Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect. In the future, if you see this type of activity, we encourage you to call the Cambridge Police non-emergency number at 617-349-3300 and an available, nearby officer will be dispatched to the location.

So you are aware of some of the challenges in that area, enforcement means a cruiser needs to be parked in the bus lane, which can make a difficult situation worse. We enforce in that location when we don't have to create more of a traffic backup. During the warmer weather, when we operate our motorcycles, it is much easier to enforce in that location due to the flexibility associated with the CPD motorcycle parking.

We’re not going to do much up there until it’s motorcycle weather.

Thank you for your informative reply. I’m very sorry to hear that you consider safety a seasonal issue. Perhaps you could send officers on foot or bicycle. As a recurring issue you could easily ticket multiple vehicles within a short period on most days during the morning commute. In any case, given the obvious safety risks to a six-month gap in any enforcement, I will be forwarding this important info to relevant city council, managers and bicycle advocates so we can work towards an adequate solution.

The local motion bus that is there is part of a regular service that runs between MIT and Wellesley, so it should have a better plan than to be double parked. Could somebody from Cambridge Police reach out to them to let them know it is illegal to double park in the bike lanes? Here is the information:

Local Motion Dispatch at (781) 535-6371 or 6372.

Hi Sarah - thank you for your continued engagement and ongoing concern. Your feedback on this issue and CPD's previous response has been shared directly with the Traffic Unit and police leadership.

To clarify, enforcement is a year-round - not a seasonal - responsibility of the police department. While we don't necessarily have a fixed enforcement presence in one particular location, we do check bicycle lanes daily through our Traffic Enforcement and Patrol Operations in this and other areas (particularly those with the highest historical crash rates and highest level of complaints) throughout the city to ensure obstructions are mitigated. Those checks are conducted via regular patrol, proactive response, and in response to calls for service (most typically through the 617-349-3300 number shared in the above response).

As it pertains to this particular submission (and other similar submissions), our Traffic Unit is following up with Local Motion Dispatch to alert them of this ongoing concern and notify them of the fact that we will issue citations to drivers under Mass. General Law Chapter 89 Section 4D, a relatively new statute that prohibits parking or standing in marked bicycle lanes. For commercial vehicles, we believe this will have a greater impact on changing behavior then a parking ticket.

In terms of the department's use of motorcycles for enforcement, while they do provide the police department's Traffic Officers more flexibility to be present during peak volume times and reduce our footprint so we're not contributing to traffic issues, they are not our only source of enforcement and the original response did not properly articulate our coverage and prioritization of the community's concerns with issues like the obstruction you indicated. We are mindful of the balance that is needed to ensure that we are not worsening traffic issues in the area, yet are actively enforcing vehicles that are double-parked or stopped in a bus or bicycle lane who may initially contribute to the congestion and/or safety concerns.

If you would be interested in having a more formal conversation, please don't hesitate to contact our Traffic Unit Supervisor Lt. Riley at 617-349-3321. Otherwise, we strongly encourage you and other commuters to call the Cambridge Police non-emergency number at 617-349-3300 when and if you continue to observe these issues. An available, nearby officer be dispatched to the location.

Closing due to no additional follow-ups from requestors. If there are ongoing issues with Local Motion in the future, they can be directly contacted at 781-535-6352.