Once again, our complaints finally got somewhere: Witness the Rite-Aid tractor trailer seen Friday afternoon correctly parked in the parking bay instead of in the bike lane on lower Ninth Avenue. While I expect this will be the exception rather than the rule--it's tough for a tractor trailer this size to find so many open parking spaces at once--at least let's be happy about this minor victory. Umm yes I did notice some of the cargo there in the bike lane.

Q: What's one of the biggest obstacles to the success of congestion pricing?
A: Semi-tractor trailers blocking our bike lanes.
The multimillionaire CEO of Gristedes, John Catsimatidis, allows his trucks -- marked with White Rose and Gristedes logos -- to park in our bike lanes EVERY SINGLE DAY. Today I'm celebrating six months of posting to this website with yet another image of one of John Catsimatidis' trucks blocking the Eighth Avenue bike lane this morning. This driver kept his motor idling as he sat in his truck while it was being unloaded. Cough cough -- how many kids in NYC get asthma because of idling trucks? Cough cough -- how many oil-company executives testified about their high prices before Congress today? Cough cough -- aren't truckers on strike in some parts of this country because of high oil prices? Tell John Catsimatidis to tell his drivers to turn off their damn engines and stop blocking our bike lanes!
Maybe you've heard the news: John Catsimatidis wants to run for mayor. He would be the polar opposite of Mayor Bloomberg on sensible transportation alternatives. By not shopping in his stores, you'll send him a strong message, both on bike lanes and on his lack of leadership skills. Read more about this meatball in this week's New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2008/04/07/080407ta_talk_mcgrath

My how much gas you are guzzling in my bike lane, TLC! Good thing our mayor will force you to go hybrid soon and abandon your nasty polluting unpatriotic monster vehicle.

Thank you for abandoning your car in my bike lane with your headlights on.

Just after the rain started pouring down, I saw this city employee zoomed through the Prince Street bike lane to the red light at Broadway, thus blocking a European woman of a certain age behind him from proceeding. I told her he had a DOT placard in his front window, and she should curse him out for his piggish driving habits. And curse him out she did, as you can see from the photo! Although Prince Street is narrow, the bike lane is well-marked; certainly a DOT employee ought to be worthy of the city vehicle he drives at taxpayer expense and not pull nonsense like this. He couldn't wait for two additional seconds behind the FedEx truck?

Waiting for the super-rich to finish buying their overpriced antiques and rugs, livery drivers constantly clog the bike lane in front of ABC.

The man who would be mayor has an ongoing problem with his delivery trucks parking in our bike lanes: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/tag/gristedes

One ticket for one greedy Honda SUV owner parked right in front of a No Standing Anytime sign in the bike lane green zone on lower Ninth Avenue.

Near the BP gas station, a monster truck burning up the gas and hanging out in the bike lane. For what?

Hugeass SUVs have the automatic right to park and hang out in the bike lane on Lafayette, given the huge amount of money they already waste on supersize vehicles that guzzle gas. At least that's been my observation over the past year. The NYPD could really post a full-time traffic enforcement agent just to handle Lafayette, and doubtless the revenue collected would be stunning.

It's the end of the week, and UPS can't even be bothered to park at the curb, despite how easy it would have been.

Except it's illegal here to park on the sidewalk as well as to block the bike lane with your BMW.

Eighth Avenue in the morning rush hour.

Three selfish pigs—the usual truck driver parked in the bike lane, plus a private garbage hauler and a limo—all of whom want to chill out in the No Standing Anytime green zone of the lower Ninth Avenue bike lane. What a pathetic situation—honking and yelling over who has the right to a spot that no one has a right to occupy. Just after taking these photos, a NYPD traffic van came by. I spoke to one of the four occupants, whose sole response was, "Thank you for telling me this" as they sped away without issuing violations. Thus the three little pigs continued to hog two out of three lanes and block rush hour traffic. Note the garbage hauler waving his arms while standing directly under the No Standing Anytime sign!

Just after I shot the photo Tuesday morning, another biker whizzed by, hoping not to get hit by a car due to this truck's evil illegal parking job on Bleecker. Call 800-827-SAFE, refer to vehicle 948CS and this website if you'd like to comment. You might also ask why he couldn't just park legally across the street and walk 20 feet without jeopardizing the safety and lives of bicyclists by parking in a No Standing Anytime bike lane.

