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Jasper: How can the buses safely pass bikers? If the cyclist is in the lane, the bus would have to wait for a gap in traffic in the adjacent lane (which might be stopped for lights), then move over. That could delay them by minutes.

If bikes have to move into traffic to pass the bus, then I don't think that is really a bike-bus lane. It's a bus lane that bikes sometimes use, and sometimes use other lanes. And they're probably better off staying in that other lane entirely, since merging left and right over and over is more dangerous.

If it's a bus lane, the buses need to be able to proceed down the street without having to change lanes. If we tell cyclists it's a bike lane, the cyclists need to be able to safely stick in that lane without having to get out periodically. Otherwise it's not going to create the kind of comfortable bike experience that brings in novice cyclists and is the biggest value of a bike lane.

I don't agree that just painting same lane as a bike lane is better than not; if the lane isn't comfortable for the novice cyclists, it's better to encourage them to use another lane.

If you're just talking about saying "okay, bikes can use the bus lane too," then maybe that is fine, not sure; we might not need to ban bikes, but it won't be a lane that's really comfortable for biking. I wouldn't put it on the bike map as a "bike lane," for instance. Personally, I would rather ride vehicularly in the rightmost regular traffic lane as opposed to vehicularly in the bus lane.

I'd love to have a workable bike-bus lane, but I need to hear or see a real example of how that can work well in this kind of space. It doesn't hold water just to say "a bus-bike lane is better than no bike lanes" a priori.

by David Alpert on Aug 7, 2012 12:59 pm • link • report