A New West man believes the city should be doing more to accommodate motorcycles on city streets.
While parking at the New Westminster Public Library’s lot in the summer, Quayside resident Joe Hargitt received a parking ticket for parking in a large turnaround space at the end of the lot. Hargitt has since paid his $50 ticket, but the experience got him thinking about motorcycle parking provisions in New Westminster.
“I’d like to see New West just kind of catch up to where everybody else is, in other words allow more than one motorcycle in a parking stall or parking meter. I’d like to see spaces like the one I just described allocated for motorcycles because if there isn’t room for a car, there certainly could be room for a motorcycle,” he said. “There’s lots of small spaces that they could make available.”
Hargitt said the City of Vancouver has created on-street parking spots that are specifically designated for motorcycles. He believes there’s room for the city to create a motorcycle parking spot in the library’s parking lot and feels more spaces should be provided around the city.
During a recent visit to the public library, Hargitt parked his motorcycle in one of the parking spots in the small parking lot.
“A car came into the lot while we were there and my motorcycle took up a whole stall. The lot was full, and he had to leave the parking lot,” he said. “Again, if there were smaller spots available, it would free up stalls for cars.”
Hargitt would like the City of New Westminster to “embrace the motorcycle” and become a destination for motorcyclists, as many cities throughout North America have done, as he says it results in more customers for restaurants, pubs, hotels and other small businesses.
Gabriel Beliveau, the city’s acting supervisor of parking, said the city has a number of motorcycle parking spaces in Anvil Centre and 27 designated motorcycle spaces on the Front Street Parkade. He said the parking office hasn’t received requests for the creation of designated on-street parking spaces for motorcycles and has no plans to create on-street parking spaces for motorcycles at this time.
John Parkins, supervisor of parking enforcement in the City of Burnaby, said that city provided a few motorcycle parking spaces on Hastings Street as part of a pilot project. Burnaby’s bylaws don’t include provisions allowing more than one motorcycle to park in a space at one time, but parking enforcement officers “let it go” as long as the motorcycle has paid for parking.
“We don’t really recommend it,” he said of doubling up on parking in one stall. “The reason I say that is a lot of people take advantage of it, and that’s fine, we’ll go with that. The thing is, if the meter expires, that means that both people get the ticket. Who was parked there first? Who is responsible for it?”
In 2012, city council received a report regarding on-street parking for motorcycles and scooters and directed staff to identify areas in the city that would be suited to parking small motorcycles and scooters. The report said centralized pay parking stations would provide an opportunity to maximum parking spaces for motorcycles.
“As long as the space is paid then multiple motorcycles can park in that stall,” Beliveau said of on-street parking. “In the downtown or any of the areas with our central pay stations, as long as the individual motorcycle has been paid through our pay station, they are permitted to double up on a parking space.
According to ICBC, there were about 280,000 licensed motorcyclists and about 111,000 insured motorcycles in B.C. in 2015.
In recent years, the British Columbia Coalition of Motorcycles has worked with a volunteer-based group lobbying for free or designated motorcycle parking in various Lower Mainland municipalities, mainly Vancouver.
What’s happening in other cities?
* Vancouver has more than 200 parking spaces, including 100-plus metered spaces, specifically designated for motorcycles and scooters only, and permits space-sharing if there is room. In addition, the parking rate for motorcycle meter spaces is 50 per cent less than regular parking meter spaces on the same block.
* Richmond has installed designated on-street motorcycle parking spots in Steveston Village.
* Burnaby piloted a motorcycle pilot project on Hastings Street that offered a few spots on Hastings Street, but hasn’t expanded the provision of motorcycle parking spaces beyond that neighbourhood.
