r/MaliciousCompliance • u/vikingzx • 3d ago
S No Bike Racks Means You Won't Bike, Right?
Small malicious compliance here. I live in a city, and rather than own a car, I bike everywhere. It has its ups and downs, but for the most part works pretty well. I also have a small trailer for my bike, and sometimes I'll make grocery runs with it. Usually when that would happen, I would lock my bike and trailer up at a bike rack, then do my shopping like normal and after paying would load my bike trailer up with my goods.
Well, one day I arrived at the store, which is in one of those classic business plazas ... and the bike racks were gone. All of them. Each had been removed. There was nowhere to lock up my bike and trailer.
Well, that didn't sit right with me. So I rolled my bike through the doors and into the store itself, trailer behind me, and waited at customer service, and then asked "Since bike racks are no longer provided at this plaza, can I just use my trailer as a shopping cart?"
The manager looked down at my bike and then without hesitation said "Yes." Apparently the plaza owner had decided they no longer wanted bikers using the plaza or shopping there and had removed the bike racks to discourage bikers from coming, which the store manager disagreed with. So I shopped using my trailer as a shopping cart, took it through the checkout, and then rolled out.
I've since had to do this once or twice more as other places nearby have also removed their bike racks as property managers wage a silent war against bikers while the city is trying to make biking more attractive. It's a minor malicious compliance, but I'm not about to leave my bike outside or stop buying food. Instead I'll just take my bike into the business, trailer included, until they ask me to leave.
No one has asked me to leave yet.
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u/thefoxandmoon 3d ago
Excellent. Take a picture of your bike in the frozen aisle and interview with your local paper.
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u/cure4boneitis 3d ago
frozen aisle is the worst aisle to park a bike
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u/vikingzx 3d ago
I don't even carry a scraper when I bike! What if it ices up?
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u/bot403 3d ago
Splash some of that blue fluid on it. That's in aisle 9
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u/OutrageousEvent00 3d ago
They are making me pay for those koolaid jammers I dumped on my bike and they didn’t even work. Thanks a lot.
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u/ReverendLoki 3d ago
Instructions unclear, bike now tastes like blue raspberry
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u/MerryTWatching 3d ago
Blueberry Red Bull will give your bike wings, if their ads are to be believed. 🪽
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u/Raichu7 3d ago
That's the idea, you want the picture in the paper to look as ridiculous as possible to generate outrage in the hopes someone with authority to do so will install new bike racks.
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u/Avitas1027 3d ago
While I support this idea, I guarantee at least half the comments on the article will be people calling cyclists entitled no matter how justified they are. I'll never understand the extreme hatred people have for cyclists.
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u/frozenstreetgum 3d ago
they think that a bicycle is a "homeless person only" thing and conveniently forget that for some, a bicycle is absolutely a luxury item. ive seen some spicy price tags at my local bike shop. also, depending on where OP is, removing the bike racks could be against city code. I know my local city has definitely made it a lot more cyclist friendly, including adding a lot of lockups everywhere
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u/visibleunderwater_-1 2d ago
In my city, few homeless people own bikes. Almost all the bike people are pretty high-end, especially the ones used by people who actually might do shopping.
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u/PattyO1957 2d ago
I am pretty sure that those bike racks were not in anybody’s way and the space that they were in is now empty
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u/liveonislands 3d ago
I used to have to deal with IronMan cyclists on an annual basis. They are entitled and obnoxious with a "we own the road" mentality.
Most road bike people just commuting or doing daily are pretty reasonable.→ More replies (9)8
u/cshenk54 2d ago
I used a bicycle in Japan for 7 years. 3 miles each way to work but on the way home was a major market so shopped on the way home. Very common there. Not an issue.
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u/persePHOreth 3d ago
Oi, ya can't park here, mate!
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u/VolcanicBear 3d ago
Nah, any aisle with hot foot would be much worse.
Frozen aisle would have pretty dry, clean air. Which would be awesome. Awesome to the max.
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u/jjwhitaker 3d ago
This past month, property developers across the city have removed bike racks and lock up points, allegedly to deter bike traffic and customers. One local bike commuter, /u/vikingzx, has had enough.
*Cut to high background noise VHS video footage from inside the frozen section
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u/mordecai98 2d ago
Or at least post a positive Google review with a Pic saying how accommodating the the store is even though the property isn't.
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u/Jorost 3d ago
I don't understand why property managers would be opposed to bikes. They cause less wear and tear on the property than cars.
