Streetsblog has a new StreetFilm showcasing the Berkeley Bike Station. Located in the Berkeley BART station, the bike station is a free, attended, secure location to park a bike. It is open between 7:00 and 21:00 and has a capacity of 70 to 100 bikes. They also have mechanics to fix your rig while you are gone.

There are very few bike stations in this country and I know of none in New York City. As a city that consistently finds itself at the top of high bike theft lists, New York is a natural location for bike station facilities. Most buildings in New York do not provide any sort of secure parking. It is also not uncommon to prohibit people from bringing bikes into office buildings. So, bike parking is a problem, especially for long periods of time (like a typical work day).

As in most cities, space is very precious here. However, with just a bit of creativity, I would think that placing some bike stations at strategic locations around town could be done quite easily. The City and large private property owners could carve out some space to construct such facilities. It also seems like an enterprising bike shop owner would be more than happy to staff a free bike station daily if they could offer up repair services and sell accessories on site. They could even sell bikes (not the bikes people park there or course, that would sort of discourage parking). These facilities would be a wonderful amenity to any neighborhood and, at the same time, remove one more barrier to cycling in New York City.

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