(image courtesy of the badparking blog)
The Boston Globe – Scooter law revving up worry
By – Peter DeMarco
On July 31, a new state law will kick in that could require license plates for hundreds, if not thousands, of scooter owners whose bikes are smaller and sleeker than motorcycles, yet slightly faster than old-fashioned mopeds. Because of their diminutive size, such scooters – including Mayen’s top three Vespa sellers – usually pass for mopeds and enjoy the enormous perk of free sidewalk parking. But no longer.
With mandatory license plates, such scooters will be kicked off Boston sidewalks, because city rules require any plated vehicle to be parked in the street. And that’s likely to spell parking nightmares for scores of Boston-area scooter owners, who will now have to battle with cars and trucks for precious on-street spaces and metered spots.
So, sidewalk scooter parking has been a-ok in Bostom, MA. Do you live in a city that allows sidewalk scooter parking? If so, how does it fare for pedestrians? Does it cause significant sidewalk congestion or safety concerns? We don’t have that option here in Austin, believe me I’ve got the ticket to prove it.
Thanks to @btrandolph and @jeffcutler for the twitter scoop!
21. July 2009 at 2:36 pm
I think cities that have allowed sidewalk parking in the past are shooting themselves in the foot by changing the regulations like this unless they change some of the current 4-wheeler parking into multiple scoot/motorcycle parking.
21. July 2009 at 2:48 pm
In Melbourne Australia they tried to kick the bikes to the kerb (bikes and scoots). The bikers responded by having a bike to work day. 1 bike/scoot per park. End of discussion.
21. July 2009 at 6:23 pm
:D – BWAHAHAA! That cracked me up. Are you taking notes Boston? It's RIDE TO WORK time!
22. July 2009 at 6:16 pm
Yikes this is going to be a fun little issue for Boston. Good luck!
MissScooter
http://www.smshelmets.com
27. July 2009 at 8:59 pm
Boston has consistently displayed the hands-down most short-sighted, flat-out *dumbest* municipal policy in recent years that i've ever seen from a major city.
i hope boston 50cc-ers band together and bring the authorities there some horrible pain. stupidity *should* be painful.
31. July 2009 at 3:13 am
I know it's painful not to make fun of Boston, but that article was a bunch of hooey…
I won't bore you with the details, but for now scooters will be allowed to park on sidewalks even with the new plates. There's some discretion to ticket if scooters make for an obstruction, so who knows how that'll play out, but there isn't as of yet a blanket prohibition.
I should add that the new plates aren't actually available, and the state has essentially condoned keeping current moped stickers on the scooters until they expire (technically scooters didn't exist under MA law, so people registered them as mopeds).
As of today they were still issuing moped stickers, no questions asked.
3. August 2009 at 8:33 pm
I saw there was a protest over it a couple of days ago. See the story here:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/31/scooter_owners_rev_up_protest_on_parking/?comments=all
15. October 2009 at 3:22 pm
Update on this issue: The City of Boston has been activing working with motorcyclist and scooterists to implement some dedicated parking for all two wheeled motorized vehicles. It will definitely include on street metered spaces sized for scooters, but some sort of controlled off-street option may also be implemented. Once they offer this, right now slated for next spring, they intend to enforce the no sidewalk parking rules for all two wheeled motorized vehicles whether the have a plate or a moped sticker. The city seems genuinely committed to trying to come up with a plan that encourages the use of scooters so I am optimistic.
15. October 2009 at 3:27 pm
That's good news! Thanks for the update. In Austin we just got "free parking for two wheelers" downtown. The only catch is the parking is for 18 hours at a time, which isn't bad in my opinion. They just don't want people setting up a bike storage downtown, so you can't park your fixer-upper under a tarp or something.
Cheers!