The City of New York is planning to install a secure bike parking system around the city along the lines of the Parkiteer secure parking system at Victorian railway stations.
The city’s Department of Transportation (NYC DoT) plans a network of 500 secure biking locations from the beginning of next year.
New York sees some 600,000 bicycling trips taken in the city each day across the five boroughs and secure parking access is seen as essential if citizens are to continue to embrace riding for transport.
Many New Yorkers lack in-home bike storage space or cannot carry heavier e-bikes or cargo bikes up the stairs in apartment buildings, a significant barrier to bike ownership.
NYC DoT envisions a variety of small and high-capacity secure parking facility designs, including enclosed and open-air units both at the kerbside and off-street.
NYC DoT plans for enclosed, small-capacity units placed at the curb in residential areas to accommodate either standard-sized bikes or cargo and adaptive bicycles, such as have been proposed this week by the City of Merri-bek in Melbourne.
NYC DoT is also planning to place high-capacity parking units near transit hubs and other major destinations, with the aim of accommodating dozens of bikes at a time.
These are more akin to the Victorian Parkiteer facilities being operated by Bicycle Network for the Department of Transport and Planning.
These facilities would be off-street with flexible designs and parking capacities based on available space. They will accommodate cargo bikes, adaptive bikes and have the potential to provide charging for e-bikes.
A third initiative will be the installation of open-air self-locking racks, which provide flexibility regarding placement possibilities and the types of bikes that can be accommodated.
These racks can be placed on the sidewalk or at the kerb. They can accommodate all bike sizes and configurations and have the potential to provide charging options for e-bikes.
NYC DoT will prioritise locations and storage designs to:
- improve bike parking near major transit hubs
- provide options to accommodate e-bikes and cargo bikes
- offer long-term storage in residential areas for New Yorkers without space for in-home storage
- potentially incorporate e-bike charging in storage facilities.
Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said: “As more people ride bikes to get around, including heavier and pricier e-bikes, we must create infrastructure for safe, convenient storage, as one of the many highest and best uses for our roadways.
“New York must be built for people at the density our growing city requires. These storage lockers will create many more spaces for New Yorkers' commuting needs on our limited roadway.”
The first step in the initiative was an open call to identify a company to operate the bike storage network.
Once an operator is selected, NYC DoT expects to have the first storage locations available next year and for all 500 locations to be in place within five years.
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