UIC Bike Lanes used as student pickup / drop off lane
I ride daily southbound on Halsted past the University of Illinois at Chicago during the evening rush. Between Harrison and Taylor there is always a row of parked cars waiting to pickup passengers. These cars are parked in the dedicated bike lane. This forces cyclists into traffic, jockeying with the cars trying to pass (or join the row of parked cars) as well as the buses which are trying to get to the bus stops at the curb.
Lately I have taken to banging on the roof of each car and loudly informing the drivers that what they're doing is illegal.
I have seen CPD bike patrols and squad cars pass without writing tickets. I have seen UIC PD cars pass without enforcement.
A question for everybody:
What do you think would be the most effective way to provoke enforcement of the bike lanes in Halsted at UIC?
I'll try to get some photos today.
Views: 981
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on
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No. I mean, tactically perhaps, but strategically we need to keep the pressure on for enforcement and better design and maintenance. Especially at UIUC on Halsted where there are two pullout lanes for dropping off and picking up passengers. What is the point of having bike lanes if we are going to concede them to motor vehicles? If they can drop off and pick up passengers in a bike lane, why don't we just let them drive in the bike lane also?
I agree that raging is counter-productive and should be avoided when possible - and it should always be possible.
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Permalink Reply by Bike Lane Uprising on
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Unfortunately cars do appear to be using the bike lane on Harrison (West of Halstead) as an additional car lane.
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Permalink Reply by Maurice on
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Tony is right. Painting stripes means nothing if ignoring the stripes is normalized activity. Enacting steep fines means nothing if they are rarely imposed. By simply ignoring the problem, the city is telling drivers that what they're doing is okay.
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PREACH it Maurice!
Also...here's a shameless plug for the Bike Lane Uprising project:
Please sign up to be a prototype tester ;)
https://www.whitehouseuprising.com/bikelaneuprising
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Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on
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It's an interesting idea:
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicago-looks-to-add-50-super-ticket...
“One of the things expressed to me by my residents time and again is, `Why don’t we enforce the laws on the books? Why don’t we hold individuals in our neighborhoods who flagrantly disobey the law, refuse to pay stickers that apply to everyone else accountable,’” said Lopez, according to the Sun-Times.
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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on
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Something is seriously messed up if it costs $90k a year to employ a ticket writer. We have massive unemployment in the city. We can't find 100 young, unemployed people and pay them $15 an hour? With benefits, that's probably $57k a year each.
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It doesn't cost that much. The writer of that article just took the proposed first year cost of starting the program and divided it by the proposed amount of employees. It sounds extra scary that way.
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A bit of an update:
I don't know if it's related to the email I sent the local precinct, but I did see parking enforcement vehicles patrolling Halsted at UIC Monday evening. And, surprise, surprise, the lanes were clear.
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Maybe this UIC officer didn't get the memo about bike lanes :-/
Photo taken Saturday night on Halstead
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The UIC shuttle bus routinely parks in the southbound bike lane just south of Roosevelt.
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Oh man, I forgot to bring that up. It just idles there for a while. It causes CTA buses to backup regular traffic even worse. The bike lane is unusable, so add bikers into the mix of heavy vehicles squeezing from 3 lanes into 1.
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