(Photo: Portland Bureau of Transportation parking enforcement)
When an urban neighborhood holds a beloved street festival, space becomes scarce — and less space-efficient transportation options become a much worse way to get there.
A single city parking enforcement officer almost certainly paid for his or her time at the Mississippi Street Fair Saturday, issuing 83 parking tickets for $80 each to cars parked in Mississippi’s bike lanes during the annual north Portland festival.
City code prohibits parking any vehicle “on or within a bicycle lane, path, or trail,” among other places.
The Mississippi Street Fair’s website warned that “parking enforcement will be out” and highlighted the paid parking lots at two nearby schools, with proceeds to benefit the schools. It also noted three temporary bike parking locations and transit access via the Yellow Line and TriMet’s frequent No. 4 bus line.
City spokeswoman Hannah Schafer said Monday, in response to our email query based on some Twitter chatter, that the city’s parking hotline (503-823-5195) had “received a service request at 12:22 p.m. on Saturday.”
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Schafer sent over some photos taken by the enforcement officer who responded to the call:
This definitely isn’t the first time a Portland bike lane has been illegally converted to parking, and it won’t be the last. The city’s complaint-driven parking hotline can often be frustratingly inconsistent or slow to respond.
But we’re willing to bet this’ll be the last time for at least 83 attendees of the Mississippi Street Fair.
— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org
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Michael Andersen was news editor of BikePortland.org from 2013 to 2016 and still pops up occasionally.
Thank you! Now, let’s put that 83 x $80 the city just earned back into better bike lane markings and signage……
Yea.. Portland doesn’t spend enough money on bike people.
– Sent from my iPhone while in gridlock.
Think of it this way–if those 83 people who all got expensive tickets parked there accidentally, not realizing it was a bike lane, then that’s proof the signage was bad, so spending money on signage will help other drivers avoid tickets in the future. That benefits drivers.
And if the signage helps keep open the bike lane, so bikes aren’t forced out into the lane with you, unable to move over so you can pass them going uphill, that also benefits drivers.
On the other hand, if those 83 people knew it was a bike lane, and parked there anyway, then that justifies the City spending way more to protect bikers from arrogant drivers who don’t think the laws apply to them.
What are bike people? Do they look like normal people, except that they can occasionally be seen atop bikes? Do they walk among us??
Bike people?
I bleed Triflow.
Good on you, dear parking enforcement officer! All of Portland is a parking lot anymore, many neighborhood streets completely choked. Cars are so damned cumbersome and (space) needy.
That bike lane has issues with car parking, particularly where it ends at N Cook. There are no bike lane icons or signage in the two block stretch between Cook and the curve in the road, so it’s easy for a driver to come in from the north and never see any indication (other than the stripe) that it’s a dedicated bike lane. It really needs a bike icon with “bike lane ends” where it ends at Cook – or, better yet, a continuous bike lane all the way to Fremont.
I don’t see the problem. It’s got the standard eight inch solid white line that means this is a bike lane (as opposed to a four inch solid white that means it’s a fog line). If motorists can’t be bothered to learn the laws regarding the legal operation of their vehicles, that’s on them.
Didn’t we already go around in the comments about how that 8″ is not specifically spelled out in code?
But a solid white line also signifies a “parking lane” (area where parallel parking is allowed). Those solid white lines are supposed to be 4″ narrower, but once they’re repainted, they can easily become “wide solid white lines” instead of “solid white lines”.
So you’re correct, but when one signifies “Definitely park here” and the other “Definitely do NOT park here” and they’re in a location where either might make sense, it’s not differentiated enough to be safe, in my opinion.
A judge might not even care how wide the stripe was because anyone contesting a ticket could simply say they didn’t see any signs or pavement symbols, and show the judge the Oregon Driver Manual that states both need to be there to identify a bike lane. They could even return to the site after they got the ticket, and take a photo for the judge showing that even with no cars present, there still were no pavement symbols anywhere within sight of where they’d parked.
And for the stripe width, they could show the judge the Oregon Driver Manual, which doesn’t say a word about 4″, 6″ or 8″.
But again, the biggest thing to me is isn’t to win an argument, but to question why would we want to designate bike lanes so poorly, with symbols so sparse–and completely invisible if other cars have parked on them–and having a solid white stripe slightly wider than another solid white stripe meaning the difference between designating a parking area, and designating a no-parking area?
I’d rather have someone not park there in the first place, than have them park illegally (knowingly or not) and block the lane.
Glad to see enforcement here, but towing would be better because it solves the problem in the immediate-term. I say let the private for-profit towing companies call open season on illegal parkers. People actually need to feel like there will be immediate consequences for their actions rather than just paying a ticket later.
Immediate towing would be against the law, in the sense that, the cars were not parked on private parking. And there’s no posting as a warning for towing. I get that it’s illegal to park in a bike lane, but a ticket is more than sufficient.
Think about it this way, also. Yes, someone parked in your bike lane, and that sucks…I truly do empathize with you. A parking ticket can be paid over 90 days if the person makes an arrangement. Towing a car into impound is an expensive ordeal (believe me, I know from experience) and can cost the owner of the car upwards of $600 (if the car is towed and sits over a weekend). So, you’d rather have a person who might not be able to afford $600 impound fees or risk losing their car altogether, when they could be someone who might be able to eek out $90 across three payments? The former is a bit more harsh, in my opinion.
if I parked my car in one of the three travel lanes of Broadway (westbound), do you think I’d simply receive a ticket?
@ Ted Timmons: EXACTLY!!!
Try parking a bike in a travel lane and see what happens.
Can I borrow your car keys? Actually, I wonder if anyone would bet the other side of that.
For completeness, let’s park on the streetcar and max tracks and run a timer
Let’s park a couple of cars on I-5, a motor-vehicle exclusive roadway, to make the comparison complete. Does anyone really think that a mere parking ticket would be the response of law enforcement to such an act? Why would anyone think that is sufficient for blocking a bike lane then?
Or even park a car in the middle of a sidewalk.
if you are going 1mph over the speed limit or 50mph over should the fine be the same?
It’s about the number of users. If 10,000 cyclists road up through the blocked bike lane, then there’d be issues of concern. The city doesn’t care when the bike lane is only seeing a few hundred users…
Handicap parking is rarely used, therefore feel free to park there.
There’s no signage against it, so probably. You can just claim without a sign you had no idea why the lanes are there.
But unlike with bike lanes with no visible signs or symbols, the law wouldn’t be on your side.
because..? what’s the difference?
Bike lanes are identified by striping PLUS symbols or signs. Traffic lanes don’t have signs associated with them.
technically it’s ‘signs OR markings’. There were markings in this case. Interestingly, there’s no guidance about how many markings/how far apart. (801.155 and 801.160)
Ted–you’re right, and that’s what I said too, although I called them “symbols” instead of “markings”.
So in the case I was replying about, nobody claiming they didn’t know a traffic lane was a traffic lane because there was no sign telling them that would be taken seriously, because traffic lanes aren’t accompanied by signs labeling them as traffic lanes.
With a bike lane, especially one like this Mississippi one, somebody–even if they knew it was a bike lane–could fight a ticket by claiming they didn’t know due to not having seen any signs or symbols. They could point to the Oregon Driver Manual that says bike lanes are “identified by a wide white
line WITH a bicycle symbol or a bike lane sign”.
If someone countered that there WERE three pavement markings, the person getting out of the ticket could claim those weren’t visible to them, because they were underneath other cars, and/or not anywhere near where they parked, and they’d be right.
I’m not trying to defend the people who got tickets (I’d guess at least many knew it was a bike lane, and deserved tickets) I’m just saying you can’t make the claim that lack of signage means you didn’t know a traffic lane was a traffic lane, but lack of signage or pavement symbols does mean you can make that claim for a bike lane.
Ted–your bringing up the lack of rules for how far apart markings can be brings up something that seems important. On a street with little likelihood of people parking, especially main roads through streets where cars travel for several blocks, it seems like a pavement symbol every few hundred yards can be enough.
But on a street like Mississippi, they should be at least on every block, and even then, it would be better to also have signs that can’t be covered cars parking on top of them. But it seems like both types of streets are treated similarly, which seems like a mistake.
Sorry Q- we agree mostly, I was misinterpreting your message. And yes, more symbols would be helpful. The PDX Transformation crew spent a lot of money to highlight the confusion from too few symbols on 3rd Ave.
the sooner people learn that owning a car is expensive the sooner we’ll stop having so many cars around…
can’t afford the $600? then we’re certain you won’t make that mistake again…
then we start revoking licenses after too many violations, paid or not…
And then you will have people driving motor vehicles without driver’s licenses.
When we start seizing cars being driven by unlicensed drivers, that problem will go away. Dare to dream…
Or mopeds in bike lanes
Oh, so you’ve been to Europe as well. 🙂
and biking is free. infrastructure doesn’t cost anything.
*poof*
Imagine a world where all of the cars have magically disappeared.
Only pedestrians and cyclists use the roads.
How much do we need to spend on infrastructure now?
Are you counting all the money we would have to spend on buildings for people to live, work, and play in that won’t require them to travel as far as they do today?
?
Dan, where does that funding come from? Cycling infrastructure is frequently leveraged with other transportation work…such as roads. Much cheaper to add a bike lane to a road than to build a dedicated path.
I used to live in Seattle, I live out in the ‘sticks’ now. I do not know Portland or Oregon laws…
In the Seattle area, cyclists seem to think that biking is ‘free’ also. Also, many thinks that rules of the road do not apply to them.
The question now is, “how do we pay for much needed bicycle improvements?”
Oregon and Washington have TWO VERY DIFFERENT taxing systems
Washington cyclists do not want to pay for the right to ride. Motorized vehicles have to pay to use the roads, why not bicycles? In Washington, most of the money for roads come from Motor Vehicle Taxes, and the Gas Tax.
Infrastructure is expensive! How do WE pay for it? If cyclists do not want to pay something extra, than they shouldn’t get anything extra.
Please do not see this as an anti-bicycle rant, YOU DO HAVE THE RIGHT TO USE THE ROAD.
Maybe you ought to do a bit of research on Federal taxes, where they come from and where they go. A quick google search for ‘bikes pay fair share’ ought to do it.
I dispute your implied definition of “extra”.
In Washington the majority of the money for roads comes from property tax. Just to address one of the more egregiously inaccurate statements in your post.
In the case of this article, the “bike facility” is a lane on a hill. I don’t view that as only benefiting bikes. It gives bikers a space to climb the hill without slowing down motor vehicles. I assume that’s one reason why there’s a bike lane on the uphill side of the street, and not the downhill.
It’s like passing areas on hills on highways. The slow-vehicle lanes on the right are not for the benefit of the slow vehicles using them. They benefit the faster vehicles that can now proceed without being slowed down, because the slower vehicles are able to move to the side.
“In the Seattle area, cyclists seem to think that biking is ‘free’ also.”
Well taken by itself it is free.
“The question now is, ‘how do we pay for much needed bicycle improvements?’”
And more to your implicit point, why are those infrastructure tweaks even necessary? Oh, right, because the overwhelming presence of the automobile on our streets is a threat that bike infrastructure is designed to (partially) contain. A derivative expenditure, in my reading.
“Washington cyclists do not want to pay for the right to ride.”
I understand that sentiment. And why should they when riding a bike is in fact just that – a right.
Driving, not so much.
Expensive but awesome! I’m in love with all means of wheeled transport, cars, bikes, skateboards, I’m collecting them all; and my bikes are giving my cars a run for the money when it comes to $$ on repairs – you know what biggie said – mo bikes more problems…
I support towing for all illegal parking, not just when the person is blocking a bike lane. Adding towing warning signs is a good idea too. Towing only needs to be frequent enough to make people afraid of getting their car towed, so they will think twice before knowingly parking illegally – let the inconvenience of having to retrieve your car from the impound be the deterrent. And as always, I would support reduced or zero fines for people who can’t afford it.
Though I suppose you could accomplish the same thing with massively increased parking enforcement, though my thinking was that a towing company would be more motivated than PBOT seems to be. There just needs to be an immediate personal inconvenience equivalent to the situation caused by the illegal parking.
This is a good idea. Here is another suggestion: We could give private companies permission to explore neighborhoods looking for bikes locked to objects they shouldn’t be, or on a sidewalks where they might be obstructing progress of pedestrians. The companies could then just cut the locks and collect the bikes. They could be returned if the owner paid a fee (say, $200.00) and proved proof that it belongs to. The rest could be resold at an auction. There would be no need for oversight or an appeal process, which would make it simpler. If people are treated unfairly they can expend a few thousand dollars to hire a lawyer and our judicial system will resolve the matter for them.
A small percentage of the profits earned by these companies could be used towards better bike parking infrastructure, signage and education.
Of course, sometimes they might take bikes that are parked legally, and for others this would be a large financial burden if their bike is their only means of transportation. But that’s the price of infrastructure and teaching people lessons.
As soon as there is bike parking available everywhere like there is for cars (streets) I’ll agree with you. Until then, I don’t think we can blame people for locking to whatever they can find.
This site is full of “do as I say, not as I do” types. Punishment is great for others…but don’t hold me accountable.
I could not agree with you more
This is exactly what Vancouver,BC does. A roving army of tow trucks maintains pro-time lanes and bike lanes at all hours of the day or night. They also manage to keep lanes clear for street sweeping. When I lived there, I rarely drove, but i got towed twice! It is expensive and time consuming and it effectively discourages driving! I would to to Portland start to manage parking more aggressively
Same as Chicago. I even got a rented moving van towed once!
How long was it parked? Were they actively loading or unloading?
in baltimore city when 4pm parking stops on the streets for rush hour its like tow company derby. not sure why it would be illegal to tow if they put a sign up and contract to companies. its plenty legal every other city i have been in
I sympathize with your sentiment, but must disagree. Private towing companies are predatory and there is a complete lack of due process. I’ve been towed where I was legally parked, and it cost me upwards of 500 bucks. There was zero effective recourse (my only option, a lawsuit, would cost me even more). As a privileged person, it was a frustrating experience. Other people’s lives would be seriously disrupted.
I’d support towing if it was a thoroughly regulated–or preferably city-run–operation. That includes a quick and fair process for arguing the tow, with restitution for wrongful tows. Simply setting loose the private tow companies to enforce public laws is bad policy in my opinion.
Agreeing with you & can’t folks have a tow company on speed dial to get illegal parking taken care of? I’d take a pic on my old phone to prove it was an illegal parked car. So glad to see tickets were given out, it looked terrible from the overpass.
Spoken like someone who has no automobile responsibilities. Don’t tax you or me – tax the guy driving the car behind the tree right?
I don’t see the problem. Can you explain?
Thank you PBOT for delivering enforcement on an issue that has happened too many times. I’d love to buy the parking enforcement officer who issued the tickets a beer!
There were also car blocking the entire Skidmore bike lane all the way across I5 (oddly enough only on the south side). When we walked back in the area hours later the cars that remained had parking citations so we were happy to see that.
So cars illegally parked in a bike lane just gets ticketed and not towed, but the city wants to impound bikes locked to bikeshare racks because they “obstruct or impede..vehicular traffic”?
yes, lame.
Agreed lame, but let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment. How exactly would the city issue citations to cyclists responsible for illegally parked bikes? The strength a citation is tied to the registration of the vehicle and the ability to follow up with the registered responsible party. Bicycles being unregistered limits the city’s options. There are few enforcement options besides removal. I suppose they could hire guards to stand around and prevent violations or issue tickets (seems rather expensive). And before someone flames me, I am not an advocate of bike registration.
Well, they are vehicles, are they not? Sounds like you answered your own question.
Well on the plus side 83 people, plus all their friends now know for sure where the bike lanes are, and no those are not just skinny parking lanes.
Or more likely, 83 people just twisted logic and reality to describe to their friends how they got a ticket because of people who ride bikes.. Never underestimate the logical pretzelmaking automobile users will employ in order to avoid seeming that the finger points at them.
Or they’ll blast the organizers of the Mississippi Street Fair for hosting an event with inadequate parking.
they really need to overhaul their system in regards to actually responding to complaints… I’ve sent in many complaints of daily repeat offenders that were never ticketed… easy pickin’ for ticket writing… cars are still parked illegally today… and I’ve had the parking supervisor straight up tell me that they won’t ticket somebody if they feel they’ll have to spend time in court having to defend themselves…
My thinking was that towing companies would be more motivated to enforce illegal parking than PBOT seems to be.
if they had a deputy program they could deputize me and I’d write parking tickets for free…
In Salem they deputize retired folks and let them write tickets to people parking in the handicap zones on both public and private parking lots
I would also like to see the hotline upgraded to some type of website where photos of cars illegaly parked along with an address could be uploaded from ones phone.
PDX Reporter App
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/405043
They don’t seem to look at the app anymore. I’ve reported a bunch of illegal parking and they’re all still listed as “open”.
they just never close the reports, neither do the abandoned auto folks… other departments update theirs that are reported via the app…
Ha! Like the city can deal with complaints. Their approach is stick their head in the sand unless you shake the coin jar! Money is always a motivator
Three cheers for this enforcement officer. I ride this bike lane l 5 days a week and frequently a car or two will be parked in it. The hazard in this spot is real as the hill is steep so bike speed is very low while the big sweeping curves encourage cars to speed up the hill making going around a car in to traffic dangerous.
Oh, I completely agree. It’s an apparent bike lane and nothing notes that it’s OK for cars to park there. I go up that hill in my car every Wednesday and I routinely see cyclists and I worry some schlub of a driver won’t be paying attention and smack a cyclist.
“The city’s complaint-driven parking hotline can often be frustratingly inconsistent or slow to respond.”
Hey, that sounds exactly like the PDX Reporter app!!. I have many parking complaints that they have not closed…going back to 2013. Although I can’t check anymore after I migrated back to Android – the app just crashes when I try to submit something.
you can sign into portlandmaps.com and see all your past reports…
The photo of the parking cart giving out tickets to the endless line of scoflaws in the bike lane warms my heart so much I have decided to make it the wallpaper on my computer
I like your style.
I WISH parking was enforced here in China… People parked on the sidewalks (completely blocking it), parked on the corners (blocking what few ramps there are), parked in the bike lanes (completely blocking them), parked in the middle of the F’n travel lane. If I wasn’t afraid of being deported, I’d be losing a fortune attaching “You Park like an @$$H***” cards to 1/3 of the vehicles here.
It’s a one-off, but here’s a great example I saw in Utah a few weeks ago.
A regular occurrence here in Greensboro NC. Sidewalks are for car parking.
And car hoods are for walking on.
As are tasers for walking on said hood.
You’ve never been down south.
Merely scratching a car’s paint job is a killing offense; you try walking on it and you’ll discover yourself being drug through town on a rope attached to some coal roller’s truck.
LaDolche Vita — one of my faves.
In Seattle if there isn’t a street sign saying no parking the road markings don’t mean a thing. Possible loophole, but for sure confusing.
Many streets in Portland that have curbside bike lanes do not have accompanying “no parking” signs, such as on outer Burnside, 102nd, outer Halsey, etc. Different places, different laws.
In fact, streets that allow parking are rarely marked with parking lines or fog lines, unless they are in or near downtown, or on a wide arterial with bike lanes between car lanes and parking, such as outer Division or 122nd.
Hello from Minneapolis! I know Portland and Minneapolis joke a bit back and forth about cycling but I do have to admit this is nice work, Portland!
That’s $6,640, probably enough for a ‘no parking’ sign or two.
and street trees
It’s so great to and refreshing to see the city that works actually work!
Now, there’s a couple dozen more cars parked in bike lanes everyday over on Lombard (Portland Hwy) in NE Portland. There’s even a few mechanics businesses using the clearly marked ‘no parking’ zones as overflow parking.
$80 all day long…
Now if we could only get them to do the same thing on Multnomah in front of the Moda Center and under the I-5 overpass when there’s an event at the Moda Center. A continuous line of ubers, taxis, and random drivers idling while waiting to give a ride, or just flat-out parking and leaving their vehicles. I tried contacting the City of Portland and the Moda Center about it, but so far nobody wants to take responsibility for it.
83 people doing this could also be an indicator that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t marked very clearly as a bike lane. Are there bike symbols on that section of the road? Or any street signs?
According to Google Street View, there are 2 sets of on-street bike symbols. Also, if the striped lane is narrower than your car, then it probably isn’t a parking lane. The adjacent sidewalk is so narrow, signage on posts isn’t really an option, but “no parking” signs could be put on the retaining walls.
The second picture sure looks like there is room to park a normal car between the stripe and the curb.
so the signs should say “no parking in bike lane unless it’s a wide bike lane, then it’s good”.
No, they could just say, “No Parking”, or “Bike Lane” or show the bike lane symbol.
Or there could be more than 2 or 3 bike lane symbols in several hundred yards.
I think there’s stong agreement the city is parsimonious with the bike lane symbols. See also: 3rd.
Or they could paint the curbside yellow like everywhere else that may be confused for parking.
The cars had their wheels carefully touching the curb, something they almost never do downtown. The drivers knew perfectly well it was illegal to park there, even if they were total morons from another planet who didn’t already know that Portland has bike lanes everywhere.
It is more likely an indicator that motorists simply don’t know the applicable laws for the operation of their vehicles. In Oregon, it is standard to use a four-inch white line to indicate things like a parking zone or roadway edge and an eight-inch white line, which this street clearly has, to indicate a bike lane.
We shouldn’t have to redundantly hold their hands. The vehicle code is available on-line, as are all supporting documents. An eight-inch wide line is more than enough, imo. Then again, I keep seeing signage advising motorists to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. Egads, how can they not know these basic things?
Personally, if I saw cars parked with that wide stripe, I’d assume it was a bike lane, and that there were probably some bike symbols underneath cars somewhere, and wouldn’t park there.
But wide stripes appear all over on streets for reasons other than marking bike lanes. Some are intentional, others are simply where 4″ stripes have been repainted but not aligned correctly. And if a driver diligently researches “bike lanes” in the Oregon Driver Manual, they will read that bike lanes are “identified by a wide white line WITH a bicycle symbol or a bike lane sign”. So saying a wide stripe is enough conflicts with the ODM.
If the goal is to teach drivers a lesson, or ticket 83 cars annually at this location, then leaving it as a stripe without readily apparent signage or markings makes sense. If the goal is to keep people from parking there in the first place (my view) then better signage and markings make sense.
Even if the main benefit of better signage is to keep people who knew it was a bike lane and parked there anyway from weaseling out of a ticket by claiming they didn’t know, or didn’t see any signs, that’s worth quite a bit itself.
“It is more likely an indicator that motorists simply don’t know the applicable laws for the operation of their vehicles.”
Honestly, I could say the same thing about cyclists…as a driver, do you know how many cyclists have run a red light and draped themselves over the hood of my car, or plowed into my lane making me swerve (and almost cause an accident) so they wouldn’t get hit by 6000 pounds of steel? Most cyclists that I see in PDX are worse than motorists when it comes to “rules”. I’m not saying ALL but, from my perspective, MOST. And then, they blame the motorist.
According to DMV, a cyclist MUST follow the same rules that a motor vehicle follows. If I were a cop, I’d be giving out tickets left and right for the things cyclists do in traffic.
Well, now I am curious. How many cyclists have run a red light and ended up draped over the hood of your car?
Interesting non-fact: “According to DMV, a cyclist MUST follow the same rules that a motor vehicle follows.”
Do you know who else must follow the same rules that a motor vehicle follows? A motor vehicle. I work downtown, the hotseat of bad riders. If I walk down to the curb of a high-bike-traffic lane and start counting the scofflaws both in motor vehicles and on bikes, how many more motor vehicles violations will I see? Most likely a percentage equivalent to the ratio of cars to bikes. This argument is old and tired. Cars don’t follow the laws any more than bikes do.
True – but driver kill 30,000 times more people then riders.
other people don’t obey the law so you don’t have to? This site is full of people citing the law and how others should behave. Don’t you think you have the same responsibility?
I think everyone should follow the law, and the penalty for failing to follow the law should be proportional to the threat caused by breaking such a law.
you really need a better source at the DMV… preferably one that knows the real laws…
Does it ever feel like people don’t take your complaints seriously? Ever wonder why?
I would love to find this mythical place where anyone or anything other than motorists or motorized vehicles cause more than a negligible amount of the cumulative danger on our public roads.
Your exaggerations, misperceptions, and cognitive dissonance do nothing for road safety, and in fact (are intended to) distract from the real problems.
it wasn’t until I stopped driving everywhere (and started reading BikePortland) that I learned all the driving laws related to bikes and pedestrians…
I never knew about fog line width, or stopping before coming out of a driveway/alley, or passing distance…
those are laws they never teach you because they don’t keep you safe inside your metal cage…
and they’re laws that are rarely enforced so there’s no drivers learning them…
but we don’t even have enough police to deter crime so we won’t be getting better traffic enforcement soon…
My cantankerous old man of a driving instructor told us very explicitly that cars have to stop before crossing a sidewalk and look for pedestrians — and that was in 1990 or thereabouts. I do think there’s a difference between having a driving instructor and being taught by your parents.
I was required to take Driver’s Ed in high school and I explicitly remember being taught multiple times that “the pedestrian always has the right of way”.
and yet I see so many cyclists (vehicles) not adhering to that policy.
tiresome.
I think about bike+pedestrian interactions all the time. The interactions seem to me more like a dance, full of nonverbal cues. Assuming both parties are paying attention, making eye contact, there are thousands of elegant ways to cross each others’ path that would be hard to codify the way we do this for car+other interactions since the ability to engage in that dance I mentioned is severely abridged. If I am on my bike and a pedestrian is crossing my path, the momentum and speed of both parties, hill climbing vs descending, the micro-hesitations, the degree to which there may be other traffic parallel to me who is on a bike…. all this factors into how this works, in my experience. I find that almost always (again if both parties are paying attention) I can cross paths with a pedestrian in one of a hundred ways with no loss of momentum to either party and no evident loss of right of way either.
Oh definitely. My mom was disappointed in my cautious driving style and coached me to drive faster and more aggressively. Took me decades to unlearn that.
My Driver’s Ed teacher would wake up from his nap and say “faster, you need to go faster . “
The Ford Explorer is parked directly on top of a bike symbol.
Now if they would start ticketing people for parking facing oncoming traffic, that would be great. Too many times have I been scared half to death by someone crossing the centerline to park against the curb just to my right, and too many times I have had someone head right at me as they leave after parking facing oncoming traffic. I know it is illegal, I have looked it up, and I do not understand why it is overlooked and allowed.
From what I have seen the entire budget of the city of Portland could be funded by ticketing people who park facing oncoming traffic. This one really pisses me off as there is no reason for it except for laziness. To me this one is almost a litmus test for suitability to drive. If instead of tickets, a sweep should be done and every car parked facing traffic should be impounded for a year. I think you would see traffic accidents drop drastically as the folks who would do this are the same ones too lazy too stop for red lights, look both ways at intersections or follow traffic laws in general.
Bollards or those tough half-spheres might be a better indicator of a bike lane–and deter people from parking.
You want to run the risk of hitting a half-sphere with a bike so some a-hole won’t park in a bike lane?
Not just for parking, for driving in, for swerving into, temporary waiting. Yes, for sure.
The Oregon Driver Manual describes bike lanes as being “identified by a wide white line with a bicycle symbol or a bike lane sign”. I don’t see any symbols or signs. I assume there are probably some symbols underneath cars that parked there before some of the other cars followed.
I’d guess some people didn’t know it was a bike lane, and others may have known but figured the chances of getting ticketed were slim, and if they did get ticketed, they could avoid a fine by arguing there were no symbols or signs.
This isn’t to say people shouldn’t have known from the wide white stripe and context that it was a bike lane, or that they shouldn’t have been ticketed. I’m just saying signage would have made it clear for people who didn’t know it was a bike lane, and would have closed a loophole (no visible signage) that people who figured they could get away with may try to use to get out of a ticket.
I was thinking about this today while riding about. I feel that the signage for bike lanes is minimal to underestimate the best adjective to use in describing it. Really, there should be a bike symbol after each intersection and perhaps after each driveway when the block stretches for a particularly long while (e.g. 150 meters). Just my 2¢!
a stencil every 100′ should work…
also, how about “BIKE LANE” stenciled inside the 8″ stripe like they do for “FIRE LANE”?
The pavement symbol every 100′ would be a lot better than every few hundred yards for sure. And the “BIKE LANE” stencil in the line could be a great idea in places like this.
If you’re on a busy street where people are driving fast and nobody parks on the street, the big symbols in the lane every few hundred yards are fine.
But in an urban setting like this, the standard big stencil 100 yards back from where you turned onto the street doesn’t do any good, nor does it if it’s underneath a parked car. A stencil on the line wouldn’t be hidden, even if the line was slightly underneath cars, and anybody parking would see it, or at least have a hard time convincing a judge they couldn’t see it if they tried to fight a ticket.
Paint it green.
Oregon Driver Manual agrees with you: “…identified by a wide white
line with a bicycle symbol or a bike lane sign. Bike lanes may be
painted green.” It certainly would be clear.
80 bucks for event parking? Yeah it’s kind of high but I didn’t want to walk any further. Thanks COP!
Well, just store your crap wherever then…
people park their bikes wherever, so why not?
Not in the ‘middle of the road’.
well, those cars were not in the middle of the road judging by the photos.
The middle of the bike lane is the middle of my road.
Now we know which road Monsieur Middle of the Road guy is thinking about.
The frustrating part is, oftentimes it is after hours when this happens.
Does parking enforcement think motorists park like jackasses during office hours?
Two examples – 1) cars park in the bike lanes on NE 7th Ave in the Lloyd District whenever there’s a Blazers game at night.
2) Last weekend, about a dozen cars parked in the bike lane on NW Naito to attend the Beer Fest being held at the Fields Park in the Pearl.
Both times, it was after hours.
I’m told you can ring the PPB’s non-emergency line, but it hardly seems like the Police are going to put down the donuts long enough to rush to yr aid for THAT.
Ticket and tow. The bike lane cars are safety hazard. Hey, the Mayor can tow in seconds because he towed a very safe car2go downtown for being in a 15 minute zone too long. Novick/Hales/PBOT are using your safety gas tax money to stab your #visionZero dreams in the back and make streets faster, aka N Bryant at Knowles. https://twitter.com/rsadowsky/status/748220268070371329
was replying to Adam H’s comment…
Adam H.
My thinking was that towing companies would be more motivated to enforce illegal parking than PBOT seems to be.
The city parking enforcement is amazingly quick to respond to calls to their Parking Enforcement line. I noticed infractions over towards 72nd Ave and SE Foster and within the hour they were out to issue a ticket. Luckily the owner of the vehicle noticed the enforcer and move their vehicle. Thank goodness! Otherwise it would’ve been difficult visiting every business in the area and asking every patron if it was their vehicle. Give the the city Parking Enforcement hotline a call if you ever notice an infraction or unsafe violation of parking code. 503-823-5195!
my partner says their hours are limited, based on when he has called them in the past
To report a potential parking violation, call the Parking Enforcement Hotline at 503-823-5195.
You have three options to choose from:
* Report an abandoned auto.
* Report an illegally parked vehicle on the enforcement request line.
* Speak to a parking enforcement representative.
Voicemails are checked and representatives are available during the following times:
– Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
– Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
– Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To report a potential parking violation at other times, call the Portland Police Bureau’s non-emergency line at 503-823-3333.
Parking telephone report: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/369564
Parking main page: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/34782
Agree, they are fast! If you’re an out-of-towner staying in one of the _many_ Air B’nB’s in my neighborhood, better not park facing the wrong way! The long Cushman of the law will be coming for you…
Find me an elected official or a spokesman from one of the business groups who thinks this is a problem. Bet you can’t.
Talking about a resolution is irrelevant if you can’t get anyone to care in the first place.
Predicted response from Novick/Fritz/Hales: “where else are all these people going to park?”
I have no sympathy for parking scofflaws. If people don’t like being fined/towed, they shouldn’t park illegally.
If several people park illegally in an area, many more often join in. I’ve seen people just park all over the grass at Willamette Park several times.
On my way to work, I see people parked or waiting in the bike lanes pretty much every day. Just to make sure I understand things straight, a bike taking a few feet of space that’s moving along is too slow, but a vehicle moving zero mph in what should be a travel lane is OK? If cars weren’t parked all over the roads, movement would be a lot easier in this town for everyone.
Parents of kids at the Raleigh Hills K-8 often idle their cars in the bike lanes while other drive around cars by using the bike lane.
This is awesome! Thanks parking people.
Yes !
I’ve seen that at least twice on MIssissippi – whenever Ecliptic brewing hosts an event.
I’ve called the cops a few times on my commute home over the past year to get cars ticketed in the bike lane at Ecliptic. One of the cars even had a bike in the back seat – weird!
Obviously not a transportation cyclist.
I think the fines should double if you park in a bike lane while driving a car with Share The Road plates. Among the cars parked in the bike lane on SW Vermont during Hillsdale Farmers maket days, there are always a couple of cars with the “bike friendly ” plates.
That’s pretty funny. I’d support it. Maybe you should have to pass a test to qualify for “Share the Road” plates.
It reminds me of a woman interviewed in Willamette Week once about whether she felt guilty driving a Hummer, and she said something like, “Well, I know they’re not great for the environment, but I try to make up for that by making sure my kids eat organic snacks”.
Because the husband is a huge Fred and the wife took his car out to buy overpriced produce at the farmer’s market while he was out on a ride.
Near Reed College, the bike lanes on SE 28th are filled with cars occasionally when events are held at Crystal Springs Garden. It is on a hill and a curve which is especially dangerous. I called the traffic enforcement number this spring but was told someone had a permit to allow on-street parking in the bike lane during the weekend event. There was plenty of parking available at Reed, at the city golf course or on side streets. The safety of people using bicycles was deemed less important than the slight inconvenience of walking a few hundred feet by people using cars.
That about sums it up. Platinum!
Right hand – platinum
Left hand – particle board
Unfortunate, but I”m not surprised at all. On-street parking is one of the town’s highest priorities, largely because it’s the highest priority of every business lobbying group, and most of the neighborhood associations.
That said, those bike lanes around Reed are dangerous. Narrow, curvy and full of debris. They were doing cyclists a favor by putting them in the traffic lane.
Upon occasion the city seems to require flaggers when they agree to an abuse like that.
I hate to say it, but this is not good.
Yep, Portland city code says you cannot park in a place which prevents the free passage of other vehicles (16.20.120(E)) — and specifically references bicycles. But what does that mean? Can a car not park anywhere there’s a white line? That’s a (currently) ridiculous reading/interpretation that I don’t think any judges would enforce. Besides, bicycles are vehicles and are free to use the regular traffic lane, right? So theoretically, they could just go around the cars and are not prevented in passing.
Portland City Code also says you cannot park in a bicycle lane, path, or trail. (16.20.130(U)) But the city code does not seem to define “bicycle lane”. So we are left with the regular State Code default, ORS 801.155, which says a bicycle lane is any part of the highway or roadway designated by official signs or markings. So what was the official sign or marking here? Just the white line?
And that’s the problem. If the City wants this section of road to be an official bike lane with enforceable no parking (and maybe it does), then it should do what it does with other such sections of such bike lanes: add no parking signs.
Because otherwise, every stretch of road in the city with a white lane marker immediately becomes a de facto “No Parking” zone.
On the other hand, if the lane really was appropriately marked, then the city already has/had the authority to immediately tow without notice under the City Code. 16.30.220.
So if the parking enforcement officer was right, then each of these vehicles should have also been towed at owner expense in addition to the $80 ticket. But they didn’t do that.
Each of these vehicle owners should fight the ticket in traffic ticket court, and they’ll probably win.
Meanwhile, the City should add some signs “No Parking Bike Lane, Subject to Immediate Tow” or some such, and/or some red paint on the curb to designate “no parking”. That’s what the city’s traffic engineers seem to think is necessary to make and designate a safe bike lane when I’ve talked to them about other similar sections of road.
This is just plain old “not good”.
Back to my example. There are three westbound car lanes on Broadway. By this logic I can park a car in, say, the rightmost travel lane. So theoretically, cars can just go around and are not prevented in passing. If I’m not supposed to park in the right travel lane, it should have ‘no parking’ signs.
The vinyl bike rider symbol, I assume.
Edward–thanks for the research. I agree, with no visible signage, people can fight the ticket whether they knew it was a bike lane or not. They can point to the Oregon Driver Manual definition that says a bike lane is identified by a stripe AND a symbol or sign.
Instead of the City giving people the benefit of the doubt for years about parking in bike lanes, sign them well, and remove all the doubt. Then the lanes will be more likely to stay clear, but if they’re not, there’s no more doubt the person didn’t intentionally break the law, which makes going straight to towing as a fair, reasonable option. After all, if you park overtime, you can claim you misjudged how long it would take to get back to your car. If you park in a bike lane that’s identified beyond any doubt, your only excuse is…nothing.
This bike lane is clearly marked with bike lane symbols in three different spots. There are not upright signs because there is not enough room between the curb and the fence defining the edge of the sidewalk. There is no excuse here, the people who were ticketed are criminals plain and simple.
Three spots in several hundred yards, and if you weren’t one of the first people to park, those symbols could have all been hidden underneath other cars.
More importantly, though, if they are all criminals, they’re criminals with an alibi. If they go to court, and say bike lanes are identified by a stripe PLUS signs or symbols, and the City’s argument is “There was a symbol 110 yards back, underneath a car, another 140 yards ahead, under another car, and a third 237 yards ahead under a third car” that’s not a very compelling argument.
I’d like the City to eliminate the alibi. And if the City wants to use signage in addition to or instead of pavement markings, there IS room for that, given that there are several other traffic signs along that stretch, on or next to the sidewalk.
Every single one of those cars is parked with a wheel or mirror hanging over the white line. Even if this area was not marked as a bike lane, the parking would still be illegal.
Ok. Terms matter.
Criminals are people who violate very specific sections of the code. A parking violation is not a criminal act. These people might be criminals for other stuff they’ve done — but not for this.
And this isn’t an “Alibi” either. An Alibi is when you have proof you were somewhere else — so therefore did not commit the crime the state thinks you did.
Sorry to be persnickety.
What we’re really talking about here is fundamental fairness. In our system of government, we take it for granted that laws need to be public (so we can know what they are) and fairly enforced. It would be unfair for the state to give bicyclists tickets because somebody thought it was just ‘not allowed’ to do that in the road.
Same for these car parkers. How can they tell it is a dedicated bike lane and don’t park there? Just the white stripe? A couple of bike emblems? There should really be some kind of “no parking here” notice of some sort. Otherwise, this is unfair and unjust. Not good.
I want to cheer about scofflaw parkers getting busted for ruining the bike lane as much as anyone else. But sometimes I’m a driver and a parker too. I’d also like to be able to tell if I’m parking in a bike lane because I don’t want to be the unwitting scofflaw myself.
There’s enough car drivers who hate everything bike without making more by enforcing rules nobody really knows and which can’t can be figured out from context.
The city has lots of options to make it clear in advance. I just don’t think it did an adequate job here.
Somebody at PBOT or the city attorney’s office should talk to this enforcement officer and cancel the tickets — and then fix this spot — so parking people could tell and hopefully the city would not need to issue tickets (because hopefully nobody would park there).
Edward–I used “criminal” because I was responding to someone who called them that. And I see you’re right about “alibi”–should have been “excuse”. Otherwise, we seem to agree about everything.
I’ve had a gun shown to me by a certain predatory tow company in portland after i simply asked where to go to deal with getting the car back. I was not hostile in any way. Upon retrieving the vehicle, they had broken off my side mirror and would not pay for it. The company is not Captain’s or Corporal’s towing, but something like that…
Are you more or less likely to park illegally now?
Sounds like a win to me.
One major thing that people seem to be missing while defending these drivers and blaming the city for a lack of signage: can you point to a single vehicle here that is actually parked IN THE LINES? Since when is it okay to park with your wheels hanging over into the travel lane? These drivers all knew exactly what they were doing, and they deserved to get nailed.
I guess you can view the comments about lack of visible signage as “defending these drivers and blaming the city” if you want to.
But what’s better for bikes? If you put in better signs, it removes all confusion, and all excuses. That means no more people parking in bike lanes out of confusion. And for those who do park there anyway, it removes the likelihood they’ll get away with it, and it also removes the likelihood they’ll THINK they’ll get away with it, which is what leads them to park there in the first place.
Or, is it better to squabble forever, arguing that someone who claims they didn’t see any signs should be ticketed for having their mirror crossing the white line, arguing they should have seen the pavement symbol 150 yards back or underneath a car, arguing that they should know a white stripe means a bike lane, even though the driver’s manual says otherwise, etc.?
And there are plenty of cars that are narrow enough to fit entirely within many bike lanes, anyway. The car in the second photo looks like it fits, and do we want them getting away with it because they push their mirror in when they leave?
Thanks to whoever reported the parking infractions to Parking Enforcement.
And thanks to Parking Enforcement for doing the ticketing.
Folks, don’t be shy about calling in complaints. Even if we had enthusiastic politicians, strong advocacy groups, and a supportive police department, we, as citizens, would still need to call in things like this to get problems taken care of.
Send those emails, make those calls.
Ted Buehler
They should tow the cars then crush them and send the driver the bill. Then draw and quarter the driver.
I am just so glad I don’t live in Portland Oregon.
Yes, Portland Oregon is terrible. Good job living someplace better.
(Recycling tweet I sent yesterday.) “@BikePortland I was taken aback when walked to fair and saw all the cars. Can’t @TriMet offer park-and-ride service?”
Yes, the scofflaws should’ve been ticketed. But I think the important questions really are … (1) see @TriMet above, and (2) why did so many people decide to drive to the fair and park?
Brilliant!
Why is it that whenever cyclists fail to do something it is a failure of infrastructure but if a driver fails to do something it is the individual’s fault?
This strikes me as an overly-generalized rhetorical question, but I’ll bite:
Because infrastructure for cars is GLORIOUS. Massive one-way roads & highways where every possible interference is removed from your path (for instance, I saw a vehicle this weekend that was driven off of I-5 and had been crashed through a barrier on the side of the road – do you suppose they were swerving around thorns/rocks/broken glass/sewage grates/pavement cracks like I have to do on my way to work, or was it the fault of the driver?). Fast and direct routes with traffic lights that prioritize your movement over VRUs, sensors that detect your vehicle every time, and an abundance of signage to help you navigate.
We should be so lucky.
Don’t forget free parking in 99% of the country.