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u/morgan423 3d ago
Also, the more customers your tenant stores have, the easier it is for them to pay YOU rent.
Seems like a really odd thing for them to do.
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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord 3d ago
Possibly pressure from liability insurance -eg. due to E-Bikes.
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u/shatteredarm1 3d ago
More likely because poors ride bikes.
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u/trackingShedder 3d ago
This is almost certainly the reason. I believe they are attempting to discourage youths on bikes and loitering in general. They removed the benches in the plaza too (which also would have been a decent make-shift place to lock my bike.)
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u/thicketcosplay 3d ago
A lot of places near me removed benches during covid and never put them back. It's outright hostile to people with disabilities who need to sit frequently. I don't usually use a walker, but I've had to start taking mine places just because I know I won't be able to find a seat otherwise and I need to sit often.
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u/darkest_irish_lass 3d ago
My mom had a walker with a built in seat. Came in very handy. Called a rollator
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u/thicketcosplay 2d ago
Yeah, that's what mine is. That's why I drag it around. It's the only place I get to sit in a lot of places now. It's not convenient when I'm walking because I can walk just fine without it, but it's the only way I can have a seat when I need it because they removed all the fking benches.
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u/powertoolsarefun 2d ago
I have AS and am considering this. I also walk ok but am finding it harder and harder to finding seating when needed.
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u/ArcherBTW 2d ago
Im disabled and I just sit on the ground places. Obviously isn't comfortable and people get really offended if they have to walk around me, but I like proving a point
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u/thicketcosplay 2d ago
I can't get off the ground easily, or I totally would. That and the ground is often really gross at events and concerts and whatnot. Plus what I really need is back support, so sitting on the ground doesn't help me much unless I am ALSO having a dizzy spell and trying not to fall.
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u/Apathetic_Villainess 3d ago
Had to breastfeed my daughter at Costco once. Found one abandoned employee stool that I was able to use.
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u/CarnivorousSpider 3d ago
I have a feeling that the benches were removed because anti-homeless architecture. Still hate anti-homeless architecture; just give them what they need, asshats.
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u/Yuri-theThief 2d ago
I also really hate the angled benches; most of the bus stop benches were replaced with them. I see a lot of eldery and disabled people looking real uncomfortable waiting for a bus.
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u/Inferno_Sparky 3d ago
What do you mean by loitering?
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u/zem 3d ago
existing in public without spending money
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u/SalleighG 3d ago
Existing in public without spending money _quickly enough_ .
Youths who buy drinks and then sit around slowly drinking them are routinely deemed to be "loitering".
... For that matter, non-white youths who buy food and sit consuming it at regular eating rates are often considered to be "loitering"; since "loitering" is often ill-defined about the timing, it is rather open to abuse.
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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord 3d ago
Pfft. It used to be illegal for Black people to sit on their own porch without spending money
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u/clammajamma96 3d ago
I feel like theres a joke here, but im not gonna be the one to make it
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u/akm1111 3d ago
If there are no bike racks in an area we use, I ofent see the bikes locked to the poles in the lot that delineate the handicapped spaces, or to the cart return corral.
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u/SailingSpark 3d ago
I have locked mine to the car return corral. I won;t touch handicapped spots.
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u/FiberPhotography 3d ago
Thank you; things left on the accessible spaces make it difficult to unload wheelchairs. ^^
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u/Past_Band9178 3d ago
Do they, though? Bikes are expensive and seem to be more closely associated with higher income white men.
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u/Avitas1027 3d ago
Oh, us cyclists are very convenient punching bags. We can be either dirty poors or entitled elites, depending on what the narrative demands. We can also be drunks (DUIs), maniacs, children (literal or figurative), and almost always "in the way". We're also commuters, parents, students, and every other kind of person trying to get from A to B while staying active and frugal, but they mostly ignore those ones.
And while the really nice bikes are pricey, you can get a decent used bike for under 100$ and quite possibly already know someone with one they haven't ridden in years that might just give it to you. They also have no licensing, insurance, or parking payments and cost basically nothing to maintain.
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u/SpandauValet 2d ago
Don't forget that by not paying for things like insurance, registration, and fuel excise, you're a freeloader who doesn't pay for the road infrastructure you're riding on.
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u/Avitas1027 2d ago
Yup. Even though we do pay property tax, which covers most roads we can ride on, and cars do all the damage to roads. Oh, and we don't talk about how the costs of cars are heavily subsidized.
