Replacing car parking with cycle parking

When comparing the cost of providing bike parking with that of providing car parking, bike parking is the clear winner. Ten bikes can fit in the space of one car and, with the average car carrying only 1.2 people, significantly more shopping power can be served per m² with cycle parking than with car parking. Nonetheless, as we pointed out  earlier, there is always a tension among various groups for the use of public space. For the past 50 years, a large portion of our public space has been turned over to the private car and people have planned their lives accordingly, making it difficult to change old habits.

But experiments are being tried to replace car parking with cycle parking in city centres in a range of places that do not currently have a high level of cycling. Three examples from three different continents follow.