The rule, quoted
RCW 46.61.575: "Every motorcycle stopped or parked on a one-way or two-way highway shall be so stopped or parked parallel or at an angle to the curb or edge of the highway with at least one wheel or fender within twelve inches of the curb nearest to which the motorcycle is parked or as close as practicable to the edge of the shoulder."
Cars must park parallel where parallel parking is the rule. Motorcycles are explicitly allowed either orientation, which is why you see bikes nosed in at an angle beside parallel-parked cars.
Sharing a space, and who pays
Multiple motorcycles may occupy a single marked space. This is settled and it is one of the genuine perks of riding in a city.
What surprises riders is that the statute actively protects you from being charged twice. RCW 46.61.575(3)(b)(ii) provides that parking spaces metered by the space "may not require payment multiple times for the use of a single parking space by multiple motorcycles during the same period of time."
So the answer depends entirely on the type of system:
- A traditional meter attached to the space. One space, one payment, however many motorcycles share it. The city may not charge each bike separately.
- Pay-and-display, where each vehicle shows proof of payment. Here every motorcycle must display its own proof, even sharing a space, because the payment attaches to the vehicle rather than the space.
Check which system you are standing in front of before you assume. Getting that backwards is either a needless second payment or a ticket.
Local rules can override the angle
The statute allows a local jurisdiction to prohibit motorcycle angle parking on a particular street, provided it posts signs saying so. So the default is permissive, and the exception has to be marked.
If a block is signed against it, the sign wins. Absent a sign, angle parking is available to you.
Practical habits that keep the bike upright
None of this is statute, it is just what saves your paint.
- Back into an angled space so you can pull out under power rather than duck-walking backward into traffic.
- Leave the bike in gear on the side stand. A bike in neutral can roll off its stand.
- On hot asphalt, put something under the stand foot. A side stand sinking into soft tarmac is one of the most common ways a parked bike falls over.
- Point the front wheel uphill on a slope and leave it in gear.