I remember Rob Ford’s new bike lanes – there was one right by me. A single line of paint on a road near me that wasn’t connected to any bike networks, didn’t go anywhere anyone reasonably wanted to bike, and was clearly painted to goose a “number of km of bike lanes created” number without any regard for where people actually wanted to go on a bike.
This seems like more of that – people use major routes because those are generally where things that people commute to are located. You can’t effectively get across a city using only residential streets, and most residential side streets in the center of cities are already too packed for a bike lane – the street I live on requires cars to slow to a crawl when they cross each other since there’s usually less than a foot of clearance between them, and I can think of worse streets.
awildstoryteller on
Ford once again showing us he really wanted to be mayor.
While some side streets are very appropriate for bike lanes, many are not for a variety of reasons and are often MORE controversial because they take parking away.
But the main reason they are often not fit for purpose is the traffic control issues and safety issues. People backing out of driveways, cars running stop signs (and the number of stop signs in general forcing bikers to stop at every block).
But if the bike lane is appropriately designed it definitely can work. We all know that won’t happen though because it will cause a senior to lose their parking in front.
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I remember Rob Ford’s new bike lanes – there was one right by me. A single line of paint on a road near me that wasn’t connected to any bike networks, didn’t go anywhere anyone reasonably wanted to bike, and was clearly painted to goose a “number of km of bike lanes created” number without any regard for where people actually wanted to go on a bike.
This seems like more of that – people use major routes because those are generally where things that people commute to are located. You can’t effectively get across a city using only residential streets, and most residential side streets in the center of cities are already too packed for a bike lane – the street I live on requires cars to slow to a crawl when they cross each other since there’s usually less than a foot of clearance between them, and I can think of worse streets.
Ford once again showing us he really wanted to be mayor.
While some side streets are very appropriate for bike lanes, many are not for a variety of reasons and are often MORE controversial because they take parking away.
But the main reason they are often not fit for purpose is the traffic control issues and safety issues. People backing out of driveways, cars running stop signs (and the number of stop signs in general forcing bikers to stop at every block).
But if the bike lane is appropriately designed it definitely can work. We all know that won’t happen though because it will cause a senior to lose their parking in front.