Parking the bike

**prettybillie** · 12th December 2008, 09:13

Okay - can someone clear up the whole where you are allowed to park your bike situation for me. I've been told you can park it on the footpath and I've been told you're not allowed to. Does anyone know what the rules are?

**vifferman** · 12th December 2008, 09:22

You're not allowed to park anywhere apart from designated parks. However, some councils will overlook it if you park somewhere 'naughty'.
It's like with lanesplitting: you just weigh up the risk to benefit ratio.
I park on footpaths or in other 'naughty' places if I think it's better than parking some distance from where I'm going. F'rinstance, if I'm "just popping into a shop", I'll park on the footpath outside the shop if there's no park nearby, especially if I want to leave my bag on the bike. Places with their own carparks (like malls or large hardware stores), I'll park next to the door on the "No Parking" bit, on a path, or wherever looks favourable. Longer term parking, I'll park legally, so I don't have to fret.
In the CBD, there are lots of parks: free m/c parking in the parking buildings and elsewhere - look on the council website. North Shore: just park where I feel like (footpath, in a garden, some odd corner that's out of the way).

**fatzx10r** · 12th December 2008, 09:25

Originally Posted by prettybillie

Okay - can someone clear up the whole where you are allowed to park your bike situation for me. I've been told you can park it on the footpath and I've been told you're not allowed to. Does anyone know what the rules are?

i got a parking ticket a couple of day's ago for parking on the footpath, the parking nazi said you cant park on the footpath. so i think that answer's your question for ya

**Sparrowhawk** · 12th December 2008, 09:59

It's kinda like doing 100kph on your 6L. You'll usually get away with it, but some of our public servants are bastards. Like vifferman said, it's risk vs. reward.

If there's somewhere I can park that's out of the way, but doesn't take up a cage park, I do. I won't park on the footpath if it's likely to get in peoples way. That's asking for trouble!

**vifferman** · 12th December 2008, 11:40

Originally Posted by fatzx10r

the parking nazi said you cant park on the footpath.

You CAN park on the footpath.
It just happens to be illegal.

But so is speeding, and so are a whole lot of other things. You just pick the time and place; CBD is asking for trouble (especially if you've parked across the path), unless it's only a couple of minutes, but many suburban places would be fine. It pays to look around, use your head, weigh up the risks.

**klingon** · 12th December 2008, 12:08

Originally Posted by prettybillie

Okay - can someone clear up the whole where you are allowed to park your bike situation for me. I've been told you can park it on the footpath and I've been told you're not allowed to. Does anyone know what the rules are?

I can give you the definitive answer to this one. I interviewed the head of parking for Auckland City (Brian Tomlinson) and wrote an article on the subject for Rush Hour Magazine. It has been well documented in these forums, but I will repeat the rules here:

You are not permitted to park on the footpath in Auckland City
Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between a footpath and an area owned by the adjacent building so ask if you are unsure
Bikes are permitted (and encouraged) to park in Pay & Display spaces WITHOUT PAYING
If parking in a P&D space, be considerate & try not to use the whole space for a single bike. Back into the curb rather than parallel parking in the space.
Bikes may use Auckland City Council-run parking buildings for FREE if parked in designated bike parks (Check their website for locations)

Please note these rules only apply to Auckland City Council parking - rules will be different in different territories. Also these are the official rules - it's up to you whether you follow them or choose to use your own judgement. As with a lot of rules, they are not always the most 'sensible' thing to do.

Hope that helps.

**Road Guardian** · 12th December 2008, 12:12

Originally Posted by vifferman

You CAN park on the footpath.
It just happens to be illegal.

So true vifferman, there are lots you things you can do, but chances are that most things you want to do, like speeding, are illegal.

Road Code does state that you cannot park on any foot path (including 15 other places you cannot park).

