The answer my friends is when it is installed as a barrier. I found myself by St. Augustine Rd. and University Blvd. the other day needing to swing into a Publix to pick some stuff up. Luckily there was a big brand new one right there on the corner. I parked and smiled as I noticed the new shiny potato-masher style bike rack right up front close to the entrance of the store. I noted in my head that I thought it was placed a tad to close to curb however.
It wasn't until I returned outside that it hit me why the bike rack was placed where it is. It was never meant to used as bike rack. It's sole purpose is to act as barrier for the propane gas canisters located behind it.
Looking at the two pictures above you can see what I am talking about. If a cyclist were to use the rack as designed, part of the bike would overhang into the roadway, which could lead to damage of the bike. If a cyclist were to lock his/her bike so as not to overhang the curb, it would then completely block the sidewalk while also preventing access to the propane canisters. As you can see from the 2nd picture there are only two items located along this sidewalk, the propane display and the bike rack. I might also point out it is a very long sidewalk by storefront standards as there was another 25-30 feet of it behind me and not pictured here.
So why does Publix place a bike rack right in front of a propane display in an unusable state if not solely to act as a barrier and protection from automobiles?
7 comments:
Did you notify management?
If their intention was to prevent an out-of-control vehicle from ramming into the propane tanks and causing an explosion, I've got bad news for them. That bike rack is not going to slow any vehicle down unless the vehicle is moving at 1-2 mph.
Looks to me like that wasn't the intent of the design, just a dumb call by the manager or the propane supplier to put the cage there.
Good grief... Why not just park the bike parallel to the rack? Seems like an easy enough solution.
yeah. obviously the propane was added after the fact. i wonder if they'd move it. They probably aren't bikers and don't understand.
At least the rack has some heft to it. Many places are using very light steel racks put together with something slightly better than thumbscrews. It might make an interesting article to photograph the various good and bad bike racks around - on the list should be the new Fresh Market at Julington Creek and the Jax Main Library.
I have used that rack a few times and even locking my bike up parallel to it there still isn't much room for people pushing carts between there. I worry about people crashing into my bike with their carts. I am trying to make my shorter trips on the bike and things like this make me hesitate to park my bike there. I think next time I may put my bike in the rack the right way and take some pictures.
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