[bike parking] dog in a manger

DK wrote:

Fuck them: car owners have to pay for parking—why should motorcyclists not do the same? I'm sorry, but can anyone tell me why motorcyclists should not pay for parking—is it the case that motorcycles magically disappear, not taking up any space, when they are parked?

Longrider replied:

Free parking for bikes goes back as long as I can remember - certainly in the thirty odd years I've been riding, I've only had to pay for parking my bike on the odd occasion (usually privately owned facilities such as NCP).

You've hit the wrong target here. As a council tax payer, a motorcyclist is paying for council services - and that should include parking facilities. Why are cars exempt? Are drivers not council tax payers, too?

I'm afraid I'm on the side of Longrider here but not perhaps for the reason he'd imagine. Leaving the real reason until further down in the post, an argument can firstly be made:

1. A motorcycle is so much smaller than a car - what, three in the same space as a fuel guzzling car?

2. They're not taking up a car's space so wtf is a car owner whinging about? They're in a space, often just part of a wide path or the end of a carpark, arranged laterally in a line, taking up at most two parking spaces.

3. Bike riders pay council tax just as much as a car owner does so the idea of a car owner subsidizing the cyclist is specious.

4. There's a question of degree and perspective here. How much is it an hour? £1? Before you say that's not the point, it is the point - it's such a miniscule amount.

Against that, I've heard the argument that the council has to create that space with 'our' money but see point 3 again above. So now to my real reason and it's in the heading to this post.

I'm really surprised at DK taking the socialist line that because I've got something and he hasn't, he wants to take away what I have. Sure - let's have NO parking fee whatsoever - not a problem. But don't turn envious eyes on the bike rider just because you have to pay for a car. They're two different animals.

Please don't read anything into this because on 99.9% of issues, I agree with DK. But on this he's wrong and it looks mightily, to me, like the politics of envy which infests our society today.

The pushbike

Where do I stand in this? I ride a pushbike. Should I be charged for parking too? The council in the nearest town to me has an area on a broad footpath for bikes to park in a row. It doesn't inconvenience passers-by, it's nowhere near the road.

My friend says that when I reverse from the rack for ten seconds, I'm impinging on public space and therefore can be charged a fee.

What do you want?

OK, what do you want to charge for parking? If a car owner pays £1 an hour, will you charge the motorcyclist 30p and the pushbike owner 10p? Is that a fair amount?

10p! For goodness sake! All for a principle, eh?