KitN

Peds in bike lanes really, really irk me. We are finally gettiing some bike lanes put on the roads and peds just treat it like extentions of the sidewalk. Yet we can treat sidewalks like extentions of the road.

I think the DOT needs to put up gates or police barracades on the sidewalk's edge to keep the peds from wandering over. I lived in Tokyo and they put up gates along the edge of the sidewalk. It works wonders!

BTW, WTF is up with joggers jogging in the bike lane AGAINST TRAFFIC when the sidewalk is completely empty?!? The bike lane is for BIKES not for joggers. Ugh.

Commando303

I don't know there will be, either. We might here some ads. for "Summer Streets," and, within the "bicycling community," there was a bit of talk around "Bike Month" (May, 2009), but commercials emphasizing that pedestrians ought not to wander in bike-lanes probably are not set to air any time soon.

Commando303

I don't mind joggers' using the street (it's understandable they wish to avoid pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk), and perhaps they feel the bike-lane is the safest place to do so. As for going against traffic, there's a mentality that doing so is safer for the jogger. As long as he or she is kind enough to get onto the concrete as a biker pedals down the asphalt, I feel it's fine for him or her to do his or her thing.

As for barricades, I, too, have considered the notion, but I dislike how difficult it would make it for bicyclists to pull onto the sidewalk should they wish to, or to get from the sidewalk onto the bike-path at "any given point." Perhaps it isn't a bad option, but I'm simply not too excited about it.

obstacle

The stretch of Broadway from Columbus Circle to Times Square is part of my nightly ride home. Now with the inane destruction of Broadway the city is currently doing it's yet more fun.

The style of bike lanes on Broadway are complete and utter fail. Why? Many reasons.

First, any bike lane segmented by sidewalk on one side and islands/traffic furniture on the other is a bad idea. Where are your outs? Pedestrians ultimately will wander into the bike lane and use it like the sidewalk (especially on that stretch of Broadway with all the tourists grazing like cows). If you put furniture and the like on the other side of the bike lane you are then asking said pedestrians to walk out into the bike lane. So with a bike lane split off from any "out" you have no choice but to ride at a snail's pace just incase. Add in all the moveable furniture the city has scattered on Broadway now, how much of it ends up IN the bike lane under some fat tourist's butt? More than you would think.

Secondly, since that part of Manhattan currently suffers under the disease of those pedicabs you have yet more to worry about in the bike lane. Those idiots in their pedicabs riding in the lane (blacking the entire thing) trying to pick up fares, or simply being the idiots they are. With no outs on either side, you have no choice but to suffer behind them at a snail's pace. Don't even get me started on the idiot delivery guys riding up the bike lane in the wrong direction.

Third(ly), the bike lanes are painted green. Solid paint. When that stuff gets wet it's like ice. Granted it isn't slick white paint, it has a little texture, but it is still very slippery.

There are a few other minor reasons why these are fail, but I think that is enough above.

Bike lanes on the street, but separate from the street, are on paper a good idea, but in reality just don't work. Bike lanes like 6th Ave's (a painted line) or even the ones on Prince (or is it Spring?) and Bleecker, while still painted green but not separated from the street, are a much better idea.

I can see where bike lanes separated from the street by an island might make casual cyclists feel safer but I can't see it working in reality. Most of those casual cyclists that would ride in that kind of lane have so little bike control in the first place and are scarred by the smallest thing on the street that they are a danger to each other. In a confined bike lane they are like fish in a barrel.

The West Side bike bath, with two lanes works, as does it's placement (not on a street). I know the reality of cutting something like that through the center of the island or the East side is low, but it would be great if it happened. You could even use the city's new model of isolated bike lanes, make them a full lane wide with two lanes contained and it would be better.

I still wouldn't ride in them.

All this being said...I enjoy riding down that stretch of Broadway more now. It's tighter on the street and you need to react faster. It's quite fun now, especially once you figure out which lane to be in and how to time the lights.

But find myself taking 5th Ave home more often now, just to avoid the fail that is Broadway. Everytime I see these new bike lanes it makes me angry.

KitN

1. Going against traffic is NEVER safe for ANYONE. The joggers are also in a place where no one would expect them to be (in the bike lane!!) and going in a direction that they shouldn't be going (against traffic). These joggers are oblivious.

2. I have never, in all my years as a native NY'er, seen one single jogger actually move OVER while going the wrong way in the bike lane. I have had to ring my bell, dodge into heavy traffic to avoid hitting them head on even though there's an empty sidewalk right next to the jogger. They don't give a hoot.

3. It's "safer" for me to ride my bike on the sidewalk but I don't because that's against the law and where peds are supposed to be able to travel freely without fear. Well, bike lanes are made for BIKES to travel freely with LESS fear.

Having to contend with double parked cars and trucks, getting doored, broken glass, debris, potholes, sewage grates, peds, right hooks, left hooks, etc WHILE in the bike lane is bad enough and you want to add in bike lane loving joggers + wrong way bike lane joggers too?? No thanks.

What's the point of finally getting some bike lanes in this city when they're filled with anything BUT bikes?!?

Commando303

1. That isn't true. Certainly, when it comes to pedestrians, it's arguable that going against traffic is the safer option.

2. I've seen some get onto the sidewalk, and others not do so. They all should: it's easier for them to get onto it for a moment than it is for a bicycle to climb onto it or to swerve into motorized traffic.

3. I see bicyclists on the sidewalk sometimes, and I don't mind. There certainly are instances in which it is unreasonable to ask a biker to get onto the avenue; as long as they're aware and slow-moving, their presence is fine. Also, I'm almost positive it is not illegal for joggers to occupy the street/bike-lane.

palladio

I'm pretty much with you on all of this and please excuse me for ranting....

We all have to get along and share tight spaces in this city, so I don't mind if someone is jogging in a bike lane when other options are limited for them. What pisses me off is when there are empty sidewalks AND designated jogging lanes (i.e. Central Park or Riverside Park/Greenway) yet joggers instead choose to run down the middle or even the outside of the bike lane. From my experience, the majority of joggers do this, while very few stick to any sort of sidewalk or jogging lane. For most of them, the concept of a bike lane is nonexistant. Compounding the problem is the fact that 90 percent of them are wearing iPods and can't hear anything. So if you don't give them a very wide berth, you risk startling them as you pass which can be disastrous. I had a guy literally hop sideways into me as I passed, knocking me off my bike and into trafffic. Many of them also use the outside of the bike lane, and I have learned that it is just not safe to pass them on the left/inside, because without an out you never know what can happen. So this forces me into traffic on the Park Loop all the time, when it would be completely unecessary if joggers just stayed in their lane or at least on the inside of the bike lanes.

I also find that the majority of joggers don't even think about moving out of a lane (if they are the one in one hundred that actually notices you are approaching) or towards the inside as a bike approaches. They just trod along assuming you will adjust.

Even worse are all the people with baby strollers who walk in the middle of the bike lanes when there is an empty sidewalk five feet away. One would think they might at least have some sense of self preservation for their children with bikes approaching at 20-30 mph, but no! Whay can't these people just use the sidewalk? They wouldn't walk their strollers down the middle of Fifth Ave at rush hour, so why in a busy bike lane in the Park where cyclists are traveling at high speed?

This whole thing makes me yearn for some sort of "Take Back the Bike Lanes" protest day in NYC, where bikers use their lanes at high speed without yielding to pedestrians and put some fear back into them.

Despite all this, I still try to be polite as possible. I'll say "bike please" if I'm trying to pass in a narrow space, I thank the few people who do yield to me, and I don't ride on sidewalks.

OK, here endeth the rant. I suppose I should really be stating this on some jogger's forum.

bigross1801

it should be illegal for joggers to be in the bike lane. if a jogger was in the bike lane and i just happened to hit him with my bike if my bike had no damage than i would keep it moving

Commando303

Wow: what a terrifying attitude. If you hit a pedestrian, then speed off, I certainly hope you end up in prison (despite what the odds of that happening may be).

zacster

When that first stretch opened just south of 42nd St I walked over from my office on the way home, sat down on one of the chairs and watched as every biker had to swerve to avoid pedestrians. That lane is a totally useless feature of the city. These lanes must be thought up by the same people that put stop signs at head level at every intersection of the west side bikeway when it first opened.

bigross1801

Well i never said anything about speeding off and my aim wouldn't be to hit him or her but if i had to choose between getting hit by a car or hitting the jogger i doubt i would think twice. btw i have never hit anyone while riding so i don't think i will have to worry about any prisons. watch what you say buddy.

Commando303

Never said anything about speeding off? I think that's exactly what you said: if you hit a jogger, and your bike were fine, you'd leave the scene. I watched myself say what I said after seeing you say what you did, and I'm perfectly content that which I said, ...buddy.

bigross1801

hm very poorly worded on my part. but no point in trying to explain it to you seeing how you think it is perfectly safe for people to jog where people are riding their bike at 20+ and have to jump into traffic to not hit them. they put themselves in danger and others.

roadiejorge 

I like the idea of more bike lanes in the city but I often find them to be more hazardous than riding with traffic. If you plan on riding slowly enough to not be bothered by the different obstacles found on bike paths then that's great, but feel safer among the cars than assorted varieties of pedestrians.

sfgadv02

I think they need to work on the East Side Greenway ASAP. Just yesterday, I was riding along First Avenue and sure, there were bike route signs, but it got a little confusing if you're not used to riding along an avenue. My Times Square idea is to fence off part of Broadway and just have cyclists go around the fence instead of going through directly into the pedestrians.

Commando303

Hear, hear (we need a completed east-side protected bike-path).

Stacy

+1 on that! I just got back from Queens a little while ago. Traffic wasn't too bad this morning, riding up Third and then First Avenue to the Queensboro Bridge but, I decided to come home via the Pulaski and Williamsburg bridges because I didn't want to deal with Saturday night midtown traffic, and I wasn't in the mood to travel all the way over to the West Side Greenway to get downtown. As much as I enjoy the greenway I also enjoy an occasional change in scenery.

ichitz

I commute from Brooklyn to Grand Central area. You would think to take the First Ave, but after doing that a couple of times, it's too crazy with the area around the UN. And the east side river is still not done. I realized that taking 6th Ave up and 5th Ave down (which eventually turns to broadway) is do-able. I know it still sounds dangerous. At least there's a bike path on 6th and less of a hill cross town after 42nd.

True that. There's a lot of people just taking a stroll down the Broadway path. Once I came in behind two women with their baby strollers walking down the bike path. I rang my bell, they turned and looked at me, and very slowly moved along to the side.