What's this doing in the bike lane?

Share your pics, videos, streets, stories of what you find in the bike lane of the non-bike variety that has an impact on your ride and/or your safety. I've decided to keep it a little more open ended - cars, snow, buses, garbage, cabs, etc. If they shouldn't be in the bike lane, go ahead and add it to this thread. Please be safe if you are taking pics or video! :-)

My hope is that we can collectively build some evidence of what we see when riding in the city with the overall hope of better enforcement of "bikes only" and improving maintenance.

Update: More Hashtags to Capture Vehicles in the Bike Lane

With popular hashtags:
#BikeLaneShaming

#LaneSpreading (Chicago Bike Selling)

#ClearTheWay (ActiveTrans), there are many options to capture violations.

We think you should use ALL of them AND post your photos on The Chainlink. ;-)

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by S on January 24, 2018 at 10:28pm

It's also illegal to stop or park in a regular lane of traffic. I totally agree that drivers and trucks in dedicated bike lanes should get reported and ticketed. But this is a city and people occasionally need to stop to drop/pickup someone or to make a delivery. To demand that they never use a regular lane of traffic or a lane with a sharrow to do so is pretty unreasonable.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on January 25, 2018 at 2:01am

In this case there is legal parking across the street on the west side. You think it's reasonable to force cyclists into traffic when cars are moving at 40+ mph to so the passengers can avoid having to cross the street?

If they can manage to drop off or pick up a passenger without blocking the bikes, then more power to them. However, if there is bike traffic, then they should use the other side, go around the block, or stop in the adjacent lane. If it's OK to block a bike lane, I'd say it's even more OK to block the traffic lane, right?

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Permalink Reply by S on January 30, 2018 at 9:40am

Really, let the passenger out in the street? Or let them get off on the other side of the street or a few blocks over? Also, this is franklin in the loop, cars aren't doing 40 unless it's at 2am.

If they're parking or blocking dedicated, yeah they shouldn't do that and should get ticketed. But this is shared infrastructure in a city and yes occasionally you'll need to deal with inconvenience so that things can function. It's not like there are dedicated spots where trucks can stop to unload in most locations (especially outside of downtown). Unless you're entirely self-sufficient, you're relying on trucks that occasionally block a lane with sharrows or regular traffic. Similarly, people expect to be able to be picked up or dropped off reasonably close to point of origin or destination.

On a more selfish note, if having sharrows means that people aren't going to be able to get picked up or dropped off or get deliveries, I think you'll quickly find that the support for having shared bike lanes will drop like a rock and you may even see existing lanes get removed.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on January 30, 2018 at 10:47am

You've apparently never traveled on that stretch of Franklin. Cars are racing north to beat the light at Wacker. 40 mph easy. In the past year I've been nearly hit several times going around these a**hats illegally stopped along the curb.

Also, these cars/taxis aren't picking up or discharging passengers. The vast majority of them are standing. No passenger in site.

The city code is very clear. It is illegal to stop in a shared bike lane.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl on January 30, 2018 at 10:37am

Agree with Argonne69. There's no reason an able-bodied person cannot be dropped off more than a couple inches from their destination, or that delivery persons can't use a dolly to make deliveries from further down the block. Most times I see a car in a bike lane - or double parked, for that matter - there is an actual legal spot not too far away. It's just that these days everyone feels entitled to be directly in front of the place they are going.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on January 31, 2018 at 3:36am

I had this happen again this morning on Wells St near the Merchandise Mart. Two Uber's stop in the bike lane to discharge passengers when there is openings at the curb two car lengths in front of them.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl on January 31, 2018 at 11:04am

Obviously the city and companies' education efforts, as outlined here, aren't working. If only there were some enforcement....

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on January 24, 2018 at 5:03pm

Here's a better view of the shared lane.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl on January 25, 2018 at 6:24am

The delivery trucks for Alfa Restaurant Supply, 4218 N. Elston, are back in the bike lane instead of using the loading docks. It's a very tight spot to try to go around trucks blocking the bike lane. Reported to 311.