With Parking Meters Extinct, Cyclists Hunt for Lock-Up Spots
When the City of Victoria first started talking about removing parking meters in favour of pay-by-stall street parking, Coun. John Luton knew there would be serious problems for cyclists.
Eliminating meter heads meant the posts could no longer be used as unofficial, but secure, spots to lock up bikes. Hundreds of bike parking spots suddenly disappeared.
Luton hopes a new bicycle parking strategy, to be presented to Victoria council in October, will treat the issue as more than just an afterthought.
"Walk around where there’s not enough bike parking and there will be bikes locked to trash cans and that hampers your public works operations," said Luton, a cycling advocate. "They’ll be locked to benches. They’ll be locked to places where they’ll slide down onto the sidewalk and create problems for pedestrians."
But the solution isn’t just found in haphazardly slapping up decorative pieces of bent iron or retrofitting parking meter posts into hitching posts.
Although convenient, the parking meters were never great for bike parking, Luton said. The main problem is that they are too close to the curb, meaning that bikes attached to them are often hit by cars or car doors.
The new strategy was developed by Urban Systems consultants with input from city staff and Luton. Two years in the making, it offers design guidelines for both on- and off-street facilities.
It’s not just a question of requiring new developments to include a certain number of bike parking stalls, but taking into account what’s needed and where and how it’s provided, Luton said. For example, no one wants to use a bike lockup in a distant, poorly lit corner of an underground parkade.
In 1999, the city adopted guidelines for the installation of bike racks on city streets. Six years later, it added requirements for off-street bike parking in new developments.
But those requirements can be circumvented when, for example, a bike rack is pushed up against a building, eliminating half the parking the rack is designed for, Luton said
"We haven’t before had an element of bicycle parking bylaws that say you have to meet the actual number of spaces rather than the theoretical number of spaces of the rack," Luton said.
"If you were to do that with car parking, you wouldn’t get your occupancy permit."
Bike parking facilities range from a simple inverted U-rack to facilities such as bike corrals, covered shelters, bike compounds, bike rooms or even a fully serviced bike station, with parking, shower facilities, change rooms and even an information centre and coffee shop.
If the strategy is adopted by council, the city could take steps such as requiring installation of facilities with showers and change rooms in new buildings. For developers who provide more bicycle parking than they have to, it could also reduce motor vehicle parking requirements.
Luton thinks some funding for a bike parking reserve could come from developers looking for reductions in required off-street car parking.
"Vehicle parking can make or break a new residential building… . You can do developments without the absolute maximum number of parking spaces and you make it more affordable."
