Motorbikes! Arrrrrggghhhhh!!!!

[antpal]

(apologies to considerate 'bikers!)

Where i live we have about 100 flats all vying for about 30 parking spaces on a car park every evening. So why the fudge do motorcyclists round here insist on using an entire parking space to park their damn machines when parking is clearly at such a premium!!!! Why not park them in the redundant space at the end of the carpark, or maybe even across the end of a parking space so a car can still get in the space????
If i had a desire to own one of those annoying things, i'd at least try and exercise a little consideration for other residents and park it in an area of the carpark thats clearly going to be unsuitable for cars!!! Even i can work out that a 2 meter wide parking space is a bit excessive for something 50cm wide!
But no, due to these t***ers, I've (and 3 others will have to too) had to park 3 streets away! Again!!
I know they've just as much right as anyone else, but, think about it!!

[howell811]

I can get about 10 cars on my drive

[KrisE]

I can't see anything wrong with parking your bike like that

[antpal]

Hope i've not opened a can of worms lol! I've calmed down now following my rant!
In my mind though, i'd use an area of the carpark to leave my bike so as to keep a parking space free (if you know what i mean).

[Joss]

Originally Posted by howell811

I can get about 10 cars on my drive

#

I can get 5 and 1 in the garage out back with 1 on the front at a squeeze

[bazza]

Seems a reasonable rant to me. Not a problem I've had to contend with, but if space is at a premium using a space 4 or more times larger than the object being parked seems unreasonable.

[Anjenha]

If there's more than one maybe try and get them all to use a space together?

Must admit hubby's lives in it's own shed (with a blanket )

[KrisE]

what Anj said apart from I don't have a hubby

[antpal]

Absolutely! One space, or a couple of spaces, with lines through to separate the space for motorbikes. The road entering the carpark bends in to it, and along the bend no cars can park - would be ideal for the bikes!

[DaveAlfa147]

My parents have a seperate heated double garage, with pit and seperate heated and plumbed workshop. The cars are kept outside and the garage currently used to store wood and bicycles. Idiots. I'd have my homebrew in the workshop and car obviously in the garage.

[Padders]

If one of the spaces had a motorcycle symbol painted on it, you can bet there'd be a car parked there before you could say "hypocrite"

[antpal]

Originally Posted by Padders

If one of the spaces had a motorcycle symbol painted on it, you can bet there'd be a car parked there before you could say "hypocrite"

Well, i wouldn't use it, in exactly the same way i wouldn't use a mother/child, disabled, or womens parking space.
But i dare say some would!

[Padders]

Originally Posted by antpal

or womens parking space.

Would they be extra large then?

Runs........

[Anjenha]

[Stevie70]

Another car driver trying to marginalise motorcyclists... making us 2nd class citizens

I use parking bays (not car parking bays or bike parking bays) wherever there isn't a suitable space but I'm sick of car drivers taking up bike parking bays/disabled space and other denoted parking areas.

Unfortunately Antpal, we all have the same right to park our vehicles unless it says otherwise......

[antpal]

Originally Posted by Stevie70

Unfortunately Antpal, we all have the same right to park our vehicles unless it says otherwise......

Yeah, I did admit that in the OP. Motorcycle spaces do exist in some areas, and they aren't used by cars because as usual here, it carries a fine.

[The_Abyss]

Originally Posted by antpal

(apologies to considerate 'bikers!)

Where i live we have about 100 flats all vying for about 30 parking spaces on a car park every evening. So why the fudge do motorcyclists round here insist on using an entire parking space to park their damn machines when parking is clearly at such a premium!!!! Why not park them in the redundant space at the end of the carpark, or maybe even across the end of a parking space so a car can still get in the space????
If i had a desire to own one of those annoying things, i'd at least try and exercise a little consideration for other residents and park it in an area of the carpark thats clearly going to be unsuitable for cars!!! Even i can work out that a 2 meter wide parking space is a bit excessive for something 50cm wide!
But no, due to these t***ers, I've (and 3 others will have to too) had to park 3 streets away! Again!!
I know they've just as much right as anyone else, but, think about it!!

The bike may be 50 cm wide (wouldn't like to ride one that narrow though!) but much more than that is required to move it around. Not to mention more space needed to ensure that some car drivers won't just knock it over when they park.

There's a right to park there just the same as a car driver. Do they annoy you all the time, or are they "t***ers" only when they park?

Or is "considerate" only when someone is doing exactly what you want them to do?

Failed, prejudiced, misguided rant.

[mick.p.]

Originally Posted by The_Abyss

The bike may be 50 cm wide (wouldn't like to ride one that narrow though!) but much more than that is required to move it around. Not to mention more space needed to ensure that some car drivers won't just knock it over when they park.

There's a right to park there just the same as a car driver. Do they annoy you all the time, or are they "t***ers" only when they park?

Or is "considerate" only when someone is doing exactly what you want them to do?

Failed, prejudiced, misguided rant.

Yep.

