Exercise bikes or real bikes: which is a better tactic for marketing a residential community? | Utah City in Vineyard, Utah

(Photo: Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Vineyard apparently plans to create an inland port project industrial zone, along with its massive Utah City development, on the old Geneva Steel site, seen here as vacant land to the north and east on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.

KSL-TV reports that the "Utah City" development in Vineyard, near Utah Lake in Utah County, is providing Peloton exercise equipment in residential buildings for exercise and wellness support ("Utah City integrates wellness with residential living through new Peloton partnership").  From the article:

A newly formed partnership with Peloton adds another phase amid the development of the 700-acre mixed-use community located on the eastern shore of Utah Lake, a press release from Utah City announced.

The development eventually plans to become a walkable, transit-oriented, mixed-use destination in the heart of Vineyard.

Jacklyn Briggs, director of marketing for Utah City, said in efforts to align with the development's goal of providing convenient access for people who want to live an active lifestyle, it's partnered with the global at-home fitness brand to outfit Peloton equipment in each multifamily building in Utah City. "Utah City is a wellness and well-being focused community," she said.

Briggs added that Utah City aims to provide the infrastructure and opportunities — whether indoors or outdoors — to make it more accessible for people prioritizing health and fitness as part of their everyday routine

Why not real bikes, so people can ride trails, ride to do errands, ride to school, etc., and get health benefits while performing acts they'd be doing by car most likely?

In the blog entry "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 26 programs," I suggest bike bundling for public housing.  That is, providing in a lease a bike, helmet, lock and training, and secure bike parking in the complex.  (It'd #16 but fully described in this predecessor entry.)

Interesting, because the Vineyard City government organized a number of activities for National Bike Month in May.   

And the small town even has a Bicycle Commission.

No reason that for profit apartment buildings couldn't do bike bundling?  

I did suggest it to Bozzuto Development for a project they did in Brookland, DC, but by then they had already sold the building (but kept the management contract) and the property owner couldn't put their head around the concept.  

But Monroe Street Market is part of the bikeable Brookland neighborhood, and adjacent to the Metropolitan Branch Trail, allowing for scads of destinations in a 5 mile radius.

That concept included a bicycle retail store which would provide service to the apartment dwellers with bicyclists 

The same goes for the Utah City development in Vineyard.  It has the opportunity to make biking a true mode of transportation, not just recreational.

I've already dinged this development in writing, because they're positioning as a new urban walkable community ("Vineyard’s new 700-acre development to be called Utah City," Ogden Daily Herald, "Vineyard could welcome the next inland port. Here’s where other projects have been approved across Utah," Salt Lake Tribune).   

It's almost 40 miles from Salt Lake City, so in terms of the city proper, in terms of distance it's exurban. 

More than 50% farther from the core than the Gaithersburg Kentlands new urbanist development is from DC.  Unless they shift their "center city" reference point from Salt Lake to Provo.

For a single line the Frontrunner rail passenger service is pretty good, although it doesn't run on Sunday, and it doesn't run late.

From the 2023 Building Salt Lake article, "Vineyard’s new urbanist downtown to use new TIF tool for housing near transit":

Last week I traveled south to Vineyard to attend an event sponsored by the Utah Chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) on transit-oriented development. Having not owned a car for the past 6.5 years, I rode FrontRunner with my ebike.

Taking my ebike was critical, because it would allow me to traverse the 1.5 miles between Vineyard’s FrontRunner station and the Topgolf that hosted the ULI Utah event in a mere six minutes instead of a half hour on foot. The temperature also happened to be in the high 90s that day and that 1.5-mile route is treeless and devoid of shade.

As icing on the proverbial cake, the irony was not lost on me that I was perhaps the only attendee to use transit to arrive at an event extolling the values of transit-oriented development.

That may be, but it's a speck in a few hundred miles of sprawl.  It's not changing the development paradigm towards compact development and non-automobile dependence in any significant manner.

Urban Land Institute report promotes active transportation.  It's now almost 10 years old, but the Urban Land Institute published a report on the real estate development opportunities incorporating bicycling, Active Transportation and Real Estate: The Next Frontier.

While there are pathbreaking developers doing interesting things, especially out west, I think that most still aren't seriously considering active transportation, especially biking, as a part of the development in a structured way.

Soon to open dvanced bicycle parking facility in Brooklyn.  New York City is taking a quantum step forward in the coming of a Dutch style high capacity bicycle parking hub in the One Sunset development in Brooklyn ("New York City is Getting a Dutch-Style Bicycle Hub and it’s a Game Changer," Momentum Magazine).  The contractor providing the service is called Oonee.

Although it's pathbreaking, the One Sunset webpage on amenities doesn't call much attention to it.  It won't be a huge facility.  From the article:

Housed in a 1,300-square-foot, ground-floor space, the facility will feature “a bright, welcoming environment furnished with modern amenities that make riding easier and far more convenient.” With around-the-clock access and 95 free secure parking spaces for bikes, including accommodations for large-format bicycles and battery-free e-bikes, the Hub is poised to become a vital link in Brooklyn’s micromobility ecosystem.

Charging facilities for those battery-free e-bikes will be placed just outside, while indoor battery swapping stations and secure charging options for e-scooters and e-bikes will be available 24/7. According to Oonee, “these facilities will also provide a safe charging alternative to residents in the area,” addressing growing concerns about unsafe e-bike battery charging in residential buildings.

That's about one parking space for every two units ("JV Plans 187-Unit Mixed-Use Property in Brooklyn," Multi-Housing News, "Introducing: New York’s First Oonee Hub:  A Dutch-inspired parking & service center for Sunset Park riders," Medium) which I think is on the low side.  

But it's still a step forward, especially since it will have a ground floor entry, rather than require a trip through the bowels of a parking garage.

Obviously, from a bicycling promotion standpoint, we hope that the demand will be greater than the supply, and that other developers will create similar but bigger facilities.

Lend Lease Barangaroo South development, Australia.  Note that some developments, more commercial than residential, in Australia have "platinum" bicycle facilities, with secure parking, lockers, showers, etc., such as the Lend Lease Barangaroo South development ("anonymous-breach-pixelregistered-breach-pixelsUnderground: Tour Barangaroo’s bustling basement beneath city," Daily Telegraph).

To meet the needs of the end of trip users, we have 1,460 lockers and 132 showers in 24 purpose built change rooms. All users have free use of towels, body wash, ironing boards and hair dryers. We also have two bike maintenance stations with bike stands, tools and tyre pumps. Users can also arrange for a mobile mechanic to maintain their bike.

Less use than planned for leads to a reduction in parking spaces.  Although in renovations they are reducing the amount of parking provided based on use and providing other amenities ("Lendlease Loses Bike Parking in $30m End-of-Trip Revamp," Urban Developer).

“Ongoing travel surveys and data collection completed have identified that there is a significant underutilisation of the bicycle parking facilities in the basement,” Ethos Urban wrote.

Data showed cycling to work accounted for about 3 per cent of the modes by which tower tenants travelled to work. Only about 200 of the 1157 bicycle parking spaces offered under the three buildings were used each day. Under the plans, Lendlease will cut bicycle storage to 660 spaces.

At least they are basing their decision making on data, and I would argue more energies could be directed to programming to significantly increase uptake, using some of the concepts in the "Revisiting assistance programs to get people biking: 26 programs" entry.  But this is Sydney, not Melbourne, and Victoria State is known for global best practice bicycle transportation promotion.