There seems to be so much hate against bikes in this thread.
I see the problem of parking inefficiently on the sidewalk as in the picture, but it really is such a small problem. Just move the outer bike 2 meters and everyone is fine?
Thankfully there are some more reasonable commenters as well but the majority seems to suggest knocking the bikes down or similar.
It just makes me sad to see people complain this much over such a small thing just because they are bikes. I love bikes and could easily have been that guy who parked beside my friend to just pop in and get some snacks or whatever.
The problem in the picture isn’t the bikes, it’s the inconsiderate way in which they’ve been parked; as you say the problem can be rectified quite easily.
I’d be annoyed if I came across this while trying to pass in exactly the same way I’d be annoyed if I came across a car parked across the cycle lane or across the kerb.
As for bicycle “hate”, I have no idea how to fix that. I recently came across a whole host of whacky conspiracy theories from people who think legislation that discourages vehicle use (emissions charges, congestion charges, 15-minute town, pedestrianisation, restricting petrol/diesel, even bus and cycle lanes) is all some elitist (globalist, WEF, insert other group here) plot as part of a war on “freedom”. It’s a rabbit hole I’ve now explored once, briefly, and I’m not going back in there. Too much crazy. But these people cannot see the freedom of bikes and appear to really hate them. Worse - they’re often the people who think bicycles need licensing and registration; there’s a real overlap.
If these people want fairness between bikes and cars, we really should go for that.
Let’s start by reducing the area designated for cars in a city to the amount of area designated to bikes. Depending on the city, that would be 0.01%-1% of the area instead of 20-60%.
Then let’s make sure everyone has the same speed limits while crossing roads. At least over here that would be 10km/h.
Next, let’s reduce the priority that cars get when designing traffic lights to what bikes get. So maybe 5% of traffic lights get car lights, on every other light cars get a “give way” sign.
Now cars get the same amount of free parking spaces as a bike, so maybe 10m2 per street.
Lastly, lets give cars the same speed and engine performance limits as e.g. an e-bike.
In turn I would be really happy to put a license plate on my bike.