Tag Archives: Parking

Rude riders squeezing between parked motorbikes

The lack of parking bays in most cities is causing some rude riders to squeeze their bike or scooter between parked bikes like in the photo above.

In areas where the individual bays are not marked with white paint, it is just rude. But in those delineated bays, the rider straddling the line could face a council fine and even a police fine.

We’ve checked around the streets of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and the biggest offenders seem to be riders on small bikes and cheap scooters.

They don’t mind if their machine gets a bit scratched. They also don’t seem to care if they scratch another rider’s expensive pride and joy.

Rude riders

Adelaide rider Duncan Haller, who sent us the above photo, says it’s not only rude and illegal, but makes it difficult for him to mount his Honda CBR500RR.

Rude riders squeezing between bikes
Duncan and his Honda

“Thanks to a slightly bung hip, without the room to swing my leg freely from the correct position I find it hard to get on the bike, and certainly painful when I can’t move my hip in the correct way,” he says.

“Add to that the number of times my mirrors are knocked out of position by parking-bay splitters.

“Here in Adelaide the council have in the past couple of years provided a number of new motorcycle and scooter parking places, including on Victoria Square, Hindmarsh Square and in a number of the side streets. 

Rude riders squeezing between bikes
Footpath parking areas in Adelaide

“With a bit of searching, I’ve never had an issue even if I have to go a little further out than planned.

“Personally, I think it’s inconsiderate and bad manners.”

Duncan says he usually prefers designated parking bays, but says when he parks in the unmarked area on Victoria Square “99% of my fellow riders are considerate and leave room”.

“It seems to be the same minority of repeat offenders.”

Illegally parked bikes and scooters are never ticketed, he says.

“I’m not one to go reporting stuff to the Council, however I’m becoming tempted.”

But it may not be worth his effort.

An Adelaide City Council spokesman tells us the fine is only $50.

However, we would usually issue a warning to scooters because sometimes people will move the small scooters out of the space so they can use the space themselves,” the council spokesman says.

Adelaide parking

Rude riders squeezing between bikes
How motorcycles and scooters should be parked in Adelaide

Adelaide City Council acknowledges that motorcycles are a “space-saving, convenient and lower-cost alternative to private cars, and are well-suited to the city landscape”.

“They play an important role in supporting Adelaide’s liveability by reducing traffic congestion and travel time for all road users,” they say on their website.

Adelaide CBD and in North Adelaide have more than 1000 free on-street parking spaces with no time limit.

Riders can also park free in 140 spaces on eight designated footpaths.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Guard brings order to scooter parking

What would you think if you came back to your parked motorbike or scooter after work today and found a guard had been lined them up tightly to save space like this?

It may free up more parking spaces in our CBDs, but most riders would be horrified anyone had touched their precious possession.

Guard praised

However, the work of one Indonesian school security guard has been praised on social media.

Guard Pak Slamet has been lining up students’ and teachers’ scooters to save space since 2000 when he started working at the Banten school near Jakarta.

Scooters parking guard
Pak and his orderly scooters

He re-parks the scooters close together so he can squeeze more scooters into the small parking space.

Pak takes so much pride in his work that he even lines them up in matching colours and models.

Either that, or he has a severe case of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).

School student Tyara Tweeted a video showing Pak’s parking prowess which has now gone viral. (Click on the blue arrow to watch the video.)

“My school’s security guard often parks [Honda] Beat motorcycles in such orderly rows like these, because a lot of students at my school ride Beat. Sometimes not only Beat, he also puts Vespa or big bikes in rows like these,” her Tweet says.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Parking spaces replaced during work

One hundred motorcycle parking spaces in Brisbane’s CBD will close from next week for about seven months during casino development work and be replaced by the same number of spaces elsewhere in the city.

The North Quay riverside lane and footpath parking spaces between Tank and Ann Streets are expected to be closed from Monday (January 21, 2019) until September for a sewer line upgrade.

Alternative parking spaces

Graham Witherspoon parking spaces Brisbane CBD
Graham and his Ducati

Ducati SportClassic rider Graham Witherspoon, who is Stakeholder & Communications Manager for project developers Destination Brisbane Consortium (DBC) has helped locate 100 alternative parking spaces on William Street and Queens Wharf Rd.

William St motorcycle parking spaces
William St motorcycle parking spaces

Unfortunately, those spaces will not remain after the sewer upgrade as Queen’s Wharf Rd and William St will become construction traffic zones as the casino project progresses.

“So for safety it’s not appropriate they are left in place,” Graham says.

About 200 spaces were originally lost when the casino project began in December 2016. They have gradually been replaced by Brisbane City Council with help from riders and Motorbike Writer.

However, the number of spaces has failed to keep pace with need and many riders say all spaces are gone by 7am each week day.

We hope more parking spaces will become available when the casino retail sector opens in 2022 and more again when the Ritz-Carlton Brisbane is completed in 2024.

William St motorcycle parking spaces
Casino development works

Graham says DBC is still working through the traffic management strategy, including parking.

