In Praise of the Humble Bike Rack
You may not think too much about bike racks until you need one. They have become an ubiquitous part of our urban landscape, like trash cans, street lamps, and other fixed objects that urban planners sometimes endearingly refer to as “street furniture.” As transportation in our cities evolves, however, we are finding that they are not nearly ubiquitous enough.
Bike racks have many benefits. The inverted “U” shape steel rack most commonly found in North America was created in Sheffield, England as a way to repurpose excess piping. In the process, a simple solution to secure and convenient public bicycle parking was born. While not as secure as attended bike parking or lockers, galvanized steel racks nonetheless offer the best option for locking your bike while shopping for groceries or getting a haircut.
The rise of dockless bike share and electric scooter share in San Francisco and other cities has underscored the importance of bike racks. One of the main complaints about these services is that bikes and scooters can be left anywhere, often blocking the public right-of-way, which is especially problematic for seniors and people with disabilities. So-called bike or scooter “litter” led to loud public complaints when dockless bike share and scooter share first appeared in San Francisco.
Some cities like New York, Seattle and Denver are experimenting with painted zones or even pods for parking dockless bikes and scooters.
I think we already have the ideal solution: more bike racks.
They are sited on sidewalks and in street corrals in compliance with ADA standards and to allow for emergency vehicle access. JUMP and Skip, two companies that have been issued permits to operate dockless bike and scooter share systems in San Francisco respectively, both feature locking mechanisms and require users to lock up at the end of a trip.
With thousands more bikes and scooters about to hit our streets, we are staring down a bike rack shortage. The good news is that San Francisco currently has thousands of racks in stock, sitting in a warehouse ready to be installed on our sidewalks and streets.
You can help increase the number of bike racks in San Francisco. Request a bike rack today.
It’s free, and the SFMTA says they estimate the time from request to installation to be three-to-four months.
The humble bike rack is more than just a practical solution to parking your ride. More people are choosing to bike and roll in our cities, and we can no longer justify the obscene amount of space we have given over for free to store private automobiles. Between eight and twelve bicycles can fit in just one car parking space.
As we work to reduce our harmful reliance on automobile trips, cities must rapidly build out infrastructure like protected bike lanes to make it safe and easy for people to get around on two wheels. A place to park is part of that infrastructure, and a simple, tested solution can be the key to our mobility future.
