An interesting article appeared in July’s edition of The Parking Professional (official publication of the International Parking Institute) which follows the results of a 2008 competition set up by New York City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) in partnership with the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum for a unique NYC bicycle rack.
The objective of the competition was “to develop an attractive, functional rack that would expand the agency’s bike parking inventory and fulfil a need to provide secure bike parking”. According to the article, DOT received more than 200 submissions from around the world; a shortlist of 10 designs was exhibited for testing and public voting. The jury selected Copenhagen-based “Hoop” design.
The competition took place whilst DOT was undertaking a modernisation of its parking meter fleet and converting many single space meters with multi meter machines (pay and display, pay by bay). The design offered the opportunity to effectively recycle existing infrastructure by the use of a galvanized hoop-style bike racks that could slide on to former meter posts.
The newly-named NYCity Racks are being installed in Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens; currently 230 are in and thousands more will be installed within the next three years to help the growing demand for bike parking in New York City.