Category:  city life

Cities need to start looking for places to tuck scooter-friendly parking spots where cars can't fit. Then nobody loses. Cars have all their allotted spaces, and scooters are making good use of real estate that would otherwise be wasted. I've never heard a scooterist complain about being given the leftovers - we're usually thrilled just to have a safe place to stow our scoots.

This space I found in the QFC parking lot on 15th is a perfect example. I'm not sure what it's intended for, but it's a perfect scooter spot with little barriers and everything!

The other place that would be good to sneak scooter spots are the sloped edges of parallel street parking. In Seattle, many of the curbs are "cut out" so the beginning and end of them are angled and cars can't fit. Usually they're painted red or white to let you know you can't park there. But they're perfect scooter spots. You can often squeeze two scooters in.

For example, on University Way (or "the Ave" for you locals), I see a lot of cycles tucked into these corners. We could easily fit 6 scooters per block if we were allowed to park there, without affecting the availability of car parking at all. Presently, many of those spots are painted as no parking zones, as I mentioned in a previous post. I know at least two other people besides myself who have recently gotten tickets for parking in those areas, painted or not.

It's all about getting creative. Maybe it's the blue-collar Yankee Ingenuity I was raised with, but I'm all about making do and making use of the resources at your disposal. We probably don't need to engage the city in expensive, red-tape laden parking revolutions. We just need a little less yellow paint and a receipt for our meter stickers.

I found the key to staying (relatively) sane in an insane world is to keep a sense of humor about most things. My ability to do so depends largely on how much coffee I've had and whether or not the sun is out. Mama always said, "you gotta pick your battles." The scooter parking battle is a particularly heated one, and I vacillate between dragging out my soapbox and simply shaking my head in amusement.

Ironically, I had planned on writing a post this week about the large selection of different windshields available for your scooter along with my reviews of the various sizes and brands.

Here's my review of the Faco mid-size windshield for the Vespa GTS: It's really expensive and breaks when slammed against a rock wall.