Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

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beardy
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Joined: 23 Feb 2010, 4:10pm

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by beardy »

Kwackers:
Though people do find it much easier to walk past a bike locked to street furniture than to walk past a motorcycle locked to street furniture.

I must say that even as a courier I avoided leaving my motorcycle on the pavement. Later as an ordinary motorcyclist I tend to park it in car parks (for free, unlike the car) and walk to my destination.

Where as I will lean my bicycle on the window, wall or some post just outside the door. :mrgreen:
Making sure that a buggy or wheelchair will be able to pass.
kwackers
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Joined: 4 Jun 2008, 9:29pm
Location: Warrington

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by kwackers »

beardy wrote:Kwackers:
Though people do find it much easier to walk past a bike locked to street furniture than to walk past a motorcycle locked to street furniture.

That's absolutely dependent on how much of a nob the person who locked it up is. Personally I go out of my way to make sure anything I park doesn't cause a problem but that's self obviously not true of a lot of folk.
beardy
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Joined: 23 Feb 2010, 4:10pm

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by beardy »

Yes, I think that on my motorbike I had "good" places that I left my motorcycle, often with a few others and then I walked a little way to my destination.
The bicycle parks much closer to my destination, at the door for small stays or prime spots for longer stays.

I have to say that one "good" spot for motorcycles is the new cycle stands that they built for the new shopping zone. Cyclists seldom use them and I only used them because they were outside my destination, if I was going in the shopping zone on my cycle I would take the cycle in with me.
I dont begrudge the motorcyclists using them as cyclists have very little interest in them but I can see a problem where there is competition for space. I have never put my motorcycle there and after this post I would think twice about it. Though if it was totally empty I would find it hard to carry on past unless I knew that traffic wardens would issue tickets.
Tonyf33
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Joined: 17 Nov 2007, 3:31pm
Location: Letchworth N.Herts

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Tonyf33 »

PH wrote:
Tonyf33 wrote:With regard to Enforcement by the police, surely if someone is breaking the rules the police HAVE to act if told of the offence, how can they not, what absolves them from acting, what gives them the right to pick and choose what they act on.. :evil:


It isn't a criminal offence, hasn't been for some time:
Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) provides for the civil
enforcement
of most types of parking contraventions. It replaces Part II and
Schedule 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1991

I know it isn't that doesn't stop the police from acting, they are there for civil matters as well are they not? and if the police as was stated where doing nothing else then they could have done something but chose not to.
Bicycler
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Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Bicycler »

Tonyf33 wrote:I know it isn't that doesn't stop the police from acting, they are there for civil matters as well are they not?

Not generally.
and if the police as was stated where doing nothing else then they could have done something but chose not to.[/

It is not at all clear from the OP's post that an offence was committed. I'm not sure what you think they ought to have done.
Vorpal
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Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Vorpal »

Very often parking of all sorts are on private property. When I have had difficulty with motorbikes using the cycle parking spaces, I've said something to the owners (a zoo in one case, and a supermarket in another).

The owners have sorted it by just informing motorbike users of the correct place to park. I think that in the case of the supermarket, it was managed by a company who maybe had some leverage, as they could charge fees for users that parked incorrectly. But the zoo didn't seem to have nay problems getting it sorted, either.

As for what to do when there is no cycle parking available? I take my bike indoors with me. When people complain about my bike going round the shop, I ask them to point out the cycle parking. :twisted:
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
niggle
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Joined: 11 Mar 2009, 10:29pm
Location: Cornwall, near England

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by niggle »

Reminds me of many times going to park my motorcycle at Asda in Penryn- and finding the (layby shaped) motorcycle parking blocked up with cars. My response was to park dead centre in a car parking space. I once commented to customer sevices but I did think there was much they could do other than totally redesign the motorcycle parking, and reality it was a bit of a non issue.

Another time I parked a motorcycle in the right place at a college where there were both cycle and motorcycle parking areas under cover- on return I found that there were cars parked in the yellow hatching in front of the shelter blocking my exit. Reception was shut so I had no way of finding the owners and I needed to be at another workplace shortly- I managed with some effort to manouevre the bike between the cars, including removing then replacing the panniers and taking care to fold and reposition both cars' wing mirrors, but I almost regretted managing to avoid scratching either vehicle with my bar ends or footpegs....

Generally these issues are easier to overcome with a bicycle IME...
Bicycler
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Joined: 4 Dec 2013, 3:33pm

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Bicycler »

niggle wrote:Another time I parked a motorcycle in the right place at a college where there were both cycle and motorcycle parking areas under cover- on return I found that there were cars parked in the yellow hatching in front of the shelter blocking my exit. Reception was shut so I had no way of finding the owners and I needed to be at another workplace shortly- I managed with some effort to manouevre the bike between the cars, including removing then replacing the panniers and taking care to fold and reposition both cars' wing mirrors, but I almost regretted managing to avoid scratching either vehicle with my bar ends or footpegs....

