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-   -   Before & after bike lanes (http://www.cyclebanter.com/showthread.php?t=221344)

Jym Dyer October 2nd 10 05:46 PM

Before & after bike lanes
 
Bike lanes - Interesting video about what happens in
real life.

That's one bad one. That's a place where I don't know
what kind of bike lane you could put in that would work.


=v= Actually, that's one stretch of a bike lane that works
much better south of there, as do the bike lanes to the east
and west. New York City is trying out a bunch of new facilities
all at once, and it's unreasonable to think that all of them are
going to work perfectly on the first try.

=v= Of course, there are vehicular cycling dogmatists for whom
any hint of a facility is the f-word. It speaks volumes that
they have to cherrypick one bad stretch of anecdote to support
their doctrine that all bike lanes are eeeeeevil.
_Jym_


Frank Krygowski[_2_] October 3rd 10 01:22 AM

Before & after bike lanes
 
On Oct 2, 12:46*pm, Jym Dyer wrote:
Bike lanes - Interesting video about what happens in
real life.

That's one bad one. That's a place where I don't know
what kind of bike lane you could put in that would work.


=v= Actually, that's one stretch of a bike lane that works
much better south of there, as do the bike lanes to the east
and west.


Can you explain exactly how they work better than the same total lane
width without the paint stripe? That's always the question.

*New York City is trying out a bunch of new facilities
all at once, and it's unreasonable to think that all of them are
going to work perfectly on the first try.


Wow. Can you imagine if that standard of acceptability were applied
to motor vehicle facilities? "Hey, it's OK if we make some cars turn
right from the left lane. We're trying a bunch of new ideas here!"

=v= Of course, there are vehicular cycling dogmatists for whom
any hint of a facility is the f-word. *It speaks volumes that
they have to cherrypick one bad stretch of anecdote to support
their doctrine that all bike lanes are eeeeeevil.


That's a pretty blatant exaggeration, especially after I've mentioned
being responsible (or at least, partly responsible) for two different
bike facilities in my area.

And of course, the opposite accusation could be thrown at many bike
facility advocates - that they'll cherrypick one acceptable stretch,
then say "Any bike facility is a good bike facility."

That certainly seems true of the man that designed bike facilities in
our local metro park. He's the guy who designed the two-way bike
lanes on one side of the road, with dozens of wooden posts in the
lanes for cyclists to run into, with rumble strips in one stretch to
prevent leaving the bike lane, including to get to the traffic light
detector to get a green light, etc, etc. "Standards? We don't need
no steenkin' standards!"

- Frank Krygowski

Jym Dyer October 9th 10 09:18 PM

Before & after bike lanes
 
=v= Actually, that's one stretch of a bike lane that works
much better south of there, as do the bike lanes to the
east and west.

Can you explain exactly how they work better than the same
total lane width without the paint stripe? That's always
the question.


=v= A quintupling of bicyclists in New York City comes to mind.

=v= Mandatory bike lane use does *not* apply in NYC (and you
can thank my lawyer for reminding the courts of that), so the
streets can still accommodate fast riders. Now, though, they
also accommodate slow riders, children, and cargo bikers.

=v= My own experience in NYC (usually fast, sometimes laden
with cargo) is that pedestrian encroachment is a problem in
that bike lane and in another around Times Square, and on
parts of the Hudson River Greenway, but otherwise they've
been a boon.

the opposite accusation could be thrown at many bike facility
advocates - that they'll cherrypick one acceptable stretch,
then say "Any bike facility is a good bike facility."


=v= Scripting words for straw dolls is not a valid argument.
I referred only to your own actual words, generalizing from
this one stretch of one lane to "what happens in real life"
in a plurality of bike lanes.

=v= "Any bike facility is a good bike facility" may be what
advocacy groups and local governments convey when they describe
progress only in terms of the miles of bike lanes, but I have
never actually heard anyone say those words. Indeed I find
it blitheringly obvious (except perhaps to the anti-facilities
jihad) that the quality of bike facilities is wildly variable
_Jym_


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