Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

Legalities are all well and good, but generally I've been told a few things:

1.  Delivery vehicles where drivers are delivering packages will not be ticketed under any circumstances.

2.  Vehicles will not be ticked for being in a bike lane unless there are *also* no parking signs.

I'm also curious, are you saying that vehicles parked in vehicle lanes not marked with "no parking" can be ticketed?  That is contrary to what I understood which is no "No Parking" implies parking.

1. Yes and No.  Officer's have discretion.  If a vehicle is in a NPA (No Parking Anytime), and its obvious it is a delivery, it would not be tagged.  If I come back 5 min later and its still in the NPA, it will get a ticket.  If a delivery vehicle is in an NSA (No Stopping Anytime), it will be tagged.  This is the cost of doing business, and the major players (UPS, Purolator) just pay them.  Canada Post is the only one that is blatantly ignored.

2. Vehicles in a bike lane will be ticketed (in Kitchener, at least when I worked there) with or without NPA signs.  

Park within 3m of a fire hydrant, 9m of an intersection or crosswalk, 15m of a railway crossing or bridge, more than 30 cm from the curb, 3 hr limit, facing wrong direction are all times a vehicle can be ticked in a vehicle lane without signage.  Obstructing the flow of traffic will get a ticket regardless of signage.

Coke

Thanks for 1 and 2.  For 2, this I was told when I inquired after repeatedly calling in vehicles blocking Glasgow bike lanes, the person on the phone said they wouldn't ticket because it could be "fought"...so eventually I complained to whatever department puts up proper signage, to fix it.

1.  This is still frustrating, areas with many deliveries see bike lanes blocked continually, further, I have at least one friend who routinely calls in delivery vehicles blocking bike lanes and bus stops simultaneously.   Any suggestions on what can be done to stop this practice?  Certainly some places have lack of parking for deliveries, but not all places.

As for "Obstructing flow of traffic"....what defines that?  Most parking obstructs flow to some degree, many residential streets are not wide enough for cars to pass each other and parked cars, I assume they aren't ticketed.

Thanks!