My regular rebellious act is to fold the (foldable) wing mirrors of cars obstructing the pavement so I (or a hypothetical normal pram or wheelchair) can get past without going round on the road. I hope that finding the mirror folded and having to reposition it makes the driver consider why somebody might have had cause to move it and they may choose to be more considerate in future.
Flinders
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Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Flinders »

I've seen motorbikes locked to/parked alongside the Sheffield stands round here, and its never even occurred to me that it was a problem. I've never seen one locked in such a way as it took up more 'locking space' than a bike would, as the stands are well spaced, and the motorbikes have been considerately parked, so I'm happy to share the space with them.

If there aren't enough stands, then there needs to be more stands; that's a different issue. I wouldn't want motorbikes excluded, though, I'd just want more stands.
Flinders
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Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 6:47pm

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Flinders »

Bicycler wrote:My regular rebellious act is to fold the (foldable) wing mirrors of cars obstructing the pavement so I (or a hypothetical normal pram or wheelchair) can get past without going round on the road. I hope that finding the mirror folded and having to reposition it makes the driver consider why somebody might have had cause to move it and they may choose to be more considerate in future.


The only problem there is that the driver may not notice their mirror has been folded, especially if it's the LH one, until they are driving and need to look in it. If it is their LH mirror, they may be looking in it to see if there's a bike coming up the inside....
Bicycler
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Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Bicycler »

Flinders wrote:
Bicycler wrote:My regular rebellious act is to fold the (foldable) wing mirrors of cars obstructing the pavement so I (or a hypothetical normal pram or wheelchair) can get past without going round on the road. I hope that finding the mirror folded and having to reposition it makes the driver consider why somebody might have had cause to move it and they may choose to be more considerate in future.


The only problem there is that the driver may not notice their mirror has been folded, especially if it's the LH one, until they are driving and need to look in it. If it is their LH mirror, they may be looking in it to see if there's a bike coming up the inside....

That had occurred to me. I reasoned that the kind of person who obstructs pavements and fails to check their nearside mirror is probably the kind who doesn't look in it at other times when they ought to. If I leave it in place or return it then other, perhaps more vulnerable, people will feel forced to enter the roads which may put them in increased danger.
niggle
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Joined: 11 Mar 2009, 10:29pm
Location: Cornwall, near England

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by niggle »

You could fold both mirrors and lift the front and rear wipers into their raised positions, which will increase the chances of it all being noticed before driving off as well as further inconveniencing the inconsiderate driver without doing any actual damage to their vehicle.
nortones2
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Joined: 18 Mar 2007, 9:48pm

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by nortones2 »

I recall a MB parked on the corner of the entrance to a hospital where I was going, on foot, for a blood test. Shortly after I pushed the nearside mirror closed, I heard a roar from within and a raging, elderly man emerged. I just said, after he had gone through his repertoire, words to the effect : next time you'll remember not to block the pavement. And walked off. Deferred the test as I might have hit a new score for adrenalin:)
beardy
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Joined: 23 Feb 2010, 4:10pm

Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by beardy »

I left my car in Cambridge a few times, they had white lines painted along the pavements which invited you to park half on the pavement, half on the road. I parked such that my mirror was overhanging the white line. When I got back the mirror was hanging from the car.

I saw then that my parking was probably inconsiderate and thought "fair enough". I did repair the mirror before driving off and I will not park in a way to invite such a retaliation again.
I think that such lessons are not always wasted on motorists even if it not a moral recognition of wrong doing, so much as a wish to avoid damage to their "Precious".
Vorpal
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Re: Motorcycles using cycle designated parking

Post by Vorpal »

Flinders wrote:I've seen motorbikes locked to/parked alongside the Sheffield stands round here, and its never even occurred to me that it was a problem. I've never seen one locked in such a way as it took up more 'locking space' than a bike would, as the stands are well spaced, and the motorbikes have been considerately parked, so I'm happy to share the space with them.

If there aren't enough stands, then there needs to be more stands; that's a different issue. I wouldn't want motorbikes excluded, though, I'd just want more stands.

The real problem where I had trouble with motor bikes (mostly scooters) using the pedal cycle parking was probably that the riders didn't feel that the motorbike parking was secure. But rather than taking up the pedal cycle parking, they should have said something to the zoo customer services, or parking property owners.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
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