Parking Availability Fail

[fireheart]

Dear University,

Can you PLEASE do a big big favour and either a) provide more motorcycle spaces or b) just provide motorcycle spaces? I almost wiped out someone's motorbike this morning when I went to turn into what I THOUGHT was an empty park and discovered it was filled with someone's motorcycle.

Thank you.

[Slave to the Phone]

This is why you see motorcycles parked in nonparking places, like around the striped off areas around lights and all. We know that drivers in a hurry might not see our beloved bike and hit it when they think they found an empty parking spot.

I'm totally in agreement with you on this issue.

[PepperElf]

not to mention you can fit more motorbikes into a lot than cars so, converting spots for bikes isn't a bad idea

[LillFilly]

Some places do have spaces intended for motorcycles, but the proper way to park a bike in a full sized space is diagonal, and near the mouth of the space so you can see it's not an empty space.

The problem with bikes parking in those lined areas is, those aren't parking spaces, and cars that might take a corner too close are likely to swipe them too. Also, those lines are between handicap spaces sometimes, and a bike will park there, and then the handicap person can't get in or out of their car!

[Polenicus]

If the College I worked for is any indication, then adequate parking isn't really a post-secondary institution's #1 priority... or #2... or #37.

Case in point, this school took their second largest parking lot, and built a rather large expansion building on part of it. The plan was for there to be an underground parkade under it, doubling the available spaces. However, as the design revisions for the building came in, the parkade shrank and shrank until it barely had half. This building added a huge number of programs and facilities, and boosted the number of students by almost 5,000 per year. Then they built another building to link with it on the rest of the lot. Again, there was a parkade, but this one didn't even replace the staff parking they had wiped out.

Their long term plans involved another huge expansion building, to be built on the LARGEST parking lot on campus, expected to add another 5-7,000 students. I specifically asked if there were any plans to replace the parking they would be annexing, and... there were some mumbled and incoherent replies.

[Slayer]

Ouch. I've almost done that, too.

I find that people with bikes will either park near the opening so it's quite obvious, or they'll think it's funny and park it up close to the edge where the nose of the car typically sits. It's very rare that I see it right in the middle of the space, lol.

Though once I did see one of those tiny smart cars parked in the same space as a bike (the bike up near the edge). I hope that bike owner started parking normally after that if they had been the one to park first XD

[Slave to the Phone]

Quoth LillFilly

Some places do have spaces intended for motorcycles, but the proper way to park a bike in a full sized space is diagonal, and near the mouth of the space so you can see it's not an empty space.

The problem with bikes parking in those lined areas is, those aren't parking spaces, and cars that might take a corner too close are likely to swipe them too. Also, those lines are between handicap spaces sometimes, and a bike will park there, and then the handicap person can't get in or out of their car!

While I hate to disagree with such a nice person as you, I have to do it. My bike is 650 lbs. I'm 120 lbs. I have to plan how to get my bike out of the parking place when I'm parking. Its usually not good to park how you suggested. Plus, most bikers try to leave room for another bike to park.

I don't park in the lined areas, and I'd go all rage on someone who parks between the handicapped places. Of course, I'm the one who scares Hells Angels into picking their butts off the parking lot and putting them in the ashtrays. I might not be your typical biker.

[bainsidhe]

Quoth Slave to the Phone

Plus, most bikers try to leave room for another bike to park.

I didn't know that, interesting.

Hell, I'd be happy if general traffic was just a little more wary around motorcyclists. Last year our area had a scary number of deaths, a few because someone was hell-bent on merging and didn't see the the motorcycle until...yeah.

[fireheart]

Oh this guy had parked dead centre of the actual park and had not given any indication that there was a bike there.

I should add as well that the carparks on campus service different areas of the campus. There are 3 carparks which service my side of the campus, as well as 2 general-use carparks which cover both sides of the campus and can be used by anybody (our campus is divided into two: one side is for the science, maths and what-have-you students, the other side is for the humanities, social and behavioural sciences, law and teaching students, the health science students have their own campus area located closer to the hospital)

A quick check of the parking yesterday revealed that there are at least a dozen motorcycle spaces in the parking lot one level below us and on any given day, there are at least 1 or 2 that are empty. There are also a number of motorcycle spots in the other general use carpark.

