Introduction

Cycling Campaign member David Timoney, who has been involved in bike parking standards for a numbers of years, together with other Cycling Campaign members, visited some of the recently built apartment complexes to assess the quality of the bike parking. As we know, quality of bike parking is a key factor when owners and tenants are deciding whether or not to use a bike for travel in the city.

Apartment building guidelines published in the last few years acknowledge that “bike use and bike parking is important in context of Government policy to achieve more sustainable urban development, enabling more households to live closer to their places of work without the need for long commuter journeys and disruption of personal and family time. Enabling citizens to more easily get around our cities and urban areas is a fundamental planning concern and maximising accessibility of apartment residents to public transport and other sustainable transport modes is a central theme of these guidelines”.

Background

10 years ago Dublin Cycling Campaign arranged visits to apartment blocks around Dublin to highlight the poor quality of bike parking provision. A group of Councillors, a few TD’s and city officials joined us on the visits where we highlighted the link between the poor quality of bike parking and (1) the high incidence of bike theft and (2) the low level of bike use in apartment blocks. In many cases apart from the low quality racks and lack of a secure enclosure leading to theft, many people were reluctant to use the bike racks due to the bike storage being tucked away in unlit corners of underground car parks.

Following on from this advocacy work, when revised apartment guidelines from the department of housing were issued in 2018, much improved bike parking guidance was included based on the Campaign’s recommendations. A bike parking guide we produced in 2017 is referenced in the department’s apartment guidelines. Our recent visits therefore, were to check whether these stricter guidelines had in fact improved the provision of bike parking.

The key elements of our recommendations (see below) were included in the national guidelines (2020 guidelines updated in 2023 but with no change to bike parking guidelines).
https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritag…

Location

– cycle storage facilities should be directly accessible from the public road or from a shared private area that gives direct access to the public road avoiding unnecessarily long access routes with poor passive security or, slopes that can become hazardous in winter weather.

Quantity

– a general minimum standard of 1 cycle storage space per bedroom shall be applied. For studio units, at least 1 cycle storage space shall be provided. Visitor cycle parking shall also be provided at a standard of 1 space per 2 residential units. Any deviation from these standards shall be at the discretion of the planning authority and shall be justified with respect to factors such as location, quality of facilities proposed, flexibility for future enhancement/enlargement, etc.

Design

– cycle storage facilities shall be provided in a dedicated facility of permanent construction, preferably within the building footprint or, where not feasible, within an adjacent or adjoining purpose built structure of permanent construction. Cycle parking areas shall also be designed so that cyclists feel personally safe - secure cage/compound facilities, with electronic access for cyclists and CCTV, afford an increased level of security for residents. Effective security for cycle storage is also maximised by the provision of individual cycle lockers and it is best practice that planning authorities ensure that either secure cycle cage/compound or preferably locker facilities are provided. This last element “preferably locker facilities” was not one of our recommendations and is not something we particularly like. A proper enclosure with sturdy racks and well locked bikes generally solves the theft issue thereby avoiding the need for expensive and bulky lockers. While lockers may be complementary, they are certainly not an alternative to bike enclosures.

Management

• an acceptable quality of cycle storage requires a management plan that ensures the effective operation and maintenance of cycle parking, in particular, avoiding arrangements that lead to a significant number of lockers being left locked whilst empty for instance. Cycle parking shall be the subject of a funded maintenance regime that ensures that facilities are kept clean, free of graffiti, well-lit and the parking equipment will be properly maintained. It is essential, therefore, that as far as possible cycle parking is low maintenance, easy to use and easy and attractive to use by residents.

What is was like before

When we visited 10 years ago we generally found toaster/wheel racks tucked away in corners with abandoned bikes and bikes with all but the front wheel missing, where the rest of the bike had been stolen. In addition we saw lots of bikes stored on balconies with residents afraid to leave them in the car park due to a well founded fear of theft. It was a depressing sight. It certainly didn’t encourage people living in apartment blocks to own bikes.

