Image from Fairfax County.

The Fairfax Connector stop moved to accommodate one homeowner is making things worse for riders and rewarding the homeowner’s illegal parking, Paul Mounier of Fairfax County DOT confirmed.

Many commenters asked some good questions about the story on Tuesday. One top question was whether the homeowner’s son was indeed parking legally or illegally. Mr. Mounier confirmed for me that, in fact, he was not parking legally.

Mr. Mounier said that the law currently prohibits parking within 30 feet of a bus stop, and in the area between the driveway and the bus stop, that leaves only 7 feet for a car, not enough for a regular actual car.

Furthermore, Fairfax law also prohibits parking within 10 feet of a driveway, including your own. Therefore, there were zero legal feet in which to park, but even if the 10’ rule didn’t exist, there wasn’t enough room to park any car longer than 7’.

FCDOT felt they had to move the stop because buses hit the car twice. (From Carmelita San Jose’s account, the first time was more of a near miss, but in any case, there were two incidents.) Unfortunately, the police could ticket the car, but weren’t going to come by every day to check, meaning that the homeowner was likely still going to be parked there. And even if a car is parked illegally, the police told FCDOT, that doesn’t cause the bus to hit the vehicle, meaning FCDOT is still responsible for collisions.

The bus hit the vehicle when trying to pull close to the curb to accommodate the blind passenger. In effect, even though the law reserves enough space for the bus, if someone’s illegally blocking the space, there’s very little FCDOT can do unless the police are willing to more strongly enforce the rules.

Mr. Mounier also consulted with the homeowner’s association. Only 16 people provided comments, 10 in favor of moving the stop and 6 opposed. That doesn’t sound like a consensus either way, and when there’s disagreement, doing what’s better for more bus riders should trump what’s good for one homeowner.

Moving the stop, by the way, does hurt riders. Mr. Mounier confirmed what Ms. San Jose also told me, that most of the bus riders come from Pinecrest Road to the northwest, and now have to walk farther to this bus stop. About 10 riders use this particular bus stop daily, which is part of Fairfax Connector Route 553 that goes to West Falls Church Metro.

The residents who supported moving the stop, other than the homeowner, cited a perceived unsafe situation at the intersection, where children often cross. However, Mr. Mounier said that they interviewed a crossing guard there, who hadn’t observed any issues. As with roundabouts, people often think an intersection with multiple modes interacting is “unsafe,” but in many cases it’s actually the reverse.

And one of the largest potential drivers of a safety problem, real or perceived, is the illegally parked car; by forcing the bus to stop farther from the curb, cars have to divert to the opposite lane of traffic to go around the bus, whereas the bus should be able to pull out of the travel lane entirely.

Mr. Mounier confirmed that no law prohibits the son from parking in front of someone else’s house. Residents in such neighborhoods tend to get territorial about the frontage in front of their houses, even though legally it’s all public space. That leads people to feel they have the right to park there, as in the case of this homeowner, or the right to prevent others from parking there.

After speaking with Mr. Mounier, it made sense why they moved the stop given their constraints: a homeowner parking illegally whom they couldn’t effectively stop; a legal liability rule that still faults the bus for any collisions even with the illegally parked car; and residents who think it’s unsafe whether or not it is. Unfortunately, when one homeowner is determined to get in the way of the buses, the riders lose out.

The homeowner had tried to get the stop moved before, but FCDOT said no; only after two incidents did they feel they had to act. It’s too bad that a homeowner who wants to displace a bus stop can simply do so by parking illegally long enough to generate collisions or even create an unsafe situation where none existed. When DC tickets illegal parkers reporters may talk about how it’s “picking your pocket,” but that kind of enforcement just ensures the rights of riders don’t get trampled.