Some lucky Newton North bike commuters are about to get the best bike parking: covered spaces!
As the father of a son who bikes there regularly, this is welcome news. It’s the result of a lot of hard work by Alicia Bowman in her role as President of Bike Newton, who applied for (and won) a $4000 grant from People for Bikes.
The original plan was for the students to design the bike shelter, but the city didn’t think that was the right way to go. So instead there is now this commercial rack at Newton North, which is a companion to one at Newton South. Another is at the West Suburban YMCA. Newton Public Schools donated the installation, including a cement pad. The commercial rack turned out to be considerably more expensive than the one from students, so more funds are still needed. Bike Newton now has a gofundme program running, so if you can donate please do: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-bicycle-commuting-through-covered-parking
Bike parking at Newton North is a huge issue. On Tuesday there were 155 bikes there and my son reports that if gets there too late he has to lock to a bench. One more note: Brenda Noel alerted Alicia to the grant opportunity.
Great work.
It is such inexpensive low hanging fruit to provide bike parking for every student who wants it. Everybody wins. This one time cost that gets scores of cars off the road.
Thank you, Alicia Bowman and Brenda Noel!
Thank you for the shout out! I should add that Adam Peloquin Newton North teacher worked on the original design with his Greengineering Students and bike clubs at both high schools have helped promote this project. It took a team of people to get this done including the wonderful Nicole Freedman and Liam Hurley.
Also the YMCA rack was not part of this project but was the inspiration for our final selection of which rack we would buy. I am thrilled to see that the YMCA rack is well utilized, especially as I frequently bent Trevor William’s and Jack Fucci’s ear about how great covered bike parking would be at the Y.
South too!
Well done!
Excellent! My employer provides covered bike parking and it’s heavily used.
This is wonderful news! Huge congrats to Alicia for seeing this through from start to finish.
Now the city must make our streets safe for students and teachers to use them.
I bike everywhere I can and I commend the effort with the bike covers. I have to be honest in not understanding what the function is of a half covered bike rack . Most times people put their bikes in front first so the the rear is exposed which is the part that is most sensitive to getting wet. Are the bike covers long enough to cover the entire length of the bicycle?