Until recently, Philadelphia scooter drivers could park at bike racks on city sidewalks.  Then Philadelphia started a new plan: no more scooters parked at bike racks.  Scooters now have to park with the motorcycles in dedicated parking slots on the road.  Scooter drivers are having fits and they're now stalking the Philadelphia Parking Authority meetings demanding that they be allowed to park in bike racks again. 

What's the problem in Philadelphia, and why are scooter drivers so upset?

The answer is totally obvious when you think about it:  Scooters are frequently stolen, even in broad daylight.  Two grown men can pick up a scooter and toss it into the back of a pickup and be gone within seconds. 

"Hog" thieves have a harder time since the average cruiser is three time the weight of a scooter and requires about 10 men to pick one up and toss it into a waiting pickup.

To defend  themselves, scooter-heads have always tried to park in bike racks where their scoots  can be chained to the bike rack.  Now that Philadelphia scooters must park in motorcycle spaces, the theft rate of scooters has jumped as the scooter thieves pounce on the now-unsecured little machines.

As we know in Vancouver, local parking administrators are completely unaware of the theft issues that worry scooter drivers, and don't understand what the concern is.  In Philadelphia, scooter owners and small motorcycle owners are now stalking the Philadelphia Parking Authority meetings, trying to get them to focus on this security issue.  But the Philadelphia Parking Authority keeps cancelling and moving its meetings to avoid the outraged scooterists.
Here at mcparking.ca, we're concerned, too, and we'll do our best to keep you informed.

If you drive a motorcycle or a scooter, then certainly you know of the pains associated with street parking. Not only do you first have to deal with actually finding a parking spot for your compact vehicle, but you also run the additional risk of getting ticketed. Well, good news! Yesterday, CurbNinja launched its crowd-sourcing app, which allows users to find and share parking spots for two-wheeled vehicles.

“Living in the city, you learn where all of the best places to stash your bike on the street are, especially for free. I found myself taking pictures of my bike in these spots to thwart possible tickets, and then mapping them for personal use,” said CurbNinja cofounder, Tim Hines, in a statement. “CurbNinja was born out of that mapping idea. We created the ability for users to share these spots with millions of riders across the country in turn saving them the hassles of city parking.”

CurbNinja, available on Android & iPhone (and Blackberry) is available on your phone's App Shoppe (Google Play or App Store).

The State of Ohio has repealed a traffic rule that limited sidewalk parking to bicycles and allows small motorbikes to park there, too, starting at the end of May. Owners of scooters will have to walk their bikes on the sidewalk and will be prohibited from blocking pedestrian traffic.

Senator Bill Seitz introduced the bill after learning of scooter drivers trying to find a Downtown parking spot for their scooters. Most days, attorney Jeffrey Schloemer commutes by scooter from his Mount Adams home to the Downtown offices of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister and typically spent considerable time trying to find somewhere to park his scooter.  Schloemer said,"It's actually much easier to park a car than a scooter, but it doesn't seem to be environmentally responsible to drive my car when a scooter does the job much more efficiently."

On warm days, the city’s designated motorcycle or scooter parking areas are full by 8:30 a.m. Since most garages won’t admit motorcycles or scooters, and metered parking has time limits, “you end up driving all over town to find something,” Schloemer told The Enquirer last fall.

Changing Ohio law to let scooters park on the sidewalk would be “an inducement to living close to Downtown,” Schloemer said. Seitz said the change would encourage people to use energy-efficient ways to commute at little or no cost to the local cities.