To use a bicycle for transportation, the user needs a convenient, safe place to park and store it. 

More broadly, allowing bicycling to flourish, which some cities have done and made it the primary way people get around, requires parking that gives users with a lot of different needs a consistently good experience.

The stakes are higher with e-bikes. They expand access and make car-light living more feasible. But they can be more cumbersome to park and their higher value makes them more attractive to thieves.

Design Concepts

Good bicycle parking means facilities that are high quality, sufficient in capacity, and ubiquitous.

1. High Quality

Parking needs to be convenient, secure, and reliable for short stays (less than a few hours) as well as long stays (more than a few hours, often at work or home), with appropriately higher security for long-term use.

A. Short-stay or “short term” bicycle parking 

For short stays, provide racks that are easy to use, durable, and available where people need them.

Frame-mountable: Use racks that support the bicycle frame at two points and allow a U-lock through the frame and one wheel. The standard is the ”inverted-U” rack or similar design; one rack typically serves two bikes. Avoid wave, coat-hanger, grid, and wheel-bender racks, which do not properly support frame locking.

Navigable: Space racks 3.5+ feet apart when side-by-side or 10+ feet between centerpoints when in a series. Set back 4+ feet from a wall or curb when racks are perpendicular; 3+ feet when parallel (5+ feet from the curb if adjacent to head-in car parking). Maintain 6+ feet of unobstructed sidewalk width after bikes are parked. 

Solid and well-maintained: Anchor racks securely so they cannot be easily removed or cut; maintain them in good repair. Keep rack areas and access routes clear of storage, debris, and snow year-round.

Easy access: Locate racks on the same site as the use they serve, within 50 feet and as close as practicable to primary entrances. Ensure good lighting and passive surveillance. Avoid conflicts with walkways, door swings, loading areas, and utilities, and maintain ADA-compliant, obstruction-free access.

Reserved and protected: Reserve rack space for bicycles only. Protect their space from vehicle conflicts and door swings by using physical barriers or painted striping. 

Shelter adds value in wet or cold climates, whether inside a structure or via a standalone canopy.

B. Long-stay or “long-term” bicycle parking

For extended parking—at work, home, or transit connections—users need the basics of short-stay facilities plus enhanced security and convenience.

Locked enclosure: Provide weather-protected, enclosed spaces with controlled access (e.g., a room within a building or a standalone intrusion-resistant shed, cage, or lockers).

Easy access: Locate near entrances where users can roll a bike the entire way, as many bikes, especially e-bikes, are too heavy to carry. Use signage or wayfinding for locations that are not obvious.

E-bike supportive: Allow e-bikes and provide electrical outlets to support e-bike charging.

Helpful additions include cameras or other monitoring, lockers, shower facilities, and shared tools.

Space-efficient systems such as vertical or two-tier racks can increase capacity, but they can be difficult to use and may not accommodate larger bikes. Use them only for a limited share of total spaces if at all.

2. Sufficient Capacity

There should be enough spaces so users can count on finding a spot. A rule of thumb is at least 4 spaces (satisfied by 2 “inverted Us”) per site and at least 1 space per every 2,500 sq ft, with at least 25% long-term. 

3. Ubiquitous

Riders should expect to find usable, consistent facilities everywhere—similar to how drivers expect to find workable parking. Facilities That should have it:

Destinations: Places of work, study, shopping, recreation, and other daily activities.

Transfer points: Bus stops, points of interest in parks and urban areas, and other locations where a user would “leave” their bicycle to proceed onwards.

Housing: Where the owner sleeps, which, if a multifamily dwelling or other location other than a traditional single family home, they might not have the space or rights to. 

References

Examples of “Inverted U” racks (City of Boulder): Standard (view A), Standard (view B), Racks on Rails 

Further reading: Perspectives on bicycle parking