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SALT LAKE CITY -- Bicyclists now have a home of their own in downtown Salt Lake City.
The Utah Transit Authority is opening a bicycle transit center at Salt Lake's Intermodal Hub at 250 S. 600 West. This comes as a top national group is recognizing the city for being bike friendly.
"It's all about promoting alternative commutes," UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter says. "The whole idea is to promote cycling as a mixed commute."
It's all about promoting alternative commutes. The whole idea is to promote cycling as a mixed commute.
–Gerry Carpenter
The bicycle transit center is the only one of its kind in Utah. Operated by the Utah Transit Authority and Canyon Sports, it offers bicyclists secure indoor bike storage, a repair shop and showers.
"If you ride a bike in Salt Lake City and you need a place to get it worked on, to store your bike, any of those things, buy accessories for, there's going to be something here for everybody," says Kevin Rogers with Canyon Sports. "We have line of tools you can use to make adjustment, a set of wrenches, Allen wrenches."
The idea is to encourage cyclists who want to take the train or commuters who want to ride a bike downtown.
The storage area includes specially-designed, dual-level bicycle racks that lower for ease of loading. Rogers says renting a space comes with a daily charge closer to $2. A monthly plan costs $12. Renting a space for the year costs $96.
The cost of renting depends on the bike and amount of time. A daily rental ranges from $25-$45. Hourly rentals are charged in the $5-$8 range.
The bulk of the cost of the center and its operation over the next five years was paid for by federal grant money, but the center will still have to generate revenue.
"They're not moneymaking machines, so we definitely haven't been handed a silver spoon here," Rogers says. "They've given us about five years to play with the business models as much as we need to in order to find a sustainable version of it."
Rogers is hopeful there will be a market for the center. Commuters KSL spoke to appeared to have interest.
"I think it's a great idea, I think it's the future, and I think it will catch on," Joe Geroux says.
Salt Lake Community College student Josh Barney also likes the idea. "Some days I don't need my bike and I kind of regret bringing it to school, but I need it for other things. I think that would be kind of cool," Barney said.
Bicycle advocates say all the investments in things like bike lanes and a bike bridge over the Jordan River are starting to pay off.
"Salt Lake City is on the rise for bicycling and we are taking every advantage that we can to reprioritize space on our very wide streets to make things work better for bikes," says Becka Roolf, a city bicycle and pedestrian coordinator.
Currently, about 2.5 percent of commuters ride bikes in Salt Lake City. The city has added nearly 50 miles of new bike lanes in the last two years, including downtown.
Now, a group called the League of American Bicyclists is honoring the city as a leader. The group calls Salt Lake City one of 16 "silver-level" bicycle-friendly communities across the country.
"Salt Lake is rising up through the ranks, and we think it's one of probably the top three cities to watch in the future alongside San Francisco and Long Beach," says Andy Clarke, president of the league.
The grand opening for the new bike transit center is Saturday. The public is invited to join Mayor Ralph Becker and other city leaders on a four-mile downtown ride to celebrate several bike projects, including the new transit center.
The ride kicks off at 9:45 a.m. at 2000 S. Main Street.
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Story compiled with contributions from John Daley and Andrew Adams.
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