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 Steve Weeks on July 3, 2018 at 7:27am

Needs a view from the other side so the plate is (more) legible. Plus, I like to stop and get the front of the vehicle so the driver sees me taking the image. I know nothing is going to get done about it, but I like to think the driver might have just a twinge of anxiety that he or she might get a ticket.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on July 4, 2018 at 11:48am

353 N Desplaines St. 311 report submitted.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Weeks on July 4, 2018 at 1:27pm

Yesterday (7/3) at about 5:15 PM as I was crossing the Eisenhower on Loomis heading towards the METRA station. 311 report submitted.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Zammit on July 6, 2018 at 1:45am

A new school bus line, Sunrise Transportation, moved into Austin on Lake and Lavergne. They now park their buses (I counted at least 6 this morning) in the bike lane instead of the parking spots directly next to the bike lane. I called 311 and got transferred directly to the police, is this usually how it works?

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on July 6, 2018 at 5:49am

I believe it depends on the situation. I called 311 a few times before they added the code on the 311 website, and I was never transferred to the police. In this case it seems like there was a good chance that the buses would still be there, so the police might actually be able to do something.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on July 6, 2018 at 10:43am

220 S Wells St. 311 report submitted.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on July 6, 2018 at 10:50am

17 N Franklin St. 311 report submitted.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on July 6, 2018 at 2:03pm

What is the code that 311 operators use to record reports of bike lane violations? Is there a code used to keep track of these reports?

I'm asking because I think it would be useful to include this code when making a call to 311 to report a car or truck parked in the bike lane.

Two reasons for this: it would make the report-takers job easier to record this report, and it would establish some credence that we know what we're talking about when we call.

The 311 operators only take the report - they don't do any actual enforcement. On a busy day or night, they may just say "Thank you for calling" and then skip the actual report, thinking there are more important things to record and keep track of.

Is there an actual code number used to file these reports?

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on July 9, 2018 at 10:55am

No idea what the code is, but the 311 website has a selector for vehicles blocking the bike lane. I imagine the 311 operators have a similar interface.