Blue Springs adds bicycle lockers to commuter parking lots

According to the Blue Springs Examiner Blue Springs is leading the way in one important area for bicycle commuters:

Blue Springs is in the process of installing 18 bike lockers at the city's three commuter parking lots for citizens to rent.

"Our community is changing, its demographics are. We have people who want to have an alternative to driving," said Roscoe Righter, director of parks and recreation. . . .

The concept for the project began about 16 years ago when the city was developing a bike plan for the entire community. The city has recently been doing research and gathering information as it contacted 21 different agencies around the country that use bike lockers.

Righter said this is an environmental issue in addition to being convenient for residents. He said Blue Springs is seeing an influx of people from major cities where there is a significant focus on environmental issues, and their green concerns are being carried over into this city. . . .

The goal is for commuters to be able to ride their bikes from their homes to one of the commuter lots and then catch a bus into downtown Kansas City. Righter said the city knows there is a need for these lockers as several bikes have been chained up consistently in the Missouri 7 commuter lot recently.

Gary Fontenot's bike was one of these. He has been riding his bike to the Missouri 7 commuter lot for the past few months and would previously lock his bike to the fence. Now that the lockers are available, he has rented a locker for the next year and said he catches the bus about three times a week. He said he now rides a better bike to the lot as he is not afraid of it getting stolen anymore.

Full story here.