The Austin City Council amended the city’s parking codes during a Feb. 13 meeting to prohibit cars from parking in bike lanes.
The city made the changes after bicyclists expressed safety concerns during the meeting over cars parked in bike lanes. Previously, city regulations allowed vehicles to park in bike lanes unless there was a sign stating not to do so, according to the resolution. However, under the new rule, cars cannot park in areas designated as bike lanes, regardless of signage. Violators will be charged an early fine of $50, but if drivers do not respond to the citation within a certain amount of time, the ticket will increase to a $75 late bind.
“We haven’t made updates to our parking codes in over 15 years,” said Joseph Al-hajeri, Austin Transportation and Public Works parking enterprise division manager. “This really takes the next step in ensuring … the way we handle parking in curbs for the future really (creates) the behavior change that we want to see in our mobility system.”
Al-hajeri said the city will launch a three-month educational campaign from March to May before it starts giving out citations to violators, he said.
“(We need to) inform the public … to ensure safety for all people that are using our roadways, which is a priority for our department,” Al-hajeri said. “That’s the real goal here.”
To ensure the new rule is enforced, Al-hajeri said the city will analyze 311 data, which is citizen-filed reports of non-emergency city violations in public areas, according to the city of Austin website. Once data is collected, he said the city will deploy mobility service officers, who enforce city and state parking regulations, to monitor areas of high conflict.
UT alumnus Steven Guerin currently bikes around UT campus to commute to work and visit the Recreational Sports Center. He said he often encounters vehicles such as commercial trucks and buses parked in bike lanes, making him worry for his safety when biking.
“Oftentimes, when you’re biking in Austin, you’re having to dodge vehicles and move out of the bike lane,” Guerin said. “Sometimes it can feel a little bit dangerous and it may dissuade some people from biking.”
Although Guerin swerved around cars at times, aerospace engineering sophomore Thomas Walker adopted a different practice to avoid vehicles parked in bike lanes around campus.
“I get off (my bike) because if I do swerve around (cars), it’s unsafe,” Walker said. “You can see (the car) in advance, so I get off my bike, and everything is fine. It is annoying though.”
Guerin said he is glad the city is improving the biking experience for residents with the new rule.
“The city has done a really good job over the past several years of adding a lot more bike infrastructure and changing laws like this,” Guerin said. “I hope to see more improvements like this in the future.”
