A few of us on the message board work for the same employer, who at the moment would probably be considered a "Bike Friendly Employer." We can bring our bikes inside, we have a shower and we are reimbursed for a small portion of "exercise related" expenses each month.
That's about to change however. We are moving down the street to a building that won't allow us to bring our bikes inside and access to bike parking is limited. The 20% of us that bike to work year round have access to an exposed bike rack with space for two bikes while the rest of the office is provided a parking space for free.
So help us convince our car friendly employer that they need to be more bike friendly. What does YOUR employer do for YOU? Bonus points for photos and bonus points if you're work at a tech related company.
Thanks!
I have access to 2 bike racks in an underground parking garage under Forbes Tower in Oakland which is completely covered from the elements. There is also a third rack outside of the garage area which is at least partially sheltered as well.
We also have access to a shower. I've never used it, but I appreciate that it's there.
I've forgot my lock on a few occasions and have never had an issue taking my bike up to my office on those days.
I'm at a tech company. My CEO (who is at our small Santa Cruz, CA office) and direct manager are both regular bike commuters, so I have friends in high places. Our PGH office has bike parking in the loading dock, but on the days I forget my lock (or ride a fancy loaner), I can bring my bike upstairs, and nobody cares.
We have a company apartment across the street (see: CEO lives in another city), and we can use the shower there (I don't use it for commuting, but back when I actually raced, I used it for cleaning off after lunchtime rides).
I'm pretty sure I could get some reimbursement for commuting (we do some reimbursement for fitness stuff), but I've never pursued it.
I probably don't need to change from my riding clothes (though, most of the time, I only need to change a shirt). When I'm in the CA office, my boss typically wanders around in his cycling clothes all day.
Finally, when the weather is crap, no one bats an eye when I say I'm either leaving early or working from home.
Ryan, as far as your building goes, good luck with that. When I worked in 4 Gateway, my boss was fine with bikes in the office, but the building would not allow it. At all. Do you know if they have basement space? I worked on Smithfield for awhile, and my employer worked out a deal with the building so we could bring our bikes into the basement--we all had keys, so we never had to lock up.
Do you know if they have basement space? I worked on Smithfield for awhile, and my employer worked out a deal with the building so we could bring our bikes into the basement--we all had keys, so we never had to lock up.
This is why I need everyone's help. We have two parking spaces in a basement parking garage and I've suggested we simply install bike racks in ONE of the spaces but there is a lot of resistance to that idea.
PS: I was in Santa Cruz for just an hour and was impressed by all the bike friendliness.
Is there a separate basement (like a traditional cellar), too? That's where we stored our bikes. It wasn't a parking garage, so it wasn't taking anything away from anyone.
Not one that I know of. I've asked for access to the elevator (in order to get into the garage) and was denied so even if there was I doubt we would even be able to get to it. I will ask though.
From left field: why not ask your employer and the building management to get one of those storage pod doo-dads? Is there any space near the building where one could be installed?
Maybe I'm lucky. In the five buildings where I've worked (two companies and a university), I've always had easy access to a shower, and have at least been able to bring a bike inside. Most have had indoor parking and lockers as well.
At my previous company I was able to get the the $20 a month bike commuter credit as well.
My company has an attached shop for part of our robotics division and I just park in there.
I've suggested lids which are my favorite outdoor option at the moment. At this point I need to convince them that have to do SOMETHING for 20% of their employees.
PS: I was in Santa Cruz for just an hour and was impressed by all the bike friendliness.
Yeah, and there are lots of cyclists there, too. But my bosses have told me that it isn't all rosy--there are the same fights between the pro- and con- cycling factions whenever infrastructure discussions come up.
they laugh at me for getting exercise they watch me while i unload my bike and laugh while smoking there all fat bus drivers im just about the only skinny one there
Unfortunately, I am in the same boat. I work downtown in what might be one of the least bike friendly buildings in the Golden Triangle. I got fed up with leaving my bike exposed all day, so I registered for the Bike Center on Seventh Street (Century Building). For $100 year, I get access to locked, covered parking for my bike. Ony 25 others (or fewer) have access to the facility. Best investment I've made. But, my company offers nothing in the way of fitness benefits or commuting benefits, so it is all on me. They do subsidize my bus pass, which I use on days that are too cold or too wet (or too inconvenient) for me to ride. No shower facilities either, although I belong to a Y located a block from my building. I've never used it to shower between a ride and work, but I appreciate knowing that is it available.
Good luck!
If I could not store my bike indoors I would have issues.
How does the bike center work? Is it monitored or can anyone willing to pay $100 a year steal a few bikes without it being noticed?
I have access to 3 secure locations with free bike racks. One location has a gate that is locked and requires an employee ID badge to open. The other 2 are located in front of a security guard desk and cameras monitor all the racks.
