NYC DOT explains Bike Lanes in the Big Apple
Bike lanes: In some cities people are literally dying to have them and some people go so far as to mark their own. Here in New York City, it feels like every time I get on my bike there is a new bike lane - sometimes on the left, sometimes buffered, and sometimes completely separated from automobile traffic. To understand these lanes, I had the opportunity to go for a ride with the NYC DOT bicycle boys. They explained the classes of bike lanes and showed off some of these inventive facilities. You can use Ride the City to find a safe bike route in New York City and watch this video to see what lanes are used on your route.
Lets say we have this installed on Singapore streets, do these lane types actually force drivers to not use them or do these lanes work only depending on the driver's courtesy? Cos' Singaporean drivers are one nasty lot. Note: This is coming from a Singaporean.
Some designs do rely on the "driver's courtesy" but class 1 bike lanes are physically separated from cars. Check out this primer on biking rules for more details on the different types of lanes. http://tinyurl.com/yjzarol
Gotta love the green lanes. Nevermind the physical separation, even green paint on some lanes would help in my hood.
São Paulo needs that!
interesting to see that even in the video, pedestrians are using bike lanes for non-biking purposes
I'd love physically separated lanes on K Street here in DC... or even a shared (buy physically separated from cars) bus lane so that the Circulator (bus) could mingle with the bikes but still get priority. I might be mistaken, but I don't think DC has any physically separated bike lanes, and DOT has a propensity to put the lanes close to car doors and areas where you can't rely on traffic yielding, not dooring... like on 14th St. DC has an overuse of class 2 facilities in areas that aren't necessarily safe for class 2 and an underuse of classes 1 and 3. When you build a class 2 facility too close to car doors and traffic what ends up happening is you push the biker towards the doors which gives car traffic more space which allows them to go faster. In such lanes I often end up riding a little out of the bike lane just so cars know I'm there and slow down for me rather than pushing me into doors.
Hi!
One more excellent video from Elizabeth and Streetfilms.. very well done!!
And it seems like a revolutionary work from DOT in the biggest US city.. good example
Any connection with Critical Mass and popular pressure??
We in Brazil are so far from implementing such solutions this video becomes depressing. There is no social or political willingness to change the one person per car concept that is clogging our streets and roads and turning ourselves into drones. Thanks for sharing this anyway!
It seems very few cyclists in NYC wear helmets. Maybe if we had nice lanes like that in SF maybe I wouldn't either
Transportation engineering is hot!
Education is the way to go.
Thanks guys
10/28/09
The day I finally see this in America!
We're getting more European (some parts) in our bicycle infrastructure. How relieving it is to see the green. Reminds me of Amsterdam and Munster.
EXCELLENT JOB NYC BIKE GROUP!! Keep it up!
Check your bicycle mirror!! SFBC is right behind you!
these bike facilties creat busy environemnt resulting in a safer operation for all the users. Keep it up NYC.