Hola, I recently met with the personal assistant to Mayor McGinn and brought up the need for free parking for motorcycles in Seattle as well as the BS fact we pay the same price in tolls as cars to help alleviate congestion and reduce emissions. The response was that is was a great idea but the issue has never come up (I doubt it), and without any voices it's tough to get anything rolling. He said even as little as 20-30 emails would be enough to get the conversations rolling. We can do better than 20-30 voices peoples!!! I just wrote this email to McGinn's office tonight (see below). Feel free to copy and paste with personal changes and send it his way or just send your own to mike.mcginn[MENTION=10068]Seattle[/MENTION].gov We also need to hit up the city council (I'll be writting up an email tomorrow) http://www.seattle.gov/customerservice/request.htm ,* and Dow Constantine (king county executive) http://info.kingcounty.gov/about/contact/default.aspx* and Reema Grifith GriffiR@wstc.wa.gov (executive director Wa State transportation committee). The more voices the better... here's the email I sent... "Dear Mr. Mayor, During the primary races, I heard you, Bruce Harrell, and Peter Steinbrueck all talk about the need to increase incentives for alternate forms of transportation such as car2go and zip cars to help alleviate congestion and pollution. In tonight's debate with Senator Murray, you also talked about your passion for the environment, from which I'm very grateful for all the work you've done towards the Seattle bicycle community in the last four years. May I suggest also giving some of those same incentives towards single occupancy vehicles such as motorcycles, mopeds, scooters, 3-wheel electrical cars, etc... They are much more environmentally friendly than even smart cars, and create a lot less congestion than almost any other vehicle, which can be seen in motorcycle/scooter friendly cities all over the world. Currently my 400lbs, 65mpg, 2 wheel, 2" wide tire motorcycle pays the same tolls on 520 and the narrows bridge as a 6,000lbs suburban with studded tires. I realize this is a state, not city issue, and I have brought it up with Reema Grifith (with only the response of "we need the money"), but feel it's worth bringing up as an example for the city of Seattle as well. I've travelled in many parts of the world and I've never seen a toll, in any other city, state, or country where motorcycles pay the same price as cars. And I bring this up because is this something we should expect to see applied to bicycles as well when the tunnel is opened with a bicycle lane or the new 520 bridge is built? As far as a city issue, Car2go get to park almost anywhere for free where as motorcycles and scooters pay the same parking fees at cars, despite taking up only a fraction of the space and disrupting traffic far less when they do park. Giving parking incentives to single occupancy vehicles would be a great way to champion your push for finding new incentives for alternative forms of transportation and give people incentives to ride more, help alleviate the city's congestion, and cut down on emissions, like you've been doing with bicycles and cyclists. Thank you in advance. Sincerely -Duncan Smith http://duncanasmith.c...* 206.355.9389"
done.. I commuted from Snohomish to Beltown/Downtown Seattle for years, didn't own a car for 13yrs, and was amazed at the lack of two-wheeled parking and/or toll considerations around the puget sound.. I'm highly grateful for the use of the carpool lanes by two-wheelers, but always felt the parking and/or toll situation hadn't caught up yet..
Even some of the national parks (that were closed recently) offer a discount to motorcycle riders... Red Rock canyon here in Vegas is $7 for cars and $3 for bikes and motorcycles. Which is odd, because Lake Mead recreation area is $10 for a car or a motorcycle. And they're both national parks now... one used to be a state park.
Good luck with the tolling issue, but this conversation has been going on for years. The Washington State Toll Commission looks at vehicle traffic density (effective space occupied by vehicle) when setting rates, not physical road impact. In their eyes an individual motorcycle does not take an appreciably smaller linear footprint than a sub-compact car, hence the same rate.
