In recent years, billions have been invested in cycle roads. Most of the investments have been made in Oslo. The funds are intended to encourage people to cycle more, but little has been done to secure the bicycles when they are parked for a period of time.
WANTS TO INVITE PROPERTY OWNERS TO AN EARLY DIALOGUE: Hedda Heyerdahl, founder of Bikeloop.
-Put the bike on the map early enough, advises Hedda Heyerdahl. She is founder of Bikeloop, a company with solutions for safe bicycle parking adapted to urban areas.
-The idea was to make it simple, smart and safe, so that the risk of theft is not a threshold for using the bike. With Bikeloop's solutions, cyclists can now park safely, regardless of whether the bike has to be parked for half an hour, when the owner is at work or standing in the city center for a night, says founder Hedda Heyerdahl in Bikeloop.
Tjuvholmen first in Oslo
At Tjuvholmen, the first rooms are now open in a public area. There cyclists can park their bikes and there is also space to put a bicycle helmet and other cycling equipment. The challenge with freestanding bike racks and bike hotels is that criminals steal bikes or steal parts from the bikes. In 2023, more than NOK 165 million was paid out in compensation for stolen bicycles. Norwegian Bikeloop's solutions prevent theft in public places, shopping malls, outside businesses and in residential areas, among other places. Each bike is locked in its own room and the user locks it with an app.
The challenge of theft is just as real in many private areas, both in Oslo and in other cities.
-Our solutions secure the bikes, whether you plan for parking outside or inside, says Heyerdahl.
Racks and hotels do not work
It is a national goal to increase the bicycle share to 20 percent. A lot has been invested in better and more coherent cycle routes. Little has been invested in safe parking spaces.
-Many of today's solutions are candy stores for criminals. There are few people who want to put down a cargo bike or other type of bike that can cost up to NOK 100,000 in a rack or in a hotel, where several people have access. What they are concerned about is that the bike is 100 percent safe, and will be there when they return. This means that the bike must be in a single room, she says.
Different solutions for different needs
-We have developed various solutions for bicycle parking. Adapted to different degrees of security from single room to common room. Both the HOUSE, the HUB, and the flexible modular solution FRAME can be adapted to the environments they will be located in. They are all built from environmentally friendly material and can be powered by solar energy or connected to the mains. This makes it far easier to place them wherever cyclists travel, says Heyerdahl.
Proposing to developers
In all development projects, parking for cars is planned when new areas are to be developed. In the future, bicycle parking will be as important to plan as car parking is today.
-The real estate industry should invite us into an early phase, to help ensure that bicycle parking becomes an integral part of the area development. Then it will be both safer to park there and the solution will be adapted to the environment it is in, she says.
Perfect for co-housing
New norms for bicycle parking mean that most construction projects have few parking spaces, and in 2025 additional EU requirements for bicycle parking will come into force. Already, many housing communities have few or no parking spaces for cars, so cycling and public transport are in reality the only options for daily transport.
-Bikeloop is perfect for communities that want to have safe bicycle parking in common areas. Theft from backyards or basements is common in Norwegian cities. Bikeloop secures the bikes better and can be adapted to the area available. With our smart system, we have also developed services in our solutions so that the solutions are adapted to bicycle sharing and home delivery of goods, among other things, says Hedda Heyerdahl.
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