Hello,

i was just wondering if McMaster is actually handing out the $25 fines for parking your bike where youre not suppose to. Has anyone had to pay this fine? how did they do it? did they actually lock your bike and make you pay for the fine to unlock it?

I personally have gotten one red "violation" and three yellow "warnings" already and it seems to me that all they are trying to do is to scare off the students. Is this true?

How would they know what bike has already gotten a warning? do they write down the serial number?

thx

I'm pretty sure there is no way that they can tell which bikes have already got warnings. There are like a million bikes that look the exact same, you can't tell them apart.

I saw a bike locked to a pole near the student centre and it got a ticket for not being on a bike rack. But if you looked at any of the bike racks at MUSC, BSB, or anywhere else nearby, they were completely full. So I don't know what McMaster expects people to do..

nope. just go to the office and someone will remove the lock that they placed. The only way the can affect you is if they lock your bike, you don't claim it, and they remove your bike and impound it....

This is by far the most rediculous thing I have ever heard of! Get more bike racks!If they lock your bike and wont give it back thats called extortion.

have you heard of bolt-cutters? never heard it from me.....and I wouldn't recommend trying it....

Originally Posted by snaps

Hello,

i was just wondering if McMaster is actually handing out the $25 fines for parking your bike where youre not suppose to. Has anyone had to pay this fine? how did they do it? did they actually lock your bike and make you pay for the fine to unlock it?

I personally have gotten one red "violation" and three yellow "warnings" already and it seems to me that all they are trying to do is to scare off the students. Is this true?

How would they know what bike has already gotten a warning? do they write down the serial number?

thx

They do lock your bike up with a padlock. You have to then go to the security office every time to get it unlocked. I'm assuming they note down your student number and so on in their records? So hence every time you go to the office they know who you are.

You could probably work a way around this by sending your friends; but that is not recommended!

Originally Posted by thedog123123

have you heard of bolt-cutters? never heard it from me.....and I wouldn't recommend trying it....

haha... thats exactly what i was thinking of doing. instead of paying the 25 dollar fine, run to home depot, get bolt cutters for like 10 bucks and i got my bike back. and an extra pair of bolt cutters...

but im not really concerned anymore.. i just keep parking in the same spot and keep getting the same yellow warning and theyre not doing anything.

i dont understand why they give them out. its not like i park my bike somewhere where it is in the way of others. its just not in the bike rack. one time i parked my bike about 2 meters away from the bike rack on a bench because there was no more spots left, and i got a warning lol

It's so ridiculous.. Like come on bike parking violations? What else should the school charge students for? Walking as slow as a turtle in the student centre blocking the way of students who are actually trying to rush to class?

I've parked my bike to the rails outside of CNH because the racks in front of musc were full. I got tagged twice (once yellow, then red). I'm not going to try jamming my bike in those racks and possibly damaging it(which has happened, my brakes got jammed once) or anyone elses.

I don't see how locking your bike to a fence or a sign actually bothers anyone, unless is covers it or blocks off some kind of emergency exit. The only thing I can think of is that its not aesthetically pleasing, but really, I don't care and if they aren't going to put in more bike racks then neither should they.

The bolt cutters wouldn't be a bad investment... Decent ones can cost approximately $25-$30... so for the one-time cost of a decent pair of bolt cutters, you can prevent the possibility of paying multiple $25 fines (if they even hand any out).

You never know when bolt cutters might come in handy elsewhere too.

Originally Posted by Taunton

The bolt cutters wouldn't be a bad investment... Decent ones can cost approximately $25-$30... so for the one-time cost of a decent pair of bolt cutters, you can prevent the possibility of paying multiple $25 fines (if they even hand any out).

You never know when bolt cutters might come in handy elsewhere too.

Unless you are spotted from behind by 5-0.....

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

Unless you are spotted from behind by 5-0.....

The risk is inherent and implied. I would be willing to take it however, since it's not hard to cut a lock with bolt cutters (they can transform 50lbs of pressure into over 4500 lbs of pressure) . A quick peek around and you're good to go.