I’m sick of having NO decent bike racks in Adelaide CBD, especially in places where they are needed (bars, cinemas, restaurants). There are some near offices, but that’s really it. What’s the best way of getting some installed? There’s a few places I frequent in the heart of the city that have nothing at all to lock bikes up to.
Do venues etc need to contact the council to have racks installed? Should I start a petition? Maybe I should whinge about it on an internet forum?
Guerrilla style… Befriend a welder and trade him some beer to knock something together, acquire a balaclava and a hammer drill,
bolt them to the ground in the dead of night
OMG that is an awesome idea, have them sprayed really whack colours too, then the council will notice.
A guy I know recently started up a business (in Melbourne). He contacted the council about bike racks and they sent someone out a week or two later to install them. Not sure if he was lucky or if it’s just that easy but it’s worth a shot.
Forgot the most important bit, the above act has to be accompanied by this:
Ha!!
There’s not much I wouldn’t do if the stereo was loud enough and playing that tune.
Contact the council involved and put a well thought out case to them. Play the environmentally sound, less traffic card. Tell them they’ll win brownie points for doing it.
Get a petition going across the bike shops/cafe around town to get some groundswell happening. The more people involved, the better your chance of getting some change.
This.
And it’s a win-win for the council since they look environmentally responsible, yet it costs them virtually nothing to implement (unlike bike paths etc). Your face in the community newspaper? 
If the business was in Moreland CC in Melbourne, you’d be laughing. They’re going crazy for bikes lately. Brunswick Cycling Infrastructure - a set on Flickr
Otherwise, do like Nexus said. And tell them that putting in bike parking is not only ‘green’, but also brings proven economic benefits (Here’s the article, Here’s a short summary).
The green cred might work. Eons ago, I tried to get more motorbike specific parking in CBD. It was a real headf#ck dealing with council. Took years! Surely bicycle SA should be on this?
Doesn’t the new mayor ride fixed?
Yeah anywhere in the North is easy.
A phonecall and they are done. the guy at Mr.W says he doesn’t want them installed yet as they do it that fast that they might install them where he usually puts his stools out the front
They gotta be decent racks though, nothing worse that a badly designed bike rack.
Usually in Melb they are the metal half elliptical circle thing
aka the “Staple”. However there are about 50 “Ring” racks currently being fitted to various existing street signs in Moreland CC currently, see my flickr set for an example. Good, but better in areas that have disused parking meters, a much better value add.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
When the council recently resurfaced Rundle Street footpath (which has about 5 bars / pubs and many, many restaurants as well as two cinemas etc) they removed a whole heap of bike racks and never replaced them. That’s not including the one that was destroyed by taxis contsantly reversing into it(!). I reckon at least four decent bike racks were removed and not replaced.
The problem is, a lot of the street signs in Adelaide aren’t permanent, and are only held in with a wedge, therefore no good for locking up to. Carrying a cable lock around all the time can be a pain the arse too.
I’m might get in touch with Bicycle SA and the Adelaide bike forum thingy and try and get a bit of a petition going. Maybe this weekend I’ll go count how many actual racks there are for bikes on Rundle Street.
I’ll let you know of my progress.
PS: My friend is opening a bar very soon. I might get him to call the council and see if he can get a few installed…
PPS: I better shave if I’m getting in any news papers…
^ had a look, they look good.
bike parking around there is starting to become a problem on the weekends:-)
a good problem though
Moving forward, this value add will enable greater leverage of bicycle storage opportunities.
A) Sounds exactly like the Lygon St (Carlton) precinct, lots of food/shopping/cinema, the area used in the journal article I linked. Perfect for some carspace conversion.
B) The ring retrofit is perfect for badly anchored signs, as you can lock to the loop, which means that even if the sign is lifted out of the ground, they have to take the bike, the ring & the sign away with them… unlikely.
Bullshit Bingo! (Sadly, often the only way to get some of these things going is by demonstrating a tangible and measurable short term net positive economic benefit)
I work for architects mostly. Right this minute I am doing concept images for a Rundle Mall redevelopment. It looks to me like mostly token work, putting in various ‘architectural statements’ that don’t serve a lot of purpose.
What is included in the plan however, is racks for about 60 bikes near Gawler place. Also the architect mentioned to me in passing something about ‘share bikes’…
I’m not sure if this concept has been given council approval yet