From the Oakland Tribune: New parking meters in S.F. not biker-friendly. San Francisco has a huge bicyclist population that uses the parking meters as parking spaces. Bike racks are insufficient in number to handle the number of bikes. Now the city is replacing the meters with bulky contraptions that the bikes can't be shackled to. A rider said:
"We depend on the meters," said Steve Bodzin, who pedals to work in the financial district, where scores of bikes are locked to meters. "The meters are our parking spaces. They would never do that to cars: suddenly change all the parking spaces so that a whole bunch of people would no longer be able to park."
I don't think it's a case of favoring cars over bikes. Although there is some discussion in the article about the tension between bikes and autos in rush hour traffic, motorists benefit when some motorists choose a smaller bike over yet another car on the road. So this move benefits no one. I think it is just a sign of someone failing to think through a decision.
Posted by Justene Adamec at January 12, 2003 12:46 PM