The Right Parking Spot

A critical piece of Encouragement is simple: parking.

A well-designed bicycle parking area welcomes employees and patrons and encourages practical bicycling in our cities. Providing safe, ample parking for bicycles need not be expensive, fancy, or elaborate. However, if not considered properly, bicycle parking can easily lose its value and become a useless landscaping feature.

Location

Where should bike parking be placed? In Bicycle Parking Planning Criteria, the International Bicycle Fund has provided an excellent guide to placement considerations:

• Visibility: Cyclists should easily spot short-term parking when they arrive from the street. A highly visible location discourages theft and vandalism. Avoid locations “off on the side”, “around the corner” or in unsupervised parking structures or garages.
• Access: The parking area should be convenient to building entrances and street access, but away from normal pedestrian and auto traffic (see below). Avoid locations that require bicycles to travel over stairs.
• Security: Surveillance is essential to reduce theft and vandalism. For security, locate parking within view of passers-by, retail activity, or office windows. Better yet: officially assign building security, a parking lot attendant or other personnel to watch for suspicious behavior.
• Lighting: Bicycle parking areas should be well lit for theft protection, personal security and accident prevention.
• Weather Protection: Whenever possible protect bicycle parking area from weather. We recommend that you use an existing overhang or covered walkway. Alternatively, construct a canopy or roof — either freestanding or attached to an existing building.
• Avoid Conflict with Pedestrians: Locate racks so that parked bicycles don’t block the pedestrian path. Select a bike rack with no protruding bars that could trip or injure cyclists or pedestrians. Very low bar-type racks can be a hazards to pedestrians — not recommended.
• Avoid Conflict with Automobiles: Separate bicycle parking and auto parking and road areas with space and a physical barrier. This prevents motor vehicles from damaging parked bicycles and keeps some thieves at a distance. Most professional bike thieves use vans or similar vehicles to hide their activities and make a getaway with their booty concealed. The closer bicycle parking is to automobile parking, alleys, roads, etc., the better the opportunity for a bike thief.

Bicycle Racks and Lockers

After a location is determined, an actual mechanism for locking the bikes should be considered. There are three simple things that a bicycle rack needs to accomplish:

• Fully support a bicycle frame (not just one wheel) and usable by bikes with no kickstand.
• Vandal resistant.
• Cable or U-type lock compatible.

“Wheel bender” racks such as these do not support the bicycle frame and are not compatible with U-type locks:

The common “wave” bike rack should not be used either, especially when placed too close to buildings, as it does not allow proper use of a U-lock and does not support the bike correctly:

The Denver Bicycle Master Plan specifies the “Inverted U”  type rack, which meets all three requirements:

That’s all there is to it!

Now, whether cyclists learn to lock correctly is a totally different story…

For more resources, visit:

• Choosing a Bicycle Parking Rack by the Traffic Engineering Department, City of Madison, Wisconsin.
• Bicycle Parking Planning Criteria by International Bicycle Fund
• Bike Parking in The Right of Way by the City of Denver, CO.
• Bike Parking Fail by Front Porch Coffee Talk
• Bicycle Parking Presentation, by Mighk Wilson, Metroplan Orlando