tariqa

If you are commuting distances to work or wherever and back, and you do the car-transit-bike alternation method, how do you find secure parking without having to pay a months rent to do so?

Commuting 5 miles outside of the city then riding the rest of the way in, where can one find free parking to leave their car or bike for so long, possibly the entire day, or even more possibly until the next day?

Perhaps in a job or school parking lot it is safe, but I know in many places if a car or maybe a bike is not a paying customer, then it will get towed or removed.

I am not fond of paying parking fees as I feel they truly are a waste of money unless absolutely needed.

Any secure or simply non-secure parking tips to share without paying fees or illegally parking and getting towed?

009jim

Considering that you drive the first part, then you can drive to find a nice safe place. I see a number of dudes on my commute that park at a public sports field. Other options are possibly a train station.

tariqa

Public sports field? Maybe a park? I would worry about illegal parking but maybe not.
A train station? I would think you have to pay over certain time periods.

I was thinking driving into town, parking, then cycling home. Then cycling back to pick the car up the next day, probably a little under or over 24 hours.

I am not sure how their security would work if it goes pass 25 hours and the car is still there. Some cities suck when it comes to fines. I dislike getting fines.

I guess I would have to try and see how the atmosphere is.

Mr. Hairy Legs

Residential streets would probably be safest, in an area with fairly high density with rental suites, etc. so nobody would see your car as being out of place.

alan s 

I have a multimodal commute. Residential streets and parks work best to leave the car. I try to mix it up, and avoid parking in front of people's houses if possible and vary the location so the car is not always in the same place. A friendly hello goes a long way if you see a neighbor. I never change shirts in the open or do anything that could bother others. Never had an issue doing this for many years.

WonderMonkey

When I was parking along my path to get used to my distance I would leave my vehicle in the lots off the riding paths. It is only as secure as the area is and perhaps some luck but I feel good about it. I live in a good area basically. I know it's kind of cheating but at a WalMart or other large store is usually safe.

tariqa

Heh...Walmart...This was probably my initial choice.
Until I realized I dont even trust shopping inside of Wal-Mart...Parking lots?

Maybe i'm just too high on my bike seat...Perhaps I could adjust the levels a little.

Cfiber

I once used to park at a huge police parking lot, until I got caught by a policeman an written a ticket. That was alright though, after parking there for free for almost five months. The ticket was only $70.00. That's less than fifty cents per day!

If I had it to do today, I'd go for either a Walmart or a 24hr Supermarket...

no1mad 

Wally World tends to have video cameras trained on the parking lots- the one in the roughest part of town even has roving security guards. They usually don't have a problem parking over night, so long as a) it is near the perimeter and not near the store and b) you simply aren't abandoning the car.

You could also contact a church along your route and ask if you could use their parking lot.

Leebo

Where do you live/ bike ?

ItsJustMe

You might get a better answer if you said where you were. Where I am there are park-n-ride lots on every other offramp that are free, and the crime rate is so low that it's not worth worrying about. Some of the large supermarkets in the area actually have signage saying that you're allowed to park in their lots and then carpool in to work, leaving your car there all day. It's a smart move because people are very likely to do their shopping there before heading home at the end of the day, and these places have gigantic parking lots that are only really full on Christmas shopping days (land is relatively cheap here).