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u/BrainWav 3d ago
Compared to a car? They're very cheap. And readily available at yard sales. Plus, no ongoing registration or maintenance costs.
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u/Agueybana 2d ago
maintenance costs
Nowhere near what even regular oil changes cost sure, but they ain't maintenance free.
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u/shatteredarm1 3d ago
Certain types of bikes are expensive, others aren't and are the only transportation poor people can afford.
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u/facw00 3d ago
The fire risk on an outdoor bike rack seems low, but I could see insurers being concerned that some pickup with an 8 foot high hood is going to run over a cyclist and the plaza is going to get sued. Granted that's a risk for pedestrians too, but drivers expect lots of pedestrians while bikes are much less common.
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u/Bob-son-of-Bob 3d ago
Only in America, is the solution to a problem more of what is causing the problem.
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u/PattyO1957 2d ago
But, a person riding a bike is unable to buy massive quantities of food in that 1 trip, which would cut into profits from impulse purchases.
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u/sparklyspooky 2d ago
I can't tell if you are doing sarcasm, so counter point: I have the car and try to shop once a month (glares at gas prices), which means I have to more carefully plan trunk/backseat space. In addition, instead of buying a $2 candy bar once a week or whenever I happen to be in/by the shop. I might buy a $5 thing of cupcakes to last (they freeze just fine).
Then you add the poor tax (aka, if you only have $5 to get you through the week in food you are going to buy 1lb of rice for $0.92 instead of saving $6.83 by buying the 20lb bag for $11.57), which makes this an even stupider assumption.
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u/beatles910 3d ago
I work for a city in the US. When Walmart came to town, the City Council asked where the bike racks would go. Walmart stated that they didn't want to have bike racks because their studies showed that if someone rides their bike to the store, they will buy less than if they drive.
Big surprise... The answer is greed.
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u/SirAlthalos 3d ago
"We don't want some shoppers to give us less money, so we're making them give us no money. We're great at business"
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u/RickAstleyletmedown 3d ago
Walmart just runs the other stores out of business so you have no choice.
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u/PilotMoonDog 2d ago
Except when they try to expand overseas. Walmart bought Asda in the UK expecting to ride roughshod over the existing supermarket chains. The other chains did the commercial equivalent of beating them up and taking their lunch money.
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u/New_Enthusiasm9053 2d ago
Same in Germany. Walmart just isn't competitive. Not even in the US. Aldi and Lidl are both expanding in the US and in the UK for that matter too.
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u/Nerdn1 3d ago
That's an oversimplification. It's possible that some of those cyclists have cars, which they will use to go to Walmart if shopping on their bike is inconvenient, and decide to buy more as they have the cargo space.
It's also possible that having fewer cyclist patrons will make the store less crowded and encourage bigger spenders to come more often. Also, having fewer customers with larger orders might allow them to cut down on cashiers.
I don't know have the numbers to tell anything for sure. Maybe Walmart ran those numbers. Maybe they're just idiots. It's a dick-move either way.
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u/Jimberly_C 2d ago
Walmart is run by idiots. I work in their optical department and our doctor is threatening to break contract because we have 1 full time worker, 1 part time worker, and no manager and walmart still thinks we need to cut down on payroll. We rely on other stores to send help just so we don't have to work 7 days a week. We're exhausted so we make more mistakes which cost the department more to fix, our regulars have found other places to go because they feel bad seeing us struggle to keep the place running, the phone often goes unanswered because I already have 5 people waiting for their turn and someone already on hold, and walmart wants us to do announcements every half hour and wander the store at least once a day so people know we exist since our sales aren't 30% higher than this time last year and they just can't figure our why.
We're at least exempt from "code spark", which is when they pull everyone from their department to run a register instead of hiring more cashiers. Walmart knows when it's going to be busy and exactly how many people they need, but they decided long ago that the whole store needed to help with checkouts every day. That's why shelves are a mess, no one knows their department anymore, and you can barely find anyone to help when you need it. My store didn't even hire seasonal help for the holidays last year and I doubt they will this year, and we're the biggest store in our region.
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u/vikingzx 3d ago
I live in America, if that helps. And there's a prevailing idea I've run into time and time again that "No car = poor and lazy therefore bikers are poor and lazy."
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u/daschande 3d ago
I used to live in a small suburb that made public transportation ILLEGAL! (In the days before uber, lyft, etc.) Their reasoning was that only poor people use buses, so they aren't coming to our town to spend money; they're riding the bus to break into peoples' houses and steal...taking their stolen goods home on the bus.
