Ikea says “No” on bike lanes

Posted on June 24, 2010 by .
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Brooklyn Ikea store manager says encouraging bike traffic on street in front of his store is ‘dangerous.’

The store manager of the new Ikea store in Red Hook attended a community meeting to discuss painting bike lanes on Columbia Street and around to Halleck and Beard Streets, where the Ikea store is located. According to Gothamist:

At a Community Board 6 meeting last Thursday night, the Swedish retailer came down hard on a DOT plan to install a bike lane that would run four measly blocks on Columbia Street from Bay Street, onto Halleck and Beard Streets. “It seems dangerous to officially encourage bikes to the front of IKEA,” intoned IKEA Manager Mike Baker, whom one member of the transportation committee described as “confrontational.”


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More also at Brooklyn Paper.



See also:

  1. IKEA gives bikes to all US employees
  2. IKEA bicycle
  3. Parking? Or Bike Lanes?
  4. Guerrila bike lanes and arrests


  • Info

    Apparently, the manager of that Ikea doesn't realize that he is working for a Dutch company. If enough of this information gets back to Ikea international, I believe that one could expect to find a new and much more bike friendly manager of that particular Ikea.

  • MikeOnBike

    Have we reached the point that cyclists won't use a street unless they are “officially encouraged”?

  • Homer Depoe

    Ignorant.

  • http://twitter.com/AzZenCyclist Tabot Tietjen

    Boo!

  • kdt

    Ikea in Denmark will loan you a bike with a trailer to get your goods home. When I went to the Ikea website and asked “Anna,” their automated help-bot, why the Red Hook store was opposing bike lanes, she replied as follows: “Unfortunately at this time IKEA Brooklyn does not have bike racks. However they have been ordered and will be installed shortly. Thank you for your patience.”

  • kdt

    Ikea USA Corporate Public Relations

    Mona Astra Liss
    1-610-834-0180 x 5852

  • Bryantp

    Here's an email address for Ikea. Let them know how you feel. I did. http://info.ikea-usa.com/Contact/

  • NeilO

    Take a closer look at the Google Street View. Pan to the right — what's dangerous is that green Ford pickup truck parked in the lane, and forcing the white sedan up ahead and the white delivery truck behind to cross the yellow lines illegally.

    What's dangerous is when people drive, park, or cycle with blatant disregard of each other (or equivalently, with disregard of the laws that make things safer for all of us).

  • jmiki

    Wait a minute before everyone jumps on the manager. What are the facts beyond what this article mentions. Perhaps the road is already dangerous, perhaps the configuration of the driveways and loading is not safe for a bicycle lane.

    From the google earth images I would be interested in knowing what the plans are because there is a lot going on in and around the Ikea.

    But in the end, the manager is probably over stating the danger. I just don't like posts that attack some one when so little is posted about the situation and the context of the statement.

    full disclosure I ride a bike to work, I generally avoid roads with bicycle lanes and ride with traffic and I have no idea where this is in Brooklyn.

  • Jym Dyer

    =v= I lived there when they showed up. We opposed them because they're hostile to anything but cars. That location is one of the few places in NYC with freeway access, which IKEA leeches off of as company policy.

  • gearinches

    I visited NYC last April, and took my bike with me. All through Manhattan, cyclists are very well tolerated, with cars almost always giving the way to anyone on a bike. Cross over into Brooklyn, though, and it's completely different: horns, middle fingers, drivers giving hateful looks or shouting insults. It's definitely 180° from what you experience in Manhattan.

    In related news, Jews don't like us, either: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/08/hipste…

  • Jack

    I suppose Baker realizes that drivers, particularly truckers, are inattentive to cyclists. What irony (as pointed out by others) that a Dutch company that actively supports cycling in Europe does the opposite in “freedom loving” USA. The confrontational attitude is too common here and illustrates an inherent bias against those who prefer efficient transportation.

  • Ryan Rickerts

    The manager is probably thinking that bikers won't be carrying home enough large furniture to feel the need to encourage them to visit his store or inconvenience his mostly car-driving customers. Backwards thinking. I agree, the Dutch do it better.

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    [...] law. A leadership vacuum on bike issues in Chicago; sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Ikea tries to veto bike lanes in Brooklyn.­ Even in Missouri, you can have a ride from hell — although that loud long horn [...]

  • 4rk

    Dutch? You've never visited IKEA have you.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    @4rk: IKEA originated in Sweden, but it's indeed a Dutch company, headquartered in Delft, Netherlands.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/2010/ikea-us-bicycles/ IKEA gives bikes to all US employees » Cyclelicious

    [...] The bike itself is butt-ugly, but the thought counts for a lot IMHO and buying 12,000+ bikes can really add up. “With a strong commitment to good health and being environmentally conscious, IKEA selected an all terrain bike as the holiday co-worker gift for 2010,” says the press release, which further touts the benefits of green transportation and IKEA’s “strong commitment to good health and being environmentally conscious.” [...]

  • http://bicla.ro/2010/12/biciclete-cadou-pentru-cei-mari-si-cei-mici/ Biciclete cadou, pentru cei mari şi cei mici | Bicla.ro – pentru bicicliştii urbani amatori

    [...] din SUA era o companie recunoscută pentru rezistenţa sa la pistele pentru biciclete în aproprierea locului unde se află magazinele sale. Şi iată că acum atitudinea i s-a schimbat [...]