Modern Vespa

I was quite surprised this morning when I found out that motorcycle parking in SF has increased from .25/hr to .70/hr. That's $154/month to park downtown on the street. Ridiculous! Did anyone know about this? Is there anything we can do? At almost $8/day, it's not really cost effective to scoot to work every day

google free motorcycle parking san francisco

http://purplemoments.com/sfparking/index.html

Thanks 175mws.. Unfortunately, most of those spots aren't free. Looks like we'll have to deal w/ the outrageous increase!

http://www.quitterssc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=137

blah. Yes. It's retarded.

Hate it.

you know what i would do if i lived there? organize and get every mc rider in the city to all go to the downtown parking spaces at 4 am or something, way before the cars get there. then, have everyone use up 1 spot. use them all up. do it for a week or something.

that'd be remarkably hard. Heh. Most meters only allow 2 hour parking so that's a lot of shuffling.

But this really does require some sort of response.

makes you understand why people park on the sidewalk and remove the tags.

it'd be a lot of work, but it would be funny with a capital F if you get my drift.

They are raising parking prices everywhere. Look at this pic I took outside the Mariott Hotel in downtown Chicago. Nothing will happen until people riot or actually give a damn and complain. The only people who are willing to raise parking prices are the people who prolly never use it.

this is a bit different of a situation - hotel parking vs city street parking.

This is a direct affront on the middle class in SF.

San Francisco as a city relies on DPT for waaaaaay too much of it's revenue. This is partially because we have expensive public policies we continuously vote in and no real way to pay for it. Parking tickets and meter fees are the city's way of trying to find more money where it doesn't exist.

I sincerely hope people write their representatives and get this turned back. This is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, and I suspect it wasn't thought through very well at all, like most legislation that happens here.

Probably no need to riot... yet ... but having 25-50 MC and Scooter riders attend every single city council meeting for the coming months and addressing the issue of high parking fees for PTWs could be effective...

Keep it positive: i.e. how much parking is SAVED for cars by encouraging MC/Scooter parking can go a long way in the eyes of many.

Find a 'champion' for your cause on the city council and have them press the issue on the legislative side...

Do a petition and gather a couple thousand signatures - it isn't that hard to do...


Point being, basically with just a little bit of ambition and organizational effort - it is actually highly likely that you can effect positive change - even in a city as big as San Francisco...

I've seen more done (with less effort) here in Albuquerque in the past.

Good luck in solving this problem!

Desi B.

yeah, this has been in the works for while. Sucks.

Some MCs and scooterists went to the meetings to protest, but to no avail. The city and state and we little folk are getting it up the butt, over and over again. BART, MUNI, and other parking went up- with taxes.

There's a lot of 8-10 hour parking south of market. When I ride to work, I park in China Basin garage for $5 all day.

The "A" lot for cars (by Pac Bell park) is $8 all day, so it shows how ridiculous this is. I've written letters and protested.

In Oakland, we pay $2 per hour til 8pm! Blah

That's crazy - it's $1.50/hour here for a few years!

Is metered parking intended to be all day users? I remember that in several cities, metered street parking is only for the max time the meter allows (30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr) and then you are expected to move on. Meter maids would mark your tire and if they found that you exceeded one "meter full", you'd be ticketed.

Al

You could also try contacting the people responsible for setting the charges - I spoke to the a chap looking after the parking in the London Docklands area and eventually got around 200 dedicated motorcycle places put in - the guy I spoke to was brilliant.

Alternatively if they are responsible for the "scam" then why not write to your local paper, name names and political parties and phrase your questions around "profiteering from those trying to save the economy". Will they be charging bicyclists next? Demand a response.

Woooow dude, that's soooo cheap!

Here in Amsterdam it's 5,= Euro for one hour.

For a day (15 hours) = 75,= Euro

Per month = 2,250,= Euro, which is 3,296,- US dollar

The above refernced rates are for motorcycles. The car rates vary from $2-$5 hr. depending on area and time of day, for 1-2 hour spots. Very few all day car meter spots in this city.

