Borrowing from the Brits

[dasgeh]

My family and I just returned from a 10 day break in the UK (London and Bath). As I mentioned in another post, I came back with serious bike-infrastructure-envy.

There were a few ideas that could be realistic for our area. I was hoping to start a discussion on ideas from other places (foreign and domestic) that could be implemented here…

The one that jumps to mind is dedicated bus lanes that are legal for buses, taxis and bikes only (at least during rush hour). Does anyone else think those could work, especially in downtown DC (e.g. 18th/19th St, Constitution, just on my commute)?

Does anyone have other ideas?

(PS. Sorry I missed last night’s ABAC meeting – the combination of jet lag and a sick kid got the best of me. Any update? Did the cops show?)

Topic

[jrenaut]

There are lanes like that on 9th Street NW south of the convention center. They’re okay – cars come through the lane looking to turn right all the time, and the buses can be a little unpredictable, but not an entirely unpleasant riding experience.

[paulg]

I think Bus and Bike lanes could work quite nicely but enforcement has to be implemented, and lots of people will moan like mad.

Interestingly DC already has at least one lane that I know of. See here a picture of 7th and F NW.

http://g.co/maps/4wyf6

Pretty obvious form the picture that cars are ignoring the signs. I don’t know if there is a time specified for only bus and bikes so the cars might not be in the wrong but I think it’s a 24/7 deal. My experience driving on this road is that many vehicle drivers ignore the signs on the road.

And being a Brit I can say the dedicated bus an bike lanes do work for getting cars out of the downtown areas and allowing quicker and more efficient bus travel. The buses don’t get held up in other traffic as much. It works for bikes too.

One nice thing that was installed near my shared house at Nottingham University UK was a dedicated bike crossing ‘Hawk’ type signal that had detectors under the tarmac that would detect a bike and change the lights to stop traffic and allow bikes to cross. No stopping the bike and shuffling over to the push button that’s attached to the lamp post 10 feet away in the grass verge that’s now mud from all the people who step there to press the button!

This view shows the very intersection still working well after 20 years!

http://g.co/maps/spn2y

You can see the cuts in the path for the detectors. (remember we drive on the left over there).

Now wouldn’t that be nice over here??! Maybe at the Mount Vernon Trail crossings of the GW parkway perhaps??!

[creadinger]

I really liked riding on the left in Scotland. I think we as a nation should reverse all of our driving lanes. j/k

You won’t get any cycling infrastructure ideas out of Nova Scotia. They don’t even know what a shoulder is up there. Even on the 100Kph highways!

I don’t see the appeal of mixing buses and bikes. On the rare occasions that I do have to mix it up with buses a lot of time those guys really don’t care whether you’re there or not. Even if they know they have to make a stop within 50 yards, they’ll pull ahead of you and then veer to the right as they go by. Then you have to pass them again. It’s extremely annoying.

I think wider trails separating bike lanes from ped/jogger lanes would be useful. It’s not feasible everywhere, but we all know that the trails in this area are getting seriously crowded and as the trails fill with people many cyclists will get squeezed out – getting frustrated having to yield to peds/joggers/etc all the time on the trails, and then not being confident enough to ride significant miles on the busy roads. That will just lead to more drivers.

[Greenbelt]

The bus/bike lane on 7th is widely ignored. Part of that is that it starts abruptly with no warning for drivers who are in the lane that they need to merge. Part of it is that it’s not enforced at all.

To solve our DC congestion problems downtown, I think the solution is a lot simpler — we need to replace on-street parking in a lot of places with a.) wider sidewalks, b.) additional all-traffic lanes, c.) two-way protected cycletracks, and d.) bus and taxi drop off areas. For example, there’s no need for on-street parking on both sides of 7th street. There’s room for any of the above.

The city would say they’d lose money from less parking meter fees, but so what? These meter fees are generally priced less than market anyway (that’s why people circle the blocks waiting for a space to open up, worsening congestion).

We need the public road space for transportation, whether that’s for peds, bikes, all traffic, or public transport. So if the city is worried about losing parking fees from eliminating some on-street parking downtown, it could make up the revenue by raising the curbside parking fees to market prices where it still exists. Subsidized on-road car storage should not be considered a public entitlement, especially if road space is scarce and congestion needs to be reduced.

PS. Another way to make up lost revenue in places where on-street parking was converted to sidewalks would be to allow more street vendors (charged a fee for the space, of course). And I’d definitely tax the food trucks — those guys can be fun, but they’re taking advantage of subsidized on-street parking to block roadways (and not paying other taxes that walk-in restaurants or food counters have to pay).

[dasgeh]

I agree with Greenbelt generally about on-street parking. However, living in Arlington and having a kid, there are lots of times when we’ll head into the District on the weekends, and because of lots of reasons, the best option is driving. At the moment, there aren’t private parking options everywhere in DC. I think gradually removing on-street parking will encourage more private parking lots to open for longer hours. But the change would have to be gradual. In areas that are mostly government buildings, there will have to be some sort of broader change — like opening parking at government buildings (for a fee) to others, possibly those that have gone through some sort of check.

[Greenbelt]

That’s the flip side of converting on-street parking to transportation uses. We need more predictable and convenient parking garages in some parts of town. If I had my way, people with disabilities stickers or baby on board (and actually with baby!) should get discounts on parking fees and special access.

[Author]

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