Editor’s note: Being a member of the Bicycle Coalition is perhaps more important now than ever. Membership doesn’t just afford you exclusive information and discounts at local businesses; it’s also a strategic investment in our work for you. For a series of blog posts beginning today, we will be outlining some of those returns on investment our members received.
As you’ve probably read on our blog, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, and heard on KYW, the Philadelphia Parking Authority has increased its enforcement of motor vehicles parked in bike lanes since 2014, when the Bicycle Coalition began meeting with the Philadelphia Parking Authority about this issue.
The Philadelphia Parking Authority and Philadelphia police have made greater efforts to issue tickets for such violations in the last two years. They issued a record 4,524 violations last year, a 127 percent increase from 2014.
That also marked a 5 percent jump from the 4,302 violations they issued in 2015, the same year Philadelphia launched its Indego bike share program.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia heralded the increased enforcement, noting it came after conversations between its members and the PPA in 2013 and 2014, when only 1,991 citations were issued.
And, as noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer:
The violation numbers reflect the PPA’s responsiveness to complaints from bikers about cars in bike lanes, which the authority responds to quickly, said Martin O’Rourke, the agency spokesman. Ticketers will also cite vehicles in bike lanes while patrolling for parking violations, he said.
The Bicycle Coalition is taking these numbers as evidence that these two roads are begging for protected bike lanes, which would place physical dividers between bike lanes and vehicle traffic. There are a lot of different ways to accomplish this, but some would make it impossible to park in a bike lane.
“These streets are supposed to be the best routes for cyclists getting through Center City,” the blog, written by Randy LoBasso, the coalition’s spokesman, stated. “But given a lack of physical separation between the motor vehicle lane and the bike lane, people in motor vehicles seem intent on parking wherever they please, putting cyclists’ lives in danger on an hourly basis.”
Engaging the Philadelphia Parking Authority and Center City cyclists was just one of many steps toward making cycling a safe activity in Philadelphia for anyone who wants to ride—whether they’re eight years old or 80.
But this could not have happened without the resources provided by our members and supporters—resources we count on to do our jobs at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
If you’re interested in helping us out by becoming a member this winter, click the image below, and you’ll learn more about our members’ Return on Investment.
What a joke. I ride my bike through center city daily. The spruce and pine bike lanes are nothing but parking spaces for FedEx, ups, USPS, and loading zones for cars. The 13th st bike lane is nothing but Uber and Lyft parking waiting for their fares to come first serve them.
The bike lanes are virtually useless and will be until you get physical barriers installed such as heavy planters or those plastic posts.