SF Chronicle: S.F. Caltrans station offers valet parking for bicyclists

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S.F. Caltrans station offers valet parking for bicyclists
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 8, 2008


A valet service for bicyclists who commute on Caltrain will get an official welcome Wednesday in yet another acknowledgement by Bay Area transportation officials that pedal-power has arrived as a viable alternative to the private automobile.

The service, located at Fourth and Townsend streets next door to the Caltrain Station in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, offers free and secure bike parking for rail commuters.

It's a perfect setup for people such as Amandeep Jawa, a 38-year-old software engineer who lives in San Francisco and commutes to Cupertino. On occasion, he has been bumped from a train because the limited spaces on-board reserved for bicycles has hit capacity and he is faced with waiting for the next train or leaving his bike behind.

"With the bike station, I have a place to leave it and don't have to worry about it getting stolen," he said.

The bike station, funded by public transit agencies and operated by a private company, Warm Planet Bikes, has been in quiet operation on a limited basis since July, with around 70 to 80 people parking their bikes there every day. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/08/BA2UUAQM1.DTL&hw=caltrans+bike&sn=001&sc=1000

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Each time I go to Japan, I see more and more bicycle parking facilities

around commuter train stations.

One suburb of Kyoto even has a three-story bicycle parking garage.

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2. That's cool....

Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Berlin also have bike parking at every public transit terminal.