Bike Port, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington’s secure indoor bike parking facility attached to JRA Bike Shop in Pioneer Square, is closing at the end of the year.
The service, housed at 3rd and Jackson, is membership-based and was created mainly to provide commuters with a secure bike parking facility near downtown with lockers and a shower. It costs $2 per day, though there are discounts for people who pay by the month ($15) or year ($120).
However, the facilities costs have risen this year while funding was cut and monthly memberships declined.
“Bike Port was built with corporate bike commuters in mind,” said operator Jay Steingold, “and many of the office buildings in the immediate area have since built their own secure bicycle parking facilities complete with lockers and showers. So it is not as though people just stopped riding their bikes to work.”
Here is the letter Bike Port sent to current members:
Thank you for using the Bike Port 24/7 bicycle parking facility, a service provided by the Bicycle Alliance of Washington in partnership with King County Metro, the City of Seattle and Sound Transit. Over the past year Seattle Bike Port’s operational costs have risen, we have seen a decrease in usage and a reduction in funding. After much consideration, it has been decided to close Seattle Bike Port as of December 31, 2011.
Your membership plan will be carried out as indicated below.
· If you hold an annual plan that extends beyond the end of December, you will receive a refund for the remaining months on your plan.
· Monthly plan holders are welcome to continue renewing up until the beginning of December.
· Pay per use customers may continue using your card for the remaining months however refunds will not be issued for any remaining uses.
Comments
5 responses to “Bike Port in Pioneer Square to close in December”
My company is moving into Pioneer Square into a new building and it has it’s own secure bike lockup and locker room and showers. While I’m stoked for this experience, I’m sorry to hear about Bike Port. Unfortunately, I never knew it existed and probably wouldn’t have used it anyway as I currently work on the other side of town. I think it’d be great if places like this got more visibility because there is a lot of good stuff out there (I’m sure) that I don’t even know about. Is there a single place that lists all the bike shops, and other biking establishments like these? I’d argue that many of these places that don’t make it is simply because people don’t know about them. Word of mouth sometimes is not enough. Another story idea? A list of biking related facilities/services in the greater Seattle area?
The demise of this facility is a sign that business owners are adding bike parking to their offices. So in one way, its good news. Now had it offered rental bikes, maybe it would have a reason to exist still but there are now more secure bicycle parking around the city, and this place didn’t offer the one other thing a bicyclist needs, a shower & towel.
Oh well, it served it’s use.
Does this mean JRA is shutting down completely? If so, that sucks big time. Both Ben Rainbow and Julian who I’ve dealt with there are extraordinarily professional. They have been great for that area.
JRA tweeted this yesterday:
@seabikeblog -meeting tomrow with project mgrs about awakening a sleeping giant in PSquare. Stoked!
So, we’ll see what happens…
[…] few months ago, we reported that the Bicycle Alliance’s Bike Port and the JRA bike shop location connected to it were […]