And, I would not leave my bike down the road or maybe even streets away from were I lived
simply because it is soooooo much easier to steal than a locked car.

Mick.

[antpal]

On the carpark in question theres a 'cage' (only way i can describe it really) that i assumed was for wheely bins to be stored in. My neighbour mentioned, and i've since gone and looked at the sign on this cage, that its the motorcycle parking area. Apparently no-one uses it because it involves opening a gate.
Then he said that he's a biker, and he doesn't bother with it either

Failed and misguided - perhaps in the opinion of bikers, perhaps not in the opinion of car drivers. Probably not in the opinion of other local residents.

Apparently its quite a contentious point on the street, as it maybe would be in other areas, and has been bubbling on for sometime because the cage was built specifically to make a safe off-street parking area for motorcycles. I can understand my neighbours point - getting off a bike to open a gate would be an utter pain, just as getting out of a car to open a barrier would be before parking.

[wattfield]

In a normal sized parking bay, I would park my bike nose out to let another couple of bikes in, but I wouldn't park it too far out of my sight - bikes are too easy to steal! As for using the end of a parking space, in my experience the average non-biking car driver has the observation skills of an elderly mole with cataracts, and one of them would run the bike over within a week.
Unless you have no choice, for economic reasons for example, why would you want to live in an area of 100 flats and 30 parking spaces? You'd never be guaranteed a space anyway. That's got to reduce the value of the flats!

Edit: And another thing, if the bend you mention is too tight or too narrow for cars, it's likely a bike parked there will also be bumped by a car at some point!

I knew I had a reason for building my garage

[The_Abyss]

So is the rant about bikers, or about the spaces allocated to bikers, or about the spaces allocated to cars that bikers then decide to park in, or about the space required to store wheely bins?

It doesn't seem very clear about where bikers can park and all seems very misguided and opinionated without any more information.

[antpal]

It's a rant from 8 days ago Abyss. I can't really say any more than that. I came home and again couldn't park, got miffed and used our communities Rant room to give a short burst! It may seem a little all over the place detail-wise, a bit strong, a bit out of order - but for me thats a rant. Done. Marginalised you may feel, if so, I apologise. Coming back at me with a referral to what i said about wheely bins is a bit patronising.
If i had non-rant, constructive or maybe argumentative opinions, as others may do about motorbikes (in just the same way bikers may have the same opinions about motorists behaviour), - i would have posted in GMD.

@Wattfield Hi! Cheers for your informative comment. It seems the long and short of the problem on this street is that the bike area doesn't get used. Last week there were 4 bikes on the carpark, 7 yesterday. 2 even in use as they're covered with the cover being held down by bricks.
The lack of use of the area is probably two-fold, 1) it has a gate that needs opening, and 2) although it has a sign on it, its obviously not clear enough as i hadn't noticed it since i've lived here.
Security isn't an issue really. I know bikes are easier to steal than cars, but only one building on the street has a full view of the carpark anyway. Crime is really not an issue round these parts anyway.

The curve into the carpark is wide enough for vehicles to pass freely, but not wide enough for cars to park on the sides and leave room for other vehicles to get through (if that makes sense).
Theres that little housing stock at the right price you just have to get what you can, where you can. Even in cheap areas (and there aren't many) you'd be looking at four figures per month to rent something with 2 bedrooms. Buying is not really common here, and is made a complicated as possible - so people just dont do it.

Someone pulled up on a flash sports bike at work today............just plonked it in the middle of the forecourt whilst we were trying to juggle a few cars around............if he wanted it to get knocked over, he was going the right way about it

[mick.p.]

Originally Posted by antpal

Crime is really not an issue round these parts anyway.

Sounds like a wonderful place.
I live in a fairly small town in south Devon, it's just a quiet little seaside town.
We have car theft's, vandalism, mugging's and burglaries.
There is also a drug problem, just like all British town's.
Our problems are just smaller than most, thats all.

If crime really isn't that much of an issue where you are, you are very lucky indeed.
Motor bikes are very easy to steal any where in the world. FACT.
If the owners of the bikes in your car park choose not to use the cage then I imagine
there is a pretty good reason, this may be something that only they know, or
something that you are not telling us. Whatever.

Car drivers, on average, see their car as a means of transport, no more than that.
Motor cyclist's, on average, see their bikes as much more than this, so are less likely
to park on the street when there is a perfectly good space to be used in the car park
outside their flat which WILL be more secure.
Not forgetting motor cyclist's, just like car driver's, just don't care about other people
or where they park just so long as the space in which they are parked is the best one
available at the time.

Don't ever move, stay where you live now. It sounds fantastic.

Mick.

[wattfield]

Crime isn't much of an issue where I am either (last years attempted murder was a one-off!).
The only car crime I can remember was when a Peugeot ran into my parked Land Rover, writing it off, and was found burned out later.
5 miles down the road and it's a different story though

Antpal, I didn't notice your mention of the bike "cage". Personally I think a secured bike park is an excellent idea, especially if parking space is so scarce.