The Economics of Bike Lanes

Post by jrockway » Tue, Oct 25, 2011, 8:01 AM UTC

kgermino wrote: post #177

jrockway wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those of you not from Chicago, Chicago has created an experimental bike lane on a downtown street. They put some reflective poles in the middle of the side of the road where cars park, then designated everything from those poles to the curb a bike lane. Cars now park to the left of bicycles and to the right of cars, creating an interesting setup. There is no risk of being "doored" now, but traffic coming out of s…

Agreed, Kinzie would probably be better served by a bike boulevard template [1]. Milwaukee is trying something else, it seems like there will be a driving lane, then a half-curb type thing with a raised bike lane on the right. [2] No parked cars. I'm not sure how it will work (completion 2012) but I'm curious to see, it will certainly be easier to get in/out of it mid block. Milwaukee is pretty bike-friendly in gener…

Post by m0nty » Tue, Oct 25, 2011, 8:45 AM UTC

pjscott wrote: post #132

m0nty wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems many people hold a negative view without having good arguments, almost religiously. I tried discussing the benefits of cycling with a friend. "Bikes actually use as much energy to produce as cars, since they're made of high-tech materials which use a lot of energy in manufacture." "Whenever I'm stuck in traffic, it's usually down to a cyclist somewhere." "Having several cars is very environmentally friendl…

Those objections have one thing in common: they are all flimsy after-the-fact rationalizations constructed to protect an irrational conclusion that your friend has already decided to believe, i.e. that cars are better than bikes in every way, and to hell with bikes. They're not his real objection to bikes. A good conversational tactic for that kind of situation is to try to get him to agree in advance to what evidenc…

Post by bryanlarsen » Tue, Oct 25, 2011, 2:21 PM UTC

ww520 wrote: post #88

equalarrow wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not had a car for over 20 years. I've ridden my bike forever - to/from school since I was in grade school. Currently I live in San Francisco which has, some could say, an aggressive bike culture. Sometimes, I am one of those guys and I used to ride in the monthly Critical Mass rides. The fact of the matter is that we live in a pro-car country. California in general is a very pro-car state. The drive in diner w…

If you want car drivers to respect bikers, stop running red lights and stop signs. Since you want to be reckless and ignore safety rules, others would have less regard for your safety. The conserving momentum is just a BS excuse; stopping is for safety overall for everyone involved, not just you. A car can also run through stop sign to conserve momentum and save on gas but for overall safety sake it stops.

Post by mrampton » Tue, Oct 25, 2011, 5:11 PM UTC

m0nty wrote: post #102

mrampton wrote: post #87

It's all too common (and easy) to lump cyclists into one group -- generally (in terms of policy and public opinion) in a way that encourages dislike. Cyclists are like any other subset of the population and it's unfair to any group to judge them based on the actions of others. That being that, I don't pretend that there aren't cyclists out there who misbehave -- I'm personally very aware of it because they're often t…

Thoughtful response :) Clearly, you're in the US? Because in GB, the situation doesn't even resemble what you describe. I've had near-misses with cars, but none of them deliberate, just careless, thoughtless, occasionally utterly incompetent. No verbal abuse, although on two occasions (for reasons still a mystery to me) motorists sounded their horns and made obscene gestures. I'm guessing they found me irresistibly s…

Post by Goladus » Tue, Oct 25, 2011, 5:47 PM UTC

ww520 wrote: post #88

equalarrow wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not had a car for over 20 years. I've ridden my bike forever - to/from school since I was in grade school. Currently I live in San Francisco which has, some could say, an aggressive bike culture. Sometimes, I am one of those guys and I used to ride in the monthly Critical Mass rides. The fact of the matter is that we live in a pro-car country. California in general is a very pro-car state. The drive in diner w…

If you want car drivers to respect bikers, stop running red lights and stop signs. Since you want to be reckless and ignore safety rules, others would have less regard for your safety. The conserving momentum is just a BS excuse; stopping is for safety overall for everyone involved, not just you. A car can also run through stop sign to conserve momentum and save on gas but for overall safety sake it stops.