Co-op’d bike storage

By fall 2009 the new TriMet MAX Green Line and its two light rail stops on campus will connect Clackamas Town Center and Portland State University.

The completion of the Green Line will correspond with a fully redesigned and refurbished PSU Bicycle Cooperative. The reconstructed bicycle co-op is in part a collaborative project between TriMet and Portland State University.

TriMet has instituted a requirement for all light rail stops to have long-term bike parking facilities, because of the increasing demand for secure bike parking. TriMet and PSU will be working together to help meet those demands.

The co-op facility will have indoor bicycle parking, which will have its own secure access door. The parking facility will have a fee to help measure the demand for the facility.

Ian Stude, transportation options coordinator for PSU, said, “The idea is to have 75-100 spaces for bikes.”

“The agreement is for $150,000 [from TriMet] to be given to PSU to help fund the bike parking portion of this project, in return PSU will be providing 28 of those indoor secure spaces to the public,” Stude said.

The bike co-op is currently located in the parking structure at the corner of Southwest Fifth and Harrison. The project will increase the current area the co-op occupies by 1,500 to 2,000 square feet.

“We had some initial conceptual designs that started about a year-and-a-half ago,” Stude said.

According to the Portland Mall Web site, 40 percent of students, faculty and staff ride TriMet, making PSU the top transit destination in downtown Portland.

“This project is to support alternative modes of transportation. To recognize that bike transportation is an important mode,” Kay Dannen, community affairs consultant for the TriMet Light Rail Portland Mall, said.

According to a 2007 Transportation and Parking Services PSU Student Transportation survey, “The most frequent comment from respondents on biking revolved around providing more secure bike parking or addressing security [and] theft issues for bicycles on campus.”

According to their Web site, TriMet hopes to improve security and safety by adding better lighting, more surveillance cameras and new transparent shelters. The Mall, Fifth and Sixth streets will be fully traversable by cars and bikes, as opposed to the limited accessibility of the past.

“I think what we really hope to achieve with the new bike parking is to meet our student and staff demand for more secure bike parking,” Stude said.

The co-op in collaboration with TriMet is establishing the facility as the first location in Portland to allocate bike parking to the public.

“We’re breaking ground on a new system for the city,” Stude said.

A Closer Look:The new bike co-op project is one of two projects that will be bringing secure bike parking to campus.

There will be a second facility that will be primarily bike parking. “It will be located at 10th and Harrison behind the Blackstone building,” Ian Stude said.

This project is partially funded by a grant from metro. That facility, also known as a bike garage, will house up to 100 bikes with secure access. The facility will be opening spring, possibly summer of 2009.

As well, Portland State is looking to add 100 bike racks around the campus, further recognizing bicyclists’ need for secure and convenient parking.