Publication Date: Friday, July 02, 2004
Bikestation's shutdown delayed ... again
Bikestation's shutdown delayed ... again
(July 02, 2004) Frustration growing over changing dates for train depot's upgrade
by Bill D'Agostino
The Bikestation at the downtown train station will not close next month, despite a public announcement to the contrary, due to yet another unexpected delay to a planned remodel of the entire depot.
"It's rather frustrating for us," said Larry Chinn, the soft-spoken manager who helps dozens of bicyclists safely store their bikes inside the small shop every day, for free.
Chinn began telling customers last month that the Bikestation would close in August to make room for the construction. The new delay comes just as the shop, which also repairs bikes, is seeing a dramatic increase in business. Some regulars had already begun applying to Caltrain and the city for outdoor lockers.
The long-planned renovation has been scheduled and then rescheduled four times in the last year, according to Chinn. "It's a hard way to run a business," he said.
Red tape has kept the depot's construction project on a slower-than-usual timeline, according to an official overseeing the project with the Valley Transportation Authority.
"It's a lot of things really out of our control," said Jing Quan, an associate architect with VTA. "We're not really happy with this as well."
Initial delays occurred because the depot is a historic building and permits took longer than expected for other agencies -- like the city of Palo Alto -- to grant. The $1.1 million, six-month project will replace the roof, make the restrooms wheelchair accessible, perform asbestosis abatement, and retrofit the building.
"The depot is not very safe if we have a major earthquake," Quan noted. Funds for the project come mostly from a federal transportation grant.
The August date for beginning the construction did look certain, but at the last minute the VTA found out that the construction company that won the contract had misrepresented itself on the application, Quan said. A new company will be picked soon, and construction could start in November. However, if the construction crew doesn't want to be working on the roof in the winter rainy season, the project could, once again, be put off until next year.
The potential closure couldn't come at a worse time for the Bikestation. Business is beginning to really take off, thanks to the start of Caltrain's Baby Bullet on June 7. The number of cyclists who leave their bikes in the station's lockers per day has risen 20 percent, from 45 to about 70.
Momentarily losing the 5-year-old Bikestation, which also offers bicycle repairs, will not be a minor inconvenience, since some people choose where to live and work based on where they can bicycle, Chinn noted in an e-mail to the Weekly. The Bikestation makes it easier for more people to commute on two-wheels, not four.
"Bicyclists will be bumped off trains. Bicycles will be stolen and vandalized at the public racks. Bikestation employees will be laid off. And, possibly worst of all, some people will begin driving a car to work, every day, alone," Chinn wrote.
It's not the only bad news for the Bikestation. On Monday night, the Palo Alto City Council decided to stop giving it a $16,500 subsidy. Palo Alto Bicycles, the University Avenue store that runs the Bikestation, has been looking for a new government grant to keep it running, since the shop loses money.
"It will take us a while to approach the position of a 70-year-old business like Palo Alto Bicycles, but we're heading in the right direction," Chinn wrote. "I can proudly still boast that the Bikestation Palo Alto still remains a most viable public/private partnership and the model for attended bicycle facilities in the United States."
Staff writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com
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