Here in Ithaca we have an enormous bike theft problem, and our outdoor workstation (available in a lit area 24/7) is definitely being used by thieves that are either homeless or living in halfway houses to work on stolen bikes they are selling. They also use the workstation to work on their own personal bikes.
I don't see that removal or policing of the station would on any way mitigate theft, if anything it would just make the stolen bikes out there crappier and more dangerous.
I've considered monitoring it to look for known stolen bikes, and would definitely appropriate any bike I knew was stolen if I happened to be there while it was being worked on, but policing who gets to use it would defeat its purpose. It sounds to me as well like your problem is more that you need more stations.
They are expensive to buy. But the DIY one we created was pretty cheap to build and could be replicated all over any city with the conventional "n" shaped bike racks. I've shared the design on this list several times this year already.
~cyclista Nicholas
Jun 11, 2020 11:59:32 PM David Oliver nowhere3@gmail.com:
Hey David (also David),
Your wording of "positive use" is, in my reading, kind've fucked up. So curious what you mean by that. I'm sure the stands that we have are used by people that have stolen bikes but do those people not deserve to be able to fix their bikes? Who do you rob of the resource by trying to police its use?
If you're seeing people camp out at the stand then maybe that's a good sign that you need more of them. Again, rather than trying to restrict it.
And while totally off topic from repair stands I hope WalkNRoll is seriously reconsidering its partnering with police: https://www.facebook.com/WalkNRollIT/posts/2541024292880040
Thanks, David
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 7:27 PM David Coppley DCoppley@intercitytransit.com wrote:
Hey Kim,
Just responding about your Thinktank posting about outdoor bike repair stations. I work for Intercity Transit in Olympia, WA. We experimented with a public tool station mounted at our main transit center. It was removed maybe a month or so after it was installed. It quickly became a bicycle chop-shop for folks in our community, particularly outside of our hours of operation. Two things I would recommend for a public tool station are…
1) Make it secure, but movable. Or it could be in a lockable closest/cage/space. It is difficult to foster a positive use of this resource when no staff is around.
2) Have clearly posted rules about use. I’d recommend listing allowed repairs, or time limits. We had regulars who would camp out at the stand making it unusable for others needing quick fixes.
David
David Coppley
Walk n’ Roll Program Assistant
Intercity Transit
360-705-5817 (office)
360-701-8379 (cell)
PO Box 659 Olympia, WA 98501
dcoppley@intercitytransit.com
Follow us on Facebook[https://www.facebook.com/WalkNRollIT/] & Instagram[https://www.instagram.com/walknrollit/]
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