Roundup of Bike Parking Resources

This post was originally published in October 2023 as part of the League’s co-authored release of the AARP Bike Audit Tool Kit. The resources below, including the interactive map, have been updated in May 2025 to include new resources and examples, including an updated section with e-bike storage and charging-related resources. 

Bike parking is the infrastructure that we sometimes take for granted, but it is a critical deciding factor in helping more people choose to bike for functional, everyday trips. It’s something every business, university or college, and community should be striving to implement, improve, and maintain.

If you’re looking to add new bike parking, or upgrade some older racks – look no further! 

Over the years, we’ve shared many bike parking resources and best practices to make it easier for local advocates and decision makers to select and implement safe, secure, convenient, and accessible bike parking for everyone who wants to arrive at their destination by bike. Here is our round-up of some of the League’s favorite bike parking resources. 

What does good bike parking even look like?

If you want to get inspired about how good your bike parking can be, check out our Ode to Great Bike Parking, originally published in the League’s Winter 2022 magazine, American Bicyclist. 

What makes good bike parking great bike parking?

First, the basics: The APBP Bike Parking Guidelines provide the gold standard for what good bike parking entails. All of the Bicycle Friendly America applications reference APBP guidelines, and it is the standard we expect every city, business, and campus to use when selecting and installing bike parking. The free version of the guide includes all the most important criteria for secure bike parking, while a longer paid version goes into more detail about bike parking capacity, etc. 

If you’re in a campus setting (corporate or academic), Dero also has some great resources about bike parking for campuses (plus a Campus Bike Program Guide!) and you might also want to check out the campus bike parking solutions resources from another Bicycle Friendly Business in the bike parking industry, Ground Control Systems.

What about safe storage and charging for electric bikes and e-micromobility? 

More and more, the safe storage and charging of e-bikes is an important consideration, especially for any longer-term bike parking such as in office buildings, residential buildings, campus dorms, etc. 

Once again we have some great resources from our friends in the bike parking industry: Dero’s E-bike Accommodation Guide for Architects and Property Owners and Sportworks’ resources on E-Bike Parking in Higher Education and Beyond.  Finally, the League has partnered with  UL Standards & Engagement to produce a 2025 Report on E-Bikes on College & University Campuses.

Cities, campuses, and property managers are also starting to think about scooter and other micromobility parking needs as well, particularly with the increase of shared micromobility in many cities. 

How can I make bike parking more accessible?

It is essential to make sure that good bike parking is as convenient and accessible to everyone as possible. That means ensuring racks can accommodate all sizes and styles of bikes, including adaptive bikes, cargo bikes, and again, e-bikes that might need to charge up.  Spacing between racks, rack type, and ramps/doors leading to bike parking make a huge difference in how accessible it is. 

🆕 2025 Update: Our Bike Parking Best Practices Map now has a category filter to find bike parking policies and design guidelines that specify accommodation requirements for adaptive cycles, cargo bikes, and other non-standard sized bikes. 

Another accessibility consideration is how easy and intuitive it is to locate your bike parking, and so we strongly encourage businesses to advertise their bike parking. Particularly if you’re a customer-focused business, make sure the exact location of your guest bike parking is included on the ‘Location’ or ‘Contact Us’ page of your website so newcomers can plan ahead and know what to expect when they arrive on bike. (This really might make the difference between someone choosing to bike to your destination or not!)

How do you make sure your community has high standards for plentiful, secure, and convenient bike parking?

First, make sure there are policies and plans in place to support high-quality bike parking. 

If you’re working with your municipality or metropolitan planning organization (MPO) to improve bike parking in your community, encourage them to adopt an ordinance requiring bike parking at all new and existing developments, as well as design guidelines to ensure the proper quantity and quality is provided. Check out this model bicycle parking ordinance from Change Lab Solutions, as well as some of the local examples of policies, design guides, and related programs from real Bicycle Friendly Communities by exploring the Bike Parking Best Practices map below.

Note this map has been updated with many new examples in 2025! If you have a resource or link that should be added to the map, please email suggestions to [email protected]. 

A note on public vs. private space

Not all sidewalks, parking lots, or businesses are owned or operated by the city or municipality. When considering or requesting a bike rack in a certain location, it is usually up to the property owner to install and maintain the rack, though they may be able to request assistance from the city through programs like the examples above. You can usually find out who owns the area in question by asking the business owner or looking it up on a city’s website. Most private businesses like a grocery store are not owned by the city and so you will have to work with the store’s owner to get a bike rack(s) installed.

If requesting a bike rack to be installed on city-owned property, outside of a business, it is common courtesy to notify the nearby businesses that a rack is getting installed and you can even have a conversation about the best location for it.

How do cities pay for bike parking? 

• Most cities use general funds to pay for public bike parking, or rely on public-private partnerships or cost sharing with local businesses and institutions. 
• Find a list of all the U.S. DOT grants that can fund bicycle parking (and many other bike infrastructure and programming categories!)

Looking to justify the expense of new bike parking, whether for a local business or your city or town’s general budget? Check out these studies that show the value of bike parking: 

• Reconnecting to the New Majority – Secure bike parking is highly valued — most groups identified it as the second most important intervention for better biking. 
• Bicycling Benefits Business – Bike-accessible businesses, like Bicycle Friendly Businesses, experience economic benefits by catering to these customers.
• The Power of Bicycle Parking – a report from Transportation Alternatives out of New York City to support increasing the quantity, quality, and visibility of bike parking. After all, access to secure bicycle parking is the number two reason determining whether someone chooses to ride a bike or not.
• With bike theft on the rise in many cities over the past several years, one of the best arguments for investing in better bike parking is to help deter bike theft. For an academic argument on the topic, see Bicycle parking security and built environments – a journal article that examines the association between the built environment and bike theft as an issue that discourages bicycling.