A bike lane street sweeper travels on Milwaukee Avenue. [Chicago Department of Transportation]

Bike safety advocates are calling on the city to release public schedules for its fleet of street sweepers used to clear protected bike lanes that keep riders safe. 

The street sweeping vehicles are meant to clear snow and debris from Chicago’s nearly 40 miles of curb protected bike lanes, which gives bikers more protection from motorists. The Chicago Department of Transportation plans to build additional protected bike lanes this summer. 

The city recently increased the number of dedicated bike lane sweepers from three to nine, but the department responsible for the vehicles does not currently keep a regular sweeping schedule throughout the city. 

Advocates and alderpersons say the city should publish a schedule for the bike lane sweeping the same way it publishes a schedule for regular street sweeping,