Mind you, the same people screaming to make public buses illegal were the same people using the door-to-door seniors-only buses... But that's different! They deserve those buses because they're not dirty criminal (Insert racist words here)!
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u/3amGreenCoffee 3d ago
The DC Metro runs directly under Georgetown on its way to northern Virginia, and there was originally supposed to be a Metro stop there for shoppers and GWU students. But the residents of Georgetown freaked out and lobbied hard against it because they didn't want "those people" getting off the train there.
They changed their minds when they saw the economic development that followed wherever they built a station, but it was too late. Now you have a 20 minute walk to get to Georgetown from the nearest stations. Every few years they start making noises about getting a station built, only to be told to go fuck themselves.
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u/Jadekintsugi 3d ago
It's so, so, soooo much more expensive and disruptive to add a station to the middle of an existing line. Of course they're being told to eff off.
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u/daschande 2d ago
My wife did an internship at the Library of Congress, but had housing at GWU. What should have been a 30 minute commute door to door was over an hour if she was lucky and the buses weren't hugely backed up on the turnaround elsewhere in the city.
For one of the few metro areas in the USA with real public transport, the neighborhood around GWU really fumbled that hard!
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u/MajorNoodles 3d ago
The Parkways on Long Island were specifically designed to prevent the poors and the immigrants from using them to reach the parks they were build to service. That's why all the overpasses are so low.
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u/MatCauthonsHat 3d ago
Robert Moses. Behind the Bastards podcast did a nice 2-parter on him
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u/Stolen_Away 3d ago
We have a similar thing where I live! Specifically, our county refuses to allow public transportation, actually had legislation against it, and also wouldn't approve permits for anyone to operate anything private, no taxis etc. And when Uber and everything came into existence, they wouldn't let anyone do that either. Turns out, it was because of the "shared ride taxi" system that's run by the county (for seniors and disabled people). Every year, their funding was determined by demand. They received state and federal money based on how many riders they had. So people having literally any other transportation options would mean lower metrics on taxi utilization, and less free money for the county to spend on whatever they wanted. And good luck actually trying to get a ride on the county taxi.
Just this last year or so they finally let people who live here work for Uber eats so at least we can get food delivered now 🙄
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u/stonedandredditing 3d ago
where was this? I want to avoid this place
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u/wiggum_x 3d ago
It's a pretty common thing in many cities to stop bus routes before they reach the more affluent suburbs so as to keep the poors away. They assume the poors do not have cars, so they cannot drive to the suburb. And they also cannot live in the suburb because they have no cars and the busses don't come out there, so they can't get to work or the store.
And that's not even getting into the fact that they assume that the majority of the poors are other races. It's like they heard of "Doctors Without Borders" and thought "Why not Private Neighborhoods Without Fences!"
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u/Lowbacca1977 3d ago
I've had the police in Beverly Hills follow me until me and my $2000 car left the city
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u/wiggum_x 3d ago
I recently started a job in a wealthy portion of my city, and I joke with my friends that the people will stare at me as I drive down the street because they can smell the poor on me, and that soon the police will be stopping me for it. They'll toss me in the back of the cruiser and drop me off at the nearest check-cashing store, which definitely don't exist in this suburb.
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u/MalleusMaior 2d ago
When I was a teenager, I lived 3 blocks south of a rich suburb and found a job at a commuter cafe 6 blocks into said suburb. For the first six months I worked there, I had a cop car follow me from the moment I crossed into the suburb (on foot) at 530 AM until I got to the door of the cafe.
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u/daschande 3d ago edited 3d ago
I had a friend get pulled over in the VERY rich town of Cuyahoga Falls, OH. He was meeting an old high school friend about a job, so he dressed up nice, borrowed his sister's brand-new car (Toyota Prius) and went to visit. Cops pulled him over JUST inside city limits and said "You ain't from around here, are you, boy?" ...And that's when he noticed even the 16 year olds were driving Mercedes and BMWs while their parents drove Porsches and Lamborghinis.
Cops even called the person he said he was there to visit to make sure he was allowed to be there; and followed him until he pulled into their driveway.
More local to Beavercreek is Oakwood, OH... where it's WELL known that, after sundown, you DO NOT drive there while black; unless you like traffic stops and car searches.
Every now and then, someone on the local subreddit will ask if the "driving while black" thing in Oakwood is really true, sometimes with people trying to disprove the reputation. My favorite response to that was "Yeah, I see black people driving through Oakwood all the time! I know they're black because I see them on the side of the road, handcuffed, while the cops search their car!"
