New Lincoln Park Apple Store: Why No Bike Racks?

The new Apple store at North/Clybourn in Lincoln Park does not have bike racks.  Indeed, the picture of the store on the Apple website ironically shows a biker, who may have been searching for a bike rack at the time.
Biker wonders why beautiful computers but no bike racks (Photo from Apple website)

Chicago Blogger Steven Vance noted that bike accommodations were removed as part of the construction of the store and the associated renovation of the nearby Red Line station.  Apple funded those renovations in partnership with the CTA.

I talked to an Apple employee when I visited the store.  She was unaware of any plans to add bike racks, but said that such were a "possibility."

As a loyal Mac user I'm POed at Apple's lack of accommodation for customers who arrive at the store on bike, especially since it appears that Apple may have struck a deal for auto parking at a nearby garage.

Suggest bikers make their views known to store employees when they shop at the store or by phone:  (312) 777-4200.   As this is a prominent new retail outpost by a company that prides itself on good design and that demonstrated a commitment to public transit by investing in a renovation of the nearby CTA station it is worth squawking.

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Permalink Reply by carl whetherspoon on November 2, 2010 at 5:37am
I just choose to pick my battles a bit more selectively. there absolutely should be bicycle racks at the new apple store. bike racks should have never been removed.

I have many complaints about the CTA, so a sign that states "only lock to racks" when there are no racks, does not upset me, in the grand scheme of things. is it ridiculous to have that sign up and no bike racks? you bet it is. could the cta serve its customers better if it provided more racks, for sure!

i would choose to complain about 100's of other items that irks me about the CTA before I got to bike racks though, thats just me.

I think there are huge issues cyclists face, and I personally would rather focus on what I perceive as the biggest issues. The apparent lack of bike racks, or bike racks that aren't, right or good enough is low on my personal list.

I for one think its pretty cool that apple renovated the redline stop, created a nice public plaza with wifi and a fountain and really reinvigorated a area. plus, you can bring you bike right into the store (also, you can bring your dog!) they also did not build any parking, which is pretty awesome.
so if i am going to the apple store, i am brining my bike in and my dog, and if I am using that redline stop Ill find a rack to use nearby if there is none to use on sight.
Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on November 2, 2010 at 7:50am
You can complain what you want to complain about and I will report on and support the issues that I know and care about. Please refrain from criticizing others who stand up for what they feel is right.

Educate me about an issue that you care about, convince me that it's worth fighting for or supporting, and I will gladly dedicate a substantial part of my energy to that cause.



adam Hirsch said:
I just choose to pick my battles a bit more selectively. there absolutely should be bicycle racks at the new apple store. bike racks should have never been removed.

I have many complaints about the CTA, so a sign that states "only lock to racks" when there are no racks, does not upset me, in the grand scheme of things. is it ridiculous to have that sign up and no bike racks? you bet it is. could the cta serve its customers better if it provided more racks, for sure!

i would choose to complain about 100's of other items that irks me about the CTA before I got to bike racks though, thats just me.

I think there are huge issues cyclists face, and I personally would rather focus on what I perceive as the biggest issues. The apparent lack of bike racks, or bike racks that aren't, right or good enough is low on my personal list.
I will also post messages at the bottom of my post to promote my blog.
Permalink Reply by Craig S. on November 2, 2010 at 8:06am
I guess I don't really see what the fuss is. I just came from that store and that station and there are U racks between the station and the Apple store. They were all in use and the incredibly smart bikers locked parallel rather than perpendicular so they halved the capacity but the racks are there. Perhaps I'm missing something as they looked like they've been there for a while as well, the cement had not just been poured in the 14 hours since your wrote this. But then again perhaps it was as I avoid the Red Line and the North Ave Station as much as possible.

FWIW, I can usually find something to lock my bikes too without too much trouble.

Cocktails ahoy!


Steven Vance said:
Absolutely not jumping the gun.

First of all, the CTA puts up signs saying, "only lock to bike racks," doesn't provide bike racks, and this situation remains for a week.

Second, $3.9 million buys a lot of nice renovations. You know what $1,200 buys? 4 u-racks. That's more capacity than what was there before (by 2 spaces), but the station, the store, and the plaza can support more and the demand will be there. You know what $2,400 buys? 8 u-racks.
Apple Tree

Apple Trees are not acceptable places to lock bicycles. A bike rack should have been available from day one. Do you disagree?

Third, the station remained opened throughout construction but bike racks were missing for X weeks - I don't know how many weeks because I don't live around here to take notice, but at least 1 week. The CTA was not serving its customers appropriately during this time.

Fourth, while the Apple Store may have just opened last weekend, and the train station just "reopened," both Apple and CTA had 18 months to consider a construction schedule for bicycle parking facility that would be convenient for their customers who arrive to the store and station by bicycle.

Fifth, too much lip service about bicycles is given in this town and we need to stand up for quality infrastructure. Did you hear about CDOT getting $3.2 million to build a cycle track (separated bikeway) on Stony Island? Already there's talk of people at CDOT who're against a facility that would make bicycling there safer and probably attract new people to ride bikes.

Like I said in an earlier post in this topic, we have too many professionals in Chicago who would have done this differently but instead it seems amateurs got to decide what to give Chicagoans who ride their bicycles.

