Game Over

I thought I had seen it all when it came to #unblockbikelanes. Cars, trucks and the PPA unwilling to ticket them no matter how blatant or how long a vehicle had been sitting there. In some cases weeks could go by and a vehicle could go without a single ticket. But this picture took the prize.

What's wrong with this picture, I here you ask? It appears that some city agency has placed a directional sign for oncoming cars in a contra-flow bike lane. Forcing cyclists to ride illegally on the sidewalk or ride into on coming traffic.

At this point we should just call #unblockbikelanes what it is, a charade.To this I can only have one response.

Its time to stop playing a game that we have no chance of winning because the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia made deal with Philadelphia Parking Authority that was unenforceable. Its time to stop posting pictures under the #unblockbikelanes until the PPA management is prepared to enforce the parking laws as they are. As opposed to the selective enforcement they prefer.

We are not Amused

Let’s face it the #unblockbikelanes effectiveness has been very limited and is a source of frustration for many cyclists who have watched and participated in this effort. Enforcement has been haphazard at best, as the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s own statistics have shown.

1st quarter - the same number of tickets were written in 2014 as 2013

2nd quarter 96% more tickets issued in 2014 vs 2013

3rd quarter - 20% fewer tickets issued in 2014 vs 2013

4th quarter - 40% more tickets issued in 2014 vs 2013

Inconsistent is the best description regarding the effectiveness of the PPA to follow through on the #unblockbikelanes. Something that is confirmed the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia’s own report. Which includes statements as:

"There does not appear to be a sustained effort to enforce parking regulations."

"Enforcement efforts before and after a concerted effort to address violators has been mixed and inconsistent."

Contrary to popular belief the PPA does not have a secret crime fighting lair, like a Batcave or a Fortress of Solitude, from which they dispatch agents ready to write tickets at a moments notice.

So in an attempt to placate the cycling community the PPA recently created an interactive map that is 6 months out of date. Along with stating their latest goals.

• Give citizens the opportunity to report blocked bike lanes via Twitter.​
• Compile relevant data highlighting the most problematic areas with blocked bike lanes in the city.
• Engage active voices within the Philadelphia community, in particular, The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.​

There is only one goal missing; enforcing existing parking regulations regarding bike lanes.

A point driven home by these two posts on Twitter 7 days apart.

May 4, 2015

May 11, 2015

How does the PPA ignore this for seven days? There have been renewed Tweets about the failures and frustration of the #unblockbikelanes. Along with replies asking people to keep tweeting so more data can be compiled. It seems that all this data does is point out the PPA's unwillingness to do their job.

We need a solution that is more than a map full of pretty colors and outdated information. I'd like to  think the time is right for a Bike Lane Flash Mob. Where cyclist will gather at a specific bike lane for 30 minutes and everyone will bring an awareness cone to line the bike lane. Participants could call themselves Coneheads, say they come France, and consume mass quantities from nearby merchants. 

2014 - A year in review

Social Rides

The social ride scene in Philadelphia still mystifies me. There are several rides now with consistent schedules; Take Your Time Bike Rides, Philly Bike Party, and the Philly Full Moon Bike Ride. The question seems to be whether the ridership is going to grow? Take the Baltimore Bike Party; its first ride had 50 riders and within a few months it had grown to hundreds and in some cases thousands of riders. While this many riders creates its own specific challenges, it still leaves me wondering why Philadelphia residents and college students seem to be uninterested in any type of social ride.

Velodrome - Just another 6000 seat stadium

One announcement that drew some attention was the intent to build a velodrome in Philadelphia. A world class indoor  facility that could be used by Olympic athletes. There are two slight problems. First the developers behind this project have to raise 100 million dollars and they have pledged to do this with any government funding. Second, they will make it a profitable business.

As much as I would love to have an all weather velodrome in the heart Philadelphia. Lets face it a velodrome is never going to be profitable. Fortunately the developers have a back up plan. The velodrome will also be able to function as a 6000 seat concert venue. So is this really a group of altruistic developers who want to build a world class velodrome? Or this this just an attempt to open another 6000 seat arena? I’m not betting on altruism.

