...the city you sometimes live in and frequently visit has no way for you to pay for your parking, even if you want to.

The City of Seattle installed electronic pay stations a few years back. Huzzah! You can use your debit card! You can pay for a little time or a lot! Just buy your sticker, and affix inside the driver's window.





Sounded great, and for cars, it is. For motorcycles, it sucks.

Why does it suck, you ask? Because unlike cars, motorcycles don't have windows or interiors. Cyclists are instructed to display the sticker on the headlamp.

Yup, you guessed it. Other bikers, or opportunists in other vehicles, steal the stickers. I recently had my sticker stolen (as it has been twice before!), and this time I got a parking ticket. (This is someone else's ticket; I didn't have my camera with me that day.)




I'm not the only one upset by motorcycle parking in Seattle. Instead of it getting better in recent years, the City has in fact made it worse by increasing the number of car spots but not motorcycle spots, and by passing legislation making it illegal to park in unused, out of the way spaces in parking lots (like those unoccupied corners they paint at the ends of rows, for example). There are numerous organizations doing all they can to help the City see the error of excluding and punishing people who use vehicles that are both fuel- and space-efficient.

Back to the ticket saga: I sent in the slip asking to contest the situation. The Municipal Court of Seattle sent me a notice, allowing me several options. Since I'm living over a hundred miles from town, and don't know when I will be able to afford to go down there in the near future, I selected the "I no longer want to contest this matter" option on the form, and wrote the following to explain the circumstances:


Thank you for the opportunity to explain the circumstance of my parking infraction.

I request that my infraction be excused because the pay-station parking system does not allow a secure proof of payment for motorcycles.

The City of Seattle provides motorcyclists no legal alternative to paying at a pay station and displaying the sticker on the headlamp. As you may be aware, stickers are routinely stolen from motorcycles. Each time I have parked legally, the sticker is stolen from my headlamp, leaving me vulnerable to being ticketed for nonpayment. Only through luck have I not been ticketed until now.

I am a responsible rider, and am eager to work toward a more equitable and secure parking payment method for motorcycles in Seattle. I have no objection to paying for the parking spot I occupy, but the current system cannot protect my sticker from opportunists.

Thank you again for this venue. I look forward to the City providing secure payment systems for cyclists who wish to park legally.

Sincerely,

Elsa.

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Think it will work? Stay tuned for updates as they become available.