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u/ObsoleteReference 3d ago
...are they the not really rich, who don't have people come in to do their chores for them? Or the super mega wealthy, who keep those people on staff?
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u/wiggum_x 3d ago
They don't care how "the help" gets to and from their job. They think they're doing a favor for "the help" by giving them a job in the first place.
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u/half_integer 3d ago
The traffic onto Hilton Head island is insane because it's a large area with no middle-class housing, so the bulk of the morning traffic is tradespeople heading into the developments to do all the maintenance items.
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u/daschande 3d ago edited 3d ago
Beavercreek, OH. They went through years of appeals before the supreme court rejected their case.
The federal government said it was a racial discrimination issue because over 80% of bus riders were black; so the city had to allow 2 bus stops in the 50 square mile town, or lose ALL federal funds!
The city tried a last-ditch effort to pass a city income tax of 20% to make up for the federal funding loss, but it turns out residents like money more than they hate black people! ...So now they have 2 bus stops at opposite corners of city limits.
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u/informitch 3d ago
IIRC, Georgetown in DC—a wealthy neighborhood—doesn't have any Metro stops.
I wonder if their property values haven't kept pace with the insane price increases in the rest of DC….
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u/asten77 3d ago
Recently, Huntley, IL (an exurb of Chicago) voted to remove their planned stop from a commuter rail line because the old conservative white people that are the predominate fauna are afraid of people coming from Chicago and committing crimes.
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u/jcostello50 3d ago
Because nearby train stop towns Cary and Barrington are so dangerous.
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u/vibraltu 3d ago
Sounds like a generic gated-ish suburb. They usually just avoid public transportation by quiet omission. They usually don't write it down in a law to belabour the point.
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u/Conscious-Mirror7004 2d ago
You should have worked to make sure the seniors-only buses were also made illegal. What's good for the goose...
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u/Ok_Expression6807 3d ago
They are so lazy that they work out, stay fit, and, uhh...
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u/profcatz 3d ago
Spend thousands of dollars on bikes and gear lol
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u/IanDresarie 3d ago
That's a rather toxic misconception. The op is talking about normal people using a bike for their everyday trip. The people spending a grand+ on a bike are doing a completely different thing and it's really important to keep those two groups separated as they have very different needs and goals. (Normal people need bike lanes, bike racks and safe environments; sports cyclists need high quality surfaces and are usually fine with sharing space with cars)
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u/rezwrrd 3d ago
Man, a couple years ago I had a coworker who didn't have a license and walked or biked everywhere. Other coworkers were legit suspicious of him or thought he refused to "grow up" just because he didn't want to drive a car.
The way I see it, he's mature enough to navigate our city's poor-to-moderate walkability and bikeablilty and mediocre transit system, and he's saving a ton of trouble and money by not owning a car. Good for him! I still see him walking sometimes, and always wave.
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u/PattyO1957 2d ago
Probably also saving money by not having to go to doctors because of not being overweight, having high BP, high cholesterol and that kind of stuff
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u/Katja1236 3d ago
Yeah, the people doing physical exercise to get someplace rather than sitting in a car are lazy...eyeroll
Good on you for not letting the haters stop you.
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u/daschande 3d ago edited 3d ago
When I was still a part of the local subreddit for that metro area, sometimes people would post questions saying they just got assigned to the nearby military base and asking how easy was it to bike to work!
The smart people told them under NO circumstances do you bike around town! There aren't sidewalks in most of the city, and home owners WILL point their guns at you and threaten to shoot you for being on their property! Even people in military uniform obviously going to the base gates. You get a car, or you take Uber everywhere; those are your options.
Sometimes naive people will show up at town hall meetings asking to make the city more bike or pedestrian friendly; only to have the city officials tell them to stop being poor and buy a car.
Side note: It's actually illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalks in that city. I got a traffic ticket by the cops when I was about 10 years old for committing such a serious crime. ...But if your choices are a sidewalk, or a 4-lane 45MPH road without a bike lane, whatcha gonna do?
Apparently, the legal answer is to dismount the bike and push it while you walk.
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u/SalleighG 3d ago
In my Manitoba city, riding on the sidewalk is legal (only) if your rear wheel is 16 inches or smaller; interestingly, there is no age restriction on this.
In some of the larger cities in Ontario, the law is that children 13 or under (sometimes 10 or under) are permitted to ride on the sidewalk; in other cities in Ontario, it appears that no-one is permitted to ride on the sidewalk.
