Meaning of だとでもいうかの


I found this sentence, in which I'm not quite sure about the `だとでもいうかの` part:

> ところがどういうわけか神町駅前には客待ちのタクシーが一台も停まっていなかった。その代わり **だとでもいうかの**
> ごとく、駅前広場には何台もの自転車が置かれてあって（そこは駐輪場なのだから当たり前のことなのだが!）、トーマス井口が周囲をキョロキョロと見回しているうちに人気{ひとけ}もばったり無くなってしまった。

I found
[this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/56142/%EF%BD%9E%E3%81%A8%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E3%81%AE%E3%81%8B-meaning-
in-this-sentence) reply in which it's said that `とでもいうか` is a set phrase
meaning "Are you really saying...?", and `とでもいう` means "as though"; I'm not
really sure if that's the case in the above sentence, though: the first
meaning, "Are you really saying", doesn't seem to fit well, while the second
is given for `とでもいう` (without `か`), so not sure if that's the case, and while
"as if to say" could somehow fit ("As if to say the bycicles where there in
place of the taxis"; a bit odd, but I could kinda understand it), `ごとく` means
"as if", so it would seem redundant.

The `だ` I guess is a copula, while `の` is used to connect to `ごとく`, but I
don't really understand the rest of that structure.




`noun + の如【ごと】く` is a literary way to say "like ～".

>   * 蝶のごとく舞う to dance like a butterfly
>

`clause + か + のごとく` is "as if ～". か is a question marker that can form an
embedded question or work like "whether/if".

>   * 実際に見たかのごとく話す to talk as if he had actually seen it
>   * 生きているかのごとく動く to move as if it were alive
>

Thus, その代わりだとでもいうかのごとく is "as if saying 'その代わりだ'". その代わりだ is the "quote", and
here it means "(these bikes) are replacements". と is simply a quotation marker
used with 言う. でも here [means "～ or
something"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/21519/5010).

> その代わりだとでもいうかのごとく、何台もの自転車が置かれてある。  
>  Many bikes are placed as if (someone were) saying something like "These are
> the replacements (for taxis)".




`noun + の如【ごと】く` is a literary way to say "like ～".

>   * 蝶のごとく舞う to dance like a butterfly
>

`clause + か + のごとく` is "as if ～". か is a question marker that can form an
embedded question or work like "whether/if".

>   * 実際に見たかのごとく話す to talk as if he had actually seen it
>   * 生きているかのごとく動く to move as if it were alive
>

Thus, その代わりだとでもいうかのごとく is "as if saying 'その代わりだ'". その代わりだ is the "quote", and
here it means "(these bikes) are replacements". と is simply a quotation marker
used with 言う. でも here [means "～ or
something"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/21519/5010).

> その代わりだとでもいうかのごとく、何台もの自転車が置かれてある。  
>  Many bikes are placed as if (someone were) saying something like "These are
> the replacements (for taxis)".

