Want Businesses to Know they have Cyclist Customers?
On Saturday, we need two hours of your time to let Uptown businesses know about a great, no-hassle, and affordable bike parking option.
Meter Bike Hitch Rack
The City of Minneapolis is changing parking meters in Uptown from the old coin-fed style to a new pay-station style. As part of the conversion, they will be attaching a limited number of bike parking racks to the new meters (only 60 out of the 1,000 that will be converted).
The Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition is coordinating an outreach effort to get businesses to sponsor additional racks, and we need help with outreach, first in Uptown and later in parts of Downtown and on the West Bank. We need to get as many businesses as possible to agree to sponsor bike parking. Our deadline is April 1. We’re building on an earlier January canvas that identified the best locations for us to focus on.
Here’s how you can help:
1) Join us Saturday, February 25th at 1 p.m. in the Walker Library meeting room (library level) to get trained on fliering businesses, inviting them to sponsor a bike rack by their front door. We also hope to gather contact info for businesses, before meeting back at the library to report back. Plan on about two and a half hours. We need 12 volunteers - please confirm you’re coming to [email protected] so we can plan team routes. Bring a friend!
If you can’t come out Saturday, there are other ways to help.
2) Think about any of your favorite haunts in Uptown (28th through 31st, and from Calhoun Village through LynLake). Are there places you’d feel comfortable asking to contribute $50 for a bike rack? Do you know any of the owners or employees? Are you a regular customer? If you’re comfortable, please let us know which businesses you are willing to ask to sponsor a bike parking rack. Email [email protected] to let us know which businesses you are contacting. Please use this bike parking flyer&form.
OR
3) Let us know if you’re willing to help attend or plan similar efforts in some Downtown neighborhoods and on the West Bank. We need help with contacting media, organizing outreach events, asking neighborhood organizations and bike shops to support us in getting out the word, and other similar tasks.
Here’s the gist of what we’re sharing with businesses (this is the Uptown deadline):
Bike Parking Meter Sponsorship Opportunities
Want to attract more bicyclists to your business?
Sponsor a bike parking meter
Now through April 1, you have the opportunity to sponsor the addition of bike parking racks to any of the new parking meters installed near your business. This is the only way to guarantee that a bike rack will be installed near your business. The cost is only $50 per meter, and installation will be handled by the City at no cost to you. There is no limit to the number of meters you can sponsor.
If you would like to sponsor one or more bike parking meters or have questions, please contact Susan at [email protected]or 612-568-6227.
Benefits of sponsorship
Increased sales opportunities from bicyclists who visit your business
Recognition as a bicycle-friendly business
Recognition as a leader in promoting neighborhood vitality, sustainable transportation options, and public health
So Much News It' Hard To Chew
Lots to share from sitting in on the recent EEE subcommittee meeting of the BAC.
A Commuter Connection representative announced a couple of cool ideas. One is the contraption in the picture, which can be installed onto existing street signs and used to count cyclists. When cyclists ride next to it, it can track their presence and give them points toward health insurance—similar to the discount if you go to the gym a number of times each month. (Be patient: a variance is required for installment, so they are working through that.)
We also learned that Minneapolis is in the running for the national release of a newly commissioned USPS bicycle stamp. The unveiling would be announced during the National Bike/Walk to Work Day on June 7.
Minneapolis is a bike friendly place to work, too.
City-specific buildings that house workers (e.g., city hall) are being encouraged to build long-term bike parking, according to new recommendations. Whereas a bike rack is considered best for short term stops, long term bike parking is meant for all-day parking while you’re on the job. They are generally located in a more secure area, perhaps partially covered or in an access-restricted place.
The guidelines likely won’t go to the full city council for a review, but reflects the approach the city wants to take. The size of the parking area will depend on the building (e.g. office or industrial), and the number of workers. City hall for instance, has nearly 700 employees with a long-term space recommendation for 45 bikes. Preliminary talk is it would be in the nearby government center parking ramp.
An example of a long-term bike parking area near the Hennepin County Public Health building in Minneapolis
Bicycle Coordinator Shaun Murphy shared more about the 2012 Bicycle-Related Enforcement Vision, which he drafted with input from Sargeant Nelson of the MPD. He cautioned it’s in outline form, and asked for comments from the committee. The plan is to have an education/enforcement campaign that targets both cyclists and motorists, and positioned as a public safety and will include:
• Media involvement
• Police and public works staff working together
• A focus on education handouts
• Small scale as a pilot
• With the involvement of community and advocacy partners
The subcommittee approved it with changes for presentation to the full BAC.
Information was shared about a public safety bill written by Representative Phyllis Kahn that aims to promote safety while cycling at night. Kahn represents the district where a bicyclist was killed last November near East Franklin Avenue and the River Road.
The bill would give cyclists stopped without a light –a working blinky—and education—in lieu of a traffic citation and the University Police would act as a partner. The committee gave the bill their support, which is working its way through the legislature.
The committee was asked to give their top priorities for the Bicycle Master plan and recommended the the following areas:
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complete streets (section 3.1) -
Greenway (3.5) -
open streets (3.9) -
speed limits (2.6) -
economic impact (2.8) -
support on street bicycle parking (3.10) -
continue funding (5.8)
Ambassadors news
Shaun shared (draft) brochures of a bike/walk Minneapolis campaign that would offer bike safety classes across the city. The classes would start as early as March. More to come on that.
