What makes a city bike-friendly?
Bike infrastructure doesn't have to be a puzzle with a thousand pieces.
Many think the most significant hurdles are weather, city size, and how the land is shaped. But guess what? Those factors have a small impact, especially now with e-bikes becoming popular. What counts are bike lanes that are maintained all year long, cleaned from ice and snow, and shaded from the intense sun. What’s the most important is to feel safe in proximity to cars. Plus, having a safe and accessible spot indoors to store your bike and practical public bike parking makes the difference. It's a formula that makes excellent bike infrastructure for your city.
Join me as we dive deep into public bike parking—what's been going wrong and how to make it more accessible.
What is great bike parking?
Bike racks are not as regulated as car parking. Exploring their design and functionality can lead to creating a biking handbook for Stockholm or any city. But where to start?
Here is a bulletproof way of detecting useless bike racks or lack of good ones - a bike chained to a pole, a street sign, or on the bike rack but in a completely wrong way.
No rack on this street in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
Spiral bike rack in front of a building in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
The list
Since I didn’t find any proper criteria for evaluating bike parking, I decided to make my own. Based on years of bike riding experience and conversations with fellow casual cyclists, I made the following criteria:
Bikes can be easily rolled into a frame
Simple and effective locking process
Ensures both the wheel and frame are securely locked
Bikes have room between themselves and any obstacles
Easy to use in any weather conditions
Enhances bicycle stability
Spiral bike racks
Meet the villain. Spiral racks are the worst investment a city can make. They don’t have a way to chain a bicycle to the frame. I avoid these and will choose to search for better parking. Most people will only lock their front wheel, which can be stolen in seconds.
Quick front wheel release (1)
A wheel and bike without a wheel in Solna, Stockholm County
A spiral rack can also bend your wheel. As it nears full occupancy, the frame becomes increasingly inconvenient to use. You will need to jam your bicycle onto others, possibly damaging them. Not to mention that bending down towards the wheel and locking it is nearly impossible.
Spiral bike rack in front of a building in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
Let’s see how this poor atrocity scores on our list:
Chain bike racks.
These make me angry. Chain bike racks are entirely ridiculous. How would you use these? Let me give you a hint! You need to yank on the chain hard to pull it out of the metal casing, hold it in one hand, and lock your bike with the other. Whose brilliant idea was it to add moving parts to bike parking? Not only does this make them more expensive, but it also introduces weather and accessibility issues. While the chain is wet, which will happen on rainy days, it becomes slippery and hard to pull. During winter, the moisture freezes on the inside, locking the chain in place. An average person will struggle to pull the chain and lock the bike. Biking needs to be inclusive. It’s not only for Tour de France lycra dudes. We want your grandma to bike to a local shop and chain her bike without struggling. But I can guarantee this: this bike parking looks beautiful in architectural renderings shown to clients. The solution becomes particularly frustrating when you consider this is in Sweden. We are not a sunny, warm country with occasional rain and cold bursts. Having an infrastructure that is designed for cold days is a necessity.
Rusty chain
Chain rack close to the train station in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
U-bike racks
A simple inverted U-shaped metal bar. It's as simple as it sounds. And guess what? These are the items we require everywhere.
U-shaped bike rack next to the tram station in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
The designer must ensure ample space between them if they are not connected at the bottom. This way, easy rolling in and out of the frame and smooth locking can still be guaranteed. So buying the ones already connected is better in case of a small budget or temporary placement. (2)
Connected bike racks next to Lötsjönsparken in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
Connected bike racks close to the train station in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
What are some other options for bike racks besides U-racks?
While U-racks are a staple, other options serve the purpose reasonably well. The bike poles in the picture below are tolerable and probably the most common in Stockholm. But they have flaws. These poles, designed as single columns, offer minimal stability for bikes. As we see, the bike is tipping over.
I prefer when cities choose inverted U-bike racks instead, especially in front of grocery stores. Cyclists often shop with bike panniers. A classic inverted U-shaped bike rack would provide better balance.
Bike tipping over in Solna, Stockholm County
Hanging racks
Sweden isn’t the only place where you discover a silly rack here and there. This ‘masterpiece’ takes place in Bruges, Belgium. The only advantage to this rack is that it can fit a bike in a narrow space, but the issue is that the space it was installed in was actually quite wide. This makes the rack completely useless, so the rack falls flat on the score. You can also diagonally put U-bike racks in a narrow space to save space, so the whole thing is a bit absurd.
Hanging bikes in Bruges, Belgium
Art
You might have seen these on the internet before. I prefer them because they provide better stability. They also show awareness of how much space a car takes vs. a bike.
Bike rack in Brussels, Belgium
Bike parking can also be a great source of street art. We can see an excellent example from Sofia: the racks are big Cyrillic letters. Installations like this can be valuable pieces in many public areas. And who doesn't like an incredible art installation, especially if it is useful? But we should never forget that bike parking needs to be functional, not decorative. Some of the letters could be more useful in their role of bike parking. I am still waiting to see a similar installation in Stockholm. Send me the coordinates if you know about any!
Ciliric letters as bike racks in Sofia, Bulgaria
Not sure if this is a useful letter
Intervention
Look at one of the worst bike racks I have ever seen.
Concrete bike rack in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County
I lied. When I said spiral racks were the villain, I wanted to ensure you understand where rock bottom is. The concrete bike rack is below it. You put your wheel into the small dent in the concrete and lock it using the tiny metal hole on the side. The concrete gap is barely large enough to fit a front wheel with regular-sized bicycle tires, and it cannot fit the rear wheel at all due to the gear mechanism.
The only way to improve it is to burn it to the ground. Once the fire is extinguished and the ashes are cleared, I would like to provide proper U-rack bike parking that takes up the same space.
Potential bike parking in front of a swimming pool in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County.
An ideal solution is to provide an air pump to the parking station. In this case, I will skip it since there is an easily accessible air pump at Duvbo metro station, which is a two-minute walking distance from this point. Ideally, there would be an air pump every 10-15 minutes walking.
Map Simhall- T bana
Very close to the swimming pool entrance, there is coverage for strollers. If the municipality provides shelter for strollers, why wouldn’t one be for bikes? That is the ultimate solution. It gives extra protection from rain, sun, and snow. The coverage helps prevent damage to bicycles and extends their lifespan.
Potential bike parking in front of a swimming pool in Sundbyberg, Stockholm County (3)
And here we are, with my dream bike parking, right where needed.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for reading my first blog post about urban planning. For a long time, I wanted to write and make illustrations of Stockholm and other cities. If you're into urban planning from a Euro-centric viewpoint, join in for upcoming content by subscribing. I'll discuss biking, using public spaces, bringing back traditional architecture, and more. I'm an architect and urban planner, studied at KTH in Stockholm, and have been working in this field for four years.
Source
1 Front-wheel release - YouTube link:
2 Choosing a bike rack - Ivanda, V. (2022) Odabir stalaka za bicikle - Sindikat biciklista, Sindikat biciklista. Available at: https://sindikatbiciklista.hr/odabir-stalaka-za-bicikle
3 Bike Shelter from Landmark Street Furniture - Sunderland Cantilever Cycle Shelter | Cycle Shelter Manufacturers (2023). Available at: https://landmarkstreetfurniture.com/products/sunderland-gullwing-cycle-shelter