Bike Racks Aren’t Scooter Racks
Toronto’s Ring-and-Post bike racks are as ubiquitous to the city as a heart attack to a Big Mac. Since 1984, they have been lining our streets, now numbering in the thousands, providing a convenient and plentiful solution to parking and securing bicycles (except when they failed by whacking of a two-by-four). Despite becoming an increasingly popular mode of travel, the City has been slow in establishing more dedicated bike lanes and off road trails, however, the Ring-and-Post seems to be one thing it’s excelled at. You simply fill out a form and the City will install, free-of-charge, a post-and-ring on the sidewalk in front of your business or residence (provided it passes the road safety and demand test).
This morning though, just outside my office, someone decided to park a Vespa Scooter at one of the ring-and-post bike racks, making it impossible for a bike to be locked up on it. The street is short on bike parking space as it is, and here is Mr. (or Ms.) Scooterperson taking up two valuable bike spots.
Does this person not know that on-street scooter/motorcycle parking is free? Clearly they knew that they could park on the sidewalk. Why did they decide to park at a bike ring, when there were plenty of bike-rack-free spots on the sidewalk and a Green P parking lot around the corner?
So here’s a question: should Parking Enforcement ticket scooters that park and block bike racks? There’s provisions in the bylaw for their vehicles already for free parking on street - so why not ticket them for taking away a cyclist’s right to lock up at a ring-and-post?
LINK:
Bylaw 0928-2005 - Allowing Motorcycles/Scooters to Park Free-of-Charge On Street
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/2005/law0928.pdf
