Outside AMK Hub...

I saw this on a Friday afternoon, a pretty expensive looking Giant (I thought it was a Trek at first) hybrid:

Would you please look at the front and rear quick release wheels begging to be stolen! Gosh!

Then when I was on SMBF I saw this:

After giving grimacing for a minute, I wondered whether he could have ran that cable lock through his front wheel as well...

Now me being all paranoid about bike thefts and all, I considered where I would park my bike if I went to AMK hub... I figured the exact spot where is bike was being mutilated to be a relatively safe place! I mean, it is parked in front of  AMK MRT for crying out loud! I busy cross-junction, many smokers gather here since they can't smoke indoors. And for the same reason security guards patrol this area and they can't smoke too near the building as well.

So how the thief managed to get away almost completely baffles me. AMK Hub CCTVs, care to help?

Radical Stimulus aka An Impetus to ride: Parking

Not wanting to steal the title "An Impetus to ride", yet still wanting to keep a relation with "sister site" commutinginsg. I looked up the Thesarus and found "Radical Stimulus", sounds pretty damn good to me!

So "An Impetus to ride" = "Radical Stimulas" on dualcircles!

One of the keys things of why I enjoy commuting so much is because I can park really close to where I want to go, often within arm's length (Say if I stop by a coffee shop for lunch). And when you can park so close to both the beginning of your journey and the end of it, you save precious time and maybe a bit of energy(compared to walking, the advantages just keep coming).

And yes, even in Japan they totally get it. The picture above is a typical parking area under apartments, almost full and if vacant could have probably parked 2 or more cars. Not really a big deal, but from what I have heard, parking here each day can cost an average of 500 Yen or SGD$7.50 at your apartment's carpark. Park in the city for work, and it could easily double, add the doubled cost with your apartment's cost and its technically triple. So what many people here do is find the cheapest lot parking their cars there, leave if for the weekdays and cycle instead. Cycle to the parking lot to get your car, sounds like a multi-mode commute to me!

So its free and you can always find a parking lot. No doubt in my mind is this a Radical Stimulus to ride!

 Tags: Bicycle Parking, Commuting, commutinginsg.blogspot.com, Hiroshima, Japan, motivation to ride, parking, Radical Stimulus, singapore

Your personal parking spot!

Who wouldn't want their very own bike rack aka personal parking spot at your HDB void deck?

Pros

• Its a very in-your-face, parking spot and that means if your keep parking there. People are probably going to recognize you and your bike. Thus, some people might, just might, stop the someone(a thief) fiddling/trying to get your bike.


• Its beside the letter box, and a path with heavy human traffic. Making doing something unethical (stealing a bike) more unlikely.

Cons

• It has plenty of space around the bike, thus giving the thief plenty of space to maneuver his tools around the bike to get the best leverage to break the lock.


• This is an old bike rack(haven't seen the new bike racks at a single HDB(Housing Development board) void deck yet though), where having a short lock means only locking either your rear or front wheel. Leaving the rest of your bike vulnerable.

Will you park your bike there?