From parking meters to bike parking. (NYC DOT)

Just yesterday, The Observer was thinking what the city really needed was wider sidewalks, not more bike lanes. Turns out we need both, as pedestrians have risen 13 percent in the past four years, but that is nothing compared to the 102 percent jump in bicycle commuters over the same period.

The Department of Transportation just announced the increase, which is up an even more staggering 289 percent since 2001. There were 18,846 cyclists measured on the city's streets per day this year, compared to 17,491 last year, a gain of 7.7 percent. A new report from the DOT also finds that streets with bike lanes on them are 40 percent safer than those without.

But where to park all those bikes? The department has announced that it is replacing some 6,000 parking meters with new bike racks, now that the city has done away with the old coin-operated meters. The department has already installed 175 such parking poles. “Our infrastructure needs to keep pace with new demands on city streets,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “By transforming obsolete parking meters into off-the-rack bike parking, we are recycling old facilities to meet this growing need.”

Maybe they could recycle the BQE while they're at it.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Better than a workout room? What about a patio cabana? (nycbikestorage.blogspot.com)

Bicycling can be a heated issue here in New York, but when it comes to bike parking, it's better not to be left out in the cold. That is why bicycle racks and rooms are booming in the city's apartment buildings, according to The Times, even at the cost of fancier fare.

At a building marketed by Halstead Property, +art, at 540 West 28th Street, a room off the lobby was to be used for cold storage, to hold deliveries from companies like Fresh Direct until residents returned home. But it is now being converted into a bike room. The grocery-holding room was moved to a reconfigured space in the basement.

In places you might expect, where the streets are thick with BroBos, the demand is so high, the bikes keep piling up:

The developers of 80 Metropolitan, a condo building in Williamsburg that opened in 2009 and is being marketed by Halstead, originally set aside 24 spaces for bicycles, all free. When those filled, they added 42 more. When those were taken, in went a hanging system in the garage for 22 more bikes. Now, there is a plan to add enough storage to accommodate the 12 cyclists on the waiting list.

Some of the established spaces were nabbed by Robert Schupp and his family, who live in a three-bedroom apartment in the building. Mr. Schupp, 41, his wife, Nona Reuter, 44, and their 8-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, moved to New York City from the Netherlands last fall. They have four bikes among them; the grown-up ones hang on racks fixed to the wall and the children’s ones parked underneath.

What amenities—if any—would you sacrifice for bike parking? Let us know in the comments.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Isn't modesty great?

The dedicated bicycle storage room is located on the street level and is available free of charge for Empire State Building tenants with a special access card Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The release goes on to point out that the plan is in keeping with Mayor Bloomberg's plan-turned-culture-war-battlefield for the city to designate 1,800 miles of bike lanes by 2030.

mcoyne@observer.com