Canada: Vancouver Motorcycle Parking Protest from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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Canada: Vancouver Motorcycle Parking Protest

May
2010

  File under Protests
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Travelling

Motorcycles are protesting around the world for dedicated parking space, and Vancouver

is no exception. Last Saturday, 100 motorcycles went and parked "legally" in car spots over a 2 block radius. One motorcycle in one car space, meaning there's no space for cars to park.

The Vancouver city council are looking at creating dedicated parking space for "zero-emission" motorcycles, and mopeds. According to the council, normal motorcycles are not cleaner than cars, and they will be excluded from the free parking.

But, again according to the council, if the motorcycles pay by phone, they get a 50% reduction in the parking fee. But the protestors want the council to allow motorcycles to park in the areas that cars can not, between the street corner and the first parking space, thereby freeing up spots of cars.

More and more motorcycles are being used in Vancouver, with a growth of 30% (cars only grew by 3.8%) since 2005. Vancouver only has 42 designated motorcycle parking spots!

Assistant city engineer, Jerry Dobrovolny, stated "We recognize motorcycles use less fuel and road space and less greenhouse gases so that's why we're providing a 50-per-cent reduction.". He added that the city will likely lose money in parking revenue and it's unrealistic to expect every motorcyclist, particularly riders from outside the city, to pay by phone. "Most of the time it will be one rider getting 50-per-cent off. It's giving revenue away."

So if you look at it, as we all know by now, it's all about money. The council does not want to loose money, even if it means that congestion will be eased, and both cars and motorcycles will have a better chance at parking.

Maybe there's eventually going to be one city that recognizes that it's in their best interest to allow motorcycles to come to the city, remove congestion and pollution, and make a lot of people happy, which in turn means more people will want to move to their city, which mean more taxes. Now, people will just turn away.

Via: Vancouver Sun