riddei

I'm losing my indoor parking...

Two of us have been biking it (one fair weather, me year round). Someone else was asking me questions, and I was really jazzed and encouraged her. That was until I was cc'd on this E-mail from our HR manager to the facilities director:
I actually don't mind, but it is kind of ironic...

notfred

In a few years maybe we'll all be yelling at each other, honking at each other, and flipping each other the bird, just like we do today in cars.

It does bring up an interesting question though, would bicycle commuting still be fun if everyone did it, and there were always dozens of people in front of you going 9-12mph?

Industrial

Interesting question notfred. I see so few cyclists on my commute daily I'd gladly welcome a few more but if I'm not sure how I'd deal with dozens of people in front of me going 9-12 mph. I suppose I would be further to the left with a battery powered bell that keeps ringing in a continual state of "passing" at 18mph while some real roadie fumes behind me wanting to go 22mph.

timmhaan

you can come to NYC on a fair weather day and see what this reality looks like. it's still pretty good. but, the mix of slow\fast riders does indeed cause tension. i notice little stuff like if there are a line of riders waiting for a light, people coming up from behind just kinda push their way to the front (kinda rude), and faster riders will buzz slower ones, etc.

sometimes i don't feel like hammering in the morning, and it's annoying to have a dude hovering on my wheel eager to pass when he has the chance. then you have the whole other issue of wrong way cyclists, poor handling skills, unpredictable riding, etc.

BroadSTPhilly

If there were dozens of people going 9 or 12 mph in front of me I would pass them. Still I could imagine it becoming hellish. The good thing is that right now commuting by bike is a small enough phenomenom that the powers that be pretty much ignore it. However if there were alot more people I can imagine mandatory bike routes popping up and things of that nature. That's whats concerning.

mcsteve20

When I originally thought of bike commuters, I thought of the stereotypical NYC bike messenger. I kind of thought of Puck from the Real World. But I quickly realized the average bike commuter is as normal as you and me.

BroadSTPhilly

Fixed

Mr. Underbridge

Perhaps you've missed any of the 72 active threads devoted to wrong-way cyclists.

commuter33

I'm a noob when it comes to commuting. It's been a month now for me. I probably fall in the group that rides 9-12 mph. I'm not sure b/c I have yet to get a computer for my bike, but that's coming soon

Anyhow, the number of people who commute to work on bike has exploded at my workplace. One rider actually had an expose in the local paper about riding. Now there is an email list going around that people can sign up for to meet and ride to lunch every thursday.

I haven't yet signed up to ride along because I know some of these people and they are hardcore roadies. I'm not to that level yet but maybe some day soon. I think it would be awesome if everyone commuted by bike. I like riding with people.

riddei

Yes, this is a good problem to have!

CMY

Not sure.. if we are assuming that there are the same amount of cars on the road, then no.

But if our existing infrastructure opened up to accommodate it.. then yeah, it would be a lot of fun.

bipedfred

I've seen parts of the world where EVERYONE rides bikes, everywhere, all the time. Most of them would rather be riding in cars. But regardless, I'd like to see more people bike commuting in my town so there would be some incentive to improve facilities, but not so many that bike parking gets crowded (or more crowded, it's already bad).

I haven't noticed any increase in biking commuters, but I bet by time gas hits $7-8 dollars that will change.

newbeat

If there were enough commuters to crowd the trails, then the obvious solution would be to take the highways back. Or build more trails. Whichever one...

brooklyncyclist

Don't forget the pedestrians that walk/run in the bike lanes and paths instead of on the sidewalks and ped paths. That annoys me way more than all the cycli-'tudes.

BTW, last time I counted I met or passed (or was passed by) an average of 100+ cyclists during my hour-long commute.

BroadSTPhilly

Who said anything about trails?

donnamb 

The only thing that has kept Portland from becoming too much like this is the polite reserve that is part of this region's culture. I think it's only a matter of time before even that erodes. We've now got too many cyclists out there for the facilities we have.

donnamb 

Industrial

To be fair, there is nothing worse to run on than concrete sidewalks. Horrible for you in the long run.

Mazaev

Ahh, definitely. It was great while the weather was cold, but I can't believe how many are out this year commuting by bike. There is now a fully constant stream going into the city over the bridges in the morning. I commute home into Brooklyn over the Brooklyn bridge around 8:25am and these days it's quite a common occurrence that I get either almost taken out or pushed into the pedestrian lane by the people going the other way, passing or riding two abreast (in a very narrow space), progressively more so with the increase of people riding.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if we're all getting stuck in bike traffic soon. Don't get me wrong, I certainly appreciate the increased awareness and facilities that ridership brings, but am already starting to miss the quiet uneventful commutes of winter.

Then again, that's just rush hour and the beauty of all this is that one can easily avoid it by taking other streets that do not provide bike lanes and such. I've also enjoyed having various random conversations with other cyclists as I find myself sharing the road with more and more of them. I think NYC has a very nice balance at the moment regarding ridership. It'll be interesting to see what happens when it really does hit critical mass and police enforcement is ramped up, as is rumored to start this summer.

EDIT: Case in point :-(

aley

I always wonder about the folks who run in the concrete gutter along the bike lane instead of the sidewalk, though. Is concrete at street level softer than concrete 4" higher?

I can at least understand those who run on the edge of the asphalt - tarmac has a lot more give to it than concrete. Still, I wish they'd run against traffic (bikes go with traffic, pedestrians go against traffic - at least that's what they were teaching where I went to school in the '70s and '80s) and lose the headphones.

At least around here, we've got a long way to go before even the narrow trails we have get overcrowded with cyclists.

ok_commuter

I had a bike commute from Carroll Gardens across the Brooklyn Bridge to lower Manhattan for a while in 2002 and I remember getting stuck in bike traffic more than once, foot traffic lots. I agree - it was b/c it was Spring/Summer... still my all time favorite bike commute, but that part of it kinda sucked.

stockholm

In the summer half of the year, we do have bicycle traffic jams here in downtown Stockholm... On many occasions I've been stuck at red lights, forced to wait for the next switch, simply because there were too many other cyclists before me. And with bike lanes being narrow, and traffic being somewhat hard, you don't just pass the slower ones easily.

Good practice for patience and humility. And then fall comes, and it's just us the crazy ones left alone once again, right up til next April or May...

Mazaev

I've always been a bit troubled by the narrowness of bike lanes. This will be an even bigger problem with segregated lanes, which are being heavily promoted by our local cycling advocacy groups. I always find myself avoiding the bike lane on the Brooklyn Bridge Blvd service road, for example, because the brick border separating the lane sort of locks you in there with potholes, parked cabs, and other cyclists. At least now, on most roads with regular bike lanes, you can move into a car lane to pass.

In the end, the one thing I hope may come out of this is a debate over whether bike lanes are meant to protect the cyclist, or just to get them the hell out of the way of everyone* else.

*drivers.

gbcb

It gets annoying sometimes, but it's still better than any alternative. Fortunately, only part of my commute is like that (though I did get pulled over by a cop, who told me to slow down and ride in the bike lanes )

lukewall

Bike lanes are completely useless in nyc. No one respects bike lanes here. Cars and trucks are always double parked in them and NYPD doesn't enforce any laws against parking/stopping in bike lanes. Ironically, bike lanes are probably one of the most dangerous places to be on a bike as it puts you directly in get doored zone. I feel safer in the middle of traffic than on a bike lane.