APD issued 47 tickets to bicyclists heading to UT this morning as part of a "special assignment bike initiative," according to APD officer Will Harvey. 

Harvey said APD did not purposely schedule the initiative to happen on Bike to UT Day, an annual event organized by Parking and Transportation Services to encourage biking to campus.

"I pre-determined all of the dates back in January," Harvey said. "We had no way of knowing. It just happened to fall that way." 

APD officers wrote one of the tickets for going the wrong way on a one-way street and issued the rest for running stop signs, according to Harvey.

"We get a large number of complaints on a regular basis," Harvey said. "If you're out in West Campus or North Campus, it's just getting more and more populated and congested. When that happens, complaints go up, and we felt we needed to get out and do something." 

Harvey said the initiative began in February and focuses not only on enforcing bike safety, but also on pedestrian and driving violations near campus. 

"Thus far for this operation, from February till now, we have written a total of 175 warnings, and 128 tickets to bicyclists," Harvey said.