Sweet Parking Chicago
After months of building our spot database by hand, we must say that its good to be home with over 300 free parking spots in Chicago! The Windy City is where we first discovered the need for a motorbike parking solution and where we first launched our beta app in early 2014. Many of our users were curious as to why it took us so long to get spots live in our home town, well we’re happy to explain why…
Starkly unlike every other CurbNinja conquered cities, Chicago DOES NOT offer a motorbike parking infrastructure. This means that the city has not adopted a program which designates street or lot parking for motorbikes anywhere within its limits. Whether single striped stalls or painted zones, Chicago has not created motorcycle parking areas for its 2.7 million residents who suffer from some of the longest commute times in the nation. Each city has their own unique parking problem, but Chicago stands alone making the pain of motorbike parking more cumbersome by forcing motorbikers to literally fend for themselves on the city’s streets. This problem is what lead our team to first develop CurbNinja in our home city.
The lack of designated parking leaves Chicago motorbikes with two options; 1) park in metered zones sandwiched between cars, or 2) find hidden un-regulated spots between restriction signs or on un-painted curbs. The city wants motorbikers to park in metered zones and offers printed receipts at meter kiosks that peel off and stick to headlights. But paying the same rates as cars while risking being damage is not the best option, especially since Chicago has some of the highest meter rates in the country with some of the longest active meter times. Some meters even run 24 hours! Needless to say, you will not see any metered parking spots for Chicago in the app.
The other option is to park in free spots where the city has done the motorbike community a favor (without even knowing it) by poorly hanging signs or leaving curbs unpainted which provide ample parking for motorbikes even in the city center. In fact we stumble across multiple spots like this every time we’re on a ride in Chicago. While these spots are 100% legal according to the law, the issue remains of interpretation by officials and possible ticketing. We know first hand that it is pretty easy to get tickets that were issued in these spots dismissed when contested. So when looking in the app for Chicago parking, you will only find blue “F” pins for the vetted free spots in the city.
While non-designated parking means a lot of free spots turn up, it also made our job of getting a large amount of spots tagged difficult. We spent weeks on end cruising the city on the hunt for spots then tagging them by hand to get Chicago packed enough to launch. This is the reason why it took us some time to get Chicago online in our new version. We got a good start and hope now that our dedicated users will help us tag more spots across the city and suburbs.
Don’t get us wrong, we love our home town, but Chicago needs to step up its game and create a program to offer motorbikers safe & reliable places to park around the city. Due to the Chicago’s drastic climate, we recommend the city to create seasonal motorbike parking zones where during winter months (Nov. 1 – Apr. 1), cars are able to park, but in summer months the zone is limited to motorbikes only. Offering a program like this encourage more motorbikes to venture into the city which will help reduce traffic congestion and carbon footprints. This would be especially impactful during summer months when tourism peaks in the city.
We hope Chicago will soon take action and turn the spots around the city into free designated parking for all motorbikers but for now, we recommend that you carefully inspect your spot by reading all the detail in the app and looking for street signs. Chicago is a great city to ride in, but don’t make the mistake of getting ticketed or towed!
For more information, check these resources:
City of Chicago motorcycle parking FAQ: cityofchicago.org/…motorcycleorscooterinchicago
City of Chicago motorcycle parking brochure: cityofchicago.org/…MotorcycleScooterBrochure
City resources will not have any information regarding the free street parking spots tagged in our app