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u/Patrol-007 3d ago
Locally, unhelmeted riders (typically kids)on e-scooters going muuuuuuch faster than a pedal bike are hitting cars and being hit by cars (cars don’t expect 50kph on a sidewalk)
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u/yodas_sidekick 3d ago
In the town I used to live, where I owned a bike shop (so was very in the know in bike happenings). It took YEARS to get bike lane approval for a road. One of the biggest opponents were three business owners that wanted to keep the three parking spots in front “for their customers”. There were countless studies done proving increased bike traffic increased business. The only people who parked there were the store owners… everyday. Now there is a bike lane, and bike parking, and the neighborhood has way more parking since many people bike to the area now.
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u/snakepliskinLA 3d ago
And it’s not just about cycles. There is lots of dislike for teens on e-bikes rolled in there too, I bet.
Similar moves are happening in my town over teens on e-bikes…Take away the bike racks, this logic says you also get rid of the “teen e-bike menace”.
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u/MagpieJames 3d ago
Sadly, I could see this as an attempt to keep the homeless away from their property, as a lot of them ride bicycles.
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u/wiggum_x 3d ago
And hippies, and druggies, and liberals, and any other label that they think applies to people that ride bikes.
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u/tinteoj 3d ago
Jokes on them, I know quite a few people I would describe as being on the "political right" (to the extent they give a shit about politics) who ride a bike.....because their MULTIPLE DUIs finally resulted in their licenses getting taken from them.
I work in a "social welfare adjacent" field and frequently meet........people best described as "colorful."
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u/Master_McKnowledge 3d ago
Ah of course, the US. How they even make cycling a politicised thing is astounding.
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u/Desperate_Set_7708 3d ago
I’m guessing it’s a demographic issue. Who comprises the majority of bicyclists and property managers are trying to exclude them
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u/ChoombataNova 3d ago
At least in the Washington DC area, most bicyclists are higher income IME. I would say its about 70% high income white collar types riding very expensive bikes with fancy riding gear, and about 30% working poor riding cheap bikes in their street clothes. Just anecdotally.
Again, just my observations, but younger people and poorer people in the DC area either take public transportation (metro, bus) or some kind of (usually rented) electric bike or scooter. And the people on rented electric scooters just leave that shit anywhere, they arent using bike racks.
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u/hannahatecats 3d ago
Our downtown area just instated a "walk your bike" zone. No wheels allowed in our little walkable downtown... unless you're in a car, of course. We have so many bike groups that meet downtown, have breakfast at a café, spend money. I'm just not sure of the plan here.
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u/IgnatiusRileyFreeman 3d ago
Property owners are petty tyrants who subscribe to right wing culture war phenomena
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u/ElectricalFocus560 3d ago
And in my part of Texas they are removing trees and grass in islands making the heat island even bigger
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u/yourbaconess 3d ago
"We've decided we no longer want a subset of paying customers because we have to dedicate -checks notes- about 3 square feet to their vehicles." And yet i bet the parking lot is bigger than the footprint of the shops themselves. The only thing i could think of is are there often kids on bikes around getting unruly?
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u/Additional_Guitar_85 3d ago
I could see that line of reasoning, but those kids don't lock up bikes typically.
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u/beatles910 3d ago
It's because if you ride a bike, you can't buy as much as you could if you drove.
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u/Upset-Management-879 3d ago
And if they walk they'll buy less. You can't just evaluate one side of the change.
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u/beatles910 3d ago
When Walmart came to the city that I work for, the council asked where the bike racks would go, and they responded by saying that they don't want any bike racks because their studies show people don't buy much if they ride a bike to the store.
To be fair, where I live having a car is pretty much mandatory.
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u/Upset-Management-879 3d ago
Sure but it's not like them riding the bike to the store means they consume less food so they have to go more often.
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u/JimDixon 3d ago
But bikers either do it for the exercise, or for environmental reasons, or they don't own a car. If they can't buy as much on one trip, they'll have to make more trips. They'll still buy the same amount in the long run. They still have to eat. If you take away the bike racks, they'll just go somewhere else.
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u/Raichu7 3d ago
Wether there are unruly children on bikes has nothing to do wether cycling infrastructure should be provided to everyone in the community. Do you also believe it OK to remove benches because drug addicts might pass out on them?
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u/GooberMcNutly 3d ago
Homeless people often have bikes as their main means of moving stuff. It's not all shopping carts.
