She moved, I don't know her any longer, but would love to find out if that was true.

Got it, Clarence. And Adam--watch that "bollard porn" video again. Watch how the SUV almost bounces right onto a stroller, as others have pointed out. Yes, driver's fault, but irrelevant. Mechanical arms, not mechanical bollards, are just one of a million safer alternatives.

So, as far as I can tell, the city's DoF is selling permits to park (or drive?) in the bike lane for about $29 each.

That's if everyone gets ticketed. It seems more like the city has reduced the maximum fine "if caught" to $29.00 for frequent violators of bike lanes. Let's say you are only caught once in ten violations. The cost per violation is now $2.90. That's similar to a meter.

Hence all the UPS and Fedex trucks in the bike lane...

Under that program, commercial vehicles are permitted to double-park with complete impunity--no matter how many tickets they receive for double parking, they don't pay a dime, because such violation are classified as "amenable" under the program. (See Testimony of DoF Commissioner Stark http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dof/html/pdf/05pdf/stark_delivery.pdf).

Parking (and I believe also, driving) in a bike lane is classified as a "partially amenable" violation. That means that an enrollee in the Stipulated Fine Program pays only 25% of the standard fine when they are ticketed in a bike lane. This is what I was told yesterday by Marilyn Miller, administrator of the program for the DoF, who can be reached at (212) 487-2485. The standard fine is $115, so commercial enrollees in the program pay under $29.00 for parking the bike lane.

Because most police officers know about the stipulated fine program, they tend not to ticket commercial vehicles no matter where they are double parked, expecting that no fine will be imposed and no revenue will result. While some officers may be aware that double-parking in a bike lane is only "partially amenable," and therefore a basis for a $29 fine, I would imagine that many of them ignore bike-lane double parking in pursuit of more fruitful targets for their law enforcement efforts (admittedly a rational response), or don't give a damn about bicyclists and actually give affirmative permission to commercial parkers to park in bike lanes (see: http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/140).

So, as far as I can tell, the city's DoF is selling permits to park (or drive?) in the bike lane for about $29 each. This is what DoF Commissioner calls a "win-win" solution to the problem of double parking. It is no wonder that, as Bruce Schaller reports, "Delivery-company owners and managers were highly aware of the city’s commercial parking program, and they thought that it worked well." The program may not be working so well, however, for the city's bicyclists and bicycling advocates, who have fought hard and won a significant commitment from the city to expand the network of bike lanes only to find that they are being treated de facto by the police force and commercial parkers as designated parking lanes for commercial vehicles. There has got to be accountability from DoF and NYPD on this issue to ensure that parking and driving in bicycle lanes, *especially* Class 1 bicycle lanes, is treated as a "non-amenable offense" for which commercial violators are required to pay the full fine.

Though I can't imagine it would make much difference at the Tillary street location as most of the violators are city employees who would likely be able to lower the automated bollards for "official" business.

Of course if that doesn't work, then, yeah, on to car-maiming devices.

More than a few times while riding on the Hudson path, a cab came driving at me and I thought "Someday a cyclist will die here." But, I was in a hurry and just cursed and moved on. Well, someone will be killed at that location unless a bollard is installed.

Hey just to put this out there: Brooke and I were out there filming for another topic when we just happened to see these vehicles and off the cuff we addressed the truck driving in the separated lane. I left the comments in the short snippet we posted to ground it, but I wouldn't say the comments are a official recomendation or not for retractables here or other spots - its just one of the many options available in situations here or anywhere in the world.

For all that though, still nicer than biking on Tillary!

Drivers will always do stupid stuff like those in the video, so might as well not create a condition where a #%@& driver might get his big car bounced into the air and possibly onto a nearby stroller. Driver's fault or not, we don't want crushed strollers. No retractable bollards here, please. There are other ways.