I park my bike on this corner near McCarren Park every day, and every day this scooter is here, covered and taking up a full side of a newish city bike rack. Is this okay? I mean, as Greenpointers recently highlighted, there are plenty of regular cyclists who hog the racks, making it so only two bikes can chain up to something designed for four. And scooters are definitely more city appropriate than say, an Expedition. There’s just something sort of…entitled about locking your scooter to a city-installed bike rack and then covering it up, like it’s in a garage or something. It says, “Thanks for subsidizing my leisure!”
Clearly this is not anywhere close to the worst-of-the-worst New York behavior (subway door blockers and pole leaners, I’m looking at you, also anyone who doesn’t pick up their dog’s shit–special place in hell). But is this what the racks are for? Is scooter and motorcycle parking challenging in general? Is this okay?
How on earth would you get four bikes amply secured to one of these racks?
As a scooter rider (and not a bike rider), hell no. Really not ok.
Scooters can park on the street pretty easily anywhere in Greenpoint and Williamsburg in my experience. And to make it worse, this one appears to be parked on the sidewalk next to a prime street space.
Not only is this poor etiquette, but it’s illegal. Motorized vehicles (including motorcycles and scooters) are not allowed to be parked on public sidewalks.
However, there’s an unfortunately loophole which this jerk is exploiting. Sanitation/NYPD are expressly told not to remove covers. Without removing the cover, they cannot write a ticket. That’s why you see this all over the city.
I successfully got a derelict/covered scooter towed, but it took months and repeated calls to Sanitation.
One day Sanitation/NYPD will grab their balls and enforce the law.
Scooters no longer are allow to park on the curb. Scooters have to obey the laws like cars. They are getting ticketed. My neighbor who has a scooter experiences this and now have to park on the street like a car with car rules: opposite side of the street parking
I’d say it’s right up there with people who park their car in such a way that there’s a half a spot in front of them and a half a spot behind them, effectively taking up two spots.