Bikes at the Tulsa Convention Center

[OurTulsa]

Thinking about cycling and downtown the other day and I thought:

What about if the Tulsa Convention Center made bikes available to those attending conventions for use during times around their schedule at the center?  What if some person attending a conference could check out a bike and scoot over to the Blue Dome or Brady for lunch.  It would surely be quicker than running out to their car in the garage and traversing our one-way streets and then looking for a parking space near the restaurant.  Maybe some person is attending a conference in Tulsa and the bike is equipped with a small map of interesting spots around downtown that would permit the person to tour the area during down times: the River, an Architectural tour...

Similar bikes could be made available at downtown hotels as well as part of a promotional for downtown Tulsa. 

Have a design competition for racks/shelters at several points around clusters of activity.

A program, run by DTU or some variation of, could promote downtown, establish, at least incrementally, a little more bike culture into our downtown, and create a neat way to get around and explore, for individuals not from our City.

I'm sure there are a handful of tiny details to work out to make it a reality but it sure could be a fun way to get people out and around downtown.

Maybe we have some sort of downtown Tulsa bikes initiative where bikes are provided free to anyone downtown...

Just sharing some thoughts.

[Gaspar]

Thinking about cycling and downtown the other day and I thought:

What about if the Tulsa Convention Center made bikes available to those attending conventions for use during times around their schedule at the center?  What if some person attending a conference could check out a bike and scoot over to the Blue Dome or Brady for lunch.  It would surely be quicker than running out to their car in the garage and traversing our one-way streets and then looking for a parking space near the restaurant.  Maybe some person is attending a conference in Tulsa and the bike is equipped with a small map of interesting spots around downtown that would permit the person to tour the area during down times: the River, an Architectural tour...

Similar bikes could be made available at downtown hotels as well as part of a promotional for downtown Tulsa. 

Have a design competition for racks/shelters at several points around clusters of activity.

A program, run by DTU or some variation of, could promote downtown, establish, at least incrementally, a little more bike culture into our downtown, and create a neat way to get around and explore, for individuals not from our City.

I'm sure there are a handful of tiny details to work out to make it a reality but it sure could be a fun way to get people out and around downtown.

Maybe we have some sort of downtown Tulsa bikes initiative where bikes are provided free to anyone downtown...

Just sharing some thoughts.

I like it.  That's a good idea.  They could use the bikes down on Riverside.  The ones down my way at the park on 96th street are rarely if ever used.

[sgrizzle]

Keep in mind someone has to pay for the bikes. The warrens are big on riverparks so they bought the bikes. DTU has a fundraiser every year (Devour Downtown) and that gets 1 police bike for the downtown detail. Obviously it would take a VERY big fundraiser to outfit the convention center.

[TurismoDreamin]

I support the idea and hope this follows through.

Probably the best place to house such a thing would be Main Street. It has heavy (in Tulsa terms) pedestrian traffic during lunch hours. That area already has available rent space if you needed a roof to house such a business then you could just advertise it all over the BOK Center and convention center. It seems like a central location in downtown as well.

I remember last summer, me and my girlfriend rented a couple of pink bikes from the 21st and Riverside area. We rode from there, went north and twisted through nearly every point in downtown, reflected at the Centennial Green, to the Centennial Park, down Cherry Street and past St. John; had lunch at Utica Square, rode through the neighborhoods to Woodward Park to relax, rode back through the neighborhoods, and took the trail to the 29th Street pedestrian bridge, and then back to 21st.

That was the cheapest fun I had in Tulsa in a long time and I can't wait to do it again....but this time using our own bikes. I appreciate what St. Francis did by donating those pink bikes (otherwise I would've never experienced what I did)...but pedaling on those single-gear bikes becomes very challenging and makes you realize how "gentle" Tulsa's hills really are. At several points during our escapade, we found ourselves walking the pink bikes up hills, because it became way too difficult.

[Gaspar]

Keep in mind someone has to pay for the bikes. The warrens are big on riverparks so they bought the bikes. DTU has a fundraiser every year (Devour Downtown) and that gets 1 police bike for the downtown detail. Obviously it would take a VERY big fundraiser to outfit the convention center.

Why not just have a bike rental booth?  Or multiple booths around the city.  Something like $5 rents a bike for the day.  If third world countries can do it, we can.

You could call it TULSA PARK & PEDAL.

You would need to rent at least 10 bikes a day to cover the cost of your employee, for each booth, but you could also sell accessories like water bottles, saddle bags, Biker Fox Skullet wigs, and large foam middle fingers.

[carltonplace]

You would need to rent at least 10 bikes a day to cover the cost of your employee, for each booth, but you could also sell accessories like water bottles, saddle bags, Biker Fox Skullet wigs, and large foam middle fingers.

Most Tulsans already have saddle bags and it can be very dangerous to ride and drink water with a large foam middle finger, especialy while brushing your skullet out of your eyes. - Trust me, I know.

[Conan71]

Biker Fox Skullet wigs.

I think I've got an interwebs crush on you.  I'd give you 100 pts of karma if I could for that clever comment.