Scooter Task Force Wants Special Parking

Everyone thank you very much for your comments. The parking of scooters and motorcycles in New York and NYC has become increasingly problematic.

State law requires Muni Meter receipts to be placed on your dashboard, which most motorcycles do not have. The DOT's ridiculous offer to mail out pouches won't help tourists and visitors and the state's stance of "just buy the receipt when you park and mail it in with your defense if you receive a summons" is utterly absurd. And a side effect of the intended more efficient use of parking real estate by cars is that it is nearly impossible for scooters and motorcycles to park with sufficient clearance not to be knocked over by "touch parking" motorists, often causing hundreds or even thousands of dollars in damages.

New York has has a long history of ignoring motorcyclists' existence except when they can be exploited as a revenue source and it is time to change that.

Remember however, that loud racing exhaust systems, parking on sidewalks, obscuring VIN markings and removing registration tags from vehicles on public property are all illegal. We understand why some folks do it but that does not make it right.

If you want to try to make it legal, back up your token acts of civil disobedience by joining a motorcycle rights organization that supports your goals.

The NYMSTF (and yes, this IS a plug) wants - among many other things - to see the Muni Meter issues fixed, wants to designate all striped off areas of roadway as motorcycle -only parking, and seeks to have lane splitting legalized too.

Ride safe,

-Brad

I had a Vespa when I lived in Milwaukee, WI. The greatest thing about it was that I could park the thing on any sidewalk downtown and it was perfectly legal. It was better than riding the subway. Just take the scooter to your destination and leave it in front. I understand why that would be difficult in some parts of NYC. But available parking is a big factor in choosing my means of transportation.

Take a tip from motorcyclists: get a motorcycle cover, and find a good sidewalk spot to park that is unobtrusive.

Make the cover completely envelop the bike, and secure the straps under it. Then thread a regular bicycle lock through the looping holes.

99.9% of the time, ticket maids will not take the effort to pull off the cover, they have to take a knife to cut it open.

HAHA mistype. asshole. You can't read!

Revving engines? Maybe on motorcycles and older Vespas. Modern scooters have automatic transmissions. You can't gun the engine without moving.

Oh snap, there's also a statute, 170.70, that makes it a class E felony to possess a vehicle with a defaced/altered/removed VIN. So the "somebody else did it defense" ain't gonna fly.

Ah, found it in the New York criminal law:

Section 170.65 Forgery of a vehicle identification number

 A person is guilty of forgery of a vehicle identification number when:

 (1) He knowingly destroys, covers, defaces, alters or otherwise changes the form or appearance of a vehicle identification number on any vehicle or component part thereof, except tires;  or

 (2) He removes any such number from a vehicle or component part thereof, except as required by the provisions of the vehicle and traffic law;  or

 (3) He affixes a vehicle identification number to a vehicle, except in accordance with the provisions of the vehicle and traffic law.

 Forgery of a vehicle identification number is a class E felony.

I also want special parking for expensive vehicles since they also can "sometimes get damaged...when they park"

Jacque, pulling the plate might get you some hassle and a fine but I agree that messing with the VIN is a Real Bad Idea. Defacing/removing a VIN is a felony pretty much everywhere, even in the federal system I think. Is it worth doing state prison or federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison time just to try to avoid a parking ticket? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no.

Not to mention if you remove the VIN then you will never again be able to prove that the bike belongs to you.

Truth.

Scraping, switching, or otherwise defacing your VIN number will draw a felony charge in short order. I think I mentioned this in the Vespa Sweep 2009 article.

My VIN, OTOH, is obscured by the left fork when the head is locked, leaving only the last 5 digits visible.

I'll pay the piper should the day come where pulling my plate catches up with me.

A friend of mine has a Vespa and removes the plate when she parks overnight. She does this not because she's trying to avoid a parking ticket, but because her plate has been stolen three times in less than a year. She finally attached it with screws and someone still ripped it off! What's a person to do?

The NYC motorcycle and scooter communities have long wanted designated, legal parking, but the initiatives seem to always reach a deadend. Once upon a time, I was told that it was up to the city community boards to see the need in their areas and ask City Hall for the designated two-wheeled parking. This creates a long, cumbersome, splintered process where the issue dies on the vine as people move on (out of the two-wheeled community or off their community board). Futher, it's not a hot-button issue for the majority, but hopefully with persistence and through the right channels the task force will be successful. Many would appreciate and benefit from it.

Fortunately, for many Red Hook is an area that doesn't have as much problem finding parking, but no doubt the group's leader has more trouble in Manhattan.

Good luck! You'll have a lot of benchwarmers cheering you on.

I too have an MCY endorsement but this is why we can't have nice things. I understand all the de facto motorcycle places are gone (remember Columbus circle?) but parking on the sidewalk or crosswalks and defacing VIN's are pretty high up there in the no-no department.

The TEA's might not ticket you but I'm pretty sure NYPD will find a way to get that VIN number on the ticket.

CR, it's not legal to take your plates off when parking. Some people do it because the parking enforcement guys will often not write a ticket if there is no plate. They could write a ticket off the VIN but for whatever reason that happens infrequently.

