Bicycle riders now have a safe, secure and enclosed on-demand lockers at 10 locations in King County, including the the Eastgate Park and Ride. The lockers rent for 5-cents an hour and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There are eight of the new lockers at Eastgate.

To use the lockers, riders mush have a BikeLink card with stored value on it. The card is usable at any available eLocker within the BikeLink system (including those in other counties and states). The nickel-an-hour cost is deducted from the card for the time the bike is in the locker.

On-demand eLockers, as they are called, are able to serve five to seven times the number of users as the regular, assigned bike lockers. Cyclists pay for only the time they use the eLocker.

Cyclists can sign up for a card at the BikeLink website or by calling 888-540-0546 and buying a $20 stored-value card. They also can sign up for a stored-value card in-person at the Bicycle Alliance of Washington’s Pioneer Square office, 314 First Ave. S. in Seattle from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

To park a bike, a person finds an empty eLocker, inserts the stored-value card firmly in the reader on the eLocker’s door. eLockers are accessible 24 hours a day.

The rider selects the duration of time the bike will be parked in the eLocker. When the card is removed, the eLocker door opens and the bike can be placed inside.

Users only are charged for the time they use the locker. If the meter expires before they retrieve their bike, extra time will be deducted from their stored-value card at the rate of 12-cents an hour.

A bike can be stored for up to 10 consecutive days at a time. However, if the bike longer than 14 days the bike is considered abandoned and will be removed.