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Two more two-wheel motor vehicle parking spots were just added Downtown, allowing more room for scooters and motorcycles to easily find a place to park. These two additions bring the grand total of two-wheeler parking areas up to 25, with room for over 275 vehicles to park.
One addition is on the north side of Gay Street between 4th and 5th Streets, in front of the Neighborhood Launch development. These spaces can serve residents on Gay Street, as well as commuters to area businesses and restaurants.
The other new parking area is located on the east side of Front Street just south of Vine Street, making use of a thin strip of asphalt that has little use outside of parallel parking for two-wheeled vehicles. These spaces can serve residents in the nearby Battleship Building and Arena Crossing Apartments as well as visitors to the North Market and various destinations along Park Street and in the Arena District.
The parking permit sticker for using these spaces costs $50 per year and can be purchased at the City’s Parking Violations Bureau located at 400 W. Whittier Street. Parking enforcement in most spaces only runs until 5pm though (always check your parking signs to be sure) so a parking permit is not required for use in the evening or on Sundays or Holidays.
Seems like the time and effort to put these in would be better spent driving awareness around the existing spaces and creating efficiencies in where and how you obtain the permit. The spaces in my hood aren’t used at all.
Not to mention I’d rather feed the meter rather than endure an agonizing visit to Whittier for our scooter permit.
My issue with this isn’t the spaces but the process of getting the stickers. Do we really have to go to that nasty Whittier Street office to get them. Why can’t we buy them online? I know they think they will cut down on stolen bikes being processed, but do thieves really bother to get parking stickers?
Jesus. We’re talking about driving a mile south and standing in line for 15 minues ONCE PER YEAR. It’s not like getting the sticker requires mandatory colonoscopies.
@pmgent Agreed. Why can’t you buy it online?
@Walker. Hour minimum whenever I’ve been down there not factoring in the 20 minutes to and fro.
If I’m paying for a service (scooter parking) as a customer I expect to be treated like a customer in a 21st century fashion. Customers in this century are typically given multiple ways to interact with and purchase a product or service.
Any business that treated their customers this way or forced them into an inane buying process would be out of business.
Making it a pain to buy (it is to me) implies they are more interested in ticketing rather than encouraging other forms of transportation.
21st century parking for America’s 21st Century City. :)
Jon, don’t get me wrong… I think online purchasing would be great too. But even if we go with your worst case scenario of an hour and forty minutes (it really takes you 20 minutes to drive/scooter one-way from the Short North to Brewery District?) we’re still talking about a once-per-year pilgrimage. I really don’t think it sounds THAT bad.
Besides, if you’d prefer to feed the meters, just feed the meters. You’re still allowed to parking in standard metered spaces. ;)
We do hope to make purchase of permits easier in the future, but as we are in the final month of the first year of the pilot (that only happened because of folks like you asking), I think it’s working fairly well.
I just drove down Gay Street and saw 17 scooters and motorcycles in just 2 blocks.
We are happy to take JonMyers meter money, but for these 17 riders parked on Gay Street, we’ve made it more convenient with the loss of maybe 2 car spots that served 17 vehicles. That’s a win so far, with room to improve.
Things we plan to keep exploring:
1. Electronic permit applications via web
2. Application by mail
3. downtown permit sales location (don’t forget that parking violations bureau is about to move from the Whittier Peninsula anyway to make room for a big park.)
4. More areas for parking.
MB – Just was there at the Pearl Alley Market and at El Arepazo and you didn’t buy me lunch? I’ll say.
I agree with Jon, that office down on Whittier is horrible and the whole system is stupidly antiquated. Try going in there on a Monday after an OSU football game. There is a line of people out the door who swear that they parked in a legal spot during the game. The two wheel parking permit sticker is bunk anyway.
Mike Brown, please keep your eyes on the road while driving. For the children.
Mike Brown Says: don’t forget that parking violations bureau is about to move from the Whittier Peninsula anyway to make room for a big park.
Yes! Very exciting stuff! Details here
When I needed a residential parking permit, the first few years I was able to go to some building on Front Street up near the police HQ and the process took just a few minutes once the clerk was able to verify my residence. I remember getting a renewal-by-mail notice each year which I was too lazy to fill out by the deadline. It wasn’t until that last year or two of needing the permit that I had to go to the Whittier yard to get it, which meant rubbing elbows with some SHADY dudes who seemed to have plenty of excuses but never the proper paperwork. Blame those guys for the long wait times, not the clerks.
