During the winter, when huge snowbanks are blocking the sides of streets, I’ve noticed many drivers like to bend the rules when it comes to where they can park their cars.
In the summer, I think it’s just laziness.
Really? You’re going to park across the entire Bixi station? Do you not know what it’s for? Has it not been talked about enough in the news that you don’t recognize it?
I know it used to be a parking space, but you don’t think the giant contraption (not to mention the red “no parking” bag over the meter post) might have been an indication not to park there?
No wonder we need garish concrete barriers installed next to these stations.
A fire hydrant at Sherbrooke and Clark forces this driver to park a bit ahead
Then we have this guy (or girl), who decided to obey that don’t-park-in-front-of-the-fire-hydrant rule but disregard that don’t-park-too-close-to-intersections rule.
You'd think the fact that you have to park at an angle might be an indication you're too close to the corner.
It looks like it's making a turn, but there's no one inside.
What gets me is I’m pretty sure I saw the same car parked the same way in the same space a few weeks earlier. Someone needs to give the driver a ticket or this behaviour is going to continue (or worse, spread).
Other than having to crawl out the passenger do why can’t it be parking spot?
Ohh now I see. Access the Bixi bikes from the street. Acess from the side walk seems safer for the cyclists.
Driver and design fail.
You mention “Has it not been talked about enough in the news that you don’t recognize it?” You’d be surprised at how many people pay no attention whatsoever to the news in any medium. I know a few and I think it’s quite sad, actually.
Wait until you take driver’s ed… the number of infractions witnessed daily is staggering!
Stop being an parking enforcer!
You’ve gone over to the dark side.
Were you like this in college?
yea seriously… It’s only a matter of time before someone gets squished while trying to figure the bixi stuff out…
The Bixi station at Sherbrooke & University seems quite dangerous to me.
And while this time, someone is getting a ticket to have parked his car 2 hours and a half in a 2 hours zone…totally stupid.
Hey, that last guy looks like he’s probably within 5m of a fire hydrant, too!
Anyone who touches a steering wheel immediatelly loses the use of 75% of his neurons.
So… the City shells out who knows how much on Bixis (which I support on the face of it, though haven’t tried out yet), but somehow can’t get it together to take down the parking meter (just slap a ‘closed’ bag over it) and can’t be bothered to re-stripe the road to remove the little notches of white paint that indicate the boundaries of the former parking spot. I’d call it a half-ass job, but it’s really closer to a 90%-ass job, which makes ‘forgetting’ to do the minimal remaining work all the more perplexing. Still, you gotta wonder what the driver was thinking… did you see if the car there for a while (eg short- or long-term)?
If anyone ever spots a car blocking a Bixi station like that, I would just love it to see a Bixi bike locked just in front and to the rear of the car so that the driver subsequently cannot get out. That will teach the driver to be so inconsiderate of public spaces.
I thought of that myself. But then I figured the driver would just as easily run over the Bixis to get out. It’s not like they belong to people.
Desmond: Well one of the innovative parts of the ordeal is that all the stations are mobile. If they aren’t used often but there are other areas that need more stations, they can just pick up and move it. In which case not having the lines or meter there could be a problem. Also don’t forget they are only around in the summer. You still need the meters in the winter.
So before you call it a 90% ass job, maybe you should think your own ideas out more than 10%.
Any chance we could use those pictures to get some Montreal Geography Trivia going?
Well, I gave away one location. The other you could try guessing if you want. I have other ideas for MGT.
EPIC BIXI FAIL:
http://www.psssst.qc.ca/viewtopic.php?p=43557#43557
It’s very easy – Sherbrooke & Clark.
Horonymous, bikes are vehicles, why should Bixi users be forced take away pedestrians sidewalk space to get a bike and put it back? Nothing failed in this case expect an idiotic driver’s cluelessness or worse, an idiotic driver’s I’ll-show-them-the-roads-are-just-for-cars attitude. Bixis have to be given the space they deserve- on the road. And maybe you should learn to think before you write.
BTW, I just spoke to a nice person at the Bixi centre. FYI, the function where you enter your seven digit number into the pay station to get more time if the racks are full is not operational yet. That’s why the icon you’d push to get 15 min. more time is greyed out and inactive. So for now, you just have to high-tail it over to the next rack if yours is full. They’ll credit your account if you get stuck for extra time, if you call them.
Cyclist FAIL:
Notice the second picture of the Honda Civic…. Cyclist on the sidewalk, shirtless and without helmet…
What ‘s wrong with a shirless cyclist? (Actually, 2 weeks ago, a bunch of cyclists went ’round totally naked — Fagstein: ask Pierre Obendrauf for the pictures he took there)…
I think the key word there was: “Sidewalk”.