Confronting a bike-rack pig
By adamg - Thu, 09/25/2008 - 4:46pm.
Mike Ball reports on a special snowflake who managed to take up seven of nine spaces at a Trader Joe's by parking her bike parallel to the rack:
... I: You really shouldn't block the whole bike rack.
She: Oh.
I: A lot of us can share this rack.
She: There wasn't enough space for my bike in the rack. ...
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Another way to hog a rack
At BUMC, the bike rack in the garage is hardly used (even though that's where BUMC has made the rule that bikes should go for "public safety" on the sidewalks). Yet, even though there are usually no more than about 8 bikes there for 2 full-sized racks, I often have a hard time finding a spot for my scooter on the end of the rack out of the way of the bikes.
Why? Because lazy bikers don't lift their bikes over the rack bar and instead parallel park the end of the rack and throw their 10 foot cable chain out over the end bars of the bike racks. This means I end up having to lift my scooter to make a turn between the bike racks and parallel park the rack like in the linked example because that's where the bikes *aren't* parking. Yay.
Yet another way to hog a rack
Park a motorcycle there. Well, a Scooter, but a scooter is way way huger than a bike and as big as a motorcycle even if it only has baby teeth.
At Davis Square, there are a couple of "scooters" that hog up three spaces each because they are so farking huge and really don't belong there. At least those racks are actually designed to fit actual bikes that most actual people ride.
One scooteroid leaves his/hers at Davis all day all night all the time - and now has paid the price for it as I found it tipped over and the seat off and gas cap loose one morning. That one is lucky: I have also seen a scooter wheel chained to a rack.
Here's the real problem: too many racks are designed for kid bikes with 20" wheels and assume you use a little cable to lock the front wheel only and not a u-lock to secure wheel and frame. If you have a grownup bike that you like to keep around a while, you put it to the side of the rack and use the u-lock through everything it can catch. Too bad for the motorcycles - first come, first serve.
No doubt
This is why I don't park the rack but off of the rack and carry a 6 foot metal chain lock that allows me to basically park next to a rack and not be in the way of any bikes....IF the bikes aren't asinine to have parked where they don't belong first. I'm not talking about when the rack is full and so bikes start tying in anywhere either. Near empty racks with bikes on the outside because Rider X didn't want to lift up their bike to put it over the bar, or be bothered enough to slide it between 2 other bikes, etc.
Some bikes don't clear the bar
Again, the problem is racks that are not made for urban locking situations, and racks made for children's bikes. With a proper bike rack, you wouldn't have to lift the bike over anyway. That and BUMC having it's C up it's BUM when it comes to bike parking. MGH has a nice cage! It was there when I worked there 15 years ago, and wasn't new either.
I have problems with getting my bike over a bar because I have full fenders + 38c wheels = no clearance under the fork. Sorry, but if I'm first in, I take the side of the rack thank you. I don't feel particularly required to leave space just in case a motor vehicle arrives in any case - even though my husband has a Fly150 of his very own.
Swirrly
What are the best bike racks that you've used?
Bike Racks
There are a lot of different designs for different habitats.
I like the ones on the Somerville parking meters.
I like the ones at Davis - although the under part of the "wave" shape is often in the way.
There are a lot of them in Portland that have a touch of art to the design, but are more or less based on the inverted "u" design. Some are simply poles stuck in the ground with a bar on top of each one to prevent slide off. These save a lot of space.
The key features are: thin enough to take a u-lock around frame, tire, rack; closed off or otherwise capped to prevent sliding bike and lock off of the rack; adequate space between bikes and between the rack and any walls/curbs for movement.
Oh boy, Kaz and Gareth going
Oh boy, Kaz and Gareth going off about bikes with engines and entitlement. This is going to be good.
Is it me, or are the racks
Is it me, or are the racks that look like bikes - essentially two big Os - are hopelessly inefficient? They take up so much space and can awkwardly fit like 3 bikes.
Edit: These stupid things: http://www.wickedlocal.com/brookline/archive/x1768852751/Bike-racks-popping-up-in-Brookline
Looks cool to me
OK, I haven't seen one in person, but from the photo it looks like you should be able to lock at least four bikes to that thing -- one on each side of each "wheel".
Yup.
The ones on the parking meters are cool. I like those. However, since they're not available everywhere in Somerville, or in Cambridge, I'll lock my bike to a meter if there's no other type of rack. The inverted U-shaped, or ordinary rectangular bike racks can be problematic, though. The bikes are crowded too close together, which can make it tough for one to remove their bike afterwards, or to find space on an already-crowded rack. Also, SwirlyGrrl, you're right about a lot of them not really being made for urban locking situations, so to speak.
Gotta go with Swirly on this one
Bike racks are for bikes, Kaz. If the bicycles on the bike rack inconvenience your motor vehicle, that's your problem. Park it somewhere else. It's not a bike.