It isn't for cars, which is on purpose - that allows them to get more money. Either people fight for short term parking constantly and feed the meter, or they try to get past the system and get a really hefty ticket.

For motorcycles, though, it is intended for all day. Meters will allow 10 hours (as opposed to no more than 1-2). Many many many people choose to ride in due to lower costs than public transportation. Parking for a day downtown was cheaper than a round trip bus ticket or likely an in city train ("BART") trip. Now it's several times more expensive.

This will have bad effects on the city.

I suspect less people will ride in, nullifying any expected revenue gains.

I suspect more people will take public transportation, which currently is well past capacity and will experience even more issues. That's a problem for everyone. Our transit system is so beyond broken, it's depressing.

Lastly, and I don't condone this, but meter vandalism is huge in this city. I suspect it will rise again with the new rates. These are expensive units, and the city will then lose money on fixing the meters and the revenue lost in the interim.

You'd think our locally elected politicians would get this stuff, but by and large, they're idiots.

Also, parking for cars daily is relegated to parking lots. Some lots are a reasonable $8-10/day: those are nowhere near the financial district

down there, parking ranges from $30-40 a day for cars. And again, your only real option is a private lot. Or your company loves you enough to give you parking.

mine... Does not

Holy Crap your city sucks!

You can do one of two things:

mobilize

bitch

Guess which one will get results?


I thought DC was expensive (I mean I don't pay to park, I just park my bikes on the sidewalk and remove the tag, to include the Ducati) but it's not THAT expensive.

Where my dad lives it's still a nickel for an hour.

My city does suck!

Born and half raised. This place is run by morons, regardless of political affiliation.

No tags + sidewalk here = instant tow = $350. You'd be lucky if you came back to a bike parked like that downtown for more than 20 mins without it being towed. And you'd be out a lot of money.

Again, the reason this happened is because the city uses parking and transit costs to prop up it's irrational and untennable budget. Parking tickets an meter violations and fees make up a substantial portion of the budget. They -want-you to get a ticket.

Wow that's asinine.

Luckily they don't tow motorcycles here in DC. I mean they have on very very rare occassion I've heard but that's very very rarely. And to be honest what I've heard is just rumor.

DPT tows also have a habit of damaging bikes, too, which you have to pay for (the city isn't liable since you broke the law).

Isn't that swell?

If it weren't for convenience for work, I'd move. And I'm slowly wandering towards that tipping point, as are many of my friends.

motocycles and scooters are permitted to park on the footpath in victoria providing you arent impeding pedestrians. and in the CBD there are motocycle parking bays free of charge.....wont be long till its outlawed though to raise revenue

Ok, so I'll be writing letters to local politicians, newspapers, etc... Anyone in SF care to help?

Wow. You have never been to Austin, TX, then. We don't really have a transit system. Most of our elevated highways end in traffic lights once you hit the first suburb. The only public transportation is the bus. They pretty much only go to/from downtown, but most of the large employers are on the west or north side of town. I would kill to have half the transit system of the Bay Area. Oh well, at least I didn't have to pay Bay Area prices for my house. (Disclaimer: That was not meant as a dig to those who have to pay high prices in the Bay Area. I would love to live there but am not willing to take it in the mortgage)

As for Austin meters, the rate is $1/hour with a 2 hour limit. This used to apply to cars and 2 wheels. However, since installing new meters, motorcycles/scooters/mopeds are free and have no time limit. The new meter spits out a sticker that you have to stick to your windshield Do you see the dilemma? Even if you had a windshield, someone would just come along and take the sticker. It's never legal to park a motorcycle/scooter/moped on the sidewalk in Austin. At most private businesses, it doesn't seem to be a problem. However, you would most likely get ticketed or towed downtown.

Try to get in to meet with the local politicos as well. Face to face encounters can be quite productive - if there is a supportive one - get them to arrange a meeting with city transit folks to talk about the issues one on one so to speak - away from the big meetings that get bogged down in rhetoric...

Good luck,

Desi B.