well, almost.

My workplace has moved (temporarily, near the ocean, wahoo! I can kayak every day if I want!) and bike commuting to work has *exploded*. Which is great, of course, but our changing rooms and shower facilities are small and cramped, and I was told there was only a few (8-10) lockers available and "could I please share them out to those who needed them the most", seeing as I have been administrating bike-to-work campaigns both winter and summer for several years now. We have ~300 employees.

I sent out a general message that I would do this when I was back from vacation, a week after the move. I got 25 personal emails asking for/begging for/demanding lockers. And when I got to work almost all the lockers were taken anyway.

Ok. So now what? I tried to think of reasonable criteria, like year-round commuters, or those with the longest commute. I got pissy emails from people who hardly ever bike, but feel that as this, that or the other they are entitled to a locker. We found more lockers in a back room. They were empty but locked, but can be drilled open. I was told I could use a "little" money to buy more lockers. So I sent out a message on our intranet asking who felt that they needed a locker, and got 70 answers. The Head of Administration took down my message without asking me.

I've found a locksmith who could open the locked ones. I've manhandled lockers from one room to another. I've constructed an democratic system by which everybody who needs one gets a locker, but most of us have to share. I've bought 12 small new lockers, nagging the seller to lower the price, and spent almost 3 hours today fetching them and lugging them into place. Every fix-it person in the building is now avoiding me like the plague.

What I don't do to keep bike commuting on the roll here...

Maybe, just maybe, am I getting a little overzealous.

-lph, fulltime locker coordinator