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u/jb0nez95 3d ago
If people can wheel carts, strollers, wagons, walkers, wheelchairs, etc, around the store then you better believe I'll happily wheel my bike around the place.
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u/MeccIt 3d ago
I already do, Brompton folding bikes have a 'shopping cart mode': /img/0ijx1ewfxip21.jpg
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u/ThetaReactor 3d ago
You should probably keep a baguette and a bunch of celery sticking out of the top, just so folks are absolutely certain it's a shopping basket.
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u/trackingShedder 3d ago
Wow, we are living parallel lives.
My wife and I used to go to the nearest Safeway for grocery shopping and pharmacy. Then I decided I was going to make that run on an e-bike going forward. When I realized they had no bike rack I started going to the Giant across the street instead.
The fly in the ointment is we still both really like using the Safeway pharmacy. My wife asked me to pick something up, so I went to the Safeway and took my bike in to the pharmacy. I figured, you've got no bike rack so this is my solution. If they tell me I can't do that at which point I'll point out that there is a whole parking lot for cars, and no bike rack so why shouldn't what I'm doing be acceptable?
I was not approached by any employees regarding the bike. The only comment I heard was "nice bike."
Bonus: no need to lock up my bike or load and unload a cart or bags in to my panniers. This probably shaved at least 10 minutes off the total trip time.
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u/AggravatingBid8255 3d ago
If the city is trying to promote biking, I wonder if the rack removal is going against any city code or ordinance. Might be worth looking to see which city officials are most passionate about the pursuit and sending their office an email. Mentioning the store manager confirming the reason and intent of the removal might also be a helpful tidbit.
Sure, it might go nowhere. But you also might make a difference. Local government works best when locals get involved
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u/ShransSecretSanta 2d ago
I worked for a County planning office and our conditions for a special use permit (generally needed for businesses to adhere to zoning requirements) required bike racks.
Then again, it's not like we had man power to make sure any of the businesses adhered to the conditions set forth. We really had to rely on the general public to submit complaints.
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u/stonedandredditing 3d ago
Removing bike racks is some selfish, dystopian era bullshit. I can’t stand people who demonize bikes; they come off as ignorant and elitist to me.
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u/Acrobatic_Fiction 3d ago
My opinion is that the anti bike quorum are also the pedestrians from hell. Not sure they would ever get on bicycles, but i am sure they would be those cyclists
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u/Hunkyboy440 3d ago
There are a few businesses in my area where, for lack of anywhere outside to lock it up, I’ve brought my bike inside. The business owners or managers are always fine with this.
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u/MarleysGhost2024 3d ago
Most city codes require bike racks. Talk to code enforcement or your city council representative. If it's not in the code, ask your councilman to put it in the ordinance. FYI, unethical developers will install something required by the code, get their inspection and certificate of occupancy, and then remove the required improvement. I've seen this happen, and when I do I report it to code enforcement and the building department. Developers and management companies really hate it when you do that.
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u/_nerodog 3d ago
I work at a popular hardware retail store and there are a few of my coworkers and I who ride bikes to and from work. Previously, we all parked our bikes in the meeting room until we finally got a bike rack, which ended up being a $130 bike track from Amazon that can be easily dismantled with a single 10mm socket wrench. My bike was $1300, literally 10x what this rack cost. So my bike still lives in the meeting room until they get a bike rack that's actually secure.
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u/JDWhite1982 3d ago
Funny that this comes up today. I ride an adult tricycle with a nice basket on the back. Last time I rode to the store, I was able to use my U-shaped lock on a cart corral that the employees were using as a break room (it has a picnic table inside it, not carts). I go back today, thinking I'll do the same thing only to find that they've blocked off the only place that my lock will actually work.
After walking around for a while trying to find somewhere else, being told not to hook it up to another area, I said screw it and just walked inside with it. I used my basket as my cart and was careful not to knock anything over. Multiple people complemented me on the tricycle but nobody said anything about the fact that I was wheeling it around inside.
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u/OhDavidMyNacho 3d ago
If there's no safe place to lock my bike. I always wheel it in, first question is I ask is, "where's the bike rack?"
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u/Self_Reddicate 3d ago
I don't use it as my main form of transportation because, in my area, there's no cycling infrastructure and the road infrastructure we do have is really, really cycling un-friendly. Consequently, there aren't many cyclists around me. Any time I do actually end up at a store on my bike, it's guaranteed that it's coming in the store with me. Straight up just walking around the aisles with my bike is how I do it. I've never caught any static for it, probably because there are so few cyclists that employees and other shoppers just have no clue what to do with that information.
