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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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on October 14, 2019 at 11:01am

176 N Wells St. 311 report submitted.

9-40-060 Driving, standing or parking on bicycle paths or lanes prohibited. (a) The driver of a vehicle shall not drive, unless entering or exiting a legal parking space, or stand, or park the vehicle upon any on-street path or lane designated by official signs or markings for the use of bicycles, or otherwise drive or place the vehicle in such a manner as to impede bicycle traffic on such path or lane. The driver of a vehicle shall not stand or park the vehicle upon any lane designated by pavement markings for the shared use of motor vehicles and bicycles, or place the vehicle in such a manner as to impede bicycle traffic on such lane; provided, however, the driver of a bus may stop the bus in any such lane (i) at a designated bus stop for the purpose of loading or unloading of passengers, (ii) in case of an emergency; or (iii) as permitted in Section 9-48-050(d) of this Code. In addition to the fine provided in Section 9-4-025 of this Code, any vehicle parked in violation of this section shall be subject to an immediate tow and removal to a city vehicle pound or authorized garage.

Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on October 16, 2019 at 3:36am

Where I work there's a bike lane along the building on Illinois between Rush and Michigan. There's a bus stop there too. But there's a severe problem of ride shares pulling over there and getting in the way. Yesterday morning I was pleased to see what was pictured. Enough to obstruct for cars, but with enough room for bikes to get around! By the afternoon, though, the one of the cones was tossed up on the sidewalk, another moved to the curb, and another was run over.

Permalink Reply by Steve Weeks on October 16, 2019 at 5:28am

Hahaha... almost looks like they're setting that up to be a "2-way" bike lane!

Srsly, I'll bet all the cone movement you observed was accomplished without any contact by human hands. :-(

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on October 17, 2019 at 7:57am

Curious, who put the ones in?

Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on October 17, 2019 at 7:58am

No clue.

Permalink Reply by Bike Lane Uprising on October 18, 2019 at 7:00am

I'd like to wish Argonne69 a happy retirement. 

Two years ago before I even had a name for Bike Lane Uprising, I convinced Argonne69 to meet up with me in person.  When I asked him if he'd be willing to participate in my idea for documenting blocked bike lanes, he said "NO".  HA! (He later came around to the idea.)  Thanks to Chainlink, i've had the pleasure of getting to know Argonne69 (and many more cyclists) personally. Over the course of the last two years, we've shared plenty of emails, text messages, and beers. No stranger to giving folks a hard time, i've also enjoyed regularly reminding Argonne69 of the time he told me he wouldn't participate in BLU!  In all sincerity, thank you Argonne69 for your commitment to the biking community as well as taking a chance on BLU. You have had an impact on the safety of many and I look forward to photos from your travels. 

PS - If you start posting sunny retirement photos in January, I will personally petition to have your Chainlink account be put on probation. ;-)

Happy Cycling!

-Christina

(founder of that one thing you said you'd never participate in)

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on October 18, 2019 at 7:04am

Thank you to Christina and BLU for putting some necessary data and teeth behind what has been important to so many of us and a huge THANK YOU to Argonne69 for continuing to remind us, yes, this is still a thing and attention must be paid. I had the pleasure of meeting Christina when I was in town last summer. It's really great to meet fellow enthusiasts/advocates/people that care and have a beer or two in the process. 

Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on October 19, 2019 at 10:19am

Thank you. It's been a pleasure working with you, and having a few beers with you. As a cyclist, I felt I had to contribute my part to making the city a better place. It's been a challenge to say the least. It seems we've made some headway, but there's oh so much more work to do. I find it most frustrating that I've submitted over 1500 311 reports, including over 400 for one location, and yet never saw a single city worker out there actually writing a ticket. I averaged a violator for every 3 minutes spent in a bike lane. Sad.

I wish you all the luck. Ride safe. I'll try my hardest to not post sunny retirement pics, but at some point I'm sure I won't be able to hold back. Lol.

Permalink Reply by David P. on October 21, 2019 at 3:45am

Argonne,

Finance has seen this thread - I have no idea if anyone checks the thread regularly. But they do use 311 reporting data as a basis for where to focus enforcement efforts. 

Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on October 22, 2019 at 1:55am

Then the only conclusion I can reach is that they are incompetent. How is it possible for a team of close to 100 workers to write ~3000 tickets a year working full time? I've submitted over 800 reports for Franklin St, averaging a violator every 5 minutes. One worker riding the length of Franklin from Jackson to Wacker (or Kinzie) should be able to write one or two tickets per 8 minute trip. That's 10 to 15 tickets per hour, 60 per shift, and 300 per week. For. One. Worker.

A single worker could sit in a lawn chair at Polk and Halsted and write tickets all day. 'Same with Harrison and Morgan.

If one looks at the BLU heat map, it's blazingly obvious that there are major hotspots in the city, and enforcement is non-existent in these spots.

Permalink Reply by David P. on October 22, 2019 at 4:49am

Argonne, then I urge you to perhaps remember that things do not revolve around you, and that you do not know as much about their work as your assumptions lead you to think you do. I know the people in enforcement at Finance - they are not at all incompetent, and the leadership in enforcement is demonstrably committed to the safety of cyclists. 

Permalink Reply by Ernesto Lube on October 22, 2019 at 5:09am

They shouldn't park on the bike lane.

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