By all accounts, the bike valet parking
was a hit! We got many thanks and a lot of CYCC publicity.
People were extremely pleased with the service. Several people
expressed interest in joining the CYCC, even more found out
about our website, and we got a WHCU interview!
Over 200 bikes used the service, with the first arriving
around noon and the last bike picked up at 9:45 pm. We had
at least five different tandems, one triple, more than a dozen
with trailers (both children and cargo), one tandem plus trail-a-bike
plus trailer, and one set of kayak paddles. There was a count
of 175 bikes at the park not in our corral, meaning we probably
took care of about 60% of the bikes ridden to the festival
on Sunday.
Each bike got a numbered tag with the owner's name on the
half attached to the bike and other half taken by the customer
as the claim check. Check in and check out were both pretty
speedy, that is if you don’t count delays caused by
conversation about what a great service we were providing
and all the cool bikes we had assembled.
The Curb Your Car Coalition and RIBs (Recycle Ithaca’s
Bicycles) provided over a dozen volunteers to staff the service,
which ran throughout the festival day (noon to 8 pm). Also,
in the late afternoon and evening, RIBs provided free minor
repairs on close to a dozen bikes. We were able to promote
a variety of related events and initiatives, including the
Cayuga Waterfront Trail, the City Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory
Council, RIBs, the Ride Now! bike class, and also distributed
brochures about the rules of the road.
For more questions about bike valet parking service (including
arranging it for your upcoming event), contact Jennifer Dotson
(607) 273-3540 <jennifer@kitchenchairmusic.com>.
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