California Pacific Adds More Bike Racks at Davies Campus, Recognizes Biking as Better Option for Transportation and Health

Five new bike racks (foreground) at Davies Campus bike-friendly garage

Responding to requests, CPMC/Davies increases number of racks to 18

Bicyclists who want to ride to their jobs, doctor's appointments, or outpatient sessions at the Davies Campus of the California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) will find bike parking even more plentiful with an additional five new bike racks. CPMC recently increased the number of racks from 13 to 18 at the Duboce and Castro streets campus after cyclists reported an increase in demand. Each rack can accommodate two bikes.

Kevin McCormack, CPMC Media Relations Manager, wrote to BIKE NOPA that encouraging bicycling was a natural choice for the institution.

As a hospital one of our priorities is promoting healthy lifestyles. With improved bike lanes nearby, we realize that cycling is clearly becoming a better option for transportation and for maintaining good health for more and more people in San Francisco. Thanks to BIKE NOPA and others, we realized that one easy way to make it easier for people to cycle to our campus was simply to install more bike racks.

Located along the #24 bus route and near the N Judah streetcar line, the Davies Campus has one of the highest rates of public and alternative transportation use of any business in San Francisco, according to McCormack. Bicyclists find ideal parking accommodations at the medical complex: easy-to-find racks just inside the parking garage, protection from rain, and security with a garage attendant a few steps away.

The addition of new racks represents the second time in 14 months that CPMC has increased bike parking. In November of 2009 administrators authorized a set of five racks after a story posted here a few months earlier. At that time a hospital representative wrote, "Thanks for being a squeaky wheel."

Install Bike Parking and They Will Come: CPMC Davies At Max With Year-Old Racks

CPMC Davies bike parking today: 13 racks

Room for expansion: space for another five or ten racks empty and waiting

Install bike racks in San Francisco and they will be used. So many more people are taking to the streets on two wheels that bike parking fills up fast. The Davies Campus of the California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) is finding its modest five-rack expansion a year ago is hardly adequate to the demand. In November of 2009 the Davies Engineering Department installed an additional five bike racks at its covered bike station, and now the racks are full, or nearly so, on a regular basis. Fortunately, expanding the facility will be easy with available space adjacent to the current parking.

Last year BIKE NOPA congratulated CPMC Davies for responding to cyclists' requests for more parking with the additional racks. Medical center administrators said at the time they recognized the advantages of providing the extra accommodation. Increasing numbers of staff bicycled to work, and many of the center's outpatient population rode bikes to appointments. The advantages of increased bike parking were pretty clear at the time. In addition to the convenience for staff and clients, hospital directors wanted to keep bikes out of the building for all sorts of other reasons, from reduced liability to safer passage in the hallways. Medical personnel expressed concern about bikes possibly carrying germs on their surfaces. And the benefits of biking fit the health promotion and disease prevention messages of the institution.

Bring on the extra rows of racks, for the near term. An additional five inverted-U racks easily fit along last year's addition for an immediate improvement to the bike parking crunch. And the space accommodates ten racks if the short-term vehicle parking is moved elsewhere. But CPMC wants to enhance the Davies Campus with a new four-story Neuroscience Institute and a new parking garage. Long-range planning should anticipate a steady increase in the number of staff and patients bicycling to the center and provide facilities for them.

The five new racks installed a year ago

More Bike Parking Coming to CPMC/Davies

The surge in bicycling appears all over San Francisco -- even at hospitals and clinics. But once cyclists arrive, where do they park? Davies Hospital at Castro & Duboce is a case in point for NOPA residents and others who frequent the medical complex. (And, yes, it's now officially the "Davies Campus of California Pacific Medical Center," but I've been around awhile and it's "Davies" or "Davies Hospital" to me).

Davies provides 8 racks of bike parking just inside its parking garage. The conditions are pretty ideal: easy to access, easy to use (none of those spiral racks!), sheltered from rain, and right next to the garage attendant station for extra security. But there aren't enough of them, not anymore.

Who would bike to a medical complex if they were guaranteed adequate parking on arrival? Obvious answer: the staff, visitors, "the biking well" (an adaptation of the standard "walking well" person capable of getting around while ill), and some outpatients. The very question betrays an outdated notion that all "sick people" need transport by car, taxi, Muni, or ambulance.

There's lots of good reasons for more bike parking at hospitals. Bringing bikes indoors might be a hazard for less mobile and agile patients and clients in hallways and elevators. According to hospital personnel at Davies, medics and administrators considered whether bikes indoors might also carry infectious agents on their surfaces. The more people cycle to get medical care, the less need for costly additions to accomodate more vehicles in parking garages. And then there's the obvious health benefits from exercise through biking, something hospitals might actively promote.

Davies has a relatively easy solution to the parking crunch. Next to the existing, well-used racks is a two-car wide space intended for bike parking in the past. But did anyone really use these metal-stumps-in asphalt to secure their bikes? (see photo). If they did then, they don't now. Here's a bike improvement way overdue for its makeover.

After cyclists requested more parking -- a few times, but who's counting? -- Davies' Engineering Department now expects to review a design proposal this week and will then install new racks within about 30 days. (Thanks to staff for moving forward with this!) We'll let you know when they're up.

If you're interested in the bigger picture of bike parking, check out "What Would Get Americans Biking to Work? Decent Parking" by Tom Vanderbilt in Slate.