Mayors Bicycle Advocacy Board - All racing all the time

Mayor Nutter in attempt make Philadelphia bicycle friendly city created a Bicycle Advisory Board. The BAB team’s job is to find ways to promote cycling within Philadelphia to residents and businesses. While promoting cycling to the residents and business owners of Philadelphia all very well and good, the backgrounds members of the board say other wise and is more focused on the other goal; Their other goal is “to create, market, and promote national and international cycling races in Philadelphia to attract the finest and most highly-rated bicycle riders to compete in our City, including supporting and raising funds for the annual Philly Bicycling Classic.”

Eleven of the board members of are involved in racing and three in advocacy. The final BAB member is the most questionable of the group, Lisa Nutter, Mayor Nutter’s wife. It appears nepotism abounds in forming the BAB team. 

Given the high ratio of BAB members involved with racing and the utter lack of people representing the average cyclist in Philadelphia its is clear that the BAB’s primary mission will be promoting racing. Anything beyond racing I’ll wait to see how effective they really will be.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia scores a trifecta
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia has had a year to be thankful for. The Safe Streets bill has become an albatross around their neck equal to the story of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. This year the BCGP scored a trifecta.

1. Bicycle Lanes vs Bill Greenlee
Remember when the BCGP thought that giving the Philadelphia City Council final decision making authority for the installation of new bike lanes would not cause any problems? So did we. (http://tinyurl.com/o3q5ce2) It didn’t take long for Councilman At Large Bill Greenlee to decide that that would be no bike lane would be installed along 6 blocks of 22nd St. Why? Because he said so. And there is nothing that can be done to change this thanks to the BCGP’s agreement with the Philadelphia City Council.

2. #Unblockbikelanes = #QuestionableResults
Then there is the #unblockbikelanes. The idea was that people could tweet the Philadelphia Parking Authority cars that were parked in bike lanes. In return the PPA would step up ticketing of these vehicles. Unfortunately that has not be  en the case.

In the first quarter (http://tinyurl.com/njbns95) the PPA wrote close to same number of tickets on 2013 as in 2014. So the BCGP leaped into action and talked to the PPA and the number of tickets issued by 96% over 2013 in the second quarter (http://tinyurl.com/prddy25). Fortunately the PPA counterbalanced this offset by issuing 20% fewer tickets (http://tinyurl.com/qjrrywz) in the third quarter of 2014 compared to 2013. I expect the fourth quarter numbers to be equally dismal.

Some have even joked that the #unblockbikelanes is some sort of bizarre drinking game. This is yet another example the BCGP negotiating a deal that lacks any protection if either party fails to uphold the agreement.

3. Getting less bang for the buck 
The final element of the trifecta was the $100,000 (http://tinyurl.com/kkp6xa5) spent to create ten artistic bike racks of questionable value. Lets hope that in 2015 the BCGP will be willing to raise half that for ordinary bikes racks of real benefit.

We've added it to our database.

Have you heard any of these jokes?

When your spouse asks you to run an errand do respond with "I'll add it to my database?

What’s the difference between Santa Claus and the PPA?

When Santa makes a list he checks it twice, the PPA just makes a list.

The #unblockbikelanes hashtag is really a bizarre drinking game created by the PPA. A Drink is taken when a Tweet is about the 7/11 at 22nd & Lombard, 13th & Arch St., or a PPA vehicle is parked in a bike lane is posted on Twitter.

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By now you’re all familiar with the sad saga of the Safe Streets bill. When the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia surrendered all future bicycle lane installation to the hands of the professional politicians. Giving the Philadelphia City Council yet another way to stymie any future bike lane development.

One of the benefits of this bill that was that the Philadelphia Parking Authority would start enforcing ticketing cars that park in bike lanes. In spite of a confusing definition about how they could be used as a loading zone. And with great fanfare this past winter the BCGP and the PPA announced the creation of hashtag, #unblockbikelanes. So the PPA could create a database of hot spots and alert PPA employees to vehicles that needed to be ticketed.

And it appeared to be a rousing success in the first quarter of 2014, until there was some digging and turned out it was the same number ticketed in the first quarter of 2013 (http://tinyurl.com/njbns95). So the BCGP went back and discussed some additional solutions with the PPA. Which resulted in a 96% increase (http://tinyurl.com/prddy25) in the number of tickets issued in the second quarter of 2014 from 2013.

