The City of Savannah is installing on-street bicycle parking at the corner of Park Avenue and Bull Street, next to Brighter Day Natural Foods. Brighter Day and the nearby Sentient Bean coffee house are popular destinations for cyclists and the existing racks, located in the tree lawn in front of the health food store, are almost always full of bikes. The is the second on-street bicycle parking location; the first was unveiled at the corner of Bull and Broughton streets earlier this year.
Aside from its functional value, on-street bicycle parking also yields some important symbolic benefits. First, it affirms that bicycles belong on the street, not the sidewalk. Second it serves as a visual demonstration of how many bicycles can fit in the space required to store a single car. Finally, placing bicycle parking on Bull Street confirms the corridor’s status as one of Savannah’s most bikeable streets.
Just today, Tues.Jan 6, the city removed the “Caution” tape that had kept the racks out of use since their installation before the holidays! Does anyone know why the area blocked off for bikes, and painted yellow (after the photo above was taken) is twice the size of the 3 racks installed?
It is good to have the City involved in this. Finally! (It is of note that the existing racks referred to above were purchased by and installed privately by the owners of Brighter Day Natural Foods.)
I’ll take a guess that the reason for blocking off more space than the racks take up is for the safety of the riders using them. You almost certainly want to keep your bike riders safe while they’re locking up and retrieving their rides.
As someone who enjoyed using his bike to get around while living in Savannah, I’m happy to hear that riders are getting some more respect nowadays.