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Thread: Wellington Parking - They are about to clamp down on bike parking

  1. #46
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    I think we need to instill the philosophy/culture that Motocycles are part of todays solutions, not the problems. OK it's fair not to block pavements. We have the problems that cars knock bikes over, which these days can cause a writeoff AND we can't use car parking bays. Maybe office/shop/cafe owners can provide us a space IF we can give something back in return.
    Maybe one of the rags might do a sensible article on this.

  2. #47
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    Someone say offroad parking?

  3. #48
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    We need to write letters en-mass to the Dompost & WCC etc.
    Last edited by Ms Piggy; 1st September 2009 at 18:29. Reason: Write it down and send it in!
    My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am.

  4. #49
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    Parking in parking buildings is no answer, unless the owners of said provide bike-sized parks at bike-sized prices.
    "Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]

  5. #50
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    Well, I and 6 others out of the 30 or so I work with have migrated from the second small car to a motorcycle to commute on in the last 4 or 5 years.

    We're terribly sorry that doesn't fit with your plans. Wellington Motorcyclists are not transitory in nature. The vast majority who use bike parks are there for the length of their working day.

    I have been running a proper experiment with public transport and have almost completed 3 months of using bus and train to get to and from work.

    Public transport is hideously unreliable. The bus I catch from Maungaraki has been more than 5 minutes late 56% of the time, more than 10 minutes late 34% of the time, and the remaining 10 % is split almost evenly between not turning up at all or arriving at the stop early and not waiting for the correct departure time. I have relayed my findings to the Bus company and have had no reply. The one time I dared to ring them when the bus didn't turn up, I was asked, "What the fuck do you want me to do about it?"

    Given that I work right next to the train station the train timetable (though there is little commitment to the concept of a timetable) doesn't really affect me that much as I don't have to catch a connection on the way to work.

    However there have been a few train disasters lately and such was the wait for a bus to Petone train station on one of those occasions I missed the last bus (#150) that heads up Dowse Dr. Given that my kids were all in bed, my wife couldn't come to get me so I had to walk the 3.7kms from Petone Station to my house at the top of Dowse Dr. It doesn't sound like much, but people in my poor physical condition have been found dead half way up that hill. This can be the end result of a train leaving 10 minutes late also (happens more than you'd like too).

    Just so you know, I have had $3500 worth of damage done to my bike over the last 2.5 years in WCC motorcycle parking. Other motorcyclists, vans, and even the wind have all contributed. The "free" (I do pay my rates and there is a bit in there for the GWRC, so I know you're getting some help there) bike parks are not the sacrosanct havens of blissful motorcycle protection you are trying to paint, and there is no way I would park my bike in a Wilson carpark, given the number of bikes that have disappeared from them in the back of vans.

    Now you don't want me to bring my bike to work once I've finished my increasingly failing public transport experiment? If I can't get myself to work, I don't get paid, I don't shop in the CBD, I don't pay taxes or rates, and my family may end up a little disadvantaged as a result.

    There's a lot of talk about improving public transport. There's very little done to fix the problems inherent in the currently available transport stock, and despite the hard sell about the new trains on the horizon, I doubt they will be bedded in and running reliably before 2012. Even then I guarantee that the feeder services will still be as appallingly, hopelessly arrogant about their customer base as they are now. There's no alternative so you have to put up with what you get.

    While we're on it, Snapper cards: Indian Dairy owners won't let you use them to buy a Chocolate bar while you wait for the bus because of the 2% transaction fee. The readers in the buses fail once a week, so I still have to carry at least enough cash to pay for one fare.

    I think you folk need to "man up" so to speak, and actively tell us to piss off, stop beating around the bush.

    We get it, OK?
    If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?



  6. #51
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    There are many nooks and crannies to park in. I park at the corner of a building protected by bollards, which the blind would unlikely navigate, able bodied peds can easily walk around (using the whole footpath) and cars cannot not fit. I doubt any services run along (no sign of tobys, manholes or other service holes) for which my parking would obstruct their work.

    Unless the building owner / tennant complains, I presume my off-road parking will be ok... but time will tell!

    I switched to motorcycle commuting because of the shortened time and reliability. The train is cheaper from Johnsonville than riding a bike (once you factor in buying a bike, gear, rego, insurance, servicing etc...) but takes me 25 mins all up (gear off / on, traffic slowness) compared to 45mins on a good day walking to / from the train at either end and assuming the J'ville train is running to time (which it usually is weather permitting).

    I actually enjoy commuting on my bike and look forward to beginning my workday with a smile (nice ride in during sunny days) and can cheer up before I get home if I've had a bad day. I think that makes me a happier CBD citizen.
    Quote Originally Posted by FlangMaster
    I had a strange dream myself. You know that game some folk play on the streets where they toss coins at the wall and what not? In my dream they were tossing my semi hardened stool at the wall. I shit you not.

  7. #52
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    Jon, thank you for joining the forum and putting across the views expressed.

    I do however wonder, is a mountain being made out of a molehill? Perhaps looking at the Melbourne model of accomodating motorcycles, would be an idea?
    Motorcycle transportation is a very efficient system, particularly when the NZ public transport system is abysmal, at best.

    The attitude of "live and let live" would be nice to see from the parking wardens who appear to overzealously risk life and limb, to enforce a narrow minded attitude against two-wheeled transport.

