Cyclist here. Where are people supposed to park? Seems pretty obvious to me: legal parking spots.
Having talked to dozens of people parked in the bike lane over the years, it's obvious to me that the vast majority park in the bike lane out of convenience, not necessity. I usually recommend legal spots to park that are nearby, but many drivers are unwilling to walk even an extra 50 feet. People have acted as if my request to park somewhere else was completely unreasonable. (Edited.)
So while sometimes I get this argument, it does not work most of the time. Drivers block the bike lane mostly for convenience, not by necessity.
(My experience comes from living in Austin, Baltimore, and the DC metro area. I suspect NYC is different, but probably not that much different from Baltimore.)
The nearest open and legal street parking space in a city center would likely take 10+ minutes to find and 30+ minutes to walk back from. While it’s true that all wheeled transportation is a matter of convenience (we did, after all, get around exclusively on foot for millennia) this is a dishonest framing: you are still proposing to effectively wipe out delivery and pickup/drop off services.
I’m much more interested in reallocating street parking to loading zones.
The framing is not dishonest. Your experience seems limited to downtowns. In central Austin, the vast majority of the time someone parks in the bike lane, they could have instead parked very close (minute or less walk) legally. I think that is much more typical.
I recall from talking to delivery drivers that many would park in the bike lane even if it saved only a few seconds. It's mostly about convenience to them. They usually have a choice, and they choose to block the bike lane.
And if I was unclear, I'll elaborate: I often talk to drivers who park in the bike lane. I am in the habit of highlighting the most convenient alternative parking spot, but in my experience a large fraction of drivers think that a spot even 50 feet away is too far. To be fair, many if not most drivers will move if you ask. But I should not have to ask.
(I can recall few times the bike lane was blocked during my time in Baltimore. Baltimore may be a bad example in that case. I do think drivers have less choices downtown, but again, most people don't live or commute downtown.)
Problem here, East Bay - SF Bay Area is that parking spots are too cheap/free in most areas (except downtown Berkeley) and taken up all the time by cars that rarely move. The solution isn't current legal parking spots, if you want to run in to grab your takeout you don't want to spend 10-20minutes searching for a spot and 10-15 minutes walking from it. At the moment, sadly, the only reasonable, though you are correct, its not 100% necessary, option is to use the bike lane. We need to make parking expensive so its actually available and limited to short term, with enforcement. Sadly, without extreme fines and enforcement I don't see people changing their behavior, it seems easier to adapt the parking costs to enable good behavior.
I just read a parking meter in SF in a busy area only makes $7000/yr (one example), this seems crazy. Parking was way more expensive in Toronto where I grew up.
note: I cycle to work everyday and dodge cars parked in the Piedmont Ave and 40th St. bike lanes in Oakland constantly. Its very annoying but I also drive places and I understand the issues on both sides.
Thanks for your comment. I think I am learning some important things about cycling to keep in mind when I move in the future.
It appears that local conditions influence how legitimate parking in the bike lane can be viewed. In my opinion there is no shortage of parking in Austin, but that doesn't stop people from parking in bike lanes. It just makes their excuses worse than those of drivers in NYC and the SF Bay Area, for example.
Having talked to dozens of people parked in the bike lane over the years, it's obvious to me that the vast majority park in the bike lane out of convenience, not necessity. I usually recommend legal spots to park that are nearby, but many drivers are unwilling to walk even an extra 50 feet. People have acted as if my request to park somewhere else was completely unreasonable. (Edited.)
So while sometimes I get this argument, it does not work most of the time. Drivers block the bike lane mostly for convenience, not by necessity.
(My experience comes from living in Austin, Baltimore, and the DC metro area. I suspect NYC is different, but probably not that much different from Baltimore.)