Velo-city

Complete Streets

• Overview
• Bike Lanes
• Traffic Calming
• Intersections
• Driver Education
• Ped-Bike Infrastructure
• Bike Parking
• On-Street Corrals
• Post and Ring
• Bike Racks
• Bike Shelters
• Bike Lockers
• Bike Rooms
• Bikes Stations

Bicycle Parking

Anytime, (Almost) Anywhere


Ordered Chaos: extensive bike parking is needed where cycling mode share is high (Photo mike.camborne on flickr)

Most people would say that a city street for motorists wouldn't be complete without parking for cars. Equally, cyclists require the ability to park and lock up their bikes while they are at work, while shopping or back at home.

Bicycle parking at the entrances to pedestrian zones provide convenient access for shoppers. High street and bigbox retail stores that provide bicycle parking will gain additional repeat customers. See the cycle-friendly retailers section for details.

On-Street Corrals


20 to 1: up to twenty bicycles can be parked in the space taken by one automobile (Photo by the author)

Depending on the design of the corral, anywhere between ten and twenty bicycles can be parked in the space required for the average sized car.

Bicycle racks -if at all present in urban areas- have long been practical and convenient but visually boring fixtures of the cityscape.

More recently, urban planners have been calling on artists to create striking, attention-getting bike racks for both off- and on-street that get residents and tourists talking about cycling and the city.


Good for Business: bicycle parking in front of shops helps not hinders retailers (Photo: VeloBusDriver on flickr)



Post and Ring


Dead Ringer: many of Toronto's 16,000 post and rings can be easily comprised (Photo: Richard Drdul on flickr)

This section is under development.



Bike Racks


Form Follows Function: bike racks should enable locking of the bike frame and wheel(s) (Photo: burgundavia on flickr)

Many bicycles, especially the mountain bikes in widespread use, are not equipped with kickstands. Front wheel bike racks, found in widespread use across Europe, enable many bicycles to be locked up in a more compact area compared to 'lean against' style racks as the bike's front wheel is kept straight and the bike thereby takes up less space. These racks scale well in urban areas, especially city centres, for example at subway and train stations. The author prefers front wheel racks that keep bicycles upright and not leaning.

Some critics of front wheel rack designs will state that they are wheel bender.

While designer bicycle racks are may improve the urban landscape and make for good conversation, most of the various designs still required the bike to be leaned against the rack. In addition, such designer racks don't scale well to hole many bikes. On the other hand, intricate designs allow for several possible locking areas.



Bike Shelters


Gimme Shelter: bicycle shelters protect from the elements but not against theft (Photo: giesenbauer on flickr)

Sheltered bicycle parking or bike shelters at bus, subway and train stations are a step up from bike racks in encouraging intermodality and car-free commuting.



Bike Lockers


Out of Sight: individual bike lockers provide greater security compared to racks (Photo: Ozvoldjj on flickr)

Outdoor and indoor bike lockers are increasingly becoming available in cities around North America with daily, monthly and yearly storage rates. Interestingly, the Europeans do not make great use of bike lockers, perhaps due to population densities and public space constraints.

Some question if bulky and relatively expensive storage enclosures are a cost-effective approach by municipalities to provide secure bicycle parking and encourage urban cycling.

The disadvantage to outdoor bike lockers, is that their size makes them usually only suitable for two-wheeled upright bicycles. Long-wheelbase bikes and trikes (recumbents and cargo carriers) may not fit within the confines of the locker in question.

Alternatively, lockers could be set up in stairwells near main entrances to public and private buildings. For example, an indoor bike locker at the workplace would hold multiple bikes with cycling employees each having a key to the locker. Within the locker, the bike itself would additionally be locked up.


Well Placed: bike lockers in stairwells make good use of otherwise unused space (Photo: Richard Drdul on flickr)



Bike Rooms


Room for Two: doubled up bike racks help to store more bikes in a small room (Photo: commuterpage.com)

A building owner seeking Green Building accreditation (LEED certification) is required to provide bicycle storage and changing rooms.[1]

The requirement by the LEED program of bike rooms for building occupants is helping to enable and fast-track the creation of cycle-friendly workplaces and housing.

Bicycle rooms are often found in the new bike stations increasingly being rolled out in cities with cycle-friendly governments to support cycling commuters.



Bike Stations

For information on bike stations, please see the bike station page in the intermodality section.



References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_in_Energy_and_Environmental_Design

Keywords

sustainable transportation, personal transport, personal mobility, human powered mobility, bicycle parking, bike, post and ring, racks, shelters, lockers, enclosurs, storage, secure, locked, protected, key, rentals,