Green-B Toronto Public Bike Parking

In retrospect it's kinda obvious...

I’ve written before about bike parking at union, but this article is about a bigger, grander vision for bike parking in the city of Toronto. Taking what is currently a hodgepodge of operators, a last minute bike rack, a sketchy room near the garbage cans, and turning it into a world class Bike Parking System.

Currently bike parking in the city is operated by: Toronto Transportation, TTC, Metrolinx, Libraries, Schools, Green-P, BIA’s, Toronto Parks and Rec and likely even more on an ad-hoc basis.

Bike Parking operated by the city can take the form of anything from the post-and-ring (17000+), sketchy rusting bike racks, nicely designed but useless bike racks, Bike Boxes with locks/keys (190), Bike Rooms with showers (4), Bike Sheds and sections of parking lots and garages. Often they are unlabeled, unloved, badly laid out, poorly branded and sometimes broken. It’s often unclear who to contact about them, and if they are full it’s often hard to figure out who to request more from.

New bike parking is often insufficient from day one due to poor planning and understanding of the city by organizations like metrolinx.

Existing secure bike parking is insufficient in both number and the method of implementation - it may require membership, or even a physical key or keycard.

The simple concept of moving the operation, responsibility and in some cases property ownership of these spaces under one organization dedicated to bike parking makes a lot of sense. I propose the following:

1. All existing bike parking facilities and spaces operated by Toronto and it’s related entities be transferred to “Green-B Bike Parking” a new entity which will be part of and owned/operated by the Toronto Parking Authority

2. Green-B Bike Parking will be given an initial 2 year capital infusion to:

   1. Rebrand all bike parking under the Green-B brand

   2. Upgrade all existing bike parking spaces to a best-in-class experience that would include multiple levels of service (from free, to for pay solutions) that include secure bike parking (via presto/credit card/app), e-bike charging, where warranted video and in person security, bike maintenance and other features as determined by staff

   3. Perform a study on a future 5 year capital expansion program that may include:

      1. Designs and plans for >1000 spaces at major transit stations

      2. Identifying partners including UofT, TMU, Hospitals etc. that could be included in the program

      3. Determining demand and expansion plans that may include re-purposing car parking, or other spaces as needed

      4. Coordinate bike parking enhancements with new lanes and emerging traffic patterns

      5. Includes space and priority for bikeshare, cargo bikes, peddled delivery bikes

   4. Begin work to monetize secure bike parking in the core, as well as charging

   5. Draft a comprehensive plan to reduce theft

Toronto Parking Authority is in a unique place as they currently operate a parking system, and bikeshare. By expanding to include things like bike rooms and bike boxes they will be able to use their existing parking infrastructure, payment systems, maintenance and operations force to ensure a world class experience.

They also have recent experience in expanding and improving the bikeshare system, which shares many of the characteristics of a well run free/for-pay bike parking system.

Many other cities have moved in this direction of creating bike parking authorities. With the advent of e-bikes and high instances of theft the humble post-and-ring is no longer sufficient for a lot of users.

Toronto is just lucky because we have the most obvious and easy branding (Green-B) just sitting there waiting to be implemented…