On my ride around downtown Memphis I was a little surprised when I saw this 11-bike wave rack at the MATA North End Terminal, though I shouldn't have been. I worked with John Lancaster and other MATA employees on last year's Bike To Work Day and all of the MATA buses now have bike racks on them. It just didn't occur to me that people who work there might need to ride their bikes to the station or that people use both bikes and buses for their daily commute. But looking back at this chart we see that the bus is the most fuel efficient way to travel second to bicycles and is actually more fuel efficient than walking. Perhaps they should change their name to Memphis Alternative Transportation Authority.
Not only do they have a bike rack but also there is a guide to the City's designated bike routes. Now these aren't the striped lanes, these are the signed routes that one sees around the city promoting various tour routes through the city. You can learn more about the routes here if you can't read the writing from my photos.
Here's how it racks up:
Form - Wave
Function - Pass
Environment - The rack's form does not mimic its surroundings.
Points of Interest - There's not much else around but hey, you're at a bus terminal!
2 comments:
not exactly the right place for it, but I am visiting memphis with a bunch of friends. Sadly I an not brining my bike, but I wanted to check out a few bike shops.. what shops are fixed gear friendly?
Any shop within the 240 loop is where you'll have the most luck. Midtown Bikes (which is actually now downtown) carries KHS. Outdoors, Inc. on Union carries Bianchi, Swobo, Scott, and Raleigh. Peddler Bike Shop on Highland carries Trek. I'm kind of partial to Peddler seeing as how I'm the manager. There isn't, however, a fixed gear specific shop in Memphis and the bike shops don't usually stock many, if any fixed gear bikes. It's a lot like BMX where everyone wants something different and specific and can most of the time find it cheaper online. Having said that, I do try to keep a selection of wheels, bars, tires, etc on hand. Let me know when you are coming into town and we might be able to find a bike for you to ride.
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