As does any bike rider, I know exactly the bike racks you're talking about, and although they are the most common type of bike rack, they suck for parking bikes, especially large bikes. The ribbon racks discussed above are much better. As Swirly says, the slots of these racks do not admit many wheels, they don't support a bicycle laterally, and lifting the bike over the bar is problematic if you have fenders. If I park my (very large, with fenders) bike at one of these racks, I will always park it on the end if I can. Otherwise I will lock it to a pole. You can't park it straight in; it won't work.
Well, tough titties
My scooter is classified by 9 out of 10 regulators as a "big electric bike". As such, I am forced to deal with bikers who hate scooters and cars who hate scooters. Cars don't like me on the road, bikes don't like me in the parking lot. I do everything I can to both secure my scooter and stay the hell out of the way of bikers with entitlement issues. The bikes that piss me off aren't some sort of crazy exception to the rule. I even put one on the bike rack long enough to lock up once because his chain lock was just that damn long.
This whole thing comes down to whether you give half a rat's ass about your fellow man. Therefore, I'm not talking about the exceptions or the cool tricked out bikes that don't fit a normal rack or whatever excuse you can come up with to justify that 1 or 2 out of every 20 bikes that absolutely need the end of a rack. There are 4 rack ends at BUMC for example and it's not abnormal to find every single one consumed before even a SINGLE bike is on the rest of the rack. In fact, when I do eventually end up hogging the entire middle of the rack NOBODY messes with my scooter because NOBODY ever intended on using that part correctly so I'm not in the way there...but I am still inconvenienced by having to move bikes on the end that are in the way of reaching the center rack and then contorting the heavy scooter into place around a parked car and other bikes (and then doing all of this in reverse if I leave earlier than the bikes).
Maybe you could think about it the other way. Stop driving the Hummer of Bikes and maybe you'd start to fit in the parking spaces again.
The hummer of bikes
Kaz, I drive the Hummer of Bikes because I am the Hummer of Men. It's a big, heavy bike, with a big, heavy frame, big, heavy spokes, hubs, spindles ... wanna know why? Because I'm big and heavy. My prodigous bulk wouldn't fit on a wee little bike, and if it did it'd break it right quick.
The whole thing comes down to you being a selfish prick who wants to park his motor vehicle on a bike rack that is ill-designed for bikes, let along motor vehicles.
You choose to ride some hippogriff of a vehicle, then want to make it someone else's problem. You could solve your problem by growing some nads and supplying your own power for your two-wheeler instead of burning dinosaur juice.
"I am the Hummer of Men." gareth
ok, enough about that.
Sorry, wrong thread
That was supposed to go over on the... oh, never mind.
:P
I was just joking. Carry
I was just joking. Carry on.
Not by choice
Honestly, I'm as big and heavy as you are (if not more so). I choose to save the hustle and sweat of biking by using a scooter instead. I am lazy enough that I'd actually rather park in front of my building than use a bike rack but as Swirly and I pointed out, BUMC's stupid parking policies mean that I have to share the rack with bikes or risk having them take my scooter away.
Oh well, it's all pretty moot at this point anyways as I don't go to BUMC any more. But it's something I felt bikers should be aware of because we all have to play nice. Scooters often tie up at bike racks. It'd be nice if bikes THAT FIT THE RACK use it appropriately. I have not had this problem outside of BUMC however. Most bikers fit the racks I see around town and most bikers use the racks correctly. I was presenting a single example of how bikes themselves can hog a rack for others trying to use the rack.
Imagine if you and your Hummer of Bikes came up to a rack where people had already tied into the ends of the racks with their very average-sized road bikes that could have easily fit in the middle.
Two birds, one stone
I think you could solve two problems with one solution. Get a bike. You'll fit it better on bike racks, and you won't be quite so fat after a while.
There are all kinds of bicycles (real bike nuts usually have several). You don't have to get a racing bike with skinny tires. Some bikes require less energy to ride, and/or are more forgiving of a hefty physique. Some, like the Kona Hoss, are specifically made for big fat guys. Hey, there's even a nicer word for guys like us: Clydesdales. There are actually lots of big fat guys who bike out there.
Even if you look like a bag of suet crushing a pince-nez when you ride your scooter, you should be able to ride a bike too. Just ride it slower, wear the right clothes, and you won't get as sweaty. There's nowhere you can go on your scooter that you couldn't go on a bike.
The Hoss you rode in on
I know a gigantic guy that rides one of them there Konas - he's broken the frame on drops on nearly every other bike he's taken into the woods. Not that one, so far ...
You are the queen of puns,
You are the queen of puns, you and the Hoss you rode in on... kills me. A pun every time you spoke. You saddle us with punny jokes. Not a crank! Coasting to the end of the workweek.
I admittedly have two bicycles:
A) A mountain bike for getting around town for appointments, errands, etc.
B) A 27-speed touring bike for long-distance countryside riding.
Here's a suggestion, Kaz:
If you give a hoot in Helsinki about your fellow human beings, then don't park and lock your motor scooter onto a rack that's only meant for bicycles! That's extremely inconsiderate, selfish, arrogant and nasty.
meh
I park my scooter on the bike rack at work every day. No law against it. They won't let me park in the garage with the cars, threatened to have my scooter removed from the light pole out front (that was hilarious, they said it was a threat to the building because it was full of gas...it was parked next to a car that was full of gas). I came to a compromise and I park it on the bike rack now. Don't like it? Get there earlier.