Read more about what I think of this situation.

adam Hirsch said:
do you think yur jumping the gun?

apple store just opened last weekend. they did remodel the red line and create a really nice public plaza (with free wifi)

I would give it a little before there are protests, but thats just me.
Permalink Reply by carl whetherspoon on November 2, 2010 at 8:24am
I am sorry, I did not mean to criticize you personally. Of course we can all complain about whatever we like. and I would never criticize someone for standing up for what they believe in, if my post came off as a criticism of people standing up for what they believe in, my bad.

In my opinion, it seemed like there was rush to protest a store that has done some pretty positive things in the neighborhood. I just questioned if that was hasty. some seem to agree some dont.

no big deal!
Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on November 2, 2010 at 8:40am
Why should anyone refrain from criticizing anyone else just because they feel they're right? Obviously you feel you're right. I feel that you're wrong, and that making a big to-do over slightly suboptimal bike rack shapes here is a bit ridiculous and makes cycling advocates look silly. You're of course free to feel that I'm wrong and claim that Apple has gravely insulted the cause of sensible urban design, but how convinced you are of your own rightness is irrelevant.
Permalink Reply by igz on November 2, 2010 at 9:33am
wait...so we can or cannot criticize a critic?
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on November 2, 2010 at 12:39pm
Well said!

Steven Vance said:
Absolutely not jumping the gun.

First of all, the CTA puts up signs saying, "only lock to bike racks," doesn't provide bike racks, and this situation remains for a week.

Second, $3.9 million buys a lot of nice renovations. You know what $1,200 buys? 4 u-racks. That's more capacity than what was there before (by 2 spaces), but the station, the store, and the plaza can support more and the demand will be there. You know what $2,400 buys? 8 u-racks.
Apple Tree

Apple Trees are not acceptable places to lock bicycles. A bike rack should have been available from day one. Do you disagree?

Third, the station remained opened throughout construction but bike racks were missing for X weeks - I don't know how many weeks because I don't live around here to take notice, but at least 1 week. The CTA was not serving its customers appropriately during this time.

Fourth, while the Apple Store may have just opened last weekend, and the train station just "reopened," both Apple and CTA had 18 months to consider a construction schedule for bicycle parking facility that would be convenient for their customers who arrive to the store and station by bicycle.

Fifth, too much lip service about bicycles is given in this town and we need to stand up for quality infrastructure. Did you hear about CDOT getting $3.2 million to build a cycle track (separated bikeway) on Stony Island? Already there's talk of people at CDOT who're against a facility that would make bicycling there safer and probably attract new people to ride bikes.

Like I said in an earlier post in this topic, we have too many professionals in Chicago who would have done this differently but instead it seems amateurs got to decide what to give Chicagoans who ride their bicycles.

Read more about what I think of this situation.

adam Hirsch said:
do you think yur jumping the gun?

apple store just opened last weekend. they did remodel the red line and create a really nice public plaza (with free wifi)

I would give it a little before there are protests, but thats just me.
Permalink Reply by Vilda on November 2, 2010 at 6:48pm
Doom I fuckin love you! (and the ingnut comment made actually laugh out loud not just that silly lol shit)

Iggi, Criticize away.

The whiners about bike racks, buy a PC! ;-)

Look at that I solved your whole problem. I'm off to cure cancer now.



Dr. Doom said:
Why should anyone refrain from criticizing anyone else just because they feel they're right? Obviously you feel you're right. I feel that you're wrong, and that making a big to-do over slightly suboptimal bike rack shapes here is a bit ridiculous and makes cycling advocates look silly. You're of course free to feel that I'm wrong and claim that Apple has gravely insulted the cause of sensible urban design, but how convinced you are of your own rightness is irrelevant.
Permalink Reply by Minh on November 2, 2010 at 8:55pm
I agree with Dr Doom. All the crying here is ridiculous. If anything the constant badgering of random employees at the store will help no one. The people that work at the store aren't there to make sure there is good street parking for commuters, they are there to sell overpriced apple products and help people with their apple product issues.


Dr. Doom said:
You realize that from the point of view of someone managing an extremely expensive anchor project on a major retail corridor that was built without adding any car parking and while spending a great deal of money on a mass transit project, someone acting as if great injustice has been done because they don't like the shape of the bike racks on the site is going to come off like an absolute wingnut, right?
Permalink Reply by Jay on November 3, 2010 at 2:26am
Perhaps since Apple seems to think their computers are virus-proof, they just assume that bikes parked at their store will be theft-proof.
Permalink Reply by Mark Kenseth on November 3, 2010 at 2:27am
I wonder if some kid, who bikes to the office, put the bike in the rendering. And maybe another kid had put bike racks all over the place in the drawings. Then the architect/partner was like, "Na-ah. That ain't going to fly. Take 'em out." Or maybe the client saw the rendering and was like, "Whoa. What are those things? Bike racks? They don't match. They make the store look cheap. We want people to spend a lot of money on shiny objects. We don't want bikes outside the store cluttering it up. Take 'em out." :)

the store looks cold and boring. architects and clients in their 50s and 60s, finally at the pinnacle of their career, are now designing how they did in school in the 1970s and 1980s, too look futuristic...i.e. 1990s. They didn't consider bike racks back then, so they won't design for them now. We have to wait for the younger kids to become architects to start putting in bike racks.

having worked in an architecture office for 5 years, to me it seemed some architects were progressive and adapted to new ideas quicker, but some are stuck in their old ways. and then there is the client. that's a whole other obstacle.

maybe someone should call the architect's office to ask about the real story of the bike racks.
Permalink Reply by Craig S. on November 3, 2010 at 2:29am
This discussion is great but it really needs more bacon.

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