A Tale of Two Bike Racks

Despite the high number of single family units, my little slice of West L.A. is more dense than you might thing.  Apartment complexes, both for UCLA students and longer term residents, run up and down National Boulevard.  Despite the high amount of people that use the Big Blue Bus stop on National Boulevard right next to my house, which provides easy access to UCLA, it’s a lot more common to see drivers waiting to pick up a bus passenger than it is to see someone take the bike to the bus.

When I asked some of the bus riders why they never rode to the bus, including some I see riding the bike locally to and from the store, they told me there was no guarantee they would be able to get their bike on the bus, very often the bus’ racks were full, so they didn’t risk bringing their own bike.  So, with the blessing of the Church that faces the bus stop, I applied for a pair of “inverted U” racks by filling out the form at LADOT Bikeways.

The date I applied: April 19.  The date the LADOT rack markers went down: June 26.  The day the bike racks were installed: October 10.

It took just under six months for the racks to go in from application to installation.  We’ll keep you posted on whether or not anyone actually uses them.  But for now, West Los Angeles has two shiny new bike racks.