Bike Parking and Showers

[americancyclo]

FedBikes.org has a scorecard for different Federal Buildings, but I thought we could utilize the collective knowledge of the forum to add to that information. This could be a great resource for those of us that are thinking about employment, but unsure of the bike parking and shower facilities at any given office.

I'm planning on taking some pictures and filling out a proper Fedbikes Scorecard, but am also going to leave this info here if anyone is curious.

Library of Congress
Madison Building
101 Independence Ave SE
Washington, DC 20540

guarded, garaged bike parking available. permit and badge required.
showers available in Basement level, yellow core bathrooms.

Library of Congress
Adams Building
2nd Street SE
Washington, DC 20540

showers available in the fitness center,

[americancyclo]

http://groups.google.com/group/fedbikes

[Bilsko]

I'd like to revive this thread. While at a meeting in an office in Crystal City yesterday, I wondered what it would be like to work there as far as bike facilities go. I saw tons of riders coming and going along Crystal Drive, many parking on the street and some parking in garages. But what about that building that I was in (200 12th St, to be exact)? It was clearly an older building, and without any front desk staff, I didn't have an easy way of finding out about bike parking, showers, etc. AFAIK, its not considered a Federal Bldg - despite housing a number of DoD/NASA contractors - so I don't think it will show up on the FedBikes site.

So I wonder if there is any online DB or map-based tool to identify which buildings around DC have good (or bad) bike facilities. If not, I'd be willing to get a Google map set up for everyone to contribute to (as anonymously as Google will let you, of course) - something like this: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...26682027b381d7

Or it could just take the form of a searchable spreadsheet, at the cost of being user-friendly

[dasgeh]

So I wonder if there is any online DB or map-based tool to identify which buildings around DC have good (or bad) bike facilities. If not, I'd be willing to get a Google map set up for everyone to contribute to (as anonymously as Google will let you, of course) - something like this: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...26682027b381d7

Or it could just take the form of a searchable spreadsheet, at the cost of being user-friendly

What about this? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_Ec...mcIzt17g/edit#

I think the maps idea is cool, but your link didn't work for me, so I'm not really sure what you're talking about.

[Bilsko]

What about this? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_Ec...mcIzt17g/edit#

I think the maps idea is cool, but your link didn't work for me, so I'm not really sure what you're talking about.

Odd, not sure why the link didn't work - I checked in different browsers and different computers and it came up alright...

The survey is great, but what I'm looking for is a way to identify (on a map or from a list) whether or not a certain -specific- building has bike facilities. Lets say you're looking for a new job and want to know (without having to ask HR) what the bike situation is....voila! Bike Facilities Building Map to the rescue!

Or - you've got jury duty. What buildings around the courthouse can you use for indoor bike parking....

Basically just crowdsourcing what Google Maps already does with Car-parking lots.

[americancyclo]

It would also be nice to list the gyms that do a minimal cost shower only plan for those folks that may not have showers in their building, but know of a nearby friendly gym.

[dasgeh]

We could always adjust the survey to be just about the building one works in, ask for the address, and ask whether visitors have access to the facilities. It adds to a rather long survey, but it's useful.

The Googlemaps link you posted [Strikethrough}ust brings up googlemaps for me (in both firefox and IE)[End] works now. Odd. But that could work too.

[Bilsko]

I like the idea of adding an address field to the survey (optional of course) - the only difficulty (as it is with managing metadata) is getting consistent address entry.

If I had more GIS skillz, I'd take the tax-lot/owner GIS data set from gis.dc.gov and figure out a way to normalize the buildings/address in a manner that made for consistent data entry. Don't know if Arglinton and MD suburbs has good GIS datasets too.

The problem, as I see it, is that the tool (as I'm proposing it) has a pretty narrow scope of use. Some thoughts:

-- For some of us, CaBi does away with the bike parking issue altogether (although not necessarily the shower/locker facilities)
-- As far as long-term use of a building's bike parking goes, the turn-over tends to be pretty low. People don't change jobs or buildings *that* often.
-- For shorter term use, the tool could be helpful, but there are almost always passable options for street parking, and the added effort of finding a building with bike parking in the garage (that is open to the public) may not pay off.
--At least for the BA forum community, posting a parking question to the forums will typically generate some response - often almost as quickly as it would take to research the info solo.

All of which is to say, its probably not worth all that much effort. It just stemmed from my curiosity about bike parking in a building that was unfamiliar to me.

[dasgeh]

I think it's a good addition to the survey, though, and if someone wants to take the responses we get and get them up onto a map, even more awesome. I have no GIS skillz, but I envy those that do.