Notes From a Bike Parking Nerd: Long-Term Bicycle Parking

What is long-term bicycle parking?

Compared to short-term parking, long-term bike parking provides greater security and better protection from the elements. It’s designed to meet the bike storage needs of daily bike commuters, housing residents, and public transit users. The likelihood of an individual riding to their final destination is increased when higher-quality, sheltered bike parking is available. Below, we’ll break down the different styles and applications of long-term bike parking.

depot-bf-02The Bike Depot shelter offers fully-enclosed parking for additional security.
Bike Shelters

Fully enclosed, covered bike shelters provide excellent long-term bicycle parking options if the outdoor space is available. Shelters like the Dero Bike Depot and Stratus Shelter™ offer great customizability to accommodate varying levels of security, modular expansion, and styles of bike parking. Two-tiered and vertical bike racks pair especially well with bike shelters, since they can fit more bicycles in less space.

The Kolo Shelter design accommodates two-tiered bike racks.
Bike Lockers

Bicycle lockers provide the highest level of individual bike security, giving users peace of mind when parking their bike for extended periods. Lockers are increasingly popular at transit hubs owing to their modular design and ability to accommodate multimodal transit users. At Dero, we’ve designed an entire line up of two and singled sided bike lockers to fit a wide array of floor plans and design requirements.

veloport-train-02The Veloport™ is an attractive bike locker system that’s both u-lock and padlock compatible.

Indoor Bike Rooms

dd-orange-04xThis bike room in New York, NY combines both vertical and two-tiered bike storage.
Dero’s new employee bike room in their Fridley facility.Indoor bike rooms are designed to restrict access to specific users and are fully sealed off from the weather. Bike rooms can provide the greatest flexibility in types of bike parking to accommodate a variety of users–many developers are providing both space-saving, vertical bike racks in tandem with floor mounted racks. This balances the need for optimizing space constraints while providing options for people of varying abilities and bike styles. Cities like San Francisco stipulate the inclusion of bike rooms in new developments that surpass certain size or zoning dimensions. Additionally, bike rooms can include further bike-friendly amenities like gear lockers, public bike repair, and bike showers.

The new Stratus Shelter accommodates two-tiered and vertical bike parking options.
As ridership grows across the country, the demands placed on long-term bike parking will continue to evolve. We’ve brought our past two decades of design knowledge, engineering, and riding experience to provide industry-leading resources for everyone who wants high quality, secure bike parking. If you want to learn more about other types of bicycle parking, check out our Bike Parking Guide and subscribe to our monthly newsletter.