PPA Has Issued Over 260 Tickets for Cars Parked in Bike Lanes Since January

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The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia posted an update today on its joint #unblockbikelanes Twitter campaign with the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Between January and March, the campaign, which launched in December, generated 55 complaints, and PPA reports that it doled out 264 tickets to cars illegally parked in bike lanes; the bulk of the tickets were issued on Spruce and Pine streets.

The Bicycle Coalition ginned up a handy little map to show where the complaints and tickets occurred. Here are the most interesting figures:

• Nine complaints on Spruce Street between Broad and 25th resulted in 147 tickets.

• Eleven complaints on Pine Street between Third and 20th resulted in 76 tickets.

• Eight complaints on 13th Street between Filbert and Arch resulted in 11 tickets.

• Three complaints on South Street east of Grays Ferry resulted in one ticket.

• One complaint on the 3700 block of Market Street resulted in nine tickets.

BCGP also plotted where complaints occurred but no tickets were issued; there were a few in South Philly and West Philly, and several in Fairmount. The group says it has followed up with PPA to discuss next steps, one of which is to have more enforcement on Fairmount Avenue. The PPA also says it will have more enforcement during rush hours on Spruce and Pine streets, and on 22nd Street, particularly at Lombard.

As for the perennial complaint of PPA’s “Do as I say, not as I do” attitude toward bike-lane parking, there’s this update:

In our meeting with the PPA, the topic of PPA vehicles blocking bike lanes was brought up. Our contact there said they have noticed those reports, and are instructing their officers to not do that. It is worth remembering that a PPA vehicle can stop in a bike lane to load or unload officers, same as a private vehicle or cab can load or unload passengers.

Read the full post here. (And for kicks, check out what our friends over on the Philly Mag News blog have to say about the ages-old battle between cars and cyclists.)

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