Anon-a-mouse has it right
Sorry, but the rack isn't just for bikes. Hell, according to most of the other people here, it isn't even for bikes! My work told me I can't park on the sidewalk or they'll cut the lock because of a deal they have with the city to enforce "public safety". I can't park in the garage with the cars. I asked them where I should park and they said at the bike rack in the garage (where I had problems with people parking on the side of the rack primarily out of convenience to them).
Honestly, most every other rack I park at in the city doesn't have bikes hanging off the sides of the rack leaving me a space to park on the end. Somehow most people are able to use the center of the racks for their bikes or there are more solitary spots (like meter hitches, etc) in the rest of the city.
Technically
I don't think they can remove your bike from the sidewalk. Unless they discontinue the street and make it private land, it is the public domain. They can cut a deal with the city to install special features and materials and maintain them...but thats pretty much the limit of what the city will do. Nonetheless, I didn't feel as it it were an argument worth having with the management. I really wanted to get into it with them since his approach was to get all high and mighty and say "If you don't remove that scooter I will cut the lock off and have it removed." It would have been nice if he had simply stated that they preferred that I don't park there. I would have had no problem moving it. But just like the state trooper incident, sometimes its just not worth arguing.
The funny thing is that my line of work involves right of way actions in Boston, so I am pretty well versed in how the city right of ways are managed. Our company was even involved in the negotiation of the LMI agreement for our buildings sidewalk with the city. Nonetheless, it really wasn't worth the trouble.
Word on the street is BTD is thoroughly annoyed with scooters parked on the sidewalk and is trying to figure out a way to eliminate the problem.
BTD can lump it
I'll start parking at meters and not putting any money in it. They can't attach a meaningful ticket because they've gone digital and haven't done so with the scooter/moped paperwork. Therefore there's nothing to attach the ticket to that would track back to me without a LOT of legwork by officials (and that ain't gonna happen).
So, they'd be foolish to "do something" about the legalities of scooters on sidewalks because the alternative is a LOT more trouble for them (and they know it, based on a recent story in the Globe regarding city laws for scooter parking).
In fact, Cambridge is the exact opposite. There's a law that precludes scooter parking on the sidewalk and it's actively and intentionally ignored by enforcement officials (I've even chatted to one about it). They'd rather support the alternative transportation by accepting scooters on their sidewalks than discourage it by ticketing to the law.
As for removing bikes from the sidewalk, as I understand it, BU and the city have some sort of "deal" where they can remove bikes not attached to "official locations" or something like that. I am pretty sure, from what my friend tells me, Harvard Med School in Longwood has the exact same deal and might even be more adamant about it. No idea what legality is in force in this situation, but I know plenty of people in and around BU and BUMC who have gotten warnings glued to their frames giving them 24 hours to remove their bike or lose it and BU was doing just that on Comm Ave as part of the recent "beautification" even when people were parked just outside of stores and restaurants while it was happening outside without any public warning.
bikes
crazy ass bikers
Funny story, but I gotta say
as a once-upon-a-time-when-I-was-a-suburban-teenager biker, one of the things that stops me from acquiring a bike and riding out from my city residence is the annoying collection of do-this, not-that rules that seems to come along with biking these days.
Bike-related posts here almost always elicit some vitriol about bike-tiquette, and the whole thing seems like such a hassle, man.
I've been waiting...
... for rehashing of everything that's been said before because of the article about bicyclists getting tickets in (Cambridge's) Central Square in today's Boston Globe. Those officers need to visit Porter Square to yell at everyone.
I disagree with you somewhat here, jchristian. Here's why:
A bicycle is a vehicle too, and therefore, when one's on a bicycle, they, too, are subject to the rules of the road, just as cars, trucks, etc. are. Plenty of cyclists are permanently injured or killed as a consequence of running red lights and STOP signs, going the wrong way down one-way streets, and riding on the wrong side of the road. Moreover, they're also responsible for a lot of accidents when they act that way.
I hate it when that happens
Getting permanently killed...dayum!
bike to work pants
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/26/biketowork-pants-ref.html
link
bike rack hogs:
I used to ride my bike to work every day of the week, except in awful weather. One woman who stopped riding her bike every day insisted on keeping her bike on the company bike even while she didn't commute by bike to work, until the secretary of the company pointed out to her that the bike rack is only for people who commute to and from work each day by bicycle, and that it wasn't right of her to take up the space when she wasn't commuting to and from work by bicycle. She understood and moved her bicycle to a sort of a railing in back of the building.
There was another woman, however, who did the same thing, and wasn't so obliging when she was asked to comply. Since she had an extremely hostile personality, the secretary of the company didn't want to get involved with her, and she ended up keeping her bike on the rack day in and day out, taking up space, after she stopped commuting to work by bike. The woman left the company shortly afterwards.