Are those areas in parking lots with yellow stripes actually intended for motorcycle parking, or do they just park there anyway?
AFAIK, morotcycles are supposed to be parked just like cars, unless there are signs which specifically say otherwise. In most places that I’ve been to, areas marked off with yellow stripes or yellow-painted curbs are no parking areas, most usually fire zones. I’ve never been to Texas–things may be different there.
I don’t always see them parked there, but when I went to college, there were usually several parked in the lines at any time. As strict as the campus police were, I wouldn’t think they would get away with it if it was illegal.
Where were these lines in relation to the building and the parking area, generally?
At the end of a row of parking spaces toward the building. I thought about it today when I went to Best Buy and saw a motorcycle parked on the sidewalk. (I know sidewalks aren’t designated motorcycle parking areas of course.) I also noticed that the red line for the fire zone was between the yellow stripes and the building, suggesting that if you can’t park there, it’s not because it’s a fire zone at least.
I park in them all the time, and I’ve never had any problem. Technically they’re no-parking areas, but I think people in cars would rather motorcycles park there than take up a space for a car.
Hmmm. Dunno, then. Assuming I’m understanding you, I’ve never seen anything like what you describe, except to mark buffer zones adjacent to handicapped parking spots.
It’s basically the same thing. It’s just that sometimes they have the same stripes around the very end of the row, perhaps to seperate traffic driving along the building from the parked cars or street lights. I think I’ve seen them park between handicap and normal spaces as well. I’m going to have to start carrying my digital camera around I guess.
All you motorcycle riders are the same, in that you think all of us non motorcycle riders are the same 
Seriously, it doesn’t bug me that you’d take up “a space for a car” – after all, where would you park if you’d come in a car? “Damn that **Johnny L.A.! If he’d come here on his bike, I’d have a better parking spot at Best Buy today!” You can’t win for losing.
I have to say, I appreciate when cycle riders put more than one bike in a spot. Keeps more spots free and is just plain considerate. If I could squeeze my little sub-compact into a spot with another little car, I would.
That’s my reasoning when I park a motorcycle in a car space (leaving plenty of room for other motorcycles, of course). But I’ve seen a lot of pissed-off looks from people who try to pull into a space only to notice a motorcycle already parked there. Of course my statement does not apply to all cage drivers.
I see a lot of the stripes painted around light poles or other obstructions or it’s the end of a row. I park my bike there if I can. Less chance of being knocked over and it’s out of the way.
At a pay lot me and three friends talked the guy into paying for one spot and put all three bikes in. It’s rarer than you think, a lot of lots make us all pay full price. So then, hell with them we take up as much room as we can.
In L.A. a lot of lots will let motorcycles park free. When my grandmother died I parked my bike at LAX for a few days. No charge. I’d always get free parking at the cinema. No charge for parking motorcycles at the parking structures in Santa Monica either.