The risk, though, when you park on city property without a plate is that the vehicle can be towed by the city marshal as abandoned property. That also doesn't happen very often but it does happen.

so if a vespa is parked on my block w/o a license plate, i can call 311 to have it towed?

Yes, if it helps you dull the pain of your petty, worthless existence until you can cry yourself to sleep...

I saw it happen on Grand st this summer. In fact, Gothamist had a post on it that very day.

QQ? Cagers? I learn more useless info from the comments every day.

haha..me too!

I don't understand how it's legal to take your plates off a vehicle when parking it.

its not legal. People just do it.

Revving engines at stoplights: I agree, completely annoying, unnecessary and stupid (and yes I hold a class M license) but only the small penis types do it so at least when you see someone doing it you can chuckle to yourself.

But cutting through traffic? Come on, that's what motorcycles and scooters are for! You'd do it too if you had one. :-)

Maybe something can be worked out once bikes stop revving their engines and cutting through traffic?

I'll not comment on the engine revving since it's pretty clear you don't hold a Class M license.

On cutting through traffic... personally, I'll advance to the head of the line at a traffic light if it means I'll get to ride free and clear of the cagers (most of whom don't subscribe to the concepts of spatial awareness, or proper use of side view mirrors. Or their eyes, for that matter.

Honestly, if the DOT managed to work out a system for MC's to legitimately park at receipt based muni-meters, I'd pay.

Until then, I'll continue to pull my plates. Bonus points for my VIN being hidden behind my forks when locked.

Howabout vespa rider just continue to park on the sidewalk and remove their velcro'ed license plates and shut up?

We park on the sidewalk mainly because people in cars don't know how to park. My scooter was knocked over twice in one day. Once in Manhattan & once where I live, in Brooklyn.

If this city kept up with most of the major cities, we'd have a legal place to park our bikes. But, as long as Bloomberg's mayor, it'll always be about revenue.

what's with the hostility? scooters like the Vespa in your picture make very little noise, take up very little space, and are extremely fuel efficient. Motorcycles that are illegally altered make too much noise, agreed. But the big increase in the city is Vespas, not big loud Harleys.

Paris has specially designated 2-wheel vehicle parking only areas on almost every block. Funny that a city that is about 2000 years older than NY is so far ahead of us, in just about every single way.

Funny that a city that is about 2000 years older than NY is so far ahead of us

Now I wouldn't go that far. Granted, in areas of transport, maybe you have a point, but there are reasons for our stubborn refusal to embrace anything other than the automobile.

Once Oil hits $7+ per gallon and stay that way, things will change.

When was the last time you've been to Paris? They have better public transportation, they have an awesome public bike system, they have the aforementioned parking spaces for 2 wheelers which encourages people not to drive their cars into the city. The streets are clean, they maintain their parks and monuments. New York is a third world shit hole in comparison.

Yes good transport is important and I know of the wonders of the 'le metro', but when we're talking about 2000 years ahead of us in every single way, thats where I take exception. Both cities have their advantages, but I wouldn't think of living there. They have unique problems socially and otherwise that would change my mind.

And yeah it shuts down at 12:30, wtf is up with that?!

But such shutdowns help them keep their system running at peak efficiency, but I couldn't imagine them doing the same thing here.

Brush up on your reading comprehension please. I didn't say Paris was 2000 years ahead of us. I said for a city that is 2000 years OLDER than NYC, they are ahead of us in every way.

Yes, the subway shuts down at night (last trains are actually a little later than that, more like 1:30 for most lines) but thats why they actually run properly. Plus, after around 1am, trains here only run about once per hour anyway. I would much rather that our subways shut down for a few hours per night. They wouldn't be in such disrepair, and we wouldn't have to suffer service cuts.

Paris actually is ahead of NYC: by 5 hours.

Meh. Despite the misstype I read it correctly originally and stand by my previous argument.

Even if the subways were shut down for a period of time in the evening, the subway system would still be in disrepair. The problem has more to do with the MTA bureaucracy/State Funding/etc then it has to do with finding the time to do the actual repairs. And the business community would not stand for such a shutdown, and neither would most New Yorkers. People need to work at all hours and the subway is their only means of transit.

I thought NYC was the city that never sleeps. This aint Paris, or, for christ's sake, BOSTON. We don't shut down at friggin 1 or 2am.

The Metro is great, but it closes at like 12:30 AM. That isn't so fabulous at all.

If you love it so much why don't you live there full time?

Are you serious? How old are you? Twelve?

It was an honest question that did not warrant such a terse response. I need to study for the Regents now...

given your ongoing love affair with Paris it's a fair question that you unskillfully avoided. why daydream about the prom queen when you can take her to the backseat for some hot action?

p.s. i'm 12.

QQ more

Grow a brain imbecile. No is QQing. I'm merely pointing out the fact that this city has a lot of catching up to do. The rest of the civilized world is in the 21st century, NY has yet to join the 20th.

San Fran also has decent dedicated motorbike parking.