Fortunately the security patrol at uni checks all the parking lots fairly frequently and they DO actually check for permits. It is VERY hard to talk your way out of paying the fine and they actually have a sheet on their website which lists all the excuses that DON'T WORK. Here's the list:

-They left someone in their car/had the motor running/had the indicators on. (it's illegal to actually leave your car unattended and have the motor running. in addition, if the car is not moving engine running or not, and there's no driver inside, it's considered to be "Parked")

-It's their first time on campus and they didn't know they had to pay for parking (there are SEVERAL signs displayed around campus that say you need to AND there is a sign on each carpark which says "Day, Year or Semester Permits need to be displayed")

-They're a contractor and need to have their tools close by (they can make arrangements with the uni to bring their car in, but otherwise they have to park and pay like everybody else)

-They were only in the loading zones for 5 minutes (the security staff actually check TWICE within 20 minutes, if you stay there longer than 20, you're screwed)

-They were unloading something and were caught up for other reasons (see above)

-They were on "official uni business" (they are required to park and pay like everyone else, in addition, they have to pay for any fines out of their own pocket)

-THey were running late for an appointment (no comment)

-It was only for a few minutes (they check these parks TWICE to prevent this from occurring)

-The ticket machine wasn't working (there are ticket machines located all over campus)

-Person was only doing a short errand (does not justify parking illegally)

-They went to collect their passenger and left their vehicle in the Set Down bay (see first point)

-The regulation has not been enforced/"everybody does it"/I was the only one who received a fine (they only accept appeals on grounds of validity, not practice and this would be considered to be the latter)

-They disagree with having to pay fines (then why park on campus?)

-Somebody else had my car (the owner is responsible for payment unless either they can a) prove the car was stolen or b) use a statutory declaration to state that the car was being driven by somebody else at the time)

-The "all the lots were full" excuse (the uni provides overflow parking for this)

-The "it's a space, I should be able to park there" excuse or the "I had a permit but it didn't match the park excuse" (this refers to the spaces that are designated for carpoolers, disabled or VIPs. In those cases, you are required to display a special permit in addition to your regular permit. The offence in that case is failure to display a VALID permit)

-I wasn't obstructing others/causing a hazard (but you're OK with damaing uni property?)

-Permit was in glove box/in other car (still a fine for failure to display a valid permit)

-only part of the car was parked illegally (so do they drop the fine to 10% of the fine if the car was parked illegally? )

-Various complaints about not knowing Australian road rules (responsibility of the driver, not the campus)

-They bought a permit but bought a new car (they're required to inform the university if this happens so they can update their records)

-Short-term permit fell onto the floor or wasn't displayed correctly (if your car doors are shut, you have NO excuse)

-They stacked the tickets in the short-term parking spaces (there are 2 kinds of short-term parking spaces: 4 hour and 8 hour. The point of them is to encourage vehicle turnover)

-They were delayed for various reasons (it's their responsibility to factor this in)

-They thought they didn't have to pay during mid-semester/mid-year/summer vacation breaks (the ONLY time, and I mean ONLY time you don't have to pay is if you're going to be on campus for graduation)

I should add as well that a day pass is $4.20. A year permit is $135 for the YEAR. PRetty good deal given that the city U-Parks and Care parks charge up to $20 per DAY.

[Slave to the Phone]

Quoth bainsidhe

I didn't know that, interesting.

Hell, I'd be happy if general traffic was just a little more wary around motorcyclists. Last year our area had a scary number of deaths, a few because someone was hell-bent on merging and didn't see the the motorcycle until...yeah.

Bikers usually ride with friends, so we are in the habit of leaving room for them. Thank you for the kind thoughts. I've learned that as soon as I throw my leg over the seat, I become invisible.

I went to the library today. There is a bike parking place. Its about as big as a compact car spot, but we share. There have been as many as 4 bikes parked there, but we are careful to not block each other in. Fortunatly, there isn't one of those concrete stop things, so we can pull forward to get out. I was the only one parked today, and I was the only one who was able to find a parking spot because the other places were full.