Pavement parkers: m...
 

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Pavement parkers: motorbike edition!

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Prompted by the other thread I thought I'd ask what the general consensus is re parking motorbikes on pavements in town centres?  Totally different issue but I really struggle to know how best to approach it.

Legally not allowed right, so tickets could be issued but there is only one spot that I know of for motorbikes in my town of about 160k people!

Its actually a moped.  All I tend to do is park between 2 of the semi circe cycle stands or just to the side of that to imply an extension of the bike parking. I'd not do it if I felt those cycle stands would be in demand for the duration I'm there but again, theoretically illegal.  I just don't want to leave it exposed out on the road and would be unsure of how to approach the parking fee


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 6:48 am
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Its still wrong to pavement park IMO- pavements are for people not vehicles.  Here we have motorcycle parking bays in areas with controlled parking ( but I haven't seen any in leith with the new restrictions - you have to park in a parking space and pay like everyone else I think)


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 6:51 am
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Yeah, I think stop it. I'm being lazy as it took all of 3 mins to find about 5 in council car parks that I didn't know about that I can park in for free.

I'd probably ride my MTB into town before I resorted to paying parking fees 🙂


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 6:56 am
butcher, tjagain, leffeboy and 1 people reacted
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Personally, I'd just get on with it. Cars park in M/C spaces, if you put the bike at the very end of a car space, you'll get a ticket, moped in a full space and pay, your a pariah but obviously, if there is a space, use it.

On the pavement for a moped, tucked away to no-ones inconvenience, carry on.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 7:03 am
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It's tough as I appreciate people have different images based on where they live - my town is a wide open wasteland affair so never a chance of being in anyone's way but in a narrow historic town or in London it would be unthinkable.

I'd be inconsolable if I got a ticket as I'm cheap as hell 🙂 so will probably have that steer my approach


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 7:24 am
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I went to Kings Lyne on the moto  3 years ago, pulled into the car park space and bought a ticket.  Came back to bike and the parking warden was driving around the car park.  “Need a ticket to park there” he says.  When I point to it on the screen, his response was “ just park on the pavement next time to save the spaces for the cars”.  Can’t win.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 7:56 am
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Can't motorbikes just use car spaces if there are no motorbike ones? I certainly see plenty using them. Or is it just that they're not often not free?

Pavement parking isn't on imo. Those of us who walk, or have occasional wheelchairs to push, or walkers (my mam) get really pissed off. Bad enough trying to shepherd her along knackered off camber pavements without having to negotiate kerbs and traffic.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 8:00 am
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Motorbikes and scooters are poorly provided for.  Despite the fact they take up a hell of a lot less space and have much less environmental impact than the hordes of ****panzers.

In my town, there is one marked on street MC bay,  space for about 5 or 6 bikes (there are hundreds of car spaces). Recently a couple of EV charging points were put in the motorcycle bays.  So now the few remaining MC bays are permanently blocked by a couple of electric cars, despite the road still being marked as motorcycle parking.

EV chargers are a good thing, but why not put them in one of the many car spaces?

In that context, I am OK with a bit of cheeky or creative parking, as long as it doesn't inconvenience anyone. Not necessarily on a pavement, but there are loads of other small gaps or bollarded off areas where you can fit a bike fairly unobtrusively.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 8:01 am
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Can’t motorbikes just use car spaces if there are no motorbike ones? I certainly see plenty using them. Or is it just that they’re not often not free?

They can, but if it's pay and display, you can guarantee some **** will steal your ticket because it's not locked up as in a car, and you then get fined.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 8:04 am
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Parking apps will become the thing,Shirley.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 8:07 am
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Parking apps will become the thing,Shirley.

Maybe they will, but it hasn't happened yet round here. It's still an old fashioned 2" square piece of paper which doesn't stay put in or on a powered two wheeler for very long.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 8:19 am
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Other than m/c bays,I just tend to search around for those 'grey' areas that are too small for cars to use.
If I ever use a pavement,it has to be super wide with low pedestrian traffic.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 8:38 am
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As ever Rule#1 applies for me - tucked away and not blocking the path for double buggys or mobility scooters, then crack on.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 8:43 am
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If you are in that there London it's worth researching which council area you are in as some allow you to park m/c in restricted areas (like residents only bays) for free. Generally I laugh in the face of car drivers in London (zero congestion charge & £1 to park all day in central London), outside London this applies:-

As ever Rule#1 applies for me – tucked away and not blocking the path for double buggys or mobility scooters, then crack on.

Apart from me unavoidably parking like a dick whatever I do of course.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 9:40 am
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a couple of EV charging points were put in the motorcycle bays

Got excited when I read that as my moped is electric and there's absolutely no infrastructure consideration for charging them (3 pin plug).  It's massively niche over here at the mo so you can't blame them but they should be thinking about it as I'd say I see twice as many 2 wheeled vehicles as I did a couple of years back and the natural progression will be for electric to dominate, like in China already.


 
Posted : 27/07/2023 10:43 am

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