I'm curious ... how do wise cyclists actually approach this issue?

Suppose you're commuting home, through a city. You have to cross water ( a shipping channel ), and there are only a few bridges. All of them have severe traffic issues during rush hour. You approach using the surface streets, and traffic backs up for all bridges. So, you're at a busy red light, and there are so many cars between you and the light, that it will take several light cycles before you get through. What do you do?

I'm of two minds about my options, but I face this question almost every day.

(1) I don't like the idea of dismounting, walking my bike to the opposite side of the intersection via the crosswalk, and then continuing my ride. It just seems absurd, nevermind that autos never do this.

(2) I really don't like filtering to the front of the line. It just feels unsafe, and I don't enjoy it. I do worry about "sending the wrong signal" to the cars, but wonder if I should? It's much safer for a bike to pass a car within a single lane when the car isn't moving, than for a car to do this at 30 mph when the bike is going 15 mph. But I bet that distinction is lost on the people watching the bikes go to the front of the line. Also, for what it's worth, I've been taking the whole lane more often, and filtering would seem to "confuse" the issue, as if I'm supposed to "pick" a single modality, and stick with it.

(3) It's ridiculous to wait for several light cycles. Traffic congestion is an auto-centric problem, and I have the capacity to avoid it. Nevermind the fumes I'm breathing from the idling cars; not being stuck in traffic is the #1 reason I stopped commuting in a car and started doing it by bike. One of the main advantages of bike travel is that the amount of time a trip will take is consistent, allowing you to make plans. This isn't true of cars exactly because of traffic, and it feels perverse and wrong to impose the same limit on bikes.

I haven't found my ideal solution, and I'm still exploring. But I've already learned a lot on this forum, and I'm hoping some of the answers people share might clue me in on something I'm missing, or give me some insight that would be helpful here. And if not, the worst that can happen is I'll have some other opinions to mull over...

I know you asked for what wise cyclists would do, but I'll provide my opinion anyway... I'd filter to the left of the outside lane up until the point where I will be sure I'd make the next green when the light turns then get back in line.

Of course seeing the specifics and with experience in traffic patterns I might do different.

the motorists expect to be able to share your lane with you when they can go faster than you, they should expect the same from you when you are able to go faster than them, just do it!

If there are more than a couple of cars ahead of me I don't wait in line with the motorists, and I don't breath any more of their exhaust than I have to.

OP you're right on track, I believe, with your thinking. sometimes I filter and sometimes I don't. It depends on the stretch of roadway; the intersection and the city.

sometimes waiting in lione is frustrating - but that doesn't mean it's the wring thing to do.

I agree that walking the bike on a pedestrian crosswalk is not the best choice. there must be an exception to this, but rare

Where I live I'm allowed to do this as long as I do it on the left(this australia, so essentially riding in the gutter).
I never do it on the left and have had no issues all though a lot of motorists seem to think I'm not allowed to filter to the front. I also meet tons of commuters who don't seem to be aware that they are allowed to do this.
I don't do it on the left as there are many sewer grates that are wider than my tires right there between the left most lane and the curb. Essentially the NSW government is telling us to ride right into a deathtrap! (Meanwhile helmets are mandatory.) But yeah I pretty much always filter up to the front unless theres only one car in front of me. When I'm working I always filter to the front so I can run the red, but I suppose that's probably frowned upon here anyway.(Yes there is a difference in how ride when I'm working compared to when I'm just trying to get somewhere, the difference isn't huge, but I'm a bit more polite when I'm just a commuter.)

If traffic is in gridlock you might as well filter to the front. Seems a bit silly to just sit there sucking exhaust. Also, if you're gonna filter to the front do be careful, it's easy to knock into cars, scratch paint, break mirrors, and this only pisses motorists off.

until you actually get close to the intersection, there is really not much risk to filtering on the right (or the left, down under)

Well, I would say there are some risks, while you are less likely to get hit by a jaywalker who thinks all traffic is at a standstill, you are more likely to get doored by people exiting a vehicle(you'd be surprised how often this happens in traffic jams, and it's always the passenger side.) and you also do have an increased risk of riding into one of those drains I was talking about. They're effing everywhere in Sydney. There's even one spot where they have such a drain smack dab in the middle of a lane.
I've been considering taking photos of as many of these drains as I can and sending them in to the council and explaining that each of these drains represents a liability of easily a million dollars if someone got the right lawyer. There's hundreds of these drains in this city, so no, it's not safe to pass on the left here.

Depends on how wide the lanes are, how backed-up traffic is and how desperate the motorists get when it turns green. I'm trying to think of why I filter at some lights and not others but I'm drawing a blank. I guess trust your gut?

This is real bicycling advocacy.

Also, to commuters on mountain bikes. Unless you've cut your bars down to a reasonable width stop filtering to the front.
Everyday I see some commuter who seems to have never filtered to the front try this and get stuck, often in an awkward spot between a bus and a lorry and I just feel bad for them. It's also annoying when I'm behind them and trying to get passed them while working(It doesn't really bother me but it is mildly annoying when I'm trying to knock off a red hot) It's just not safe to be filtering up to the front if you're that likely to get stuck half way there. Then you gotta slowly move backwards and try to fit yourself in somewhere safely and then traffic starts moving and etc... So I would certainly suggest trying to have a good awareness of the width of your bars. I don't run the hipster/courier style mountain bike bars cut down to nothing, I run regular road drops and they're narrow enough to get through almost all gaps in traffic, it's pretty rare that I can keep filtering up. But most mountain bike bars are fairly wide and will impede filtering. Just be aware of this and don't get caught in a tricky situation.

Also, if you're not filtering forwards right next to the sidewalk many pedestrians will not notice you and if traffic is at a standstill many will try to cross in between the cars. If you're filtering up quickly keep an eye out for these. If theres a bus between you and the sidewalk, which obviously impedes your view of said jaywalkers, be extra careful. I nearly clocked a kid head on when I was filtering up moving quickly the other day. Even though the law is technically on my side in this case(sort of, Im supposed to move up on the left rather than on the right or in between cars) I doubt running over a 14 year old will endear me to the authorities. Kid wasn't looking at all and had headphones on so he could hear me yell. I came to a screeching halt inches from him and he didn't notice anything at all. As a kid I was reckless, never flat out stupid like that though.

Well I've yet to get around to doing it though. heh.
But seriously, you tell me to ride on the left, you tell me to filter forward along the curb and then you put freaking holes in the ground there?!? That is one massive liability. I'm aware of the locations of most of these sewer grates, and lets say 40 percent or so(complete guestimate) of these grates have been fixed to where they aren't dangerous to cyclists. But there's still hundreds of them all over sydney and surrounding suburbs that have not been fixed. At least once a week I'm delivering somewhere I haven't been before and encounter one by surprise. I'm just agile enough to at the last moment kind of whip my bike around to take them at an angle or kind of bunnyhop them. If it were wet though that would probably result in a really hard bail. Something tells me that the average commuter on a hybrid does not have the agility or bunnyhopping skills of a 24 year old courier. (although a lot of the commuters here are very strong and assertive riders, you'd have to be with the ridiculous motorists in Sydney. I've heard people says it's not only worse than new york but much worse)
And who really cares if we can all bunnyhop sewer grates and quickly whip our bikes around to avoid danger, we really shouldn't have to. Roads should at least be constructed safely.

As long as there's room, no ridiculously large truck in front of me (and no dangerous sewer grates), I will filter (a large truck is probably a deal-breaker). Filtering is the easy part. The trick is having a plan for what to do when you get to the front. The ideal thing is having room to share a lane as you go through the intersection (or expecting to be able to merge into traffic). Sharing absolutely requires that whoever you're sharing with knows you're there, so they won't right-hook you. This generally means you have to get in front of them before the light changes. And make sure they see you! I'm definately not going to pass anybody as we're going through the intersection. If there's a constriction on the far side of the intersection, making lane-sharing impossible at that point, I generally have some choice names to call the designer who put it there but, if I'm properly positioned in front of a break in traffic, even such a stupid design is not necessarily a deal-breaker. I don't ever recall walking a bicycle across an intersection when I didn't have a mechanical problem or a flat tire. In some instances I may ride across an intersection in a crosswalk (oh, the horror of it!).

But that's just me.

Whatever you do, the two most important things that will keep you out of trouble are situational awareness and bike-handling skills. Experience is nice, too.

Addendum: despite the fact that the dangers of 'bicyclist-killer' sewer grates have been known for decades, they do still exist. I've even seen new ones being installed (although, after complaints, they were turned the other way, so the openings were perpendicular to the direction of travel and not parallel to it). Potholes also exist. Be careful out there.

Yeah the ones here are rectangular so you can't just flip them around! but they've started welding in cross-bars, so I guess that's a solution.
I always filter to the front and if traffic starts moving I'll basically move up to where my front wheel is right next to the rear wheel of the first car I get to that is also moving. Then if that car speeds up I get in behind them, or if they don't get moving I keep lane-splitting all the way up to the front if I can. I wouldn't recommend this for all commuters but I gotta get my deliveries in on time. If I can get all the way up to the front before the light changes I'll just get in front of all the cars and I'm usually off right as the light turns green and well ahead of traffic.

Also another safety concern I just thought about. Sometimes traffic is gridlocked for a couple of blocks, even though the lights are all green. When you're filtering up, as you get to the intersection, even though you have the green light, be careful. You may have the green light but pedestrians don't think of cyclists and WILL Jay-walk across the intersection. Theres a street here that backs up for 4 blocks all the time and peds are always blindly running across the intersection. Look out for them. Hell sometimes its not even one ped, it can be 20 at a time! So do be careful.

I'm continually amazed at the businessmen in the CBD who are there everyday and must be aware of the amount of cyclists and couriers who routinely jaywalk without looking. That some day-trippers aren't expecting a cyclist to come flying around the corner is one thing, but the amount of jaywalking businessmen who should know better astounds me. I ran into one the other day(He just decided to cross the road, the wave of cars had passed, and he didn't notice lil old me and I shoulder checked him pretty hard, "I guess you're not quite intelligent enough to be wearing such a nice suit eh?"
Seriously, how are people this stupid paid more than I am? But yeah, tourists and day trippers can't really be blamed but the businessmen who are in the CBD everyday should damn well know better.

I filter forward until I can't fit through anymore, or until I find a car at the front who's signalling a turn in my direction. Then I cut behind them so I'm on the other side. By the time the next car is moving again (assuming they weren't also turning) I'm already across the intersection and back to the side of traffic.

I'm totally unconvinced that if people are annoyed by filtering, they wouldn't be annoyed by a bicycle right in front of them the whole time they're stuck in the queue, or that I ought to care. If you do care about annoying drivers, might as well spread a quarter-second of (negligible) annoyance amongst the whole line of traffic, rather than x-stoplight cycles' worth all concentrated on one driver. Just because you're smug doesn't mean that your'e in the wrong.

I will generally filter to the front when traffic stopped for a red light, but I do it at a slow enough speed that most of the problems mentioned (avoiding grates, opening doors, etc.) are not an issue. Obstacles are easy to avoid when only going a little over walking speed and I see no need to rush up to a red light any faster than that.

I would also agree that it isn't really necessary to rush up to a red light. When I'm working though the idea is to get as far as possible, as quickly as possible and that also means running the red light or being as far ahead as possible when the light eventually turns green. So I guess that is what makes those dangers more of a concern for me.

In Korea, the law allows the cyclists to pass stopped cars. The cyclist has a responsibility to avoid collision with passengers getting in or out of the stopped cars, however, so in this case it is best to pass the cars slowly.

I would suggest that you check your local applicable traffic laws. If that doesn't clear things up, contact your local bicycle commuting organization (I'm sure there is at least one) and ask them what the rules are.

You can't rely on any universal answers, as it really depends on the laws in your area.

to robertv: you're overanalyzing the situation

I always do.

word of caution - stay way from trucks. if they don't see you and make a turn ... you're road kill

If the cars are stopped, what's the risk of filtering?

The problem with stopped cars is that they just won't *stay* stopped.

When they go, you go. The cars behind you should have seen you. You should be fine, but even if you get squeezed out and have to stop, which you need to consider before you filter, you still should have gained substantial ground vs. not filtering. After all, the cars were stopped.

I'm an anti-filter-forward crank so would take door #1.

what bridge are you taking in the seattle area that DOESN'T have ample space to share road space so the act of cautious 'filtering' even comes into play at rush hour???

filtering to me implies having to weave thru stopped traffic, like bicycling under the Aurora bridge on Mercer during rush hours.

of course you should filter if it is safe. cars share lanes with you all the time, you can share lanes with them. just be aware and ride with care.