Punished or rewarded for motorcycle commuting?

[Scab]

I park where I want.

It is good to be king.

 

[GunMD]

One question for your military base parkers: Why in the world would security be a concern on a military base? Don't you guys have guns 'n shit?

Nope. We don't get no stinkin' guns. Over the years a few employees over at the USPS put a fork in that shit for us.

 

[twowheelnut]

Nope. We don't get no stinkin' guns. Over the years a few employees over at the USPS put a fork in that shit for us.

Odd. A military base without guns. If attacked, what do you guys do - threaten your enemy with paper cuts?

 

[vectervp1]

Nope. We don't get no stinkin' guns. Over the years a few employees over at the USPS put a fork in that shit for us.

Odd. A military base without guns. If attacked, what do you guys do - threaten your enemy with paper cuts?

Haven't you seen the rereleased edited version ET? They point their walkie talkies at them!

Here at work we have commandeered a covered patio area (I think meant for smokers). We've crammed about 6 bikes on there before, but it gets real tight. Usually only 3 of us ride into work regularly, the other folks here are fair weather riders.

 

[jmarran]

Nope. We don't get no stinkin' guns. Over the years a few employees over at the USPS put a fork in that shit for us.

Odd. A military base without guns. If attacked, what do you guys do - threaten your enemy with paper cuts?

I work at General Dynamics, but the property is owned by Navy.

It's not a base, but an engineering firm that designs and makes big scary things that float (even under the water in the case of some of them).

No guns.

 

[twowheelnut]

I work at General Dynamics, but the property is owned by Navy.
It's not a base, but an engineering firm that designs and makes big scary things that float (even under the water in the case of some of them).

No guns.

Ahhhh, ok. So, you use pocket slide rules then to defend the base. Got it.

:lol:

 

[eeksnake]

Designated MC parking. Used to have 8 spots (4 car spots split in half). A few months ago, company planted a cargo container on 4 of the 8 slots. We were told it was temporary (2-3 months - it's been there for 6 months now. :glare: ). I was okay with it until an idjit parked his bike behind mine :angry: . To me, it didn't matter that he was more than happy to move and let me out... I shouldn't have to track someone down and ask them to move their bike so I can leave. Ever since then, I take up a full spot in the back 40 (which just happens to be under 24/7 surveillance by our best camera. )

For great stories, facts and literature, Ride To Work Day is probably your best source of info.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I have street parking on a curb in DC with a bunch of other motorcycles, between 2 MOTORCYCLE ONLY signs. Even a parking lot is better by limiting access and the number of folks wanting to sit on the pretty bike. I sure get tired of SUVs thinking they can squeeze in between the bikes.

In your spot, I'd write a letter to whoever is the head honcho for facilities at your place. Explain that motorcycles are already recognized by the State and Federal govts as benefitting society by their allowance to use HOV. Add that in addition to encouraging gas-saving as something the company can claim, when each of those bikes takes a full car's parking space, it will be a burden for the company. Follow through if needed.

Bob

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

For great stories, facts and literature, Ride To Work Day is probably your best source of info.

+ 1

'jmarran': an engineering firm that designs and makes big scary things that float (even under the water in the case of some of them).

That would be sink, then...?

The military can work in your favor, sometimes (if you can 'work' the system). Once I was at a small remote duty station and we (motorcyclists) campaigned, to the main base, for (and got) a building for storing 'grounds maintenance equipment'.... (for bike parking, actually).

Not parking, but related: I once worked for a mostly public funded company that was an integral part of the motorcycle industry and whenever they paid mileage for using personal vehicle they paid half (1/2) if you rode your bike. That really pissed me off.... :angry:

 

[jmarran]

For great stories, facts and literature, Ride To Work Day is probably your best source of info.

+ 1

'jmarran': an engineering firm that designs and makes big scary things that float (even under the water in the case of some of them).

That would be sink, then...?

Not if it's a submarine.

The military can work in your favor, sometimes (if you can 'work' the system). Once I was at a small remote duty station and we (motorcyclists) campaigned, to the main base, for (and got) a building for storing 'grounds maintenance equipment'.... (for bike parking, actually).

Not parking, but related: I once worked for a mostly public funded company that was an integral part of the motorcycle industry and whenever they paid mileage for using personal vehicle they paid half (1/2) if you rode your bike. That really pissed me off.... :angry:

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

I really don't give a shit what people say or think! I pay taxes just like everyone else, I pay for my tag, and I pay taxes on every freak'in gallon of gas every time I fill up (which pays for roads their STUPID ass's to drive on in their cars)! Whether I drive my Deisel truck, Van, Car, or bikes, I'm still going to park where I want, and in any parking space I choose! God help 'em if they screw with my bike! We have camera's that cover the whole Space Center!

 

[Ignacio]

Lighten up Francis.

Seriously. :angry2:

 

[Duff]

<SNIP>"Lifes just not fair" as the story goes. So, as an apparent 'mea culpa' to the cagers my company plans on eliminating designated motorcycle parking areas.

I think designated parking has good and bad sides. It is nice that you have a designated area and the surface supports a bike's kick-stand (like our concrete pad) but it seems to breed a little bit of contentment from others. You see, our bike area is great for some people (nice and close to their end of the building) and bad for others (like me). So, I park in a normal parking spot. Of course, THAT makes some of the cagers mad because they think I MUST park in the bike area and have no right "wasting" one of their spaces.

So, I say do this: Eliminate the bike area, make everyone use normal spots and don't "share" a spot if you are a rider. Let the nay-sawyers realize what a favor you have been doing them when you arrive early and take the better spot that they COULD have parked in.

A more realistic (and fair?) idea would be to make 1 or 2 bike specific spots on each row so that they were available and didn't really have any more chance to get a "good" spot than a cager. Hell, maybe you could use the triangle on the end of each row (if it is diagonal parking) as a bike spot of two.

By the way... people have too much time to bitch if they are complaining about bikers getting preferential parking privileges! :angry: JMHO.

 

[ponyfool]

If they take away the bike parking, make a pact with every bike rider in the business to only park one bike per space, and come in early and park up front. When they see all the spots disappear making them walk farther (or is it further), they may realize their stupid decision was just that, stupid.

 

[Ignacio]

If they take away the bike parking, make a pact with every bike rider in the business to only park one bike per space, and come in early and park up front.

Now, that is a well thought out plan. Subtle, devious,.......and effective.

 

[radman]

The Great Green University of Minnesota, Progressive In All Things Green and Gentle To The Urban Core, Model Of Sustainability, Worshiper of Our Mother The Earth, could give a ****. Buy a car space in one of the ramps , or get it the **** outta the way. Now if it was a Hybrid or Electric car, or ran on corn or mule shit, preferred parking is a given.

 

[k7lvo]

One question for your military base parkers: Why in the world would security be a concern on a military base? Don't you guys have guns 'n shit?

Nope. We don't get no stinkin' guns. Over the years a few employees over at the USPS put a fork in that shit for us.

Ironically, military people out of a "war zone" are usually pretty defensless - at least where firearms are concerned. When I was in the Reserve I had two loaded magazines, one M-16 and one Baretta, loaded and ready to go if I would have been activated so I'd have SOMETHING while the brass made up their minds... (I don't know whether it would have done any good or not as I was never activated, although I was one team away from it during Desert Storm.

 

[Bandit12]

My employer (Uncle Sam, DoD) built a concrete parking area right up front for motorcycles. It will hold about 14 or 16 motorcycles and is almost always pretty close to full.

A long time ago when I was still on active duty at Dover AFB, a few of us in the Jet Shop rode our motorcycles to work. We had dedicated moto parking areas but they were on the far side of the parking lot. So 2 or 3 of us would park in one car slot close to the building we worked in. One of the civilian Air Reserve Tech's complained that we wern't allowed to park there and that we HAD to park in the designated moto spots. Since I was the ranking rider in the shop that Mr./TSgt Bitcher was in he got in my face about it. I walked away calmly from him and called the base police operations and asked them what the policy was on motorcycle parking. They told me since it is a legally registered vehicle we can park in any authorized parking spot. There were 5 other shops that surrounded our parking lot so I went to each of those shops and talked to all the riders in them. The next morning, Friday, about 12 of us got to work about 15 minutes early and we parked 1 bike in each car slot, sideways to the slot and at the entrance to the spot. When Bitchy Boy got in he had to walk from half way across the lot to get to the shop! Man was he ticked! When he found out I organized the whole thing he came yelling and sccreaming at me. I let him finish and handed him a card with the phone number of the base police operations NCO on in and told him to call him if he wanted to complain. I then told him of he wanted to keep it up, wait till the next duty day. I spent the entire weekend going to all the shops in the area, about 15 in all. I got in touch with every rider I could and got them to agree to come to work 30 minutes early on Monday morning. I got one of my buddies to drive my car to the shop and I rode. We ended up with over 50 bikes and I gave the guys from shops farther away a ride to their shop in my car. When Bitch boy got in he was livid! I told him if he didn't want to stop bitchin about a few bikes, I'd get every rider on base and we'd shut down the entire parking lot. Our commander came in and saw all the bikes parked in our lot and he asked what was going on. Someone told him he should call me in the Jet Shop to find out. When He called me, and I explained about Bitch Boy, he called him in the office and told him to back off adn that we had every right to park anywhere in the lot we wanted. BB backed off and I told the other guys thanks for the support.

The next day about 4 of us parked in one spot, all inside the lines. You guessed it, BB started complaining about having too many bikes in one slot. I told him if he really wanted to start bitching again, I could always get all my riding buds to come back to our lot. He shut up real quick.

 

[RTSR1/FJR]

My employer (Uncle Sam, DoD) built a concrete parking area right up front for motorcycles. It will hold about 14 or 16 motorcycles and is almost always pretty close to full.

A long time ago when I was still on active duty at Dover AFB, a few of us in the Jet Shop rode our motorcycles to work. We had dedicated moto parking areas but they were on the far side of the parking lot. So 2 or 3 of us would park in one car slot close to the building we worked in. One of the civilian Air Reserve Tech's complained that we wern't allowed to park there and that we HAD to park in the designated moto spots. Since I was the ranking rider in the shop that Mr./TSgt Bitcher was in he got in my face about it. I walked away calmly from him and called the base police operations and asked them what the policy was on motorcycle parking. They told me since it is a legally registered vehicle we can park in any authorized parking spot. There were 5 other shops that surrounded our parking lot so I went to each of those shops and talked to all the riders in them. The next morning, Friday, about 12 of us got to work about 15 minutes early and we parked 1 bike in each car slot, sideways to the slot and at the entrance to the spot. When Bitchy Boy got in he had to walk from half way across the lot to get to the shop! Man was he ticked! When he found out I organized the whole thing he came yelling and sccreaming at me. I let him finish and handed him a card with the phone number of the base police operations NCO on in and told him to call him if he wanted to complain. I then told him of he wanted to keep it up, wait till the next duty day. I spent the entire weekend going to all the shops in the area, about 15 in all. I got in touch with every rider I could and got them to agree to come to work 30 minutes early on Monday morning. I got one of my buddies to drive my car to the shop and I rode. We ended up with over 50 bikes and I gave the guys from shops farther away a ride to their shop in my car. When Bitch boy got in he was livid! I told him if he didn't want to stop bitchin about a few bikes, I'd get every rider on base and we'd shut down the entire parking lot. Our commander came in and saw all the bikes parked in our lot and he asked what was going on. Someone told him he should call me in the Jet Shop to find out. When He called me, and I explained about Bitch Boy, he called him in the office and told him to back off adn that we had every right to park anywhere in the lot we wanted. BB backed off and I told the other guys thanks for the support.

The next day about 4 of us parked in one spot, all inside the lines. You guessed it, BB started complaining about having too many bikes in one slot. I told him if he really wanted to start bitching again, I could always get all my riding buds to come back to our lot. He shut up real quick.

:good: Like I said, they're a legally registered vehicle with all the same rights!

 

[miguel]

i work for Boeing in Long Beach, California. our parking structure is 7-stories high and has a footprint about the size of two city blocks. motorcycles park in a designated area on the first level that can hold about 40 bikes. we park adjacent to the handicap parking.

the motorcycle section is just about full this time of year, but during the winter it's usually just me and 3 or 4 other bikes.