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 Argonne69 on June 22, 2018 at 10:37am

Piss off, and stop making excuses for illegal behavior. It's a bike lane. It's illegal to stop in a bike lane, and force cyclists to move out into heavy traffic. I've been nearly hit numerous times at this location going around these a**wipes. Traffic on Franklin is moving at a good 40 mph here trying to catch the green.

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Permalink Reply by BikeScnhook on June 22, 2018 at 10:41am

Wait, so even if it's a marked bus stop, buses aren't allowed to pull over?? Are they supposed to just stop in the motor lane?? What's the source on this??

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on June 22, 2018 at 10:52am

No, buses are explicitly allowed to stop in bike lanes, regular and shared, to discharge passengers. Chicago code 9-40-060:

"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;"

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 24, 2018 at 9:01am

What do you do if a bus stops there?

Also it is a sharrow, not a bike lane which means it is a lane you share with cars...

What did you do before protected and buffered bike lanes?

Have you considered that maybe cycling downtown isn't for you?

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on June 24, 2018 at 9:32am

I wait, or walk the bike on the sidewalk. Frankly, in a year and a half of biking on Franklin I think I've encountered one or two buses. I've documented over 300 vehicles illegally parked here. Buses aren't a problem.

Yes, it's shared with cars that are turning on Wacker. It's not a f*cking cab stand. It's illegal to stop in a shared bike lane. Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

I like cycling. Maybe the city should, oh I dunno, start enforcing the laws?

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 24, 2018 at 11:29pm

You WALK your bike around busses and parked cars?

Do you eve ride on streets without bike lanes?

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on June 21, 2018 at 10:56am

The Franklin St. bike lane runs from Van Buren north to Orleans/Hubbard.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on June 21, 2018 at 10:36am

125 S Franklin St. 311 report submitted.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 24, 2018 at 11:31pm

By stopping there aren't you contributing to the amount of time that cyclist had to RISK THEIR LIFE in traffic?

The law clearly states you cannot park or stand in that lane.

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Permalink Reply by Ben R. on June 25, 2018 at 2:50am

Dug, that seems like a little bit of a troll-ish position to take.

Certainly one could argue that they HAVE to stop there until the obstruction in their lane is moved - which I think perfectly references another troll-ish position - always staying in your dedicated bike lane - no matter what - like this cop said Casey had to do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ

While I don't always like the way these new dedicated lanes are designed - and actually think that they are often MORE dangerous than the old lanes they've replaced - I think the main thing that they're meant to do is encourage newbies to feel safe bicycling by making them feel truely protected. I actually do think that's a good thing, and these people stopping blatantly in the lane un-does that good. The purpose of this thread IMHO is to have a place to point to - to ask the powers that be to at least try to 'fix it' by defining and documenting the chronic and pervasive problem that would otherwise be ignored. Is this as important as 'big issues' in the news - no - but is it something that could be improved - hopefully.