victoria Watcher]

Ismo, serious question here. Have you considered lowering the paid parking period to 8AM? Over the last year it has become harder and harder to secure a parking spot between 8 and 9AM as so many stalls are being used, but come 9AM many of those stalls become vacant when owners either move them to a parkade or do whatever. But that’s of no help when you need to be at a meeting or engagement by 9AM.

nobody has 9am appointments downtown.

[Mike K.]

Oh I agree, but the politics here are sticky.

“What do you mean I have to pay $5 to park my bike? That’s absurd.”
“Well, sir, we have a serious issue with bicycle theft in this city and it is recommended to lock your bike in a secure facility.”
“What?? Can’t the police do anything about it? What the heck.”
“Unfortunately not. We’re also actively trying to decrease the amount of officers in our community. Enjoy your stay!”

[Cassidy]

.......... the politics here are sticky.

I agree, it sends a terrible message when you're trying to market yourself as a friendly tourist town with the most advanced cycling infrastructure in Canada.

What confuses me though is why the COV and the VicPD apparently believe that the residents will fall for that same tourist sales pitch as well?

 

I would go so far as to suggest that, if you're going to market your town as the most advanced cycling town in Canada, and if you're going to spend $14 million plus on cycling infrastructure, and if you're going to encourage hundreds, if not thousands of bicycles to enter the downtown core on a daily basis ... then providing secure bicycle parking isn't a "convenience" .. it's a fundamental obligation.

[Victoria Watcher]

I find it somewhat hard to believe that there is a ring of highly skilled well equipped bike thieves in town. are you sure there are not just expensive bike riders with terribly cheap locks?

[Victoria Watcher]

can’t we add 40 bike racks to centennial square where we pay for 24/7 live security personnel?