Boulder’s cage-style bike-n-ride shelter.

Bicycle commuters will have the option of using a free weather-protected storage facility at the southeast corner of the Central Park Boulevard station site by end of year. It will be free to users and secured through a keycard access system. The new facility will complement existing open-air bike racks and bike lockers provided by RTD.

Northeast Transportation Connections (NETC), in collaboration with the city of Aurora, obtained a grant from the Denver Regional Council of governments in what is viewed as a pilot project for FasTracks stations. NETC will market and promote the bike-n-ride service while Aurora will handle registration and data collection. The two entities hope that bike-n-ride structures will become available at other transit stations and use the same key card system.

NETC, the Stapleton area’s “transportation management association,” expects to use a refurbished shipping container as the basic structure that will be transparent on three sides. It will hold 30 bicycles and can be expanded to meet future demand. The storage facilities are projected to cost about $90,000 each.