The Department of Transportation hopes to add 500 new secure bike parking facilities to New York City streets over the next five years as part of an effort to encourage cycling and reduce theft.
The city is looking for companies that can build small and large enclosed storage hubs. Most of the facilities would house around a dozen bikes, occupying one parking space.
The secure bike parking spots would not be free. The transportation department said it had not yet determined the cost. But the city said a key goal of the project is to provide “long-term storage in residential areas” for people who lack the space to keep a bicycle in their home or cannot carry a heavy e-bike up and down stairs.
“As more people ride bikes to get around, including heavier and pricier e-bikes, we must create infrastructure for safe, convenient storage, as one of the many highest and best uses for our roadways,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi wrote in a statement. “New York must be built for people, at the density our growing city requires. These storage lockers will create many more spaces for New Yorkers’ commuting needs on our limited roadway.”
Once DOT chooses a company to build the hubs, the agency will start to identify where they will be located. Officials expect to install the facilities in parking spaces and off the street.
The agency is also planning to build larger bike parking facilities near major transit hubs, with secure spots for dozens of bikes, as well as space for e-bikes, cargo bikes and charging stations.
The plan also calls for the city to install bike racks with built-in locks so cyclists won’t have to carry their own locks.
There are 600,000 bike trips in New York City each day, according to the city. Transportation officials hope that number will increase with better bike parking. The storage containers will also help address a concern familiar to city cyclists: theft. A 2018 survey by the city found that 25% of residents had had a bike stolen.
“It’s great news for city cyclists. The program could lead to innovations that further unlock NYC’s potential as a bike city. One is biking to transit, which is really underdeveloped here but a staple of sustainable transportation in much of the world. The others are additional bike ownership and commuting, which are both held back by the lack of secure parking,” said Jon Orcutt, a former DOT official who now heads the cycling advocacy group Bike New York
But not everyone is a fan.
“Only DOT could come up with a costly multiyear plan, complete with slide-deck community board presentations, visioning sessions and neighborhood listening tours, just to upgrade some bike racks,” City Councilmember Joe Borelli, who represents part of Staten Island, told Gothamist. “Government is always more ‘Parks & Rec’ than ‘House of Cards.’”
Some cyclists were skeptical, too. Robert Hickman, who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and bikes regularly, said he doubted the parking hubs would catch on.
“It’s a great idea for Paris or Tokyo, but I believe it would be a waste of money here in NYC where we have a plethora of mentally ill and nothing is maintained,” Hickman told Gothamist in an email. “At work I park my bike on the street with a Kryptonite yellow [lock] and bring it into my apartment at home. My cycling buddies would never leave one of their fancy bikes in one of these. I would probably find it easier to just lock my bike to a street sign.”
