I don't mean to be a bike nanny, but the growing congestion around Portland's bike parking areas is making this a more consistent frustration.
When you park your bike in a bike rack, please park it so that it is upright and generally straight, so that another person can park their bike next to yours without having to lift it up, re-arrange your lock, find some way to balance your bike-without-kickstand so that it will stay up, move your helmet that you've left locked to your bicycle and then finally try to squeeze their own bike in next to yours without knocking it over again.
If you were in a car and you parked like that, you'd get a parking ticket.
Really, just take the extra two minutes it might take to leave your bike in a position so that it's easy for other people to use the bike rack. Gone are the days of you being the only person parking your bike - we all have to work together to make this thing better for all of us.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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10 comments:
iawtc! i have to rearrange someone's bike every morning when i get to work to fit mine on the rack.
On staple racks, I try to park my bike at the very front or very back of the staple- so that two can park per side, 4 total to the rack. There are some places where that's necessary, like at PSU (even with their recent addition of numerous new racks), because there just isn't enough parking.
@Anonymous2: I do the same - I have a good centered kickstand so I don't actually have to lean my bike against the rack, which allows me to give more room for the other person using the rack as well, and if I shift my bike back on the rack, then as you say, more people can park there. I'm hoping soon to get a rear frame lock with a chain attachment, so that I could potentially park a couple feet away from a rack if they're all full :)
What about the Bakfiets and big box bikes like mine?
I admit I don't even try a bike rack with the Sorte. I use old abandoned bustop poles across the sidewalk from the rack in one area. And other places without a pole I use a long lock so bike is 6 inches away from the end of the rack. But I have to make sure bike is not too close to cars b/c one cannot move my bike once brake lock and wheel lock are engaged and I don't want a car door slammed into it with frustration. Also must leave sidewalk room for ppl to walk and stroller and wheelchair.
Yeah, cargo bikes do bring some complication as far as parking goes. I sometimes see people here park them in car spots.
I think this is one really good, practical way we can potentially learn from countries like Denmark and The Netherlands, is how they deal with parking cargo bikes (since they are much more prevalent there).
For now though, I think it's just going to be awkward, and you kind of have to do the best you can.
Also: drivetrain out! amirite?
It's frustrating when I want to stagger handlebars but i can't because I don't want to smash mah derailleur against the staple.
Also, arrow keys aren't working in the comment box? Fix plzkthxbai.
i'm new to portland and new to commuting on my bike. At my school there seems to be plenty of bike racks available for everyone, i've never had trouble finding a spot. And unlike my old school, the campus cops don't ticket people for locking their bikes to poles (as far as i know). But i keep ending up with people leaning their bike against mine (i'm usually one of the first on the rack in the morning) and i have to move their bike around a lot to get mine out. I try to get their's to stand up still, but the rack is so full by then there's not much room to move it around. Plus i feel weird standing their moving someone else's property around, so if once i have my bike free, i leave. It's not my fault they parked their bike so awkwardly that it falls over without mine there it's their responsibility to park their bike in a way that it will stand up. If they cared that much about their property they would walk to the next building's rack to find a spot.
It's like if someone parked their car on a hill and didn't put their parking brake on, instead they rolled forward into the car in front of them using it to keep their car in place. When the car that was there first leaves, their car will continue to roll down the hill. It's not the person who left's fault that the other person didn't put their parking break on.
@Anonymous: Welcome to Portland :)
This problem only seems to be getting worse as more and more people start riding, as it happens more and more often that racks are nearly full, and the way people park makes a big difference. I think the type of bike rack makes a big difference too, as many types of racks around town do nothing to prop your bike up, and many people don't have kickstands, so the bike has nothing to lean on except the bikes next to it.
This may get better as more people get sort of "city" bikes that come with kickstands and such, rather than the racing-style bikes that are most common, but really all it would take is about 20 seconds of making sure your bike is propped up, and relatively straight.
Hopefully we'll also learn which racks work better and stop putting in the worse ones.
Cheers, and best of luck riding around Portland!
I just came across this post and oddly enough, it is so true to what I had to do this afternoon whilst parking my bike. Thanks for putting it out there for everyone to read. Let's manage ourselves so that no one has to.
:) Saw you were just at Ristretto's, just rode by there around 11.30, coming from NW, but had just had breakfast and was stuffed, so I didn't stop.
I think this bike parking issue will get better once we start seeing critical mass in the bike racks more often, because the people who are now leaving their bikes sprawled across the racks will in turn have to fiddle other peoples' bikes out of the way when they go to park, and hopefully will realize it's a royal pain in the ass.
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