Victoria mulls bike-parking options
Bike parking in front of Mountain Equipment Co-op has become extremely popular since the city got rid of parking meters.
Photograph by: Debra Brash, Timescolonist.com
Downtown bike parking should not be treated as a second-class citizen, says Victoria Coun. John Luton.
"It's part of the continuum. You've got to have the infrastructure — the bike lanes and trails to get people on their bikes, but unless you've got somewhere to put it at your destination then you're suppressing demand," Luton said Tuesday.
Victoria lost almost 2,000 informal bike parking areas when it moved away from parking meters in favour of using parking pay stations last year.
Luton, who is also executive director of Capital Bike and Walk, says providing adequate bike parking has to involve more thought than retrofitting parking stall markers or coming up with minimum bike parking requirements in zoning bylaws.
"What we need to do is tighten up [regulations] to say: these are approved rack designs. You can't just put in any old junk," Luton said.
It's not unusual to see bike racks near buildings that are designed to be accessed from either side that are improperly installed, Luton said.
"There's all sorts of developments where they shove them up against a wall. They become less efficient. You buy a rack that is notionally designed to hold eight bikes or 10 bikes, but if you've pushed it up against a wall, you've cut its capacity in half."
Councillors will be looking at a draft bicycle parking strategy this week. Prepared by consultants Urban Systems Ltd. and Alta Planning and Design, the strategy intends to incorporate best practices and designs from other jurisdictions and makes recommendations on bike rack types and design, and meeting bike parking demand with the likes of bike corrals.
Following the success of the $20,000 covered bike parking in front of Mountain Equipment Co-op, two "bike corrals" were carved out of on-street parking in the 600 block of Johnson Street and the 700 block of Fort Street this spring as part of a pilot by the Downtown Victoria Business Association.
The response has been extremely positive, DVBA general manager Ken Kelly said.
Since the pilot began, the DVBA has received more than 90 comments on the experiment, with 92 per cent from cyclists being positive. Because the corrals aren't covered they were considerably less expensive than the MEC parking — running about $3,500, said Kelly.
"We'll continue this next year and look for other locations," Kelly said.
There's a general reluctance for businesses to give up any on-street parking for anything other than cars. Space for the Johnson Street bike corral was found near the Government Street intersection and did not result in any parking lost. On Fort, the DVBA is looking at relocating the corral, potentially to a space occupied by a planter flanking the mid-block crosswalk on the north side of the street.
Early analysis would suggest there is a need for more of the bike corrals on both a permanent and temporary basis, Kelly said.
"There seems to be pretty substantial use of the bike racks. What we're discovering, however, is these bike racks are used very much by employees who are swinging in and using them for the day.
"We've had some wonderful feedback from consumers who said: 'Give us more.' "
bcleverley@timescolonist.com
"It's part of the continuum. You've got to have the infrastructure — the bike lanes and trails to get people on their bikes, but unless you've got somewhere to put it at your destination then you're suppressing demand," Luton said Tuesday.
Victoria lost almost 2,000 informal bike parking areas when it moved away from parking meters in favour of using parking pay stations last year.
Luton, who is also executive director of Capital Bike and Walk, says providing adequate bike parking has to involve more thought than retrofitting parking stall markers or coming up with minimum bike parking requirements in zoning bylaws.
"What we need to do is tighten up [regulations] to say: these are approved rack designs. You can't just put in any old junk," Luton said.
It's not unusual to see bike racks near buildings that are designed to be accessed from either side that are improperly installed, Luton said.
"There's all sorts of developments where they shove them up against a wall. They become less efficient. You buy a rack that is notionally designed to hold eight bikes or 10 bikes, but if you've pushed it up against a wall, you've cut its capacity in half."
Councillors will be looking at a draft bicycle parking strategy this week. Prepared by consultants Urban Systems Ltd. and Alta Planning and Design, the strategy intends to incorporate best practices and designs from other jurisdictions and makes recommendations on bike rack types and design, and meeting bike parking demand with the likes of bike corrals.
Following the success of the $20,000 covered bike parking in front of Mountain Equipment Co-op, two "bike corrals" were carved out of on-street parking in the 600 block of Johnson Street and the 700 block of Fort Street this spring as part of a pilot by the Downtown Victoria Business Association.
The response has been extremely positive, DVBA general manager Ken Kelly said.
Since the pilot began, the DVBA has received more than 90 comments on the experiment, with 92 per cent from cyclists being positive. Because the corrals aren't covered they were considerably less expensive than the MEC parking — running about $3,500, said Kelly.
"We'll continue this next year and look for other locations," Kelly said.
There's a general reluctance for businesses to give up any on-street parking for anything other than cars. Space for the Johnson Street bike corral was found near the Government Street intersection and did not result in any parking lost. On Fort, the DVBA is looking at relocating the corral, potentially to a space occupied by a planter flanking the mid-block crosswalk on the north side of the street.
Early analysis would suggest there is a need for more of the bike corrals on both a permanent and temporary basis, Kelly said.
"There seems to be pretty substantial use of the bike racks. What we're discovering, however, is these bike racks are used very much by employees who are swinging in and using them for the day.
"We've had some wonderful feedback from consumers who said: 'Give us more.' "
bcleverley@timescolonist.com
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