We reported last week that TPD would be out about along the streetcar route giving tickets to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians caught breaking the law.
A line in that article raised a lot of questions. I wrote that cyclist could not pass a streetcar if it was stopped at a streetcar letting passengers get on and off.
I confirmed this morning with a TPD officer that doing so will result in a ticket.
There are signs at each of the streetcar stops that say ‘Do not pass’.
Apparently it also goes for bikes as well. The officer said people will be getting on and off the streetcar and may cross the road when they get off.
A bike whipping around on the right as people are loading and unloading could create a hazard and cause a crash.
The officer confirmed passing on the right was fine if the streetcar is moving.
So, is that passing if traveling in either direction when a streetcar is stopped, as with school buses?
So how much does one of these tickets cost? I know, first hand, that riding at night without a bike light will get you a fine of… get this… $217.00
This town is crazy man. Crazy.
Do you know if they are actual tickets or if these are warnings? Seems like a great opportunity for education as opposed to fines seeing as there are no real passengers at this point.
@tjordache That is surprisingly high, especially when you consider that failing to stop at a stop sign is only $187.
This streetcar business gets worse & worse.
I’d like to see the actual law cited that says a bicycle cannot pass a street car when it is stopped (is that stopped at a station? at a red light? stopped anywhere?). Even if the law actually exists, and explicitly pertains to bicyclists and not just motor vehicles, what if the cyclists is in a bike lane? Lots of questions that need to be answered.
KyleVanRenterghem tell me about it. The officer who gave me the ticket gave me an ancient bond card (the thingy that tells you what infractions cost) and it said $87. So I paid the $87 and the city court send me a letter stating that the fine was $217 and they tacked on a penalty of $20 for not paying the right amount the first time. So I go to the city court to try to figure out what happened and, funny enough, the newest bond cards don’t even have the infraction listed (28-817a for those that care). So I don’t know where this $217 came from. The best I could find was a 2011 bond card online that has riding a bicycle without a bike light at a $170 fine. So they must keep jacking it up and up and up.
I hope she contests the ticket. It seems like a good defense would be that there are no people getting off the street car right now.
Looks like a virgin, somewhat puzzled TPD boy with a pricey TPD toy. (there is no media coverage of the cost of his toy/contraption, so gaga-frenzied about the modern street car is the Old Pueblo’s juvenile mainstream media, as if ice cream was invented just last week!) Keep in mind that this is the same police department that took 4 hours to respond to a fist fight at a midtown library, that ignored drug deals and other nonsense at the library just up the street from its headquarters (to the point that the library had to remove bike racks), the police department that slams a young female to the ground because of an adverse UA basketball game. The very same police department whose female lieutenants circulate nude photos of themselves.
What is the matter with Rothschild? What is the matter with the increasingly militarized Roberto Villasenor?
And when will we see TPD’s ridiculous HUMVEE patrolling the modern streetcar’s tracks?
Soon?
Augsburg Why aren’t the people getting off the street car required to use the crosswalks located at the stops? This is not like kids getting off a school bus. Failure to obey the regulatory sign is all they have otherwise. You can always hop off the bike and walk around it on the sidewalk, then back on and off you go.
This streetcar business is becoming more and more a pain the royal ass! And the only way that the city will make back any of the friggin’ millions (of our money) that they spent is to give tickets?!!!
Good grief. I’m glad you posted it because never in my life would it even have occurred to me that this could be illegal. The streetcar is a school bus now? How do they make this stuff up? Isn’t this the reason why they created the sharrow-quasi-bike lane and cleared parking to the right of the streetcar stops?
Pissed Off Tucsonan amen cousin
The sign does not make sense to cyclists… Do this signs permit streetcar passengers to walk in front of stopped streetcars at the streetcar stops?
Streetcar passengers should wait in the little station that exist for them, while the road clears. Are they little school kids, getting off a yellow bus with a flashing stop sign?
Did the officer tell you what statute they are citing or what the fine will be?
It’s clear that many Tucsonans are unfamiliar with mass transit. It’s badly needed and a great many bicyclists here have a sense of entitlement. The rail can’t swerve, and it’s heavier than you. Just be safe and don’t be a snob.