This photo was taken from a hotel room in downtown San Francisco. What you see is a half-dozen of a row of about 12 motorcycle-specific parking spaces. When I arrived, all 12 of these spaces were full. What’s also notable about these spots is they’re metered, just like car spots.
As a motorcyclist, you may be thinking that this sucks. You have to trade your freebie spot in the gore or on the sidewalk for a metered pay spot on the street. I’ll happily trade the uncertainty of getting my bike ticketed or vandalized for being parked improperly for the certainty of a spot provided specifically for my kind.
Consider this not from the motorcyclist’s perspective, but from the city’s. There’s no downside. Every city should support motorcycling!
- In roughly two car spaces, they’ve created ten revenue-generating spaces for vehicles that before might have been parked on sidewalks, in the gore, or other spaces where vehicles aren’t really meant to be parked. They’ve essentially quintupled the revenue opportunity of this square footage. Further, because there are provided motorcycle spaces, I’d be willing to bet that San Francisco is aggressive about ticketing illegally parked bikes. This creates both additional revenue opportunity as well as provides incentive to use the revenue-generating parking spaces. The city can put a couple motorcycle parking spaces in leftover space where a car spot won’t fit.
- It’s good for local business, because if a motorcyclist doesn’t want to use a metered space on the street, they’re more likely to rent space in a local parking garage.
- Motorcycling is good for the environment. Even the worst gas-hog motorcycles get better fuel economy than most cars. My Ninja 1000 is known for being pretty thirsty, but I still average 40mpg.
- Motorcycling is good for traffic. This is particularly true in California, where lane-splitting is legal and expected by other motorists. Even outside of California, motorcycles take up less space and are more maneuverable, allowing them to cause fewer traffic problems and get out of high-traffic areas more quickly and easily.
Why do more cities not adopt these types of motorcycle-specific activities? Perhaps they don’t want to generate revenue, support local business, reduce traffic, and reduce their environmental impact.