(Sept. 12, 2017) It’s been 20 years since the City of Portland’s Bicycle Parking Code was written and adopted. At the time, the city’s bicycle commute mode split was only 1.2 percent. Today that number has quadrupled to 7 percent, making Portland the city with the highest bike commute rate among major cities in the United States. With that in mind, the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has been working with a stakeholder advisory committee for the past year and a half on an update to the Bicycle Parking Code requirements, in Title 33. The code language regulates the required amount, location, and design of visitor (short-term) and resident/commuter (long-term) bicycle parking spaces for new and redeveloped buildings in Portland. It is our goal that this update will bring our bicycle parking code up to current standards and to help ensure there is adequate, safe and convenient parking for people who ride a bicycle around Portland.
The Bicycle Parking Stakeholder Advisory Committee is comprised of representatives from the development community, bicycle advocates, Portland neighborhoods, Transportation Management Associations, and partner City bureaus, including Bureau of Development Services and Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. The committee provides direction and recommendations to the PBOT Director, and subsequently, to other City Bureaus who will write the actual code language during the next phase of the project.
"Adequate, convenient and usable parking for a variety of bikes and cyclists is an important enabler for the higher bicycle mode shares called for in all our key plans,” said Chris Smith, a member of the Bicycle Parking Stakeholder Advisory Committee.
Over the last 18 months, the stakeholder advisory committee developed a set of recommendations that will be considered in the formal code update process. These recommendations include:
- Update the amount of required short- and long-term bicycle parking to align with City goals
- Increase flexibility in projects, including: 1) The allowance for reduced spacing for rack placement and inclusion of space-saving rack design and 2) a hierarchy of bicycle parking location standards and guidance
- Inclusion of standards to address the usability and accessibility of bicycle racks for all users
- Increase long-term bicycle parking security standards
If you are interested in diving deeper into the specific details of these recommendations and provide your feedback, visit the Bicycle Parking Online Open House. The open house will be available through Monday, September 25.
Otherwise, if you have any questions about the Bicycle Parking Code Update Project, please contact Liz Hormann, elizabeth.hormann@portlandoregon.gov, or 503-823-5086.