“We are conscious of not only motorcyclists, but cyclists, taxis, buses, pedestrians and now scooters users,” he says. 

“More details will be released as we work through the detailed design.”

Parking impactGraham Witherspoon parking spaces Brisbane CBD

Graham says the project will be “an amazing transformation development for Brisbane”.

“As a motorcycle rider for close to 30 years, I’m conscious of how the construction of the largest civil development in Queensland impacts on the motorcycling community,” he says.

“With that in mind, DBC has been working closely with our contractor Probuild, State Government and Council to ensure motorcycle bays affected by the upgrading of the sewer line works on North Quay are replaced like-for-like.

“We have managed to secure 100 alternative safe motorcycle parks on William St (which are now in place) on the footpath adjacent Miller Park and the Commissariat Store as well as Queens Wharf Rd, which will be in place for the 21 January closure.

“You can access Queens Wharf Rd via William St and exit via Margaret St as it is now a one-way road.”

A map and construction notice is available on the DBC website under ‘Construction updates’

Sewer Tunneling Map William St motorcycle parking spaces
Sewer tunnelling map

Riders can also register on the site for regular construction notice updates or for their monthly e-newsletter.

Signage advising riders of the changes have been erected and DBC staff are handing out leaflets to riders.

There will also be radio and social media campaigns about the changes.

For more information about traffic conditions and changes click here or call 13 19 40.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Strategy threatens motorcycle footpath parking

Melbourne’s lauded motorcycle-friendly footpath parking is under threat from a discussion paper to update the city’s Transport Strategy.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp has released a discussion paper in June that suggested strategies for reducing the access of motor vehicles to the CBD for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

An alarming finding for motorcyclists is that only 3% support encouraging more motorcycles into the CBD.

That goes against all reports and studies that show motorcycles and scooters are a solution to traffic and parking problems, not a cause.

Another alarming result of the Melbourne strategy is that 80% support dedicated motorcycle parking.

Footpath parking threat bays plan centre strategy
Footpath parking in Melbourne

That likely means removing motorbikes and scooters from footpaths and providing allocated parking on streets.

The report says that “without allocated parking, increasing numbers of motorcycles clog up the footpath as ridership increases”.

That’s a big concern for Melbourne’s riders, although if there are fewer cars and trucks in the CBD, it may mean there is more on-street parking for motorcycles.

A compromise to the current loose footpath parking rules could be allocating painted bays on footpaths as is the practice in Brisbane.

Brisbane CBD motorcycle parking bays strategy
Brisbane footpath parking bays

That may help placate 54% of pedestrian respondents to the paper who say footpaths are becoming overcrowded.

However, that overcrowding is not just the fault of motorcycles, but also cafes, vendor stalls and bicycle parking.

Public meeting

The Melbourne discussion strategy will be presented at a Council Meeting on Tuesday 11 December at 5.30pm.

Council says members of the public may provide written submissions prior to the meeting.

However, there will be no opportunity to make verbal submissions during the meeting.

The draft Transport Strategy is now being completed and will be presented to Future Melbourne Committee in the new year. Further consultation will follow to finalise the Strategy.

Riders are encouraged to attend the meeting and protest quietly and peacefully with placards.

Concerns about strategy

In October 2014, Melbourne unanimously adopted a Motorcycle Plan that nurtured and encouraged motorcycles to the city.

However, the Independent Riders’ Group in Victoria has expressed concern ever since that Melbourne’s much-vaunted motorcycle footpath parking was still under threat from a growing number of pedestrians, a strong cycling lobby claiming footpath space, comments by a former RACV boss, an MCG parking ban and alternative road-centre parking.

The rival Victorian Motorcycle Council described the claims as “scaremongering”, saying there was only an issue about parking around Luna Park in the City of Port Phillip which they claimed to be involved in resolving.Melbourne zones discussion paper strategy

IRG spokesman Damien Codognotto is calling on riders to email Melbourne’s Lord Mayor and Transport Committee chair Nicolas Frances Gilley.

He says riders should object to the lack of consultation with the City of Melbourne’s Motorcycles In Melbourne Committee, the Motorcycle Expert Advisory Panel at VicRoads and other motorcycle and scooter organisations.

“There is only so much on-street space available so they can’t do much to allocate centre-of-the-road or curbside motorcycle and scooter parking,” Damien says.

“Increasing off-street bike parking only works for pushbikes (so far). Melbourne’s car park operators pay lip service to us but don’t act. Even park and ride facilities fail to provide secure parking for motorbikes. The majority of off-street car park operators do not want motorcycles cycles in their buildings.

“Painting parking boxes on footpaths is a waste of paint. Probably a move towards making riders pay for space. 

“The system in place now has worked for three decades. It is good for the city.

“In my opinion the anti motorcycling culture is widespread in Victoria and this attack on motorcycle and scooter footpath parking is part of that, pure discrimination.”

The IRG, which is a member of the Motorcycles In Melbourne Committee has also called for an improvement in off-street motorbike parking with facilities such lockers for protective clothing and a trial of forward stop lines for filtering motorcycles.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com