AU students who live off campus may receive additional bicycle parking at commercial apartment buildings if the D.C. City Council approves legislation as expected this week.
If the measure passes, all Washington apartments, including the Berkshire, Foxhall and Tunlaw Park must provide one bicycle parking spot for every four residential units. Commercial landlords also will have to provide bike parking equal to 10 percent of available automobile spaces, according to the Washington Examiner.
Students such as Tsuyoshi Takagi, a junior in the School of International Service, must resort to other methods to keep their bikes safe. Takagi stores his bike in his apartment at Tunlaw Park.
"I usually put my bike in my room because it's prohibited to park outside in the apartment's policy," Takagi said. "I feel like it's more protected by putting it in my room since I have a bike lock. Right now, they don't have bike racks to use."
Takagi said that he might use the bike space if the measure passes, but he said he feels his bike is most secure inside his room.
Students on-campus also struggle to find space to store their bikes. Many students lock their bikes to guardrails or light posts when bike racks outside the dorms become too full. Currently, a lack of bike racks outside certain buildings, including Hughes Hall, prevents students from legally parking there.
If the university followed the proposed law's guidelines and provided one spot for every four units, it would have to provide 39 spots for Hughes Hall, the smallest of AU's residence halls. Hughes has 26 rooms on each of its six floors, or a total 156 rooms.
Chris Hutton, a junior in SIS, lives in the Palisades neighborhood near Georgetown. He stores his bike inside his house, although he frequently relies on public bicycle racks.
"The city took my bike because I left it too long in Dupont Circle," Hutton said. "If you leave it longer than two days at a parking meter, they put tags on it. But if you leave it at the racks by the Metro, people steal it. At AU, I just leave it at the racks, except there's usually not enough room."
A fear of vandalism prevents students such as Stephanie McDaniel, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, from using the outdoor bike racks. She stores her bike in her room on campus to prevent theft or vandalism.
"I had a friend who bought a bike at Target and had it fixed up in Georgetown, but it was stolen two days later," McDaniel said.
However, she said D.C. is a bicyclist-friendly city.
"It's good that they're trying to promote other forms of travel, especially since it's hard to do anything on public transportation during rush hour," McDaniel said.
McDaniel plans to move to Nebraska Hall or off campus next year, and she will consider bike storage while deciding on housing, she said.