• central bike lanes

    From Roger Merriman@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 23 14:19:47 2025
    <https://youtu.be/sfflAs-GCVc?si=AHf0WbvpjAHmlDJD>

    Update on the street in San Francisco by “Rob the road guy” I tend to agree that it’s the wrong solution to this location ie how do you stop for a coffee/cake. So on.

    I guess that it (having the bike lanes in the middle would work on
    locations such as London Embankment where all traffic is moving though with controlled junctions, than a shopping street where one of the advantages of bike traffic is generally it’s easier to just stop and do some shopping and so hence the typical curve where businesses are horrified by the idea of segregated bike lane but once it’s installed and foot traffic increases
    tend to be pro it.

    Roger Merriman

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  • From AMuzi@21:1/5 to Roger Merriman on Thu Jan 23 09:17:48 2025
    On 1/23/2025 8:19 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    <https://youtu.be/sfflAs-GCVc?si=AHf0WbvpjAHmlDJD>

    Update on the street in San Francisco by “Rob the road guy” I tend to agree
    that it’s the wrong solution to this location ie how do you stop for a coffee/cake. So on.

    I guess that it (having the bike lanes in the middle would work on
    locations such as London Embankment where all traffic is moving though with controlled junctions, than a shopping street where one of the advantages of bike traffic is generally it’s easier to just stop and do some shopping and so hence the typical curve where businesses are horrified by the idea of segregated bike lane but once it’s installed and foot traffic increases tend to be pro it.

    Roger Merriman



    Meh.
    Guerrero Street is parallel. No problem.

    --
    Andrew Muzi
    am@yellowjersey.org
    Open every day since 1 April, 1971

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  • From Roger Merriman@21:1/5 to AMuzi on Thu Jan 23 19:31:15 2025
    AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 8:19 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    <https://youtu.be/sfflAs-GCVc?si=AHf0WbvpjAHmlDJD>

    Update on the street in San Francisco by “Rob the road guy” I tend to agree
    that it’s the wrong solution to this location ie how do you stop for a
    coffee/cake. So on.

    I guess that it (having the bike lanes in the middle would work on
    locations such as London Embankment where all traffic is moving though with >> controlled junctions, than a shopping street where one of the advantages of >> bike traffic is generally it’s easier to just stop and do some shopping and
    so hence the typical curve where businesses are horrified by the idea of
    segregated bike lane but once it’s installed and foot traffic increases
    tend to be pro it.

    Roger Merriman



    Meh.
    Guerrero Street is parallel. No problem.


    Apparently it’s steeper, or rather this street has the gentlest grade which is one reason it’s favoured by cyclists, though can’t say I’ve ridden it or
    likely to any time soon!

    Roger Merriman

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  • From Roger Merriman@21:1/5 to Frank Krygowski on Thu Jan 23 20:04:23 2025
    Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 10:17 AM, AMuzi wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 8:19 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    <https://youtu.be/sfflAs-GCVc?si=AHf0WbvpjAHmlDJD>

    Update on the street in San Francisco by “Rob the road guy” I tend to >>> agree
    that it’s the wrong solution to this location ie how do you stop for a >>> coffee/cake. So on.

    I guess that it (having the bike lanes in the middle would work on
    locations such as London Embankment where all traffic is moving though
    with
    controlled junctions, than a shopping street where one of the
    advantages of
    bike traffic is generally it’s easier to just stop and do some
    shopping and
    so hence the typical curve where businesses are horrified by the idea of >>> segregated bike lane but once it’s installed and foot traffic increases >>> tend to be pro it.

    Roger Merriman



    Meh.
    Guerrero Street is parallel. No problem.

    And by looks of things quite a bit steeper, 7/9% as Valencia seems to be in
    the sweet spot with the various hills and only 1% or so.

    Either way been done and tried and failed to convince cyclists that they
    should take back streets and be shunted off and take the long way around.

    Ie clearly is a reason Guerrero and others are shunned looking at the
    heatmap for the area, I’m sure it’s rideable but doesn’t seem to be folks 1st choice.

    I'd absolutely choose a street without the crazy infrastructure.

    Before the center bike lane, the average car speed was 24 mph. If there
    were no special stripes at all, a cyclist could just ride far enough
    leftward to avoid the parked cars' door zone, cars could pass on the
    left, bicyclists approaching intersections or driveways wouldn't be
    hidden behind parked vehicles, and traffic would flow smoothly.
    Especially if the "green wave" traffic light timing were maintained for cyclist speeds.

    Looks like they will do a more conventional design at least I think that’s what Rob reported, which should allow more foot traffic, as he noted number
    of car parking will decline even if put back to as it was, as they don’t allow parking near the junctions any more!

    How that is win beggars belief!

    And what's with the "parklets"? What's the rationale for letting a
    restaurant take over public space on the roads? That seems weird - not
    much different than letting a homeless guy set up his tent in that same space.

    It’s no more than parking a car, which is what they replace and does allow more folks to get something from the space, they aren’t without their
    issues and so on.

    But rolling back kudos for trying something out! I do wonder if in some locations it would work well, though even there not really sure what
    advantages it has over a bidirectional system other than keeping more
    parking etc, which i suspect is as ever the root cause of such a
    interesting design as ever trying to please everyone.

    Roger Merriman

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  • From Roger Merriman@21:1/5 to Frank Krygowski on Thu Jan 23 21:28:42 2025
    Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 3:04 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 10:17 AM, AMuzi wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 8:19 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    <https://youtu.be/sfflAs-GCVc?si=AHf0WbvpjAHmlDJD>

    Update on the street in San Francisco by “Rob the road guy” I tend to >>>>> agree
    that it’s the wrong solution to this location ie how do you stop for a >>>>> coffee/cake. So on.

    I guess that it (having the bike lanes in the middle would work on
    locations such as London Embankment where all traffic is moving though >>>>> with
    controlled junctions, than a shopping street where one of the
    advantages of
    bike traffic is generally it’s easier to just stop and do some
    shopping and
    so hence the typical curve where businesses are horrified by the idea of >>>>> segregated bike lane but once it’s installed and foot traffic increases >>>>> tend to be pro it.

    Roger Merriman



    Meh.
    Guerrero Street is parallel. No problem.

    And by looks of things quite a bit steeper, 7/9% as Valencia seems to be in >> the sweet spot with the various hills and only 1% or so.

    Either way been done and tried and failed to convince cyclists that they
    should take back streets and be shunted off and take the long way around.

    Ie clearly is a reason Guerrero and others are shunned looking at the
    heatmap for the area, I’m sure it’s rideable but doesn’t seem to be folks
    1st choice.

    I'd absolutely choose a street without the crazy infrastructure.

    Before the center bike lane, the average car speed was 24 mph. If there
    were no special stripes at all, a cyclist could just ride far enough
    leftward to avoid the parked cars' door zone, cars could pass on the
    left, bicyclists approaching intersections or driveways wouldn't be
    hidden behind parked vehicles, and traffic would flow smoothly.
    Especially if the "green wave" traffic light timing were maintained for
    cyclist speeds.

    Looks like they will do a more conventional design at least I think that’s >> what Rob reported, which should allow more foot traffic, as he noted number >> of car parking will decline even if put back to as it was, as they don’t >> allow parking near the junctions any more!

    How that is win beggars belief!

    I don't consider "parking protected" to be a conventional design. It
    took a secretive and well organized political campaign to get it
    approved with no serious engineering evaluations. The earliest attempts trying "parking protected" bike lanes were soon terminated because of
    big increases in car-bike crashes. There are real hazards to hiding bicyclists out of sight until just before crossing points.

    I ment a bike lane on the sides of the road ie next to or I guess past the kerb, rather than down the middle which definitely isn’t conventional!

    The "daylighting" of intersections (which I've mentioned here before) is
    an attempt to somewhat mitigate that hazard. But if timid cyclists
    demand a sanctified place to ride, it's far better to put it where the cyclists are visible. That should be adjacent to the normal traffic
    lane, and well away from parked cars' door zone.

    Even that really shouldn't be necessary. The entire "Gotta have a bike
    lane!" campaign is based on unrealistic fear of being run down directly
    from behind. It's not that it never happens, but it's about the rarest
    type of car-bike collision - something like 3%, IIRC.

    A street with average traffic speed of 24 mph needs nothing. Well, maybe
    hash marks to convince the unwitting riders (um... like the guy in the video!) to stay out of the door zone.

    And what's with the "parklets"? What's the rationale for letting a
    restaurant take over public space on the roads? That seems weird - not
    much different than letting a homeless guy set up his tent in that same
    space.

    It’s no more than parking a car, which is what they replace and does allow >> more folks to get something from the space, they aren’t without their
    issues and so on.

    We could segue into parking places - as in "Why is it ever legal to
    store your personal property (your car) on public property for free?"
    But if they have parking meters, I'm fine with that, and it seems
    Valencia does.

    But back to the "parklets": It's a bit weird for business proprietors to
    be complaining about lack of parking, while other business proprietors
    are taking over parking places to cheaply expand their businesses.
    They're squatting on public land! I assume someone passes an ordinance allowing that, but if the traffic problems are as extreme as the video portrays, "parklets" make no sense to me.

    There are number of claims regarding that bike lane that are curious to be honest but probably not answerable or at least by us at least.

    Roger Merriman

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  • From AMuzi@21:1/5 to Roger Merriman on Thu Jan 23 17:29:11 2025
    On 1/23/2025 3:28 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 3:04 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 10:17 AM, AMuzi wrote:
    On 1/23/2025 8:19 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:
    <https://youtu.be/sfflAs-GCVc?si=AHf0WbvpjAHmlDJD>

    Update on the street in San Francisco by “Rob the road guy” I tend to
    agree
    that it’s the wrong solution to this location ie how do you stop for a >>>>>> coffee/cake. So on.

    I guess that it (having the bike lanes in the middle would work on >>>>>> locations such as London Embankment where all traffic is moving though >>>>>> with
    controlled junctions, than a shopping street where one of the
    advantages of
    bike traffic is generally it’s easier to just stop and do some
    shopping and
    so hence the typical curve where businesses are horrified by the idea of >>>>>> segregated bike lane but once it’s installed and foot traffic increases
    tend to be pro it.

    Roger Merriman



    Meh.
    Guerrero Street is parallel. No problem.

    And by looks of things quite a bit steeper, 7/9% as Valencia seems to be in >>> the sweet spot with the various hills and only 1% or so.

    Either way been done and tried and failed to convince cyclists that they >>> should take back streets and be shunted off and take the long way around. >>>
    Ie clearly is a reason Guerrero and others are shunned looking at the
    heatmap for the area, I’m sure it’s rideable but doesn’t seem to be folks
    1st choice.

    I'd absolutely choose a street without the crazy infrastructure.

    Before the center bike lane, the average car speed was 24 mph. If there >>>> were no special stripes at all, a cyclist could just ride far enough
    leftward to avoid the parked cars' door zone, cars could pass on the
    left, bicyclists approaching intersections or driveways wouldn't be
    hidden behind parked vehicles, and traffic would flow smoothly.
    Especially if the "green wave" traffic light timing were maintained for >>>> cyclist speeds.

    Looks like they will do a more conventional design at least I think that’s
    what Rob reported, which should allow more foot traffic, as he noted number >>> of car parking will decline even if put back to as it was, as they don’t >>> allow parking near the junctions any more!

    How that is win beggars belief!

    I don't consider "parking protected" to be a conventional design. It
    took a secretive and well organized political campaign to get it
    approved with no serious engineering evaluations. The earliest attempts
    trying "parking protected" bike lanes were soon terminated because of
    big increases in car-bike crashes. There are real hazards to hiding
    bicyclists out of sight until just before crossing points.

    I ment a bike lane on the sides of the road ie next to or I guess past the kerb, rather than down the middle which definitely isn’t conventional!

    The "daylighting" of intersections (which I've mentioned here before) is
    an attempt to somewhat mitigate that hazard. But if timid cyclists
    demand a sanctified place to ride, it's far better to put it where the
    cyclists are visible. That should be adjacent to the normal traffic
    lane, and well away from parked cars' door zone.

    Even that really shouldn't be necessary. The entire "Gotta have a bike
    lane!" campaign is based on unrealistic fear of being run down directly
    from behind. It's not that it never happens, but it's about the rarest
    type of car-bike collision - something like 3%, IIRC.

    A street with average traffic speed of 24 mph needs nothing. Well, maybe
    hash marks to convince the unwitting riders (um... like the guy in the
    video!) to stay out of the door zone.

    And what's with the "parklets"? What's the rationale for letting a
    restaurant take over public space on the roads? That seems weird - not >>>> much different than letting a homeless guy set up his tent in that same >>>> space.

    It’s no more than parking a car, which is what they replace and does allow
    more folks to get something from the space, they aren’t without their
    issues and so on.

    We could segue into parking places - as in "Why is it ever legal to
    store your personal property (your car) on public property for free?"
    But if they have parking meters, I'm fine with that, and it seems
    Valencia does.

    But back to the "parklets": It's a bit weird for business proprietors to
    be complaining about lack of parking, while other business proprietors
    are taking over parking places to cheaply expand their businesses.
    They're squatting on public land! I assume someone passes an ordinance
    allowing that, but if the traffic problems are as extreme as the video
    portrays, "parklets" make no sense to me.

    There are number of claims regarding that bike lane that are curious to be honest but probably not answerable or at least by us at least.

    Roger Merriman



    +1 to that!
    We'd have to think like a City of San Francisco employee
    [shudder]

    --
    Andrew Muzi
    am@yellowjersey.org
    Open every day since 1 April, 1971

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