Being able to read street signs in order to get a motor vehicle license isn't mandatory in New Jersey?

Sporting diplomatic plates in the bike lane just north of the Blue Man Group theater.

One of numerous trucks illegally parked in the bike lanegreen zone on lower Ninth Avenue, it's pathetic that one of NYC's most expensive steakhouses uses the same industrial-grade ingredients as diners and greasy spoons. And even sadder that bikers are forced out of their lane by this SYSCO truck whose driver is too lazy to park 30 feet up the street outside the bike lane.

On Eighth Avenue this morning.

Too lazy to park 20 feet further up the street in a normal spot that wouldn't endanger the lives of bicycle commuters. Too selfish to even park at the curb.

Same scene, one month later -- has any cop or traffic agent written them a violation in the past 30 days at this location? These guys don't bother to park 30 feet up the street in a safe zone because they never get any tickets.
http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/3538
http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/3766

It's amazing how easy it is to find these cars in the bike lane right at the Bike Lane signs. The drivers sit in their cars, motors idling, talking on their cell phones, watching the bikers try to dart around them without getting killed. Same story every day on this stretch of Broadway. Of course if you were to bother to confront a driver, you'd just get an earful of "@%^* you" or "I was just about to move."

Hanging out in the bike lane in front of ABC. Same story every day.

Sanitation at the rear and two traffic agents in the front at 8:30 am, writing up one of the Eighth Avenue bike lane's chronic offenders. Note: lousiest parking job ever. Clickthrough for additional photos.

In the bike lane on Prince.

Maybe if we post a dozen more of this guy's violations he might actually get a ticket?

Since you're blocking the bike lane and the sidewalk, why not just take up the whole sidewalk while you're at it?

Is the Mayor reluctant to allow the NYPD to ticket all the violators in the No Standing Anytime / Bike Lane zone on his doorstep for fear they will write unflattering articles about him? Or is it because the NYPD itself parks so many vehicles in this bike lane on a permanent basis? Why indeed is there even a bike lane here?

The middle-aged female biker, shown here forced into traffic by the postal truck, had a look of nervousness on her face before she approached the truck blocking the bike lane. It was the look of, "It's rush hour, this bastard is blocking the bike lane, and am I gonna get killed?" Note the huge open space at curb.

A rather egregious violation on Bleecker Street -- the truck's delivery door is opened right up to the deli. Truck is parked on sidewalk and in bike lane. Oh, you might ask: Who the hell rides a bike or walks on the sidewalk at 7 am? Two bikes passed by and three people had to amble around the truck's door in the time it took to take two photos. Clickthrough for #2. Oh, there's the whole other side of the street available for parking. But that means walking 25 feet to make your delivery.

Park right in front of the No Standing Anytime sign and right on top of the green-painted roadway so as to illustrate your point: NYC regulations don't apply to me. Same story, different week: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/3654

Park right in front of the No Standing Anytime sign and right on top of the green-painted roadway so as to illustrate your point: NYC regulations don't apply to me.

That's what bike lanes are for -- keeping your truck idling while you stand on the sidewalk (not pictured) yakking away and ensuring bikers are in danger of getting hit. It's funny how you park right in front of these two signs, so as to illustrate your New Jersey attitude.

Nothing new here except this truck parked in the No Standing Anytime green zone. It was a wonderful winter morning to be on the bike, dodging illegally-parked trucks.

Note the biker in the pre-dawn gloom forced out of the green zone and into traffic on lower Ninth Avenue by Driscoll Foods. Every morning it's the same situation in this No Standing Anytime zone: bikers must go into a traffic bottleneck because lazy truckers won't park 30 feet up the street. Clickthrough for additional pictures including Driscoll's phone #201-806-2800

It's pointless to talk to this driver, because he doesn't care. We all know he could park 30 feet up the street, but he's too lazy and thoughtless to do that. Anyhow, while taking these photos just shy of 7 a.m. this morning -- at a time like many bikers I wanted to go to work -- a kid stopped me and asked me why I was taking photos. Here are my reasons:
The City spent over $1 million to build a safe, buffered bike lane down Ninth Avenue, which after it ends features a nice thick green stripe of paint on the roadway to inform drivers NOT TO PARK OR STOP THERE. That's what I pointed out to the kid -- the signs that say NO STANDING ANYTIME. No Standing Anytime also means 7 a.m. on a freezing cold weekday, when even diehard bikers are trying to get to work on the nice, safe, buffered bike lane down Ninth Avenue. It's a time when a lazy, thoughtless driver of a produce truck could park 30 feet up the street in a legal space. Who's more freezing cold? The biker. Who's engaged in the illegal activity? The driver. Yet who's going to get crushed by a truck who doesn't obey traffic signage? The biker.

Ridge produce is located at 9728 3rd Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11209. Phone: 718-861-7555. Why not give them a call and a piece of your mind? Clickthrough for the picture of the driver-side door with the truck's identifying information.

In the new Bleecker Street bike lane, the laundry guys have a new place to park illegally and get their bosses higher fines. Rather than choosing available parking across the street in the No Parking zone, they opt for the No Standing Anytime zone—a much bigger fine, nearly double. Why do these guys hate their company so much? (We already know how much they hate bicyclists.) Because parking across the street would require they walk an extra 15 feet—with a handtruck that's about 10 seconds or less. Also they've nicely chewed through their rear license plate—a violation, because numbers are missing—so it would be tough to call 888-411-3231 and report their plate 63556 JD unless you went around to the front of the truck. You could also call their company at (718) 622-4710 to report this lousy parking; supervisors are always interested to know how their companies can reduce parking violation expenses.
from two weeks ago: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/3050
from nearly two months ago: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/2474
If you go to the Department of Finance website, their violations have a similar pattern—no muni-meter receipt (they didn't pay the quarter), fire hydrant, traffic lane, expired meter. Maybe these guys also need a roll of quarters each day to save their company $$$?

Either way, it's parked in the bike lane. 3/4 of this block had available curb space, as well as curb space directly adjacent to the truck, which chose to ignore it.

This Toyota took off as soon as its driver realized he was being photographed.

Blocking the bike lane on Eighth Avenue as usual.

Last time you peeps were parked in the bike lane it was 1/2 block to the south and a different truck. But the elephant did not forget: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/2832

Looks like just about the whole block was open. Sysco instead parked in the bike lane. Must be those NJ plates that cloud the brain; this guy got a ticket in the bike lane just ten days ago, on 11/16.

The taxi driver could not help himself. He had no passenger and just wanted to park for a while in the magical spot on Lafayette, the stretch of bike lane beloved by FedEx, DHL and UPS. He ignored me when he saw me approach on the bike, and continued to ignore me while I sat there glowering at him. But when the camera came out, the magic was over and he took off. (Note the same parked SUV at left in below photo.)

The thrill of parking in this exact stretch of bike lane does not diminish at night.

Did this Range Rover's owner go to Marc Jacobs or Magnolia Bakery? Gosh it must have been tough to overlook that No Standing Anytime sign and park in the bike lane. This chap has issues with No Standing zones, as he got a ticket on 11/16 for being in a taxi stand ($115). Last time this Rover was photographed in a bike lane he flipped the bird to lawandorder: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/1913

Gone shopping on Black Friday? Parked in the bike lane.

This Enterprise rent-a-van was still blocking the bike lane more than 2-1/2 hours after I first saw it. Note the biker forced into traffic, which fortunately was light.

Amazing what a difference No Standing Anytime signs don't make if you have NJ plates. These guys believe they have carte blanche for parking violations.

When you've got the Beemer and the NJ plates, both the No Standing Anytime signs and green zones painted with bike symbols seem invisible. Curiously enough, this BMW was ticketed in this exact space exactly one month ago on 10/23. Guess he's got money to burn.

A brand-new bike lane on Bleecker that began to emerge late yesterday! Just in time for Thanksgiving, Bleecker now has a demarcated bike lane stretching from Hudson to Christopher Streets. Signage plus continuation of bike lane along Bleecker will follow, so you can eventually safely cycle from Ninth Avenue at West 23rd Street all the way to the Bowery. To send an email of thanks to Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan just click here: http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildot.html