Oly bike racks that suck - rant

This was a runner-up in the list, but I can’t blame the Mud Bay Granary, it was a logical choice for them to use that little parcel of asphalt that wasn’t large enough for an automobile parking space.  Although it does fit into the theme of why some Olympia bike racks suck, i.e. “let’s put the parking for people riding bikes to our store much further away from the door than anyone else who arrives by car”…

I have spent a lot of time commuting all over the urban scene here in Olympia, and I’ve made a top 5 list of  bike racks that have always put a question mark over my head.  

 

#5 Tanglewilde Lumber out on Martin Way has a little bike rack out by the street that I have never seen a bike parked at.  When was the last time you went to pick up lumber on your bicycle?

#4 Alone and in the middle of nowhere, just west of the Safeway on Harrison.  If you for some reason locked your bike here, I’m not quite sure what your activity would be, and I’m not sure if you would see it when you got back.

#3 “Let’s make a very low roofed, shady shack as far in the corner of our lot as we can”. 
 

A lot of the times I go shopping here at the Eastside Food Coop there are even SUV’s and pickup trucks (employee parking spaces) parked right in front of it, so much that you can’t even see that it is back there.  Would I want to park a rather expensive commuter back in a far corner shed and duck my head,

where no one could witness if it was getting stolen?  Most of the time, I instead lock my bike right in front of the store, with a feeling of angst, on the structural post that holds the new entrance awning up.

#2 When I go to mail a mothers day card at the downtown post office, this is the place where I am supposed to lock my bike. 

  

I take it as an insult to be given such conditions.

And the #1 in the list of bike racks that suck is: 

The Martin Way Station.  Okay, I understand that when stores apply for their building permits, there has to be some kind of urban zoning and city planning involved.  I give prop's to this idea.  Instead of just a parking lot that you have to drive into, there would be some kind of community and urban development street front that is friendly for future growth.  

I ain’t knocking the Lowe’s in Lacey, they actually have their own covered bike parking spot in their lot; right near the store entrance, which is very nice.  I guess this is more of a city of Lacey bummer.  It was a good idea, but is a total fail.

There are 6 bike racks, that could hold a total of 24 bikes, plenty of benches and even 16 bike lockers.  

Everytime I go by here, I have never, not once, seen a bike locked in any of the 24 stalls.  Upon further investigation today, amongst the cigarette butts and overflowing garbage, I did notice that 2 of the 16 bike lockers were locked.  Were some bike commuters actually using 2 of the stalls for bus, park & riding for route #62?  I doubt it. This place is a disgrace and a humiliation for what I do as an everyday bike commuter.  The lockers look like little homeless dungeons, and entire station is usually full of litter, and is a very un-welcoming place to be. I give a B- for effort and an F for realization. 

They have planned & implemented something without “core rider” input, that turns out usually looking like skid row.