No Place to Park: Closing Sunnyvale's Bike Parking Gap
Biking to destinations in Sunnyvale is difficult not just because of the dearth of safe bikeways, but also because of the lack of bike parking at your destination. Try going to a supermarket, a dentist, or a hair salon, and chances are, you won't find a bike rack. Of the small fraction of places that provide a bike rack, the bike rack is substandard such that you can't use a U-lock to lock to your bike frame. The scarcity of usable bike parking is a problem for a city that's trying to grow its bike ridership. You're not going to bike to your destination if there's no place to lock your bike. In contrast, all these destinations provide a large car parking lot. So you end up driving because car parking is guaranteed.
I did some research into the City of Sunnyvale's requirements for bike parking. The City does require a minimum number of bike parking spaces at commercial and office destinations. Since 2013, the Sunnyvale Municipal Code 19.46.150 on Bicycle Parking requires that non-residential developments provide bike parking equal to 5% of car parking. Although 5% is better than 0%, this muni code is problematic in that bike parking is tied to car parking. With the minimum car parking requirements reduced to 0 in some situations, this means bike parking would be undesirably reduced to 0 as well.
Luckily, the above muni code was superceded in 2025 by a superior standard, the California Green Building Standards Code, which Sunnyvale adopted. CALGreen, as the state's green building code is nicknamed, requires that there be enough short-term bike parking for 20% of peak daily visitors. It also helpfully specifies that the bike rack be permanently anchored within 200 feet of the visitors' entrance, and be readily visible by passers-by, so you don't have to go hunting around for the bike rack. It also specifies that long-term bike parking be lockable and equal to 10% of tenant-occupants.
So the laws are there. Why, then, is there a dearth of bike parking? It turns out, like with many city codes, these codes apply only to new developments or to significant renovations of existing developments. The codes do not apply to existing developments that have not undergone significant renovations since the adoption of these codes. Most centers have not undergone significant renovations since 2013, so they continue as "legal non-conforming" developments with zero bike parking. How significant must a renovation be to trigger bike parking conformance? If it's just a re-striping of an existing parking lot, or a new business replaces a similar size business, then that will not trigger the requirement to provide bike parking. But, if a new business expecting to attract a larger clientele moves in, then it would trigger conformance to the latest bike parking requirements. How will you know whether a renovation triggers bike parking? To be certain, ask for the building permit of the renovation via MySunnyvale. If you find that the development is not adhering to bike parking requirements, you can ask the city to investigate and enforce conformance.
Even if a commercial center or office complex can legally provide zero bike parking, there is nothing stopping them from providing bike parking. Bike parking is inexpensive to install and maintain, unlike car parking, and the benefits are obvious. For several years, the City of Sunnyvale has had a bike rack installation program that provides free bike racks (parts and labor) to commercial centers. But few properties have taken advantage of it. You can ask the business owner to to talk to the property manager about installing free bike racks.
You might expect school district offices to provide bike parking, given the clientele they serve -- children who can't drive -- but unfortunately no. The Cupertino Union School District Office, located in Sunnyvale, has no bike parking. Neither does the Sunnyvale School District Office. Fremont Union High School District Office, also in Sunnyvale, has bike parking, but it's behind a lockable gate, leaving riders with the distinct anxiety of not being able to access their bike beyond an unknown hour.
Lack of bike parking is a problem but I don't let that stop me from biking to my destinations. I simply wheel my bike into my dentist's office, Zanotto's supermarket, and wherever they let me.
About the Author
Alon Golan is on the Board of Sunnyvale Safe Streets. He strongly believes in making the streets safe for all modes of transportation. In his spare time, he likes to think about how to fix the transportation problem in the US.
