ChrisM2097

There's about a 1-mile stretch of road on my commute where the bike lane is impossible to use on certain days of the week, because the residents have turned it into a trash/recycle/yard waste lane. How have others handled situations like this?

Currently, I simply take the lane (one lane each direction, double-yellow divide).

I don't want to leave notes on each of the 100+ residences. I don't think contacting the multiple trash-pickup companies (garbage, recycle, yard waste) will help much. I don't think kicking over the trash cans as I ride by will prove to be very effective, either.

10 Wheels

Take the lane....

GP

Are they 96 gallon toters? Those are at the perfect height to break fingers if you brush them. There's a nearby city that people put those out on on Fridays when I ride through. Luckily there's not much car traffic so they're easily avoidable. I've seen this issue raised in another commuter forum. I think that style of bin and truck is getting more common.

99Klein 

I hate "bike lanes" and take alternate routes to avoid them.

GP

You might try calling the city and asking for the solid waste manager. He/she can at least contact the haulers. They might be able to put something in a newsletter or a include a notice with your utility bill.

howsteepisit

In Eugene thats where we are supposed to place them. And frankly thats the only place to put them so the refuse trucks can get to them. Ride in the lane where needed on the weekly trash pick up day. Bike lanes are not exclusive use lanes, for good reaon other things may encroach on bike lanes.

agent pombero

Excellent 'range practice' for box kicking! Kicking over the cans will be very effective for muscular development! Alternate weekly between kicking over all the cans with left and right feet!

ChrisM2097

Well, that was helpful. Thanks.

ChrisM2097

As I'm doing slaloms around them, right?

ChrisM2097

About 1/2 of my 10-mile commute has no bike lanes, and I have no problem taking the lane. However, when there is a bike lane - especially on a busy street during rush hour, in the largest city in northern CA, I prefer to use the bike lane than to deal with road rage.

ChrisM2097

I don't believe so. I'm pretty sure they are the much smaller 20 or 32 gallon cans, like the one on the left in this image:

ChrisM2097

Now you've got me curious. The street in question is 17th St in San Jose, between Mabury & Julian. I live in a suburb of SJ, and commute into downtown. I'm not sure what the rules are for trash can placement in SJ, but in Milpitas (at least in my neighborhood), they are to be placed as close to the curb as possible, but not in the travel lane, nor within 3' of a parked vehicle. So at the end of the driveway (thus blocking the driveway) is the only option for us.

I-Like-To-Bike

You already have found an effective answer by taking the lane. So what is the BIG problem?

ChrisM2097

Never said that it was a BIG problem. Are we allowed to discuss little problems here, too?

tergal

Not sure on the local form of government there, we have our local council . For a while here we had a pick up driver that would drop the empty bins to hard and they would fall over on the road and block paths/bike ways. One even rolled down the street and was never seen again .

One call to the council to point out how interesting it would be for a car, kid on bike etc etc to hit one of these and it didn't happen again .

Not exactly the same, but it all starts with one phone call .

Worknomore

Does it snow where you are at in ca? Snow plows do an excellent job of removing trash cans and placing them back in the homeowners yard. (don't ask how I know this).

curbtender

Ha, garbageman here. Automated pickup needs to be curbside. As a fellow commuter I know how it works. If the cans are not being put back against the curb then you can call the city and tell them the area of the problem. Best way to handle it. If it's just that your area uses the curb/bike lane for this, then your just going to have to share the lane on those days.

turbo1889

I have a similar issue on a few streets I ride although only one of them has an official bike lane, the rest it is the shoulder edge. In such cases I normally "take the lane" and when I have a few cars backed up behind me wanting to pass and there is an open area of some length between trash cans I will signal a right turn and slip over into the bike-lane/shoulder-edge and make a lasso circular motion with my up-stretched left arm to signal the backed up cars to make their move and pass me and as soon as they have I signal a left lane change and I'm back out in the main lane and "taking the lane" until once again I have a line of cars backed up behind me AND there is an open stretch in the bike lane between trash cans sufficient enough to allow me to slip over into it for long enough to allow them to pass. If there aren't any large breaks between trash cans to allow me to still continue at my pace while they pass I don't get over and I hold the lane.

That is my $0.02 and how I handle the situation - YMMV.

david58

The scary part for me is when it is dark - no reflectors on the cans, our city uses dark green for the trash. Particularly when there is oncoming traffic, they can pop up out of the dark all of a sudden.

The road I ride is too busy and too fast to take the lane the full length of the ride, so I have to slalom a bit. Clearly must be careful in doing that.

If the cans were placed/replaced next to the curb, it would be better since the bike lane is nice and wide. Better yet, 95% of the driveways are wide enough that the cans could be placed in the drive and never get in the bike lane. 5% of the 95% realize that.

dougmc

You do have a decent headlight (a few hundred lumens will do it), do you not? If so, these things should not be "popping out of the dark" without giving you plenty of time to avoid them, no matter how dark they are unless you're going 30+ mph.

I-Like-To-Bike

Sure. It is not always safe to assume that a poster of a "problem" can tell the difference.

B. Carfree

Incorrect on all counts. Oregon law prohibits placing objects in the bike lane and the city most definitely does NOT instruct people to do this. (However, until very recently the city did instruct people to illegally block the bike lanes with their yard waste, but not any longer.) I had this issue in Eugene along Bailey Hill Rd. While it did take a few weeks and several calls to the appropriate city staff, the issue was resolved and the folks who were blocking the bike lanes with their rubbish stopped doing it.

Actually, the garbage trucks in Eugene don't even have a right to pull into the bike lanes to access the cans. Only vehicles making a turn onto/out of a road or into a driveway, picking up or dropping off a passenger or containing a municipal employee who must place his vehicle there in the performance of his duty may be in the bike lane. Our garbage is collected by private companies, so they are not allowed to pull into the bike lanes.

curbtender

Cans don't pop up, the guys digging through them do.

curbtender

So you are saying it's safer to drive between a garbagetruck and the curb while he's servicing the area?

david58

Friend, I do in fact have a good headlight; however, on a nice rainy morning, with oncoming auto traffic, and very poorly placed street lamps, the trash cans do in effect "pop out" of seeming nowhere. Possibly my old 50+ eyes, but mostly the issue of auto headlights and the resultant difficulties in seeing these wonderfully disguised road hazards.