Midtown 8th Ave Bike Lane

[johnmdesigner]

You think your commute is bad.
I consider myself a decent cyclist with decent skills and reflexes. No way would I attempt this.

http://gothamist.com/2016/06/30/8th_ave_bike_lane_video.php

[AngryScientist]

every time i go to midtown during the day, i thank god i work downtown :)

[fiamme red]

I feel much safer riding next to trucks and buses on 10th, even with the construction that's going on. It's much faster too.

The Department of Transportation Alternatives will never admit that one of their segregated lanes is a failure. After all, the