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Comment by ndsipa_pomu | Hacker News Reader

There's an interesting problem here in Bristol where a couple had improvised an e-cargo bike locking solution on the side of the road using a couple of planters. Unfortunately, the council aren't happy about it and are threatening to remove them. Seems like parking spaces are unfairly prioritising cars or at least aren't flexible in providing locking points for e-bikes. Bristol City Council do have a scheme for bike hangars which are placed on the road (take up about the same space as a car, but provide storage for about 6 bikes), but there's a long waiting list and a cargo bike wouldn't fit in one.

https://road.cc/content/news/cyclist-couple-challenge-counci...

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I'm generally pro-cycling but I found this story curious. No-one can reserve spots outside their house, for a car or any other purpose. So it seemed they were arguing not for parity with car users, which I would unquestionably support, but for special treatment?

Although I don't really understand why you can't reserve/pay for the spot outside your own house, for a vehicle OR a bike, which would seem to me a solution that would please everyone.

Yeah, it's a tricky one as people shouldn't be able to reserve spaces outside their house on a public road, but they're only wanting to do that because there aren't any facilities to lock a cargo bike to. I think a series of simple metal hoops installed on the pavement (sidewalk?) next to the road would provide a decent solution and would also prevent drivers parking cars on the pavements which is very common with our narrow roads. It's in our interest to make it easier and more convenient to get people to replace car journeys with bike journeys and cargo bikes fill a very useful niche for transporting kids and other stuff around.

>Unfortunately, the council aren't happy about it and are threatening to remove them.

Quite rightly too - it's simply not legal for them to put it there.

There are proper processes in place to get an official hangar installed. These might be challenging, but that's the only fair way to do things.

I think the biggest problem with cars is that we happily accept the impact they have on the entire community, just so that some people who use them can have more convenience. The cost of having a car is passed on to everyone.

Similarly, with bikes it's never going to be possible for every single person in the city to have a cargo bike parked outside their house - there simply isn't room. This isn't ideal, but a situation where only someone who gets there first can do it isn't ideal either.

> There are proper processes in place to get an official hangar installed. These might be challenging, but that's the only fair way to do things.

I don't believe the council provide official hangars that can fit a cargo bike and there's a significant waiting list for hangars as well as needing multiple neighbours declaring that they're going to use them. Unofficial solutions seem to be the only thing possible.

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