**vifferman** · 12th December 2008, 12:32

Originally Posted by klingon

Please note these rules only apply to Auckland City Council parking - rules will be different in different territories.A

I'd imagine they're pretty much the same for most councils, and probably based on the aforementioned Road Code rules.
However, there are some mental ones: in the North Shore, it's illegal to park on the grass verge, even outside your own house(!) and also illegal to park on the crossing at the end of your driveway. This is a blardy stupid rule if like us, you have no driveway (gargre is on the boundary), and the council have parked a "traffic calming measure" outside your house and painted yellow lines on the curb for the whole length of your road frontage. My wife wants to build a parking place between the gargre and the side boundary, but I can almost guarantee the council will say "No!" (after charging some ridiculous application fee, of course).
So we park one car wherever we can on the road, and it gets vandalised periodically by drunken passers-by from other nearby areas (eggs and other missiles, scratched paint, paintball pellets, smashed window, rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver, etc etc.)

**fatzx10r** · 12th December 2008, 13:21

Originally Posted by vifferman

You CAN park on the footpath.
It just happens to be illegal.

But so is speeding, and so are a whole lot of other things. You just pick the time and place; CBD is asking for trouble (especially if you've parked across the path), unless it's only a couple of minutes, but many suburban places would be fine. It pays to look around, use your head, weigh up the risks.

yeah i was parked outside my house, the footpath is wide as hell so it's not blocking any one from moving past it. the prick made a special trip all the way from town up to my place, so i think some one may have dobbed me in. i just told the geeza to fuck off and im going to continue parking there

**Gremlin** · 12th December 2008, 13:42

Originally Posted by klingon

Bikes are permitted (and encouraged) to park in Pay & Display spaces WITHOUT PAYING
If parking in a P&D space, be considerate & try not to use the whole space for a single bike. Back into the curb rather than parallel parking in the space.

Wow, I had no idea we could park in P&D for free...

Cheers

**klingon** · 12th December 2008, 14:10

Originally Posted by Gremlin

Wow, I had no idea we could park in P&D for free...

Cheers

Yep. I didn't know it either until I talked to Mr Tomlinson (and Les Mason from BRONZ). Bikes are still subject to the time limits on the space, so if there is a maximum of 60 minutes (for example) you will be ticketed if you stay longer than that. But yeah, no pay & display needed.

**swbarnett** · 12th December 2008, 16:19

Originally Posted by vifferman

However, there are some mental ones: in the North Shore, it's illegal to park on the grass verge, even outside your own house(!) and also illegal to park on the crossing at the end of your driveway.

These two I can actually understand (although I think thy need to be applied with a bit of common sense). The grass one is a real problem in winter. No problem in summer when the ground is a lot firmer. The crossing rule I can well understand unless it's wide enough (as someone else mentioned) so as to not cause a blockage.

**kermit63** · 12th December 2008, 16:34

I asked a warden in Wellington what the story was and she said as long as it's not in the way they don't mind.

I park my wife's scooter on the footpath outside work and have had no problems. There are two seats at the side of the footpath, with room for two scooters between them, so that where I park. There are metals rails on the other side of the footpath for push bikes to park and that area is usually also full of scooters - never seen any of them ticketed.

Scooters and bikes are a great solution to the transport problems we have in most cities and considerate bike parking in non-designated parking spaces is an efficient use of land. Scooters and bikes are all the rage in Europe and there are always far more parks that I see available in NZ and the bikes are still parked all over the place.

Melbourne is also pretty liberal about where it lets people park their bikes and these are the sorts of examples I think that NZ cities should be emulating.

I do park the Daytona in recognised parks, but that's more to do with it being heavier and less manouverable than the scooter.

**Gremlin** · 13th December 2008, 01:19

kermit... I think Wellington is a little smarter than Auckland. The wardens in Auckland are akin to Nazis.

I had a blackbird parked in Wellington for business for one whole day, fully laden with givi luggage. Couldn't find a free bike park (besides, it was like berthing a ship) so I parked it at the end of some angle parks, in a small gap of kerb with an entry to a parking garage on the other side.

No ticket at the end of the day...

Auckland... uni students are ticketed for parking behind a tree, in the gap between tree and kerb...

**Squiggles** · 14th December 2008, 11:56

Originally Posted by prettybillie

Okay - can someone clear up the whole where you are allowed to park your bike situation for me. I've been told you can park it on the footpath and I've been told you're not allowed to. Does anyone know what the rules are?

Footpaths are a No, end of pay and displays are fine (Although if you park in a pay and display and get a ticket, write in and say you did get a ticket but it blew away/was stolen

) Motorbike parks are of course fine, as are as many nooks and crannies as you can find in parking buildings (within reason of course)