UC Berkeley crackdown has bicyclists fuming

UC Berkeley freshman Devin Shoop got a $220 ticket in September. His crime: locking his bicycle to a railing instead of a bike rack.

He got another ticket two weeks later: $220 for rolling his bike through a stop sign instead of fully stopping.

Jorel Allegro, a junior, earned his $220 ticket in October for coasting through the campus dismount zone instead of walking his bike as required.

California's law requiring the same traffic fines for cars and bikes isn't new. But at UC Berkeley, where campus police have vigorously enforced the laws at a time of unprecedented tuition hikes, students are furious.

They've started a Facebook page for critics of the fines, they've done bicycle civil disobedience, and they've written letters to campus police.

Citations are up only slightly this year over last, and the fine is just a touch higher, but students have reached the boiling point.

"I was very, very angry," Allegro said. "I could have avoided that by being a strictly law-abiding citizen, but who would have thought? I assumed it'd be like $30. Or $50 max. I support myself with scholarships and financial aid, so $220 is food for two weeks."

It's also the same penalty as a speeding ticket, or for hauling large quantities of radioactive materials without a permit. But it's more than the fine for holding a cell phone to your ear while driving. That's only $155.

"Our main interest is to ensure the safety of pedestrians. We're not involved in setting fines," said Lt. Alex Yao of the University of California police, who have nabbed 41 percent more bad bikers this semester than during the same period last year: 103, up from 73.

Campus police say they didn't know the fines were so high until students began complaining. Now they plan to look for a less expensive legal code to enforce their campus dismount zone, said Capt. Margo Bennett of the UC Police Department.

UC Berkeley doesn't see a penny of the proceeds from citations, Yao said. The money goes to city, county and state coffers.

That matters little to angry students, who have set up "BikeBusters," a Facebook page that calls the $220 tickets "outrageous and exploitative."

"We should try and get UC Berkeley to handle these issues on campus and not push the burden of responsibility on the student and the outside government agencies for riding your freaking bike!" a junior named Jamie Lubell posted on the page.

Students also staged a protest ride through the campus dismount zone earlier this month and hope their anger will inspire the university and the city of Berkeley to create new and better bike lanes in a city filled with dedicated cyclists.

"We wouldn't need to have these tickets if we had designated bike routes that connected," said Kevin Lunde, 35, a graduate student in biology who has to pay $220 for making a California stop at a campus stop sign. "This fee is way too high."

UC police have been citing students under the state's Vehicle Code, which generally doesn't distinguish between cars and bikes for moving violations.

Parking violations usually are local matters - annoying, but not devastating to the pocketbook. In the case of Shoop's parked bike, however, police slapped him with a violation of Section 21113 of the California Vehicle Code, which outlaws parking on public property without permission.

Asked why the state law was chosen over the municipal code, Capt. Bennett would say only that the officer believed it was "most appropriate for the circumstances."

Shoop, 18, was stunned when that $220 ticket landed at his parents' home in rural Red Bluff (Tehama County).

"I talked to people who got parking tickets in Berkeley, and the most was $60," Shoop said.