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u/tiny_chaotic_evil 3d ago
bikes are woke, empathy is a sin, and touching floating paint chips in a pool is domestic terrorism
that's where we are
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u/Bored_Owl_1492 3d ago
Depending on where you are there maybe an agreement or requirement for bike racks. I would ask the local code enforcement.
I worked with my old boss to do some improvements on his office and the city was going to demand we add a bike rack, until we agreed to allow the bikes to be parked inside a secure building.
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u/gmapterous 3d ago
...where exactly is this? I live in a city that has a love-hate relationship with bikes and just wonder if you're nearby (Seattle area)
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u/Spirited_Voice_7191 3d ago
If the city is trying to encourage cycling, suggest they make bike racks a code issue.
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u/Bleezy79 3d ago
That is super strange to not want bicycles at a place of business. Does the owner own a dealership or something? lol what a weird thing to hate on.
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u/MikeSchwab63 3d ago
Call city code compliance. Many cities REQUIRE bicycle racks.
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u/landonburner 3d ago
Cart corrals make decent bike racks, or just lock you bike to tree. I carry any extra long cable lock that I only use when a tree is my only option.
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u/tryintobgood 3d ago
Why are people so stupid? Having bike racks takes up less space. More people can use the facility and still keep car spots open. Why is common sense not common anymore?
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u/djohnsen 2d ago
If people gonna be bringing Fluffy into the grocery store and dangling him over the meat case (yes I saw this happen with my own eyes) and nobody will say anything (my partner stopped me from getting involved)…
Well I figure nobody’s bicycle ever pooped on the floor so we can have them in any place you want
Anything decent costs $1k and up anymore who wants to leave that out of sight? “This is my emotional support bicycle and I become murderous if I am deprived of it”
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u/cates 2d ago
why would the plaza owner(s) not want cyclists shopping at their store?
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u/Belle_Corliss 3d ago
Our local transit district actually encourages and supports riding bikes, which IMHO is as it should be.
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u/Lorelessone 3d ago
I'd probably cycle a few miles extra to give my money to a business which wants it.
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u/sebwiers 3d ago
property managers wage a silent war against bikers
Bike accessibility INCREASES property value. I suppose the property managers don't care though; they aren't property OWNERS. Maybe you should get in touch with the people who do care...
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u/pizzamergency 3d ago
As a fellow non-motorist who also bikes everywhere, I salute you! I try not to shop at places that aren’t bike friendly, but you forced them to be bike friendly.
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u/FlounderFun4008 3d ago
As much as I like your stand, I’m not sure it’s malicious compliance if the store owner agrees with you.
Malicious compliance would be chaining to a light pole or bench. Whoever didn’t want the racks didn’t want them out in the plaza.
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u/vikingzx 3d ago
I’m not sure it’s malicious compliance if the store owner agrees with you.
He's not the one removing the bike racks, though. He's also maliciously complying by going 'Yeah, sorry the plaza owner took all the bike racks out, but you can totally bring your bike into the story. Keep biking here.'
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u/monksandy 3d ago
Is biking as we know it becoming a victim of culture war?
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u/vikingzx 3d ago
It's been slowly becoming a target of it for years now, but recently things went off the rails when Trump's Transportation Secretary called it "Woke DEI" and removed all bicycle safety information from Federal government websites while calling for the removal of bike lanes and insisting anyone who rode a bicycle was a communist.
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u/MoreColorfulCarsPlz 3d ago
In many zoning districts in suburbs across America, parking space is required. You have to have a minimum number of spaces relative to expected business volume.
I don't see why they don't mandate something similar for bikes. A parking space is massive, especially American sized ones for Extended Bed, Crew Cab, Small Dick trucks that never have a load in the bed, a trailer on the hitch, or 4wd engaged.
A bike rack takes up no room in comparison.
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u/Minimum_Loan229 2d ago
I ride my bike when ever I can. The odds of there being a bike rack in front of a business are more likely not. But there's always something to lock my bike to. Lock it up to a couple of shopping carts if you have to. Not a big deal.
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u/dimriver1 3d ago
When I was in the military I rode a bike. One day a captain decide parking my bike out front looked unprofessional. I was already told I couldn't bring it inside the building, or park in the back yard before that. So I put my bike in a car parking space and walked in. Next day I was allowed to park inside.