tn_roadie

Nashville Tennessee has a considerable amount of illegal parking in unprotected (and most are) bike lanes. It happens quite a bit in the downtown and other areas that have a lot of construction, which is much of the central city. We are slowly getting the PD to write more tickets. I don't know if it will change behavior but it won't hurt.

Do other cities have the same problem? How do you deal with it? I always thought police officers were eager to write tickets but often they just make the offender move their vehicle.

Daniel4

In Toronto, we have a team of parking enforcement officers on bicycles to hand out tickets. Last summer their leader made a name for himself and with great success reducing illegal parking of all sorts of vehicles (including delivery trucks) by publically shaming the violaters on Twitter.

CliffordK

I think it happens everywhere. But, generally isn't that bad around here.

If traffic isn't too bad, one can generally look back, signal, and get around them.

I find construction signs and garbage cans deliberately placed in bike lanes more infuriating.

As far as what to do about parked cars, as a community, you have to decide what to do about it, and is it a priority, then ticket the offenders.

Consider differences between delivery vehicles (generally quick in and out) vs people doing long-term parking. Hotels?

CB HI

Many cops do not like being viewed as meter maids.

Most cops try to pick out moving violations that have a good chance of resulting in a drug bust or tickets that get federal money like the click-it-or-ticket federal program.

Berg417448

Most medium and large cities have parking enforcement units anyway. No need for street cops to do a job that someone else was specifically hired to do.

CroMo Mike 

I was reading that local governments are using driving and parking tickets (hopefully, when warranted) as a way to increase revenue. This looks like a good prospect for them. Then there was the picture somebody posted on this forum of official vehicles and "police station customers" parking in the bike lane right in front of a local police station.

MidSouthBiker

Same problem here, but parked cars aren't the only obstacles in the bike lanes. Try riding in the bike lanes just before trash pickup days, and it becomes a potentially hazardous situation with all the trash buggies, debris, tree limbs, leaf bags, discarded household junk, etc, causing the constant lane changes. It's the main reasons our bike lanes are a waste of paint, and I generally stay out of them.

CliffordK

I consider garbage cans and construction signs in bike lanes a bigger issue than delivery vehicles.

For one thing, the garbage cans will likely be there all day, if not a couple of days. The construction signs may be in the bike lane for weeks or months.

The delivery vehicle will be making a short stop, then moving on. Often there is no open parking, or driveways. And pulling into a driveway, then backing out may be a more dangerous maneuver than simply parking in the bike lane.

Parking in the traffic lane generally isn't a viable alternative, considering the difference in number of cars vs number of bicycles.

Also, a road savvy car driver should be using look-ahead driving, and see both the cyclist and parked vehicle and anticipate potential conflicts.

Likewise, the road savvy cyclist will also see the car ahead, and start looking back to see what the traffic is like, then signal and safely move left to pass.

Of course, it all depends on volume. One delivery van in the bike lane every few miles... perhaps an annoyance, but hardly more. Taxis and Ubers and delivery vans and car pools and lazy homeowners.... if there is a car every few yards, then it is no longer a bike lane.

CB HI

It would be interesting taking a dumpster bike with kick stand and double parking it next to a parked car that is blocking the bike lane. Wait until police show up and as they are removing the bicycle, ask them if they are also towing the car and if not, why not.

KD5NRH

Work on your rock hopping.
Get a fat bike.
Play monster truck.
Post on YouTube.
Profit.

Cyclist0084

Chicago sure does, especially in the Loop. The local cycling forum has a thread especially dedicated to posting pictures of offending vehicles and in most cases, with the license plate number. I don't live or work in Chicago, but living in Northwest Indiana, I do make frequent trips downtown, and I've seen the problem first hand. When the bike lane is nothing but parking for very inconsiderate drivers, I feel for my fellow cyclists.

CliffordK

You mean lock it to the car? Otherwise, what makes you think someone won't just pick up the bike and give it a toss somewhere?

