Observant motorists will notice that the number of mid to high displacement motorcycles plying the streets has increased in the past few years. Thanks, large in part, to the rising gasoline prices and the worsening of traffic conditions around the city. Chances are, majority of new big bike riders made the shift from four wheels in an attempt to save time and money. But why would they purchase a big bike, and not a low displacement underbone or a scooter? For one thing, riding a big bike here in the Philippines grants its users one major advantage that lower displacement motorcycles can’t enjoy: access to the expressway. This, in turn, gives big bikes a dual purpose: a daily city runabout, and a weekend touring machine for long distance trips out of town.

Another thing to consider would be the demographic of big bike buyers and owners. As mentioned above, these guys probably have a new car/s sitting in their garage, but just opt to take a motorbike instead in order to, either save time and money, or simply because it’s more enjoyable. Chances are big bike owners are mid to high level managers, or even executives in companies; or entrepreneurs with growing or established businesses of their own. As such it is simply normal that big bike owners take pride in their motorcycles and would definitely appreciate it if people around them would give them basic courtesy.

Over the past few weeks, social media has been erupting with viral posts of netizens complaining about big bikes being parked in car parking spaces in malls and commercial establishments. These posts were then promptly taken down when the original posters realized that malls actually have policies that allow heavier, larger displacement motorcycles to occupy car parking spaces. To run it down for you, ALL SM Malls allow big bikes to occupy parking spaces designated for cars. Ayala Malls, Robinson’s Malls, The Podium, as well as many other developers also allow big bikes to occupy car slots, provided the owners pay the same rate as their four-wheeled counterparts.

Let’s break things down further to help the uninformed understand why big bikes should be allowed to park in car slots.

Big Bikes are…well…big

Your run of the mill 125cc scooter probably weighs around 180 lbs. Despite their featherweight characteristics, lots of people are still unable to maneuver these scooters effectively in tight spaces. To put things into perspective, an entry level big bike such as the KTM 390 Duke weighs 340 lbs. That’s nearly twice the weight of a scooter—not to mention the seat heights of big bikes are significantly taller than those of scooters. Weight figures increase as engine size increases as well, with some bikes such as the BMW R1250 GSA tipping the scales at over 600 lbs!

Big bikes and cars pay the same amount

This one is really a no brainer. A parking slot has the same price as other parking slots regardless of how big of a car is parked in it, right? If the disgruntled netizens’ point of view is to be followed, then drivers of SUVs should be charged more than drivers of subcompacts even if they occupy the same parking slot, correct? This is not the case, though, therefore people don’t have the right to complain about a motorcycle parked in a car slot, so long as they pay the same rate as everyone else.

Motorcycle parking slots are designed for small scooters

Because of the sheer volume of scooters and underbone motorcycles, it is simply common logic for mall developers to designate smaller and cramped parking spaces for smaller bikes. It’s an easily observable statistic that big bikes account for less than 1% of the entire motorcycle population, and as such don’t have the volumes to merit their own designated parking area separate from cars and small bikes. Parking a big bike in a small and cramped parking space designated for little bikes can be disastrous for both the big bike owner and the owners of small bikes within the vicinity, as it could be next to impossible to maneuver a heavy motorcycle out of a cramped slot.

At the end of the day, we should all respect each other’s property regardless of the cost, and we should seek to live in an inclusive society. After all, we’re all just trying to get to where we need to go on a day to day basis.