We've all heard some variant of the question, "If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?"
Here is anothe variation: If a bicycle valet service opens in a city and nobody hears about it....
How do you finish that question? All right, it won't quite follow the rhetorical pattern of the "tree falls in a forest" query. But it's pertinent nontheless.
Here goes, "Will anybody use it?"
That is what the folks from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and The Chase Center might be asking themselves. From the moment the venue--which hosts Golden State Warriors games, among other events--a bicycle valet parking service has been available.
Now, the Chase Center isn't the only such venue or institution to offer such a service. The valets aren't even the only ones who will take your helmet with your bike. They might not even be the only such service not to require an admission ticket to the venue in order to use it, like the services I've used in places like the Metropolitan Museum.
What makes the Chase Center's bicycle valet service unique, to this date, is that it was designed as part of the Center when it was built. Yes, there is an entrance built into the spherical structure of the arena specifically for the designated bicycle valet area.
Better yet, the service can park as many bicycles--300--as many venues can park cars in their garages or lots.
In such a bicycle-conscious city as San Francisco, and in a densely-trafficked neighborhood like the one where the Center is located, one might expect a bicycle valet service to be a "build it and they will come" facility and service. Sadly, though, such is not the case. According to an investigation by the SF Gate, usage has topped out at around 100 bikes per Warriors game or other event.
While neither the SF Gate report nor team nor venue officials offered an explanation as to why the service is under-used, I have to wonder how many people know it's available. Whatever the reason, I hope that the folks who run the Center don't decide to turn the space into, oh, I don't know, another gift shop.
There's nothing like a celebrity endorsement to boost a product or service's popularity. So, perhaps, this video or Warriors star Klay Thompson riding his bike to work--a playoff game--might entice more cyclists to park at Chase Center:
