Bike lockers in apartment complex, Palo Alto, CA, where all new and renovating buildings must provide bicycle storage. Photo: David Perry.

Bicycle Lockers

Bicycle lockers are a compromise between the security of parking a bicycle indoors and the vagaries of leaving one chained outside. They are a staple in Palo Alto and other “bicycle-friendly” cities on the West Coast, and on the Washington, DC metro transit system, where space is more readily available and theft and vandalism less endemic. Locker space is typically rented to cyclists on a first-come, first-served basis for periods ranging from several months to a year.

Although lockers have been considered problematic in New York City as potential magnets for vandalism, they would be less vulnerable in public areas such as lobbies or guarded plazas (although ordinary racks might suffice in such places). The best use for bike lockers in New York is probably at transportation hubs — central railroad stations, airports and commuter train stops —where security personnel are posted and there is a potential niche for relatively long-term bicycle parking (see Chapter 9: Bicycles and Transit). Where lockers are problematic, an alternative is to install guarded check rooms and/or to create bicycle parking areas in garages at rail junctions.