The bicycle is a small and very versatile mean of transportation. To make your restaurant, supermarket, parking lot or store into a bike friendly place is very easy. But depending on your concern, it’s possible to make some bigger changes in order to be able to welcome cyclists as first class clients. You can take some simple measures such as allowing cyclists to leave their bikes on small reserved area or you can build a full bike parking with access control. That will depend on how big your business is and the available resources you have. Some items that should be considered.

1.Space
How much space do you need? How many cyclists will you be able to attend? Start small, but you should foresee the possibility of expanding. Try to offer enough space to fit the bikes. Remember that it’s possible to fit 10 bikes in the same space required to park one car.

2.Practicality
Avoid bike racks that allow chaining the bike only by its wheel. They do not offer enough safety and they might damage the bike. The models that leave the bicycle on a vertical position are also inconvenient. An example of good design and simplicity is the one that looks like an inverted U.

3.Comfort
You should consider a bike-parking that is not exposed to weather, especially if the bike is going to stay there for a long period of time. The rain is very harmful to the bike parts, so can be the sun, which can make the bike seat too hot, what might be uncomfortable and can cause damage to the seat. You should also avoid places close to unloading areas, trash cans or some other place that might be dirty or smell bad.

4.Location
This and the next two items are directly related. Make sure that the bicycle parking place is not too far, which might discourage the use and show disregard towards the cyclists.

5.Visibility
In many cases there are no indications that there is a bicycle parking facility. Many cyclists may not feel like asking for a place to park and just leave. Make it clear that cyclists are welcome.

6.Accessibility
Avoid places that you have to go through narrow passages, bumpy ground, too many people going by, stairs or other obstacles in order to get to it.

7.Lighting
During the day that’s easy, but if you are going to have cyclists at night time too, make sure that the lighting is good.

8.Security
Make sure there’s no danger of theft. The best option is to place the bike parking where it can be visible all the time. If that’s not possible, there should be someone to guard the bikes or the place should have restricted access.

9.Special treatment
Use your imagination. Offer discounts, gifts and/or prizes to cyclists.