jon c. 

Municipalities require car parking and sidewalks, so I don't think requiring bike racks would be unreasonable if there was demonstrable community need. Every free standing business might be unnecessary, but every strip mall might make sense. Like all zoning it should ideally be a community decision based on the needs of that community. And should allow reasonable flexibility to meet individual situations.

Bike racks would be a relatively minor imposition. In my rural area a business out on the highway recently had to rebuild after a fire. They were required to build 1/4 mile of sidewalk in front of their building. It's about 6 miles to the next piece of sidewalk and this expensive strip of concrete won't connect to another sidewalk in my lifetime. No one will ever walk on it. I'm sure they would rather have been required to add a bike rack.

SurferRosa

If your grocery getter is a beautiful bicycle, then you can shop inside with it and nobody will care. I use the 1975 Motobécane Grand Record. It's gorgeous, and there's no way I would lock it outside anyway.

genec

This was done primarily to discourage homeless folks from locking their belongings in a manner that blocks public ways. But since it it includes poles, on sidewalks, it can apply to any bike.

​​​​​​​A few residents expressed concern to the council that the ordinance is too broadly written.

I-Like-To-Bike

I suspect that in most establishments "nobody" will care how gorgeous a bicycle is, and permission for bringing it inside is up to the proprietor/store manager's policy, regardless of how valuable or gorgeous the bicycle owner may think his/her bicycle; store policy may have more to do with space restrictions, fire codes, cleanliness, or the mood of whomever is watching the door. Threatening to take your business elsewhere unless permission is granted to roll your bicycle down the aisle or park it next to your table will probably fall on deaf ears. There may be exceptions in businesses that cater to entitled bicyclists but don't expect "everybody" to be so tolerant.

SurferRosa

Actually, I think people care a lot about what customers look like. Well groomed and free of grime and debris goes a long way.

I-Like-To-Bike

True, but most people in charge of business establishments don't consider bicycles as part of their customers' attire, nor care if their human customers are emotionally attached to their bicycle, even if it is gorgeous.

SurferRosa

When they see me, they do.

dedhed

​​​​​​https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibr...neJuly2017.pdf

I-Like-To-Bike

Picture?

SurferRosa

Imagine a 50 yr old cyclist in a wool sweater and cycling cap pushing a skinny bicycle, minding his own business, always getting out of other people's way, and not saying a word other than to quickly thank people when they say, "nice bike, I wouldn't lock it up either."

Rolla

I don't want my city government to require every retail establishment to purchase and install a bike rack. I mean, why stop there? Make them supply a lock, a charging station, and a repair stand, too. It's only money, right?

Seems to me it would be more effective to just talk to a few business owners or shopping center management and ask a few stores to go in on one, or start a Go Fund Me or something less intrusive than a law targeting small businesses.

Daniel4

If businesses can afford the price of real estate for free parking, then bike racks are good investments. NYC and Toronto studies found that increased bicycle traffic translates to improved business.

Calsun

The only safe place to leave a bike is inside a metal locker and these are very expensive. It takes 10 seconds to cut through any bike lock using an inexpensive cordless grinder with a $5 cut-off wheel.
What I have done is develop a relationship with businesses so they would allow me to bring my bike inside while I shopped.

I buy my groceries with a car and buy enough to last my wife and I for at least two weeks. We combine the grocery run with other errands in the area and do not make a special trip for food items. A game changer for us was buying a 7 cu ft upright freezer at the start of the pandemic. It pulls less than 2 amps to run and so the electrical consumption is negligible. It hold 4-5 times as much as the freezer section of our fridge so we make trips downstairs to the big freezer and avoid making trips to grocery stores.

Our focus on our carbon footprint is with solar on the roof and a plug-in hybrid car and having reduced our meat and dairy consumption by 90%. If you ride a bike everywhere but eat the typical American diet that is very high in beef and pork you have done little to reduce your footprint.

flangehead

Though handicapped parking spots are required by law in my jurisdiction, many businesses go above and beyond to cater to other clientele:

Only available lockup at a big box electronics retailer.

I-Like-To-Bike

Your concern for the environment is noted, but it has little to do with the thread topic. People who claim that they would ride their bike to local destinations in order to reduce their carbon footprint, if only there were "good" bike racks installed in front of all businesses, aren't trying very hard.

Robvolz 

I live in portland or. Certain biz are required to install a rack of some sort. The city will provide a boring one but most have a fun or themed one designed for them.

As a wine bar owner, mine was shaped like a barrel.

down the street at an orthodontist, the rack looked like braces.

maybe portland, being a platinum city is more bike friendly, but I would be turning away customers or be forced to allow bikes inside if I didn’t have a rack.

Troul 

too much risk of being a victim of vandalism for the local area, therefore, I wouldn't require any business to accommodate such a thing. it might be more suitable for "nicer" areas, but those areas tend to have big SUVs & very little activity from cyclists.

Daniel4

If enough cyclists do that with the same business owners, one of the owners is going to get a light bulb moment and have bike racks installed outside rather than have all these bicycles inside their shops.

I-Like-To-Bike

I'd like to see pictures of successful business establishments that let any significant number of patrons bring "all these bicycles" inside the building while shopping or conducting business unless it was directly related to work on the bicycle.

livedarklions

A few months ago, I did have to pass up a place for lunch because there was literally noting O could see that would have been a good place to lock my bike--not even a street sign. And I am not at all picky. But it was a weird exceptional experience, though. More commonly, in urban environments, I will find all of the plausible places to lock up taken up by other bikes.

I-Like-To-Bike

More a problem in some European locations than found almost anywhere in the U.S.










Then again there sometimes could be found exceptions in the U.S.

Davis California 1963, Photo by Ansel Adams

retswerb

Induced demand is real for cycling just as it is for driving. I wouldn't necessarily support legislation requiring existing businesses to install bike racks, but updating code in order to require new construction to include them seems like common sense.

Troul 

i'd rather legislation allow for businesses & even residential units to have non taxable indoor secure stowage for such property to encourage ped use of cycling.

For how big a business or residential should be granted the non taxable permit to build such a structure, that'd have to be determined by the majority imo.

retswerb

Sure, that makes perfect sense. I guess rather than racks specifically, I mean bike parking/storage of various sorts. Options are great.

mschwett 

an overreach? what? only if you consider all zoning and related public safety requirements (sidewalks, appropriate drainage, exits…) an overreach.

almost all municipalities in america require automobile parking in ridiculously high amounts for most land uses. requiring a tiny amount of proportionally cheap bike parking is not an overreach, and that’s why many, many municipalities are beginning to require it. it’s been required of all new developments in most of the bay area for a decade or two.