What’s up with the new bike lockers at the Park and Ride garage downtown?
A reader sent us a photo of them last week, asking what they were, who they were for and how long it would take for someone to rent them out as AirBnBs during Fantasy Fest. (He was kidding about that last one — we think.)
So the Keys Weekly headed down to the garage at Caroline and Grinnell streets to see for ourselves, then spoke with Ryan Stachurski, Key West’s multimodal transportation coordinator.
His goal — and that of the city’s Car-Free Key West initiative — is to “make it safe and easy for more people to bike, walk and use transit (buses) and carpool more often.”
The new bike lockers are just a small part of an overall vision that could take more than a decade to fully implement — more and safer bike lanes, wider roads, bike-share apps, better signage, educational campaigns and more.
The bike lockers, funded mostly by a transportation grant, are part of the “Final Mile” project that “seeks to install bicycle, pedestrian, and bus rider amenities at high-use bus stops and public areas along the Lower Keys Shuttle bus route. These amenities address the ‘final mile’ or barrier for those who would otherwise use public transportation,” states the Car-Free Key West website at carfreekeywest.com.
The vision, Stachurski said, is to have commuters who work downtown, but live in, say, Big Coppitt or Stock Island, to be able to take the bus to the parking garage, then hop on their stored bike for the short ride to work. The lockers could also be used by people who typically drive their own car to work downtown. The lockers would enable them to park in the garage rather than search for on-street parking, then take their bike to work downtown.
While city buses are equipped with bike racks, each one can typically accommodate three or four bicycles. The lockers offer a safe, secure, dry and well-lit storage area.
The two banks of bike lockers at the downtown garage can accommodate a total of 16 bikes that can be stored for up to 72 hours at a time. Each box is divided diagonally inside, allowing each box to hold two bikes, with locking doors on each side of each box.
The lockers are free, but users must provide their own U-lock style locks for the lockers.
“The lockers will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, but like all the city’s bike racks, bikes can only remain there for up to 72 hours,” Stachurski said.
In answer to our questions about what’s to stop homeless people from sleeping in a locker, or stowing all their belongings in one, Stachurski acknowledged, “Obviously, there’s an opportunity for abuse that we’re hoping to prevent.”
The city has the ability to remove, or cut, a U-style lock off a locker door if someone is misusing or chronically overusing a locker, Stachurski said. “We’re hoping users will self-police the use of lockers and report any misuse to the city through the Key West Connect phone app,” he said.
The app, available on the city’s website at cityofkeywest-fl.gov, allows users to report non-emergency issues in the city — broken parking machines, street lights, dangerous potholes, tripping hazards on sidewalks, overhanging trees and other issues.
The city also is installing new bike racks in several places around town, and has added bicycle fix-it stations in seven locations that provide air for tires and basic repair tools.
Visit carfreekeywest.com for more information.
