bmthom.gis

A great place to go though if you have some popcorn to eat

TenSpeedV2

Considered posting this in A&S and decided against it. Gets a little too hardcore in there sometimes and I was really hoping to have a thread that wouldn't be locked due to arguing and what not.

tarwheel 

This photo is a classic, for irony as well as futility, with a city bus blocking the bike lane and the share the lane poster on the back of it. I took the shot about two blocks from office.

KCBikeCommuter

Sometimes bike lanes in Kansas City lead to beer! Not always great beer... but beer none the less!!!

TenSpeedV2

2 for 1 this past Monday. Sign not seen on the other side of the trucks asks to please not park in the grass (heavy football tailgating area). Look closely to the right - FedEx truck who was using the building loading dock properly.

rhm

I hear you! I agree with you! I share your outrage!

But complaining about it here, where we all know the problem and have for the most part learned to deal with it, does not seem to me a constructive approach to dealing with the problem.

The very existence of bike lanes is a controversial subject, and one I try to avoid at all costs. Some car drivers like bike lanes, because it means they won't have to share the road with bikes. Some car drivers dislike bike lanes, because they reduce road size and bicyclists don't use them anyway. And so on. What's the use in complaining?

I am doing all I can, which is: I ride my bike every day. All those commuters in their cars, who drive the (more or less) same roads at (more or less) the same time every day, they all see me out there on my bike, (more or less) every day in the same place, rain or shine, light or dark. If they are paying attention, they know that bicycle commuters exist, even in my part of NJ. If they are paying attention, they realize that there are more bicycle commuters today than there were ten years ago (there are now four of us... up from two ten years ago ). I don't use bike lanes in NJ, because where I ride, there aren't any. That suits me fine.

Here in NYC, I use the bike lanes when I can, and they are getting increasingly crowded (especially since the CitiBike program started). If we see a lot less parking-in-the-bike-lane today than we did ten years ago (which is, I think, the case) it's because there are more bikes using them. It's all good.

We still see police cars parked in the bike lanes, often for long periods of time (like, a week after a snowfall, the police car in the bike lane still hasn't been shoveled out. I have a photo. Nice, eh?). Should we get indignant about this? I assume the police car is there to make a point: the local police station needs its own dedicated parking area. Fine. I'll let them make their silent protest, and I'll silently veer into the traffic lane in support.

Jazzba

...I agree ...if the task is too daunting for you... do nothing.

no motor?

I don't have a picture of it, but last year I had to stop while riding in the bike lane when my way was blocked by a portable sign and an overweight armed individual who seemed to hate my very existence. And since the uniform he was wearing indicated he was above the law I just waited until traffic was clear to go around him, especially after he told me to go now when oncoming traffic would have ran into me if I took his advice.

One of my friends is a mailman and he parks wherever he wants when he's driving a mailvan. He's never had any problems with people complaining about it either, he knows he can get away with it like he has for years.

Kedosto

I can only dream of a time when a vehicle blocking the bike lane is a problem that makes my list of concerns. Seriously, my life would have to be pretty damned neat and tidy where something so trivial comes to the fore. Maybe once I retire.


-Kedosto

TenSpeedV2

For those who think that I am just venting and doing nothing here, you are wrong. I have received two emails back from DHL so far, and am waiting to hear back from USPS and UPS.

noglider 

Yeah, there are egregious violations, but I'm with the people who usually don't let it get to them. And I cut deliveries some slack. They have jobs to do.

I agree also that the A&S section is acrimonious. I am a member of the Facebook group Supporters of Full Lane Use For Bicyclists, but I learn stuff there, and not everyone is angry and entitled.

I feel divided about bike lanes. They do cause about as many problems as they solve, but I'm not ready to advocate their elimination. Even though they not make one safer, they make inexperienced people think they do, and that invites more cyclists onto the streets, which increases cyclist population, which does make things safer.

FBinNY 

Long before bikes, cars and even the USA, some 2,000 years ago Matthew wrote something that might be apropos here.

The modern translation used by the Catholic Church is "..... forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Parking a package truck in a bike lane while making a delivery is a very minor trespass, and I have to wonder about those who can't take it in stride.

Leebo

Children? Lots of adults pedal all the time.

the sci guy 

Yeah because no one has ever thought of waiting until they get to their destination to post things on the internet.

Sullalto

In the last big city I was I lived in-delivery/commercial vehicles(but NOT taxis) were explicitly and legally allowed to park in bike lanes for X minutes at a time. There were also some roads that allowed street parking during some hours, which somewhat effected the cycling quality of those streets. Granted, not terribly much. Downtown streets with 20-30mph speed limits, frequent side streets and stop signs aren't exactly an intimidating cycling environment.

Yeah I would not be a cyclist without bike lanes. See also: MUPs.

Personally I love bike lanes on new roads, that are actually wide enough for them to be comfortable. A lot of makeshift ones I'm pretty indifferent to.

Sullalto

Posting while my tea seeps in the morning pre-ride is one thing. Interrupting a ride for an easily navigated and largely inconsequential interruption is quite another. Especially on roads like that which look eminently easy and safe to just take the lane.

Grass/sidewalk looks clear. Every time I see something like that I lament my inability to bunny hop.

TenSpeedV2

This thread isn't for everyone.

Sullalto

Honestly I think the problem here is expectation. I don't expect a perfect, uninterrupted ride in most parts of the city. Just accept that. I'm not the only one who lives here. Bike lanes will never be completely clear. Sometimes I inconvenience people by taking the land going 25 under the speed limit forcing them to go around me. Sometimes commercial vehicles park in the bike lane. Or a driver is courteous to the 15 cars that can pull past him as they wait in the bike lane to turn right. You know what? In terms of minimizing traffic, that's a good decision. I'm never going to begrudge somebody for minimizing traffic.

Leisesturm

Many streets in Portland have a lane in each direction and a lane in between both of them where for a short distance, a vehicle turning right or left into a driveway or loading dock can stay out of the flow of traffic. Big trucks use this lane to wait when the loading bays at their deliveries are full. They put their hazards on and plotz, completely blocking that lane if someone actually needs it to make a maneuver out of the traffic flow. They do that because they don't want to block the bike lanes on either side of the street. They do that because an 80,000 lb. semi isn't towable.

Other than FB I have seen only one or two other reasonable responses. Bike lanes for the most part are the closest lane to curbside on most roads. Imagine maritime laws that stated that boats must not ever dock. The only way to get from boat to shore is to swim! You are being exactly that degree of unreasonable if you imagine that bike lanes mean that vehicles can never cross them, block them, use them or be anywhere near them. Where the **** do you expect a DELIVERY vehicle to go when making a delivery to an address that is blocked by a bike lane? FedEx gives drivers SECONDS to get the package out of the truck to the door and back to the truck. Really, they should wait for the single loading bay to be cleared.... 10 to 15 or more minutes? They should park a block away and hump a 90lb. package all the way back to the delivery address?

Yes, some of you seem just about that entitled about it. There is nothing sacrosanct about a bike lane! Most streets don't even have them they are that useful. A bike lane is a nicety! It is for enhanced convenience and safety, convenience and safety should be adequate without one. You CAN for the second or two it takes, go around a vehicle blocking a bike lane without being killed. It isn't a death sentence. Get over it.

Lets NOT shame DELIVERY vehicles that block bike lanes. Let's give DELIVERY vehicles a pass, because they usually do not have much of a choice when or where to park. Most every ticketing and towoing authority in even the most draconian of jurisdictions gives DELIVERY vehicles a pass. I think cyclists can do the same.

mr,grumpy 

Well, I'm ALL in favor of bashing rude stupid people but were off to a bad start there. USPS has right of way over every one, all the time, no matter what. Not man people know that. Heck, the guy driving that van probably didn't know that. But, he's right where he is supposed to be because he is supposed to be wherever he is.

mr,grumpy 

In this photo we see nothing to indicate that the space to the right of the painted white line is a "bike lane' and not a "shoulder".

mr,grumpy 

Now THIS one is funny!

TenSpeedV2

Please state your source. In the second picture, while it does not show that it is a bike lane in that specific spot, it is a bike lane and is marked as such.

Jazzba

...and here I thought it was the ice cream truck

Bikeforumuser0019

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.