The European Union has moved forward on legislating for at least two bike spaces for every residence to be made mandatory.
The new rules have emerged from the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, a policy designed to achieve a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050, create a stable environment for investment decisions, and enable consumers and businesses to make more informed choices to save energy and money.
The bike parking provision would apply to all types of new and existing residential buildings with more than three car parking spaces.
For existing buildings where it is not feasible to meet the target, authorities will be permitted some flexibility.
Non-residential buildings such as office buildings, shopping centres and entertainment attractions are also covered, although just how is still being debated.
On one side there are those who want to have one bike parking space for every car parking space, while the counter argument is for bike parking spaces to represent at least 15% of the average user capacity of the building.
In Europe, as in the rest of the world, the lack of easily accessible and secure bike spaces have been identified as a major deterrent to regular riding.
The European Cycling Federation has long advocated for minimum bicycle parking mandates in all types of buildings, both new and existing.
“The bicycle is the most energy-efficient mode of transport and has tremendous potential if conditions further improve,” the ECF said.
Bike parking provisions for building in Australia vary wildly, and even where the rules are present, the racks and layout of the installation can be terrible.
As a result Bicycle Network's own Bike Parking team can find itself removing bad bike parking as well as building great new installations.
The good new is that some developers are alert to the advantages and are providing substantially more bike parking than the provisions require.