Comments on: Bike-Thru Window Banking – Boulder, Colorado

By: Brandon

Brandon — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:14:14 +0000

I actually live in Boulder for school and this really does not surprise me. I had heard people say that it was like its' own country in the middle of a state. I grew up only 40 minutes away in Denver and I was amazed at how right they are. The city actually designed many of the roads to be more of a pain to drive on in hopes of people driving less.

However, it is a beautiful place to ride a bike around due to the numerous paths etc. So any encouragement is good, if it actually works...

By: Dave Holladay

Dave Holladay — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:25:32 +0000

Why put yet another 'special facility' for a single type of customer I rarely shop at any store which does not accommodate me and my bicycle, genmerally for the larger stores that means bringing my bike in and wheeling it round the aisles, or having a place for short stay no-lock parking in the bank whilst I go to the counter across the room.

Basically access requirements for a bicycle are the same as those mandated for wheelchaior users - so if a store or bank is accessible for wheelchair users it is accessible for cycle users, and depending on your take of the ADA (or UK's DDA) legislation there are many more people using cycles as mobility aids than there are using wheelchairs.

So I suggest that this is a pure gimmick and in a truly integrated cycling town you will see bikes brought in to the store or the bank, maybe with some etiquette regarding the ti9mes of day and ways in which the cycle is
used.

You may want to make the start a bit easier for the store owners, suggest that a cycle users shopping period is scheduled for the times of day when the store is quieter - remind them that in European studies only 25% of car users puchsed quantities of goods that warrnted the use of a car, but 17% of cyclists bought more than 2 carrier bags worth of goods (reckoned to be the sensible quantity that5 can be carried by an individual shopper.

Imagine the time efficient shopping trip where you, don't stop to park, go straight round the store and then load directly from the check-out onto the bike and ride away directly on leaving the store.

If stores can have 'naturist' shopping sessions then cyclist shopping sessions could be a much simpler option to organise......

By: Clarence Eckerson, Jr.

Clarence Eckerson, Jr. — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:37:27 +0000

Fritz,

I think you really got it - give us the same "rights" as to someone having a car wanting to do a bank deposit or use a drive-thru food window and also provide nice bike parking in front of establishments and we don't need things like this. But the cool factor here is what we are highlighting, that this establishment went above and beyond the call of duty!

By: Fritz

Fritz — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:32:37 +0000

This is nice... it is... but I've never been bothered by buildings that are open not having bike thrus. Personally, I think banks need good bike racks so I can go into the bank and do my business with my bike securely locked and I see little advantage of using a "bike thru". What bothers me is that places with extended hours only support cars (by me banks don't have extended hours for cars). If I want to go to Taco Bell at 2 a.m. I have to use a car and not a bike or walking. So, deny me the 'convenience' of a drive thru on a bike and I don't mind... the real problem is denying people not in cars access to extended hours. But, I've got to figure that this video is hopefully a sign of good things to come on that front.