The City of St. Louis has taken steps to become friendlier for bike commuters.
The new downtown St. Louis Bike Station opens on Thursday. The project was funded through a $180,000 grant from the Department of Energy.
The project is currently administered through the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis but will eventually be handed off to Trailnet.
Maggie Campbell is the President of the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis. She says the site will offer a full range of services for bike commuters.
“We have storage for 100 bikes at a time; we have about 70 lockers,” says Campbell. “On a daily basis we could certainly overflow with bike storage into the basement. But there is a capacity with the bathrooms and that will be limited to the first 70 people that use the station.”
Membership for the commuter station can be purchased on a daily, monthly or yearly basis through the Trailnet website. A yearly membership will cost $150 and a monthly $20
The commuter station is located in the old Farm and Home Savings Association building at the corner of Locust and 10th Street.
Ann Mack is the Director of Trailnet. She says more and more downtown workers commute by bike and it’s time to recognize their transportation needs too.
“Just like we have parking garages and surface lots for cars,” says Mack. “You will have a safe secure facility for your bike, you have a shower—two for women, two for men—and also a handicapped shower.”
Mack says close to 100 people have already purchased memberships. The site also features a full-service bike shop and store managed by Big Shark Bicycle Company.