Believe it or not we have a global intraweb message board for employees who commute via bicycle. We can post messages and discuss bicycle related topics with employs in other cities. I have had discussions with fellow employees in NY, CA, London, Japan, & India.
I have a large office and am allowed to bring the bike in. There is no policy in place - It has been helpful that a lot of the building guards are cyclists and/or basically nice and flexible people.
@orionz - The $100 "lease" gets you a secure key fob to access the two storage units. I've been there a couple of seasons now, and find that there is a nice little community of users. In theory, yes, someone could get a lease and then access the units and cut locks and things at their leisure. I suspect there is surveillance, either monitoring of key access or cameras, but have not really looked into it that closely. For me, having the one extra layer of locked door between my (locked) bike and the general public is a great deal more comforting than parking it on a random rack in a parking garage, which is my next best option. I like knowing that it is (presumably) ONLY fellow cyclists that share access to my bike.
As for the theft possibility, why would a thief want to spend a hundred bucks, sign a lease (with photo ID, and all that), in order to steal a few bikes. All they have to do is wander the streets and parking garages of Oakland, the East End and downtown and they'll easily find that same number of poorly locked bikes from which to pick. And no one in the City seems to bat an eye when someone reports "I lost my key" and cuts a lock on a bike that is secured with a combination lock (and is therefore clearly not the owner.)
Aside from having access to an in office (and not just in office building) parking solution we are all just looking for risk mitigation, not risk elimination when it comes to securing our bikes.
I have 3 parking garages to choose from attached to my job, and each garage has bike racks that hold between 15-40 bikes depending on the garage and security is stationed next to the bike racks but I work in healthcare not a tech job. mrs. marvelous can take her bike into her office and she has a tech job, she said about 10 others bring their bikes into their offices from time to time.
my situation is very similar to @swalfoort's. I work downtown in a building with no bike parking or shower facilities, have no fitness or commute benefits other than paying 60% of a bus pass or bus tickets. The majority of employees are required to have a car available and their parking leases are subsidized. Out of roughly 75 employees I'm the only one that bike commutes and I'm pretty sure @Stu and I are the only regular bike commuters in the building.
We are having indoor parking taken away from us while drivers are gaining free parking spaces.
^ That seems unfair. Your company should rent a shipping container for one of the spaces and give a reward to anyone who uses that instead of the 1-car space!
This is seriously one of the reasons I quit. FYI when we moved to our current location our president was an avid cyclist who would ride in from north of zelienople on occasion. Hence the shower and the bikes in the office precedent. He's been gone for a while now and the only thing keeping it friendly for the five or six of us (out of 25-30) was inertia. Now that they are moving there is pretty much zero consideration for the quarter of the staff that rides daily.
@Swalfort, I will look into it then. My biggest concern is first off someone thinking the bike is fancy and taking it, second is someone hitting it (thin aluminum tubes), and third is tinkering with stuff. Being out of plain sight prevents almost all of it, and the small group of users of the facility is no worse than my location now.
I've just been tying up at one of the Pgh Parking Authority garages. Not a chance of getting a bike in here, as @dmtroyer said.
David, where do you tie up? I've been using the PPA garage down at Lib/Smfd/9th. I can still get into the Mellon Square tie-up spot, though it's difficult. Partly because of the difficulty I've usually bused in.
@orion - Let me know if you want to take a look at the bike center facility. I work in the heart of downtown, and am only a five minute walk from there. I could meet you virtually any luch hour, or before or after work, if our schedules mesh.
Would your company be at all interested in pursuing BikePGH's bike friendly employer program? Doesn't sound like it now, but they could get some nice publicity and such if they were to do it. There's still only a handful of desinated businesses so they could get in and be part of that elite group- maybe the first one of thhat kind of business?
Alternatively, can you make a case to them how having bike riding employees benefits them? Besides the less tangible health benefits, is there something like the savings in parking that would look good to them?
When I worked in Pitt athletics (in the stadium) a few years ago, no one ever questioned me bringing my bike up the elevator and putting it in my office.
My current employer (Carnegie Science Center) allows employees to park bikes in the unused portion of the basement of the stairwell- last summer we would sometimes have 5 or 6 in there. There is a shower and employee lockers. When I have asked about the commuter reimbursement, I have been turned down, but will continue to try.
Stu,
I tie up in the portico of the City/County Building, thanks to Sara's suggestion. The mellon square garage has a history of vandalism.
Is there a list of bike friendly employers and businesses. It would be nice to know who they are.
@Mr Marv- yep, scroll down to the bottom for the list of employers who have gone through BikePGH's program. http://bike-pgh.org/campaigns/bike-friendly-employer/
There is that list, but it doesn't go into what each employer does for their employees. In a previous blog entry I saw that pair networks has a bike room and that the priory has a bike shelter. That's the sort of information I am after. I need to show my employer that we are not asking for a whole lot when compared to a lot of our competitors and potential clients.