    So long as bikes are being parked with thought for other people (pedestrians, cars, etc) there is very little to be concerned with and should be allowed and encouraged.
    TOP QUOTE: “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”

  8. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lurch View Post
    Ixion, it certainly does feel like WCC is getting desperate for ways to force people into a public transport network that isn't fit for purpose.
    Not at the moment. But that's changing.

    I'm interested in knowing what the WCC is doing to get parking building operators to provide bike-sized spaces at bike-sized prices. There's only limited free parking to be had in the James Smith parking building...
    "Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]

  9. #54
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    Having just read through this thread, I am wondering if it would be worth someone writing and posting a e-Petition about CBD motorcycle parking on the Wellington city council's web site located here. http://www.wellington.govt.nz/haveyo...ions/index.php

    I would have a go at writing one myself, but as I do not work in the CBD, or visit it very often during Business hours on a bike it is probably better being set up by someone who is more affected by the current lack of parking.

    Cheers

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  10. #55
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    In January 08 I was in Wellington CBD for a day, and come 0830-0900 when I arrived, found all the bike spaces around where I needed to be (Featherston st if I vaguely recall) taken. Given that I was on a Blackbird with full luggage (for a trip as far south as Chch, and over a week) I don't think I could have parked in a motorbike place either.

    I settled for a bit of space on the end of a couple of angle parked cars, between car and start of a driveway. I was pleasantly surprised to come back at the end of the day to find the bike unmolested, with no tickets as a welcome.

    I think WCC is certainly better (and more aware) than Auckland, and a simple example is that Jon is here answering concerns.

    Good luck to your parking woes

    ps... Devil, your bike would never fit into a van. It would collide with the rear of the van, and turn it into a compact
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  11. #56
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    Jon,

    Let me congratulate you for having the courage to come onto a bike forum and raise this subject, knowing full well you would get a mix of good and bad responses.

    For those of you having a pop at Jon, I'd like to compare this to the attitude we were shown in London, when the three-year trial of three bus lanes being opened to bikes completed and the results were 'supposed' to be released. I say 'supposed', as they were, quite frankly suppressed (as they didn't give the result the then council wanted, ie. bikers came out with an improved safety record, rather than "no improvement so we can drop the scheme").

    Not once we we asked for our opinion, and the fudging and avoiding of publishing the results was downright embarrasing, as they barely stopped short of saying "The dog eat them".

    It was only when the new Mayor came in he forced through an expansion of the scheme for a further three years, making all bus lanes available.

    So for someone to come on board and actually ask for your opinions and suggestions? A step to be lauded, not berated.

    As I am on the subject of bus lanes - as I live a rather long way from Wellington (!), I do not know... but do the buses have bus lanes? If so, then do you open them up to bikes? As someone who commutes every day, having bus lane access is an utter boon. Not only is my journey faster, but it is safer and also takes bikes out of the main traffic flow, hence easing congestion.

    Back to bike parking - in London we have a lot of bike spaces, both in the business district and also around the fringes. The best has to be the one in Alie St, in Tower Hamlets. Not only is it free, but it also features a security barrier.

    Take a look in the feature in this link, to see a couple of photos of the barriers

    I hope this is of use in your planning.

    Bob
    http://www.motobke.co.uk

  12. #57
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    Re Gremlin's point.... If there is concern about bikers not having enough free parks for temporary parking, alternate bike parks (well maybe 1 out 4) could have a time limit imposed to afford transient bikers' parking.
    Quote Originally Posted by FlangMaster
    I had a strange dream myself. You know that game some folk play on the streets where they toss coins at the wall and what not? In my dream they were tossing my semi hardened stool at the wall. I shit you not.

  13. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by davebullet View Post
    Re Gremlin's point.... If there is concern about bikers not having enough free parks for temporary parking, alternate bike parks (well maybe 1 out 4) could have a time limit imposed to afford transient bikers' parking.
    Mr Visser is overstating the case.

    I would posit that 98% of Wellington bike parking is occupied around "normal" business hours by people working their shift, whatever that may be.

    Bob, there are no bus lanes in in Wellington, other than the inner city and some inner suburbs. Not a battle worth fighting.

    Read Mr Visser's posts closely Bob. He isn't after opinions. He's telling us that WCC are about to start charging for bike parking and is making up figures about how much space is needed to park bikes to justify not providing parking. It is disingenuous to try to put any other interpretation on the matter.

    Bikes are being discouraged as a form of transport, and are being removed from the transport mix before they reach the critical mass to dent congestion.
    If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?



  14. #59
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    Also, if any year was a crucial year to encourage the use of motorcycles as a form of commuter transport then surely this is the one?

    The current economy, high pressure on public transport and roading are already encouraging more people to get on a bike, surely it can only help to relieve commuter congestion?

    Also while we're keeping things off footpaths how about those mobility scooters parked up on the street

  15. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ixion View Post
    That sounds rather sinister. I am sure that your present audience would be interested in exactly HOW you propose to ensure that.

    And also in what statistics you have to back up your concerns about the accident rate? (BTW , does WCC have a mandate for this - they are not the Police , nor even the MoT. The days of City Councils running their own traffic cops are long gone)
    My approach (contrary to me predecessors) is to focus on engineering first (i.e. getting teh road as right as we can get it) and then on education, rather than jumping straight into an enforcement approach.

    Council does have a responsibility to promote the safety of road users as the Road Controlling Authority for Wellington City. We run many road safety campaigns in conjunction with the NZ Transport Agency and the Police.

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