Or, simply drive off and leave the bike sitting in the middle of the street?

arbee

The best solutions are local. For example, this worked in Vilnius


but I suspect it may not be universally applicable.

tn_roadie

I like this ad.

Ninety5rpm

Why do you care?

CB HI

I bet the cops show up real fast for a double parked bicycle.

tn_roadie

1. My tax dollars paid for those bike lanes. Why should I provide free parking for car drivers?
2. It could create a dangerous situation depending on the situation and the rider's experience.
3. I want to grow cycling. That will happen when people who don't ride feel safe on city streets.
4. Thoughtless law breakers driving 2 ton weapons piss me off.

Ninety5rpm

Thanks for answering!

1. You paid for those traffic lanes too - why not use them?
2. Riders who cannot temporarily leave bike lanes safely should not be on those roads.
3. Being actually safe is more important than merely feeling safe; in fact, feeling safe when not actually safe can be dangerous. Doorings, right hooks, left crosses, pullout crashes and drifts into bike lanes are all crashes to which cyclists who feel safe, but actually ride in a manner contrary to actually being safe, often fall victim. Fear of leaving a bike lane is symptomatic of this kind of attitude.
4. In these waning days of personal motor cars, and mass killings at school, and a lunatic with his finger near the nuke button, whining about cars parked in bike lanes really seems trivial and pathetic to me. Maybe it's just me.

CliffordK

And depending on where the tax dollars are coming from, the auto drivers often also paid some, if not a great part of the cost of the bike lanes. Fuel taxes? That, or the local property owners and developers.

So... if there are 99 cars on the road and 1 bicycle... then do the car drivers own 99% of the bike lane, and the lonely cyclist owns 1% of the bike lane?

Ninety5rpm

But it's the cage parkers who are the thoughtless ones, not the whining bicyclists who could trivially move over a few feet to ride around said parked cage.

Wouldn't it be so much better if those cagers had to circle the block a few more times searching for a parking spot?

Is it any wonder they hate us and our smug 'tudes so much?

linberl

In the Bay Area, 90% is USPS, UPS, FEDEX, etc. Delivery vehicles. Even when there is room adjacent against the curb. Oh, add AMAZON delivery drivers too. All too lazy to actually take the time to park, they just stop in the bike lanes. And push cyclists way out into traffic as a result. There's an occasional personal auto but (1) you can get around them without extending out so far into oncoming lanes and (2) usually there is someone inside so you can yell at them, lol.

CliffordK

Just de-tune their diesels a little bit, and the cyclists will be happy to get them to the side of the road as quickly as possible

Ninety5rpm

Cyclists ARE traffic.

A bike lane is just one traffic lane of several on the road. If one lane is blocked, you move into an adjacent lane, negotiating for right of way as necessary. But if you look ahead (hello? it's not that hard to see a parked CAR much less a FEDEX truck in the bike lane ahead) you should have plenty of time and space to plan and execute your harrowing (wait for it) lane change!!! OMG!!! SO DANGEROUS!!! SO SCARY!!!

Is this a cycling forum? Where are the cyclists?

linberl

First of all, I believe we all want to encourage people to bike - and this is a deterrent.
Second, where I live you often have to move into the oncoming lane to get around these trucks. Hard to negotiate right of way with an oncoming vehicle which cannot see you behind the truck AND would happily run over a cyclist anyway.
Third, your attitude sucks.
Fourth, cyclists are traffic maybe where you live but here they are moving targets.

Ninety5rpm

I've ridden in and around SF. Motorist treatment of conspicuously positioned cyclists who communicate effectively and are predictable is terrific. No issues; only complements and waves and nods.

Think of yourself as a respected road user with equal rights, and act accordingly. They will follow suit.

Acting indignant about cars parking in bike lanes telegraphs obnoxiousness form your body language. Your attitude sucks. That's why you have so many problems with motorists.