Yeah, I see Mullen is on that list. Ryan, that might get your employer to listen, right?
I used to work at Ansaldo aka Union Switch & Signal. They have a huge parking structure that can handle about 300 cars, but in it they have a sizable bike rack. Under cover, well lit, it even has couple of tools and a pump cabled to the bike rack. The whole thing takes up two maybe three parking spaces, and can handle a dozen or so bikes. I know I have a picture somewhere, possibly already linked to an old thread.
That's my hope Brian.
Ryan, maybe they will change their minds when they start to bring vegetarian or vegan food in instead of food with meat for everyone!
Anyway, I lock up at my office on federal street, A few blocks away from AGH. there is a bike rack that can hold maybe 2 bikes, but the smoking area was placed about a foot from the bike rack (which is uncovered and is visible from federal street, where lots of people loiter). So there are some beams just inside the parking garage to lock up to, but to properly use a u-lock, there is only one spot to lock to. There are 3 or 4 of us who ride most of the year. I get there first. There are racks at the Sandusky entrance to AGH, but the smoker's area was moved into that area. As far as I know, we get no incentive from a healthcare provider for riding a bike. I could use the shower at the hospital or at the PT dept probably, but I do a quick freshening up in the bathroom.
@ stefb I was considering AGH as a place of employment when I finnish school, but the limited bike racks make me want to reconsider. I know that long before I started at Shadyside a group of employees fought for more bike parking and now there is more bike parking then can ever be used between the three garages, not sure how they pulled it off but when I go into work I'll ask around maybe if I find out how they got more bike parking it'll be info everyone could use at their place of employment.
My bike sits next to my desk or in the workshop on the way in.
lolwut.
I work for a bike pgh recognized bike friendly employer. We have bike parking, two showers, laundry, on-site bike shop, get paid extra for biking to work, free bikes to ride every once in a while...and more.
My last job was also bike friendly. secure parking inside a building and on-site shower.
I've been lucky.
pratt wins
Plus you get free pinball.
oh yeah....and beer, currently east end black strap stout
I'm in the same boat on this as rsprake. My bike parks within a few feet from my desk in the current setup. I want something secure if I can't bring my ride in. Give up a single car space for 4 or 5 bike commuters already.
It's pretty ridiculous that they wouldn't accommodate something that such a large percentage of their employees do.
My company has a gigantic secure (and monitored) bike cage in the basement of the building. I can ride straight to the cage (no steps or elevators) and then head straight up to my office. The showers are upstairs, they supply towels. In the cage, there's a repair stand and tools, and some misc supplies (tubes, etc). Plus they have 3 decent loaner bikes that people can borrow.
No commuter credit, although I could get a free bus pass if I wanted one. They do have a "Self-Powered Commuter" program - you check in on the web and earn credits and at the end of the year you can donate them to any charity you choose, like bike-pgh 
It maxes out somewhere over $500/yr if you ride or walk regularly.
I think they make it pretty much as easy as possible to commute - I don't think we quite get 20%, but maybe something close to that in the summer - and a lot of people walk too.
Tell your boss I'll be happy to arrange a tour - you guys can feel free to come along and hand me your resumes in front of him for extra effect.
Mr marv- I haven't made a stink about it. I am sure I could get something changed if I bitch about it, which I may do soon.
as a former coworker let me say that quizbot and rsprake would make excellent additions to the google family.
Also in the same boat (on the same bike?) as rsprake and quizbot. To be perfectly honest, the bike-friendliness (at the time and up to this point) of the place was one of the reasons I chose to work there. The current lack of enthusiasm to do right by the cycling community (again, 20% of our work force) as we prepare to move to a new space is less than awesome.
As far as previous employers, I worked for a company over on the North Shore that had card-key access to a well-lit garage with a bike rack. The bike rack itself wasn't the most secure, but it wasn't like anyone could just get in there. Most of the people didn't even lock their bikes (I did). We also had showers, lockers, and towel service. It was a pretty nice setup.
I am not looking to leave! I like my job, just trying to be proactive.
What rsprake said.
Haha, well I thought it was worth a shot. But please feel free to use me/Google as leverage to get better bike stuff regardless.
Also I think you should all ask for car parking passes and then park your bicycles there, or just leave the spots empty. Maybe if it's they realize they can save $1000/mo in parking leases they'll be more willing to pony up for decent bike facilities.
I like Salty's idea!
Hmmm...junker pickup truck, with several bike racks welded to the bed, parked in a spot with a parking tag prominently displayed...
oooo, @reddan or a junked cargo van would be even more secure.
Ha ha. That would be rad.
A junked cargo van would likely be pretty cheap split among 4-5 users.
My "employer" (as in the one i used to have until a week ago) would let me bring my bike in the office and park it in the empty cubicle next to mine.
