Bicycle parking overlooked in city’s obsession with cars
I found myself doing my best Catherine Zeta Jones impersonation from Entrapment the other day — you know, the scene where she has to bend herself in all sorts of ways to get past the laser beams guarding the piece of art she wanted to steal.
I wasn’t committing a burglary but I was struggling to get into a local confectionary. The entrance and sidewalk were blocked with almost a dozen bikes as people of all ages were inside picking up everything from lottery tickets to something cold to drink to escape the heat.
The same scene happens at all sorts of places I shop; there are bikes all over the place as people run in to pick something up, because there are rarely any bike racks around.
On the flip side, the local grocer has a couple of bike racks out front and centre. For years, I have checked out how full that rack is and it has done wonders for the business. It is used all of the time and takes up a total of one parking spot.
It allows shoppers to spend more time in the store and keeps the entrances free of bikes because there is somewhere safe to put them. It also keeps them away from cars in the parking lot. Cyclists, drivers and pedestrians all win.
Compare the lack of bike racks to parking requirements. Saskatoon asks for more parking than almost any other city in Western Canada. We love our parking lots. Despite the abundance of surface parking lots that hurts our downtown, we demand more parking to be added for almost every new project created, even if the users or residents aren’t likely to have cars. We are a city that is designed around cars.
When it comes to bikes, there are no requirements at all. Bike racks are considered nice to have but there definitely isn’t any requirement for safe biking stalls, which means bikes get left all over the place. Even worse — they are quickly stolen.
Bikes can be expensive. Even inexpensive bikes can cost a lot and to have them regularly stolen is frustrating. Even with a good lock, if there is nothing solid to lock it to and if it isn’t kept in a safe location, the bike can be gone in seconds. If my bike is a hobby, it is infuriating to have it stolen. For many, the bike is their primary means of transportation. It can be devastating when it is stolen.
The city wants more and more people to cycle, but businesses are left to voluntarily provide a place for cyclists to lock their bikes, even when all the new developments are mandated to have a large parking lot for people who drive.
The city wants people to make better decisions for the environment and better decisions to reduce traffic congestion, yet when those who do cycle reach their destination, there is nowhere to keep their bikes safe.
A few other Canadian cities have programs that allow business owners to purchase at a lower cost bike racks that are installed. It’s a good start but it’s not a solution. The solution is to require new developments to have a safe place for cyclists. I hate to go out on a limb but maybe one or two of those required parking stalls could be used for a high-quality bike rack.
This isn’t about bikes vs. cars. It’s about providing options for people who do not or choose not to drive all of the time. We mandate excessive parking options all of the time for cars — how about some necessary bike racks for cyclists?