What was, and what is

Life for some cyclists recently got better in the fair city of Barrie, ON.










We've suffered with a tired old bike rack at the downtown bus station for years. Time wasn't getting any kinder to the poor thing.

The rack wasn't the only thing suffering the ravages of time. Several abandoned bikes gently decaying into non-bikeness were taking up space. At least a couple of them hadn't moved in over two years: I once locked mine to one of these when I couldn't get close enough to get a lock on the rack!

The folk at the terminal thought the Roads Department had responsibility. Roads thought it belonged to Barrie Transit.

Eventually the city got its act together and installed some post-and-ring racks, of the pattern being installed in a few other Barrie locations. The old one stayed around for a few days to give people a chance to remove their property.

Here are our new racks! Six here, three more at the south end of the building. More capacity than the old rack, and not an eyesore.

I took this when I got of the bus this evening- was running late so most patrons have cycled home. The red Bianchi in the foreground is my commuter for the last couple of years.





I'm actually wondering if the bike vandalism and theft will diminish now that it looks like a well ordered bicycle parking facility, rather than a junk pile. I've ceased to be surprised at what goes on outside the office windows of the downtown Barrie Police office, right under the big lighted "Barrie Police" sign!

Anyway, thank you Barrie!