BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

It's bad. Meanwhile 10 Street Parking Lot of 2nd is free on weekends.

Ah the joys of capitalism. As an alternative, you can still park for free in South Side Park at 18th street which is under the Birmingham Bridge. It is a very big lot and the bike trail runs right through the park. To my knowledge it is a safe area to park as long as you don’t leave valuables in plain sight, etc.

I know about the free parking alternatives (18th street, 4th street after the concrete plant, etc). But I live in the west end, and avoiding south side during rush hour is a big deal for me. Not to mention that we frequently would eat dinner at at station square after family and friend rides. Free parking near the works will surely drive some of that traffic away from station square.

Honestly, I don't see it as "exploitation." Reason being, you said yourself that you frequently couldn't find a parking spot. While it sucks that this is personally damaging to your cycling habit, a fee will help to keep a few spaces open (of course, if the fee is too high and no one parks there anymore, then they created another problem and are wasting a resource). There's also a chance that people were abusing the free parking to facilitate other habits (other than fair use of the trail). Perhaps the constructive thing to do would be to contact the owner and let them know how you feel and even suggest a "fair-price" monthly pass or something? It doesn't hurt to write a letter. What I'm trying to say, put another way... they may not have said, "hey, there's money to be made here!" so much as, they had enough people bring it to their attention that the lot is always full, can you do something about it? Who knows, there's always the (unlikely) chance that they'll use those parking fees to pay for additional parking somewhere down the road (no pun intended).

It's also a symptom of not being able to get here from downstream on the Ohio via anything other than a car. That's the first available landing spot. Yet another reason to tear down that monstrosity at the far end of the driveway, 1600 West Carson. Though I suppose, in the interim, you could do a hide-and-ride from their lot. Just hide your car's bike rack in the trunk after dismounting.

The main trail head @ South side Riverfront Park at the end of 18th street has pleny of parking

^What Stu said, double. Except for the parking in their lot part. My guess is that the place is security guarded and camera-ed out the wazoo. Also, that awful junkyard needs to go. What a heinous under-use of property. I've always been a little leery of parking in that lot, since it has always been kind of clear that it's Sta Sq. property, they just haven't enforced it. Since they built the soccer field, they lost parking (a good thing IMO!), so I guess it was only a matter of time before they owned up on the gravel lots. Look at it this way, the healthier the city gets, the more valuable land gets, and unfortunately the less "free" stuff like parking will be available.

you could always cross the river and park on the street over near western ave. plenty of nice restaurants to end the ride with over there and you could either ride the north side trail or cross the pedestrian bridges to the south side.

Getting to that lot under the West End Bridge near the Cardello Building is a learned art. Technically that's for Cardello Bldg tenants, but is oversize. Just apply the usual hide-and-ride rules of thumb: Don't park either too close or on the extreme far end, just where it starts to thin out some. Go for a spot that the regulars might pass up, like right next to a post, don't re-use the same spot each time, and don't be too regular about it. And for an entirely above board method, though not free: Go to the casino parking garage, go inside, and play a couple of games first.