Bicycle Parking Guidelines Adopted in Durham Region
Image: Bicycle parking at Regional headquarters.
For the past few months I have had the pleasure of working with WSP Canada and The Regional Municipality of Durham on new Bicycle Parking Guidelines. On March 25, 2026, the Guidelines were adopted by Council!
As a subs-consultant to WSP, I led community engagement efforts to inform the Guidelines. We hosted a series of pop-ups, site visits, and focus groups in partnership with local organizations, schools, and businesses, as well as a public survey, Public Information Centre (PIC), and partner workshops. The feedback we received was really insightful.
Image: Focus group session with staff at the Abilities Centre.
The Region has shared a full copy of the Engagement Summary prepared by Stuckless Consulting Inc. online. Some of the things that stood out most to me included:
Access to safe and secure bicycle parking is a very important factor for people when choosing whether or not to ride their bicycle (70% survey respondents).
Satisfaction was low with current bicycle parking (61% of survey respondents dissatisfied), with women more likely to report being dissatisfied. The most used type of bicycle parking was “locked to a non-bike rack structure” (42% of survey respondents).
People are keen to see more bicycle parking at everyday destinations such as grocery stores, plazas, schools, parks, malls, and transit stops.
People want to park their bicycles somewhere that they will be highly visible. Many businesses reported customers, members, and staff using pipes, fences, etc. to lock their bicycles in view of their front door, as opposed to using bicycle racks provided further away from the building.
Not wanting to carry a heavy lock is a common barrier to cycling — we heard this at nearly every community event, especially from youth.
Bicycle parking should be easy to access from the bicycle network (aka. not on the other side of a giant parking lot with no safe cycling route or pathway).
Libraries are cool! Several branches across the Region providing free access to bike locks, which can be checked out for the day with a library card. The program was started after observing library users, mainly youth, leaning their bicycles up against the library, and is advertised using stickers on nearby bicycle racks.
Image: Stickers on a bicycle rack near the library promoting their lock lending program.
The Guidelines are meant to be a resource for all staff, municipalities, organizations, businesses, developers, and partners throughout Durham Region. I look forward to seeing how the Guidelines are implemented.
Image: Our Public Information Centre in the lobby of the recreation centre.
Image: Bike-about with members of the Durham Region Bicycle Coalition