V&A Waterfront Cape Town not bike friendly
After providing formal as well as informal motorcycle parking in the past things have come to a hard to understand and unpleasant change at Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, one of South Africas most visited tourist attractions:
Recently all formal bike parking was either swallowed by a construction site or simply removed.
At the same time security staff adapted a zero tolerance approach to informally (but of course not obstructing) parked bikes.
Areas previously and for many years used as motorcycle parking were fitted with huge "no parking" pavement arts and surrounded by a small forest of "no motorcycles" signs
Written protest aired by local motorcyclists was answered with a standardised blah blah we are so sorry letter.
If you go to the Waterfront with your bike better look for a car park for your scoot. Expect to have car drivers shaking their heads at you for blocking already scarce parking bays. (or worse)
Expect to have cars "sharing" the parking bay you occupied with your bike.
If you come back and your bike got knocked over it was probably not parked properly.
Do not park in any of those nice places ideally suited to accomodate your bike where you would park everywhere else in the world. An ugly wheel clamp will materialize quicky and only disappear after the purchase of your private share of the V&A Waterfront at a hefty price.
As long as the V&A Waterfront management upkeeps this approach to the two wheeled solution of urban traffic and parking problems I recommend to simply go somewhere else.
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