I’m all for anything that reduces the number of scooter and motorcyle riders who decide it’s okay to park on the sidewalk even though it’s clearly illegal under Columbus City Code. Putting your ride on the sidewalk could lead to unfortunate accidents, like a pedestrian running (more like walking, LOL!) into your bike or scooter and knocking it to the ground! And no one wants accidents like that to happen!
Yea, that parking office sucks. Ever wonder what rocks those people crawled out from when you wait in line there? Bring on the park!
I was tickled when I first heard about dedicated 2 wheel parking., but disssapointed about the $50 permit. I used them a few times before the fee kicked in, but since i’m not downtown often enough to justify the permit I now have to use 4 wheeler parking, and as far as I know most garages don’t accomadate 2 wheelers. Oh well i’m no worse off than before.
Regarding the $50/year permit, I raised the following points with the city, hoping some accomodation of short-term and/or infrequent users could be made. I don’t think we should be satisfied that short-term users are simply no worse off than before. More people using the m2wv spots is good for businesses and the city. To its credit, the City does seem interested in improving the system (on-line permit purchases would be great, Mike!), so there is hope. We just have to ask and help the City work out the details.
“Now that the test-phase has been completed and the city has initiated a $50/year permit program, I wanted to share with you some suggestions for the program. As it stands, the $50/year is a good deal for commuters who work near one of the MTWV locations. However, many riders have expressed that for those who do not work near one of the locations or for those who do not need all-day parking, the MTWV permit doesn’t work well. For the rider who only rarely needs to go to areas served by MTWV corrals or only needs to do so a few times per month or for short periods of time, $50 per year is a steep cost. Some have suggested that infrequent users simply use meters, but that’s the exact situation which brought about the MTWV program: preventing the inefficient use of space of where a motorcycle takes up a whole parking spot. Requiring non-permitted scooters to hunt for a meter also fails to encourage scooter/motorcycle use, which was one of the goals for the program.
After discussing this, a few different ideas were proposed. First and simplest, a suggestion was made to limit the enforcement times from 8-11AM and 2:00-6PM rather than the 8AM-6PM time frame proposed. This mid-day gap would enable people who have short-term or infrequent need to visit areas served by the MTWV corrals during the day to do so without requiring them to obtain a full-time full-year permit. The mid-day gap would also encourage riders who don’t work in areas served by MTWV corrals to still patronize restaurants and other businesses in MTWV areas during lunch-breaks.
This mid-day gap suggestion isn’t perfect as it still leaves a scooter/motorcycle looking for a meter if its rider has to be in the MTWV areas during a morning or afternoon, but it would greatly expand the flexibility and use of the MTWV zones at no cost to the city and no additional work for PVB staff (such as marking tires or permits as described below).
A different approach would be to use a second type of permit. A daily-use permit could be created in which the permit decal has boxes on it. Each time the rider parks in a MTWV corral during enforced hours, the PVB fills-in one of the boxes with that day’s date. For example, if the city sold 20-day permits for $20.00, then each day a rider parked during enforced hours, one of the boxes would be filled-in. So in effect, the rider would be paying $1.00 per day (or part day if parking for any period of time). Of course, if they ride 50 or more times, the yearly pass would be the better deal. This allows the infrequent rider to pay as he/she uses the areas and only for the amount used. The drawback here is the burden on the PVB to fill-in the date, but that would appear a small burden.
Finally, the program could simply be run as a “2 hour parking limit” unless a permit is purchased. This also would allow infrequent or short-term use without giving free all-day parking. The downside being the need of PVB to chalk-tires or otherwise track the 2 hour limit.
These are not concerns specific to me (I have already purchased the permit) but are from our scooter-club forum and emails I have received from business-owners located near the MTWV locations. While the program as it stands is a great example of how responsive and proactive the city can be, with small changes the program could serve even more people, serve more businesses, and encourage more riding, all without increasing cost to the city.
I wonder if the administration of the permits as they are are even worth the $$ they get?