Unfortunately the third quarter resulted in a close to 20% decrease in the number of tickets issued for cars parked in bike lanes from 2013 to 2014. 

Green=Increased number of tickets. 

Red=decreased number of tickets.

Street	2013	2014	Change	Percentage
Spruce St. 1400-2300	192	196	4	2.08%
Poplar Dr. 2900-3100	9	0	-9	-100.00%
Pine St. 300-2100	147	195	48	32.65%
N13th St. 99-100	16	6	-10	-62.50%
Market St. 3700	3	0	3	-100.00%
Lombard St. 1000-1200	1	5	4	400.00%
Spruce St. 1000-1200	14	9	-5	-35.71%
24th & Fairmount	131	43	-88	-67.17%
Spruce St. 1300-1700	99	39	-60	-60.60%
25th & Fairmount	66	23	-43	-65.15%
22nd & Lombard	10	23	13	130.00%
South St., East of Grays Ferry	3	0	-3	-100.00%
S. 22nd, 400-500	8	23	15	187.50%
2200 South St.	2	0	-2	-100.00%
2300 Locust St.	0	2	2	100.00%
Total	701	564	137	-19.54%

On the one hand I would like to think that the drop in tickets is due to the message getting out about cars getting ticketed for parking in bike lanes. On the other hand since there was no change in the number of tickets issued in the first quarter of 2014 versus 2013  Combined with the fact the the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia had to meet with the PPA to remind them of their obligation to enforce ticketing cars in bike lanes. I have my concerns about the fourth quarter numbers.

This leaves with just one question; What is going on at the PPA? What happened to all of the meter maids that we saw on Parking Wars? Who were lurking behind corners and hid behind objects ready to ticket a car as the meter set to expire. The ones who not just took pride in their job, but had an almost sadistic glee in the way they executed their duties. Frankly I don’t know where they are.

I only wish we could count on the BCGP to once again step into the breach. But they are too busy trying to “Connect the Circuit”. So they can avoid the albatross that hangs around their neck, that the Safe Streets bill has become. I'll see what happens with the fourth quarter numbers when they become available.

#unblockbikelanes is working

Since the creation of the #unblockbikelanes hashtag by the Philadelphia Parking Authority I have been highly skeptical that the PPA was going to follow through on ticketing cars parked in bike lanes. Lets face it the PPA twitter responses of “we’ve added it to our list” does not give you the impression that they are doing anything.

So I did some research, the PPA has risen to the challenge and is taking enforcement of cars parked in bike lanes seriously.

Total number of tickets issued

April, May, & June 2013 - 242

April, May, & June 2014 - 475

This is a 96% increase over the past year.

With the largest increase in tickets at three locations.

Street	2013 Tickets	2014 Tickets	Percentage increase
Spruce St. 1400 - 2300	127	252	98%
Pine St. 300 - 2100	62	91	46%
N. 13th St. 99-100	3	63	2000%
Total	192	406	111%

This is a good start, one that I hope will continue to be growing trend. There are some larger issues that will take time as it is going to involve a change in culture and tradition. The two most challenging will be churches that use bike lanes as parking on Sundays, especially the ones that have made arrangements with commercial parking lots. Or the issue police officers using the bike lane at 13th St by the court house.

I would like to suggest that during one the annual bicycle enforcement sweeps of the PPA to host a bike lane liberation complete with a brigade of clowns, as inspired by New York City’s Times Up. A fun, non-threatening piece of street theater that could be created by local cyclists. Along with a police escort to encourage recalcitrant car drivers to move their vehicle and a PPA agent to ticket unoccupied cars.

#Unblock Bike Lanes - Petro's Bread Distributers

Want to see what happens when a truck from Petro's Bread Distributers blocks a bike lane? 



Thanks a lot Petro's, keep on trucking.

**(The footage above was filmed by someone else. To contact the owner of the footage please click though to the Youtube link in the bottom right corner of the video)

It could be worse

During this weeks salute to #unblockbikelanes we have showcased some of the amusing and questionable aspects of this campaign.  But no matter how bad you think things might be its could be worse, you could be living in São Paulo, Brazil.

Yes, that is a cinderblock wall erected overnight on a bike path for no reason whatsoever. São Paulo Metro claimed that this was merely a renovation to the existing barrier that runs parallel to the path. Click there to see for yourself.