A Look at 2 Recently Completed Apartment Complexes

#1 Glass Bottle Dublin 4.

One of the biggest developments in Dublin with over 3,000 apartments and up to 10,000 population planned by the end. First phase is being built with the first 500 buy to let apartments finished and mostly occupied. For such a key central location it’s crucial that we get the bike parking right. Images from this new complex are shown above this article.

Quantity of bike racks

There are roughly 500 bike spaces, 1 for each of the 500+ apartments in phase 1. Access to the bike shed is via a broad bright open staircase which exits at ground level in a communal area. The stairs have bike rails for going up with a grip and going down have a brush to slow the bike down. Bikes could use the main car entrance although the ramp is a bit steep for bikes and no segregated path on ramp for bikes.

Bike security:

Strong metal cages with fob access and cctv gives a high degree of bike security. The 500 spaces are divided into 3 separate bike cages of ~ 170 spaces each.

Bike shed location:

Situated in the centre of the parking area (we wont call it car parking area anymore as the bike parking dominates the central space with cars parked around the perimeter of the underground parking area). Personal security: The cages are made of metal where people can see in and out. They are bright, in the middle of the car park, have CCTV and there should be no issues of feeling personally insecure.

Rack type/quality:

They are 2 tier racks with power assistance. While ground level Sheffield Hoops are preferred by bike users and for bike security, the volume of bike spaces required under the regulations means that 2 tier racks are employed.

Visitor parking

We saw quite a bit of visitor parking but not sure whether the requirement of 1 space per 2 apartments is met.

Overall impression

Very good with proviso that we would prefer to see Sheffield Hoops on ground level if the quantity guidelines can be met.

Areas for improvement

. Cycling Campaign to see whether a combination of Sheffield hoops on the ground with power assisted 2nd tier additional racks at the higher level could comply with quantity guidelines (1 space per apartment). Signage:
We suggested that greater clarity of directional signage to the bike storage areas, and additional floor and wall signage be added to guide people to the bike enclosures.

#2 Shore Club, Beach Road, Dublin 4.

This is an apartment complex of 120 apartments all for sale. It is on the old site of Crawfords Garage in Sandymount and is a few hundred metres from the Glass Bottle site. Like Glass Bottle, the bike parking enclosure in the underground parking area is in the centre of the space with car parking around the perimeter.

Access to the bike shed

This is via stairs from the main road. The stairs are quite steep and narrow with no rail for bikes. People would really have to carry their bikes up the steep stairs which wont encourage use of bikes. Bikes could use the main car entrance although the ramp is a bit steep for bikes and there is no segregated path on ramp for bikes.

Bike security

Quite good metal cages with fob access gives a high degree of bike security.

Quantity.

There is 1 bike enclosure with roughly 1 space per apartment

Bike shed location

Like the Glass Bottle site, the bike parking enclosure in the underground parking area is in the centre of the space with car parking around the perimeter.

Personal security

The cages are made of metal where people can see in and out. They are bright, in the middle of the car park and there should be no issues of feeling personally insecure.

Rack type/quality:

They have installed a mix of Sheffield Hoops on the floor level with additional racks at a 2nd level. The 2nd tier racks (as in photo) were needed to make up the total quantity needed of 120 spaces.

Visitor parking:

We saw some visitor parking but it’s unlikely the requirement of 1 space per 2 apartments was met.

Overall impression

The bike shed and use of Sheffield hoops on the ground level we liked. The access via stairs is not ideal and will not encourage people to use the bike shed. The site is quite small overall and fitting 120 apartments in may have meant the bike access was compromised.

Next Steps:

Visit more apartment complexes to record bike parking and report back.
Encourage more use of clearly visible signage to bike parking
See whether a combination of bottom tier Sheffield Hoops plus top tier racks is possible.
Eventually compile a report and meet with department officials to see whether updated guidelines might be issued.