Friday Morning Parking Giggle

[Heltor Chasca]

I normally lock my bike to a pillar by the window near the tills at my local 'Big 5' supermarket.

Not sure if there is any dedicated bike parking but this cyclist (Freego battery bike) decided to stage his own little protest. I love it...hc

[maxcherry]

Disgraceful!

Far to close to that poor innocent vehicle. What if it gets frightened and drives up a tree.
The fire brigade will have to be called as well as the air rescue.

Does nobody think of the poor drivers

[Vantage]

Oh that's just brilliant! Love it

[Si]

But if they'd had a kiddie seat on the back they could have used the extra wide 'parent & child' spaces

[mig]

isn't somebody going to drive around the front of the 4X4, assume the space is empty and rear end the bike though?

[Elizabethsdad]

My local supermarket has three Oxford stands near the fire exits and when I have parked my bike there with the trailer it has completely blocked the path. I will soon be getting a Bakfiets long john which probably won't fit in there at all so I maybe doing the same thing.

[Bicycler]

And why not?

[Spinners]

Power to the people!

[beardy]

And why not?

Because the parking area is marked out to order vehicles with an efficient use of space.
Next thing there could be cycles occupying a HGV space.

I would always stick my fully faired BMW in a car space if the motorcycle bays were full (sometimes with a car) but the motorcycle bay was nearer to the supermarket doors than any car space, so normally I would use it.

What sometimes did happen was that somebody would park me in, either because they were desperate for a space or as a foolish attempt to punish me.

[Bicycler]

Are we assuming there was a cycle parking facility? If not it's just a parked vehicle taking up a parking space. I'm not sure one customer with a bike taking up a parking space is any less efficient than somebody with a van. It's one customer at the end of the day and they ought not to be penalised for having a smaller vehicle.

If it bothers the supermarket and they are so concerned about efficient space allocation then they can provide adequate cycle parking facilities in a convenient location.

[reohn2]

On Wednesday at a large medical centre (with a totally inadequate number car parking spaces)I saw a car parked on the paved area totally blocking off five six Sheffield stands.
I had to admit s/he'd not much choice and there were no bikes parked there,as there never have been in the past.
Just another perspective I suppose...

[kwackers]

At a place I used to work parking was at a premium - as in every space was taken.
One guy used to park in the middle of two bays presumably because he was scared his BM would get scratched and so I deliberately took the opportunity to squeeze my motorcycle in between his car and the adjacent car - it used to lean 'dangerously' in his direction.

Not long after he took to getting in early and putting it in a space at the end of one of the rows.

[beardy]

I'm not sure one customer with a bike taking up a parking space is any less efficient than somebody with a van.

No but six cycles taking up a similar amount of space is many times more efficient.

If it bothers the supermarket and they are so concerned about efficient space allocation then they can provide adequate cycle parking facilities in a convenient location.

Well they will only do any such thing if people start "wasting" car spaces by parking E-bikes there.

However if you put any spaces nearer to the doors than an SUV's allocated space they will use them instead.

I joked with a trolley collector who was trying to get his train of trolleys through the cars parked on the "road" between the supermarket doors and the football field size car park that they should build a carpark for them to park in.

[Heltor Chasca]

All valid points. I'm going to save myself the hassle and take my 'hybrid'...hc

[mjr]

Blooming Tesco are up there with Asda for stores without decent cycle parking. If Tesco do have a bike park, it's often some stylised toastrack installed too close to a wall. At least it's better than Asda's wheelbenders. What they really need is this:

Locally, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Aldi all have good parking. Lidl was shut and being rebuilt last time I passed. Among minimarkets, it's a bit patchy, but Spar and the various Co-ops seem the best. Small shops seem to rely on council-provided cycle parks, even when they've got their own car parks.