MyBikeLane

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.

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

I should have also photographed the postal truck I saw in the bike lane on Eighth Avenue outside McDonald's this morning, but I didn't have time.

Gridlock alert—one of at least one dozen vehicles I saw in the bike lane on Lafayette Street today. One was enough to fill my quota for the day, shown here near the Excellent Dumpling House.

I'd like to ask why so many postal trucks are parking in our bike lanes, especially when they could park in No Standing zones, bus stops or at fire hydrants without endangering the lives of others.

Speaking of post office, Borough President Scott Stringer has a great new bike lane plan for West 33rd Street around the future Moynihan Station / former Main Post Office: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/am-bike1206,0,6147704.story

There were actually eight vehicles parked in this stretch of bike lane, but I gave up after photographing four of them.

You can leave your "lights on for safety" but you're still parked. You can leave your motor on and waste gallons of taxpayer-paid fuel, but you're still parked. Face it, you are lazy. Here comes a biker up Lafayette Street, and he will have to swerve into traffic to get around you and the UPS truck.

Leave the back doors of your van open, and pretend you are unloading. No matter; you are still parked, and it's still a $115 violation.

I watched you dart in and out of the store, and then leave the vehicle parked in the bike lane. You're wasting gas, and you fool no one by keeping the lights on and motor running. So you couldn't park at the curb because you're too damn lazy?

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.

Lots of curbside parking on Lafayette, but DHL just rolls into the bike lane for loading and unloading.

Three different FedEx trucks seen in this stretch of bike lane today on Lafayette.

Hanging out behind the doctor in the bike lane.

Is that why you parked in the bike lane and left your motor running? Or was it to go shopping in SoHo without paying for parking?

Favorite spot to block the bike lane on Lafayette.

Is the bike lane 50% full or 50% empty?

You see these trucks everywhere, driven by novices and parked like the rentals that they are. Interesting thing about this one is the back license plate has been scratched up so much—deliberately, perhaps—so that it's tough to decipher the original letters and numbers.

In the bike lane.

Changing clothes in the bike lane, motor running, taking his own sweet time.

That's exactly where this guy went—to the food vendor. Curbside parking available, but ignored.

Limo driver angrily jumps out:
he: "Why are you taking my picture?"
me: "This is the bike lane."
he: "You should take his picture!" (points to FedEx)
me: "I just took his picture."
he: "Take his picture."
me: "Talk to the cops."
Perhaps this chap should instead deal with his pending hearing for a No Standing violation on 09/28/07.

A very friendly chat this morning:
me: "Brother, half the block is empty. Can I please ask you to park at the curb?"
he: "What about this guy?" (points to limo parked behind him)
me: "I'll take his picture. Have a nice day."
Since this is the eighth time we've posted his truck here, I thought it would be nice to keep it friendly and cordial. Clickthrough for close-up of license plate.

Since this guy has a firefighters' union placard in his front window—which are never legal for parking purposes—chances are he felt it would be no problem to park in the bike lane. Curb space was about 5 feet away, as you can see in the picture. Can anyone teach this guy to grow up and parallel park? This is his third photographed violation in the bike lane.

Sea Crest just can't seem to find that curb in the dark or during the day. Guess they studied at the UPS school of parking. Just two days ago I snapped Sea Crest's photo up the street: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/2977

Note once again just how much curb space was available to UPS; neither of the guys on truck 107968 care about SAFETY. This is the eighth time you've been photographed for this website. UPS pays lip service to SAFETY by tacking banners on the rear of their trucks rather than counseling their unionized drivers on what constitutes acceptable parking. So today I am printing out all the photographs of this driver's violations and mailing it to Laurie Mallis of public relations division at UPS HQ in Atlanta (tel. 404-828-7183) as well as three newspaper editors in Manhattan. This will make a wonderful newspaper story, full of data and photographs depicting how the majority of top bike lane violators in New York City are UPS employees.

Ever wanted to go on a nice weekend bike ride — let's say just one mile — and find a dozen vehicles parked in the bike lane? I got sick of taking photos at #7, and renamed these posts after the Seven Deadly Sins. #1 - lust - lust for a free but illegal place to dump your van.

"Hey, I'm just unloading!" Umm, for how many hours? #2 - sloth.

Note this hulking monster's front license plate is mounted upside-down. #4 - greed or gluttony? Tough call.

Enough room at the curb for three UPS trucks. This UPS driver instead parks in the bike lane to highlight his total disregard of that big orange SAFETY banner. This truck has a minimum of 14 violations since summer, over $1400 in fines, and FIVE WERE IN THE BIKE LANE. Clickthrough for the photo of this truck's tickets. Amazing this guy and his manager still don't get it...there are now SEVEN DIFFERENT PHOTO-DOCUMENTED COMPLAINTS depicting his poor driving record posted to this website.

Half this block had available curb space for the postal truck, but he consciously chose to block the bike lane. I watched him talking to a letter carrier on Prince Street, and then snapped a photo of him returning to the truck. He had a bluetooth device in his right ear (not shown in photo); it's against postal regulations for these guys to talk on the phone while driving. Perhaps one violation leads to another?

On a six-mile bike lane commute this morning, this was the only vehicle blocking the bike lane. Dial 450 broke the magic.

It would not be Monday without a UPS driver too lazy to park at the curb—which would have required an additional two seconds of effort.

Oil reached $96/barrel today, your troops are still in Iraq, yet you just can't burn enough oil keeping your motor running while blocking zero carbon emission bikers trying to get home safely. I see Escalades blocking the bike lane nearly every day. What is it about these Escalade owners that makes them so horribly brazen and disrepectful? Clickthrough for the photo of this Escalade's tickets: Over $750 of violations (No Standing, Double Parking, Fire Hydrant, No Parking-Street Cleaning, Expired Meter, etc.) since summer. This guy clearly has an attitude problem.

Engine idling and chugging out exhaust while this work could have been done elsewhere and with the motor off to save your company gas. Also your right front amber safety light is broken, that's also a violation in New York City.

We last met just two days ago up the block: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/2836

I guess the other side of the street does not exist for you, nor does the curb, which again today was available, as is clearly visible in this photo.

Based on the number and nature of your violations, it seems that you have a bad attitude. Wonder what your company would think about that if a complaint were made.

Act like you are busy rummaging through your trunk by leaving it open and hanging around the sidewalk. This is still called parking, parking in the bike lane.

I noticed FedEx parked smack in the middle of the bike lane at Lafayette just north of Houston. No vehicles were on this block at the time, so his action was deliberate and conscious. As I got closer to his truck, he returned and drove all the way up the block and again parked 50% of his truck in the bike lane—again deliberate and conscious action. Photo time: Clickthrough and examine these three photos—it would have taken less than two seconds to park at the curb in such an instance. Perhaps this slovenly behavior explains why this truck had a minimum of two TRAFFIC LANE violations in October?

Same story, different day. Over $1000 of tickets (clickthrough for pic #2). Driver didn't bat an eyelash when I took a closeup of the license plate. He doesn't care. If he cared, he'd park at the curb (note available curbside parking.) What if his supervisor was given a whole sheaf of printouts of these MyBikeLane.com entries? What if they were dropped off on Washington Street at the UPS hub? What if NYC didn't reduce the face value of tickets for chronic violators such as this guy? What if NYC required the drivers to undergo new certification based on number of annual violations? What if his company took complaints seriously? We would live in a better world.

Maryland plates on a truck doing construction in NYC, parked in bike lane on Lafayette. The driver didn't understand why I was asking him to park at the curb, which he certainly could have done as there was plenty of space there.

Sitting around on Lafayette, unwilling to park at curb.