As more cities across the country become more bike friendly, more commuters are skipping the crowded, space-invading public transit system and opting instead to peddle their way to work and back.
Even towns as notoriously hostile to bicyclists as New York City are ramping up the number of bike lanes around town. But if you’re a cyclist in just about any city, one thing you’ve probably noticed is a disappointing shortage of bike parking. As is the case with car commuting, having a place to park your vehicle at either end of your commute is key. That’s no less true for bicyclists, many of whom have to contend with the risk of vandalism or theft if secure parking isn’t available. And so far, there’s no equivalent of the Club steering wheel lock for bikes.
The good news is, many cities from San Francisco to N.Y.C are slowly introducing laws that will make it much more palatable for commuters to bike to work. In July of 2009, New York City Council voted 46-1 in favor of a “Bicycle Access Bill” that requires commercial buildings with a freight elevator to allow people to bring their bike inside, reports Slate.com. The law took effect in December and explicitly aims to increase bicycle commuting by providing cyclists with secure parking during the workday.
Unfortunately, a ridiculous number of steps are involved in exercising the right to bring that bike through your office building’s revolving doors. First, employees have to inform employers of their need for bike access. Then, employers must file a request with the building owner. Employers also have to prove that they can store bicycles within their own rented space. And then, the building has to create a Bicycle Access Plan showing entrances, routes and elevators available for cyclist use. It’s enough to make anyone revert to those overcrowded subways!
But for those dead-set on biking to work, being able to bring your bike inside is a huge benefit. With an estimated 130,000 cyclists riding the streets of the Big Apple every day, the city still has only an estimated 6,100 bike racks, many of which are outdoors, where they’re vulnerable to theft. New York’s City Council also passed a bill mandating that commercial parking garages provide spaces for bicycles — one bike space for every 10 cars, up to 200 cars — but that’s still far from sufficient to meet demand.
Other cities are also starting to catch on. In Philadelphia, new zoning requirements mandate that certain new developments provide bicycle parking; Pittsburgh’s planning department is considering requiring one bicycle parking space for every 20,000 square feet of development; even Santa Ana’s City Council in Orange County, Calif., unanimously passed a bill requiring proportional bicycle parking when car parking is provided.
As demand increases, you can expect to see all kinds of services for bike commuters popping up. For example, for-profit Bikestation sells secure parking (“valet and controlled access”) and provides air for tires as well as showers and Wi-Fi in its “bike-transit centers,” in cities ranging from Santa Barbara, Calif. to Washington D.C.
As an added incentive, the federal government now offers a tax benefit for bike commuters. The Federal Bike Commuter Benefit became effective Jan. 1, 2009. It’s only being offered as an employer-paid benefit, but if your employer elects to offer it, you can receive up to a bonus of $20 a month for each month you commute primarily by bike from your employer tax-free, as long as you don’t accept any of the other transit benefits. For more information on the benefit, check out SFBike.org.
Of course, here in the US, we’re a long way from being as bike friendly as some European and Asian cities. The three-story parking-garage-style facility outside Amsterdam’s Central Station holds some 9,000 bikes, while Groningen has a massive, covered and guarded facility that holds 4,500 bikes. In Tokyo, underground bicycle parking towers, such as those in Kasai Station, hold more than 9,000 bicycles, which can be quickly retrieved using an automated system.
For more information on bike parking in cities across America, check out the following links:
Boston, Mass. (www.mapc.org/resources/regional-bike-parking)
Denver, Colo. (www.denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.denvergov.org/Bicycle_Program)
New York City, N.Y. (www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/bicycle_parking/index.shtml)
Portland, Ore. (www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEPED/)
San Francisco, Calif. (www.sfmta.com/cms/bpark/3176.html)
Seattle, Wash. (www.cityofseattle.net/transportation/bikeracks.htm)
Photo by Darragh Worland.