The purpose of this resource is to encourage students to wheel to school by providing secure parking options for their bikes, scooters, and/or skateboards.
Description
Providing a place for students to park their “wheels” at school is a simple infrastructure change to encourage more active transportation. There are many different types of parking facilities (e.g., racks, fenced-in secure areas), and some work for just one type of wheeled option while others work for a combination (e.g., racks that can store both scooters and skateboards).
Bikes and scooters should each be considered separately when determining the amount and type of parking needed to adequately serve the student population, and where best to locate it. The resources listed here can help a school or school board navigate the planning, purchase, and installation process.
Choosing a good quality design is important, as there are many bike racks on the market that look nice but aren’t actually very practical or secure to use! A good storage rack should be anchored to the ground and have a structure that supports each bike/scooter to stay upright and enables the owner to lock the frame directly to the rack (rather than only locking a wheel). Storage racks should be located in a spot that is visible, convenient, accessible, secure, and safe from vehicular traffic.
Schools can often get better value for money on bicycle and scooter parking installations if it is led by the school board or municipality as part of a bulk purchase order, and/or as an incentive for participating in local programming.
What you will need
- A suitable location within the school site
- Funds to purchase high-quality storage racks
- A contractor to install the storage racks
Who can help
Principal and school board staff for installation, parents and community partners for fundraising efforts.
Resources
Ride Skate & Scoot: A Guide for School Storage Facilities by the Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region provides practical guidance on planning, designing, and maintaining bike, scooter, and skateboard parking at schools.
Key words
Student, active transportation, cycling, bicycle, scooter, skateboard, parking, storage, safety, wheel, rack, bike.