In a cluttered living room in his Sacramento home, Omar Pulido stores four bikes. It’s a stark contrast from the spacious and secure bike parking he enjoys at work.
An avid cyclist, Pulido said he only drove his car to work twice last year because UC Davis Medical Center offers long-term bike parking, which is typically indoor with locks or access control. At home, he doesn’t trust parking his bikes outside.
“I love my neighbors, but I don’t want to lock up my expensive bikes out there,” he said. “I’d rather have a cluttered living room than leave it out there.”
The 32-year-old’s concerns are shared by many Californians as electric bike sales surge nationwide. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, e-bike sales have outpaced electric vehicle sales by 20%. Yet, building codes haven’t kept up with safe storage needs for these vehicles.
Pulido owns several e-bikes priced in the $4,000 range, and REI estimates the average e-bike costs around $2,000, with high-end models exceeding $6,000. The lack of secure parking makes them vulnerable to theft or damage.
A 2022 California law sought to address this gap by requiring the state’s housing agency and its building standards commission to consider mandatory bike parking standards in new commercial and residential buildings.
But a new law passed earlier this year, AB 130, paused most building code updates until 2027.
Jared Sanchez is a spokesperson for the nonprofit CalBike, which advocates for better bike infrastructure. He said the law — meant to fast-track post-disaster rebuilding in Los Angeles due to the Palisades fire — delayed the new requirements, which were supposed to take effect next year.
He said the new building code requirements would help more people who want to ditch their cars feel safe about storing their costly e-bikes while at work or at home.
“That’s the whole goal for us as an organization — to encourage folks to buy [bikes], but not in the status quo where it’s unsafe or just not accessible for a wide range of folks to do that,” Sanchez said.
A state spokesperson confirmed that significant changes to the bike parking standards in the California Green Building Standards code — also known as CALGreen — are unlikely to be announced in 2025..
The state’s building standards commission “will continue to work with [CalBike] to review their proposals,” ahead of their 2027 update, Jennifer Lida, a spokesperson for the state’s general services department, said in an email.
That means bike enthusiasts will have to wait at least two more years before any new statewide bike parking requirements are formally adopted.
Without these rules, communities like Napa are feeling the effects. Kara Vernor, executive director of the Napa County Bicycle Coalition, said cities often approve developments without enough bike parking.
She described a recent case of a new three-story apartment building near a transit hub with no elevator or bike parking.
“Imagine being someone who wanted to live in this great place that you’re interested in lowering your carbon footprint, but it doesn’t offer you really the chance to bike because you’d have to lift your bike up and down the stairs, in order to store it right there in your own little condo or apartment,” Vernor explained.
She said she’s worried that without enforceable statewide standards, resistance from developers will continue.
“I think having it at the state level will really help everybody understand sort of best practices and requirements from the get-go,” Vernor added.
Bike safety advocates like Vernor and Sanchez argue that ensuring easy access to long-term and short-term bike parking is key to encouraging biking as a viable alternative to driving.