Photo shaming motorcycle rider's parking job divides opinion
This motorbike is parked in a car space in a busy Sydney suburb.
Parking is always a contentious issue, especially near the beach. So when one Sydney local snapped a photo of a parked motorcycle in a coveted car space, there was naturally a flurry of mixed opinions.
The image taken on Roscoe Street at Bondi Beach shows a motorcycle parked in a 90-degree car spot, prompting the photographer to complain that there is already "limited" parking in the suburb.
"It’s been there 3 days....(they're) lucky it hasn’t been tipped yet," he continued in the comments of the Bondi Local Loop Facebook Loop post on Saturday.
Some agreed, calling the motorcycle rider's act "annoying" and "selfish" for taking up the whole spot, saying there was motorcycle parking not far from where they had parked. However others thought the bike owner was doing nothing wrong, and instead called out the white car for not parking between the lines.
"It’s a Ducati. As an owner you want to park it somewhere where it’s safe. And it won’t be knocked over. They aren’t doing anything wrong," one person said.
"Totally legal. We pay rego, green slips etc just like cars and are sick of our bikes being hit while parked. How it is different to any of the cars there who had 1 occupant?" another said.
"If the council or NSW was building more motorbikes parking maybe we won't have this problem," a third person claimed.
NSW has the highest rates of registered motorcycles at 281,603, according to 2022 Statista data, with Queensland following at 230,887 and then Victoria at 208, 929.
The Waverley LGA also has "one of the highest rates of scooter and motorbike ownership in NSW", according to the mayor of Waverley Council, Paula Masselos, in a previous statement.
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Where are motorcyclists meant to park?
Waverley Council confirmed the motorcycle shown in the image was "parked legally".
"Motorcycles can legally take up one 'spot'," a council spokeswoman told Yahoo News Australia. "However, a motorcycle cannot share a single 'spot' with a car.
"Waverley Council provides motorcycle-only parking across the LGA including several locations in Bondi Beach and Bondi Junction."
There are 153 dedicated motorcycle/scooter parking spaces within the metered parking area in the LGA, where riders don't need to pay, according to a council statement from 2021.
However if those free spots are not available, the rider will have to pay. "Only use legal spaces and avoid parking on footpaths or pedestrian areas," a City of Sydney statement recommends.
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