Can you imagine the paradise that NYC might be if the lanes had remained? I mean I am sure there would have been problems, but by now they would have been solved and we’d probably have some on all the major avenues…

If we start now, maybe paradise by 2020?

John M. believes that barrier-separated paths are the Yellow Brick Road to Paradise. He should read John Allen’s response to this silliness, published in the Times at
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/opinion/l12city.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/t3ptq

The problems of these lanes defy any solution, because they create conflicts that exist only in their presence. Right turning motorists cross the path of straight-through cyclists, and left turns from such a lane require the cyclist to fling him or herself across three to six lane arterials. These aren’t problems that can be designed out, because they are designed *in* by the lanes, themselves.

And Mr. Allen knows what he’s talking about. He’s the author of the Bicycle Drivers Manual for three states. He also has published photos that clearly demonstrate why these types of lanes are discouraged by the American Association of State Highway and Traffic Officials, who publish the engineering design guides for bicycle facilities. You can see Mr. Allen’s web pages on this subject at

http://www.bikexprt.com/bikepol/facil/killerln.htm
and
http://john-s-allen.com/galleries/montreal/index.htm

John Allen may live in Waltham, but he knows whereof he speaks, and he should not be discounted merely by his location. I live a few miles up route 128 from there in Woburn — but in 1980 I lived in the Bronx, and I worked that summer as a bike messenger. I remember those short-lived lanes were regularly blocked by trucks (and even harder to see, their ramps) — I tried them, but the day my way was blocked by a police cruiser was the day I gave up using them.

At that time my biggest hazard was not cars, but contraflowing bicyclists, and also, once I’d fallen behind the cars on the sequenced lights, pedestrians crossing en masse against the lights. (As an 18-year-old my reaction to jaywalkers was to simply sound my horn and watch them scatter — I figured that stopping at red lights [and I did, often catching up to the jersey-clad pelotons who didn’t] gave me the right to proceed at green lights.)

A few years before that my ride from Co-op City to Bronx Science took me on Commercial (later Kazimiroff, apparently now Southern) Boulevard. I tried the new “Bronx Bikeway” once or twice, but I felt safer drafting buses on the Boulevard than dodging toddlers on what to them was the sidewalk.

(I have a particular sore spot for toddlers, or more particularly parents who assume that anyplace without cars is appropriate for toddlers: my very brief competitive riding period ended after 15 laps and several hours on the Pepsi Marathon when I did an endo coming out of the chutes when I came upon the offspring of such a parent stopped astride his training-wheeled 12″ toy.)

The key to the success of any such effort would be getting significantly more people to ride bikes in the city.

Problems such as the need for turning to cars to cross the path of cyclists, or turning cyclists to cross several lanes of traffic, are major issues when bikers are rare and drivers are not expecting them. When there are lots of bikers, drivers will change their driving habits. This is a big part of what has allowed European cities to become bike friendsly – just getting more cyclists on the road.

In order for bike lines to work, cyclists have to give a little bit also. Right now, many cyclists disregard traffic signals and laws. I admit that I have been guilty of this. When there is no infrastructure, you do what you have to. The addition of some real infrastructure, like separated lanes, would require cyclists to respect the traffic laws and other road users.

Some experienced riders may resent this – no more blowing through red lights and weaving across 4 lanes of traffic – but I believe it would a worthwhile price for dedicated, separated bike lines.

I also add to Dan & J:lai’s excellent comments…

Everytime I go to a place where there are more cycling amenities and the general feeling is that cyclists are more respected and taken care of by their government, the fewer numbers of cyclists I see breaking the law.

In Portland, it is almost unheard of to see cyclists breaking the law. When I first started cycling there, I got yelled at a couple of times – not by drivers – but other cyclists!

I’m a cyclist with very mixed feelings about bike lanes, even physically separated ones, but since they seem very beloved of this community and, therefore likely to appear one day in New York, I imagine I could accept them ***as long as they’re bloody big enough for cyclists to pass one another!***

I haven’t seen a single bike lane in New York City that’s really safely big enough for one cyclist to pass another. Of course cars are allowed passing space; they deserve to speed.

Do the painted lanes at Times Square still have signs that say “Walk Bike to Next Sign”?
I decided that I’d obey that one when they put up the signs that said “Push Car to Next Sign”.

My brother was much less than 3 sitting on a seat on the top tube of Dad’s Dunelt while I was in a seat over the rear wheel on non-separated streets in Washington Heights. (When he isn’t bicycling, Dad is still driving big cars — he’s no fanatic about human-powered vehicles, just a realistic urban transportational bicyclist, like his sons, and at least one grandson so far.)

the bottom line is: without protected bike lanes, cycling will remain a rarified activity for the lunatic fringe (yes, us). the average citizen simply is NOT going to ride their bike in traffic with cars, and certainly would never allow their child or elderly parent to do so. we all want cycling to become a mainstream and widely used mode of transportation, but this simply will NOT happen without the protected lanes. as several people have cited in examples from more bike-friendly locales, once there are clearly designated sections of the street for cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, every type of enforcement (including peer pressure) will be much more effective.