no more free parking on my motorcycle?

[kevxs]

Hi all, about a week ago here in Toronto there was talk of getting rid of the free parking motorcyclists enjoy.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/29/motorcycle-free-parking-faces-to-ban

This has me quite concerned, I work downtown and the free parking is really the only reason I can justify having a bike.

I was wondering how other cities handle this.

eg. How do you attach a parking stub to a bike without it blowing away or someone else just walking by and taking it?

Do other cities charge the same for a bike to park as a car even though a bike takes 1/4 the space?

[DAVINCI]

Free parking? What the heck is that? Damn, here in New Pork City, the traffic agents just scan your plate and the tickets come in the mail. They don't even carry a freakin PEN anymore.

[CatatonicBug]

We use parking meters here. If the meter is flashing, you get a ticket. Regardless of what type of vehicle. Free parking?? Yeah, right!

[kevxs]

we have pay and display parking here, that is why i dont know how it will work with bikes. so with meter parking do 4 bikes take 1 spot like they do here?

[CatatonicBug]

we have pay and display parking here, that is why i dont know how it will work with bikes. so with meter parking do 4 bikes take 1 spot like they do here?

Nope. One vehicle per spot. Of course, you're lucky to see more than one bike in a parking lot down town anyway.

[kevxs]

im actually talking more about street parking than parking lots.
we are allowed to park in any street parking spot for free, so you usually get about 10 bikes all parked side by side taking up only 2 or 3 spots.

seems like they need to figure out how to pro rate the street parking for bikes if they are going to charge us (not to mention solve the problems associated with pay and display parking on a motorcycle)

[hamjam]

Hi Check the Sat. Toronto Star wheels section for Steve Bonds very good reply to this large pile of el toro poo poo from tweedledumb and tweedledumber . oh sorry our duly elected mare ( yes it is spelled as horse , because he is part of one, south end northbound) idiot ,goof and other words I am not allowed to use without being chastized by the Moderators here, go ahead ask me how I really feel

and off topic to this ,and I dont want to hijack your thread ,but are you going to join the Southern Ontario XS (SOXS ) at the January bike show with dinner attached?
Jim

[CatatonicBug]

im actually talking more about street parking than parking lots.
we are allowed to park in any street parking spot for free, so you usually get about 10 bikes all parked side by side taking up only 2 or 3 spots.

seems like they need to figure out how to pro rate the street parking for bikes if they are going to charge us (not to mention solve the problems associated with pay and display parking on a motorcycle)

Around here, lots and street parking are all treated the same. Painted boxes for each spot, with a meter on each one. One vehicle per box/meter.

[cywelchjr]

Around here they try to encourage public transit and vehicles that use less parking, so they provide MC parking downtown for free. Not a lot of it, generally about 4 spaces per block, and if you park in normal spaces they you have to pay like a car, but they DO allow space sharing by multiple bikes. As a matter of fact, they actually give credits to shopping centers who provide MC as well as bicycle parking. Of course then you get the idiots who park their cars in the MC spaces. Downtown they get a parking ticket, but in the shopping centers generally nothing happens, other than the HD types with tats and such will do nasty things to their cars (Yes, I've seen marks on the cars and such, not seen slashed tires YET, but expect to soon).

[b.walker5]

Thats the way it works here too. Dedicated parks for bikes are free, parking in car parks you pay. The council looked at charging bikes a fee a few years back but decided that the cost benefit ratio didnt stack up and they abandoned it.

[DAVINCI]

OK, you wanna hear sick? NYC has been instituting bike lanes (bicycle) for a couple of years now. Almost every major street in Manhattan has them. I finally figured out why. Look what i saw while parking my car:

This is NOT motorcycle parking, it's BICYCLE PARKING:

[cywelchjr]

Wow! That is just obscene! They want people to get out of cars and such, but then make alternate vehicles painful to use as well then what do they expect? If they want people to use high density vehicles, they need to do things to encourage their use, not discourage them.

Of course most levels of Govt are scraping for ways to make money to fund services, but that's a different discussion for a different place.

[Lonerider62]

I live in a small town in Northern Michigan now and our parking for short term (a couple hours) is free, long term is a bit more but if you're willing to walk a block or two you can park on the street for free. When I used to live in the Detroit area I hated to go into Detroit on business and get stuck for $10/day. I suppose it's a lot more today but you who live in the larger cities just have to "man-up" and pay the piper I guess. The first time I went to Toronto on something other than a motorcycle it was in my 3/4 ton GMC. I felt quite out of place going down Young St. You guys do have pretty decent public trans though. I was in Washington D.C. lately, stayed out by Abdrews AFB and rode the train in. Problem was there was no parking at the Metro station by 9:00 a.m. so we had to walk the mile from the motel to the metro staion. There were more cars parked at that single metro staion than I think there are in all of northern Michigan

[fredintoon]

Hi Check the Sat. Toronto Star wheels section for Steve Bonds very good reply to this large pile of el toro poo poo from tweedledumb and tweedledumber . oh sorry our duly elected mare ( yes it is spelled as horse , because he is part of one, south end northbound) idiot ,goof and other words I am not allowed to use without being chastized by the Moderators here, go ahead ask me how I really feel
Jim

Hi Jim,
yeah, it's clowns like him that give c***sucking a bad name.
And the answer is so effin' simple and don't cost nothin':-
Allow any vehicle that can park end-on to multi-park at any parking meter, (say 2 solos and a Smart car) each man in plugs the meter even if there's still time on it.
If the meter runs out, everybody gets a ticket.

[cywelchjr]

Hi Jim,
yeah, it's clowns like him that give c***sucking a bad name.
And the answer is so effin' simple and don't cost nothin':-
Allow any vehicle that can park end-on to multi-park at any parking meter, (say 2 solos and a Smart car) each man in plugs the meter even if there's still time on it.
If the meter runs out, everybody gets a ticket.

You know, on the subject of smart cars, I saw one the other day, and realized that the wheelbase on those is shorter than the wheelbase of our bikes . Frankly I'm not sure our bikes don't weigh more and have more horsepower as well. And frankly the seating capacity is the same . And with my Vetter touring pack I believe I have more storage capacity. And with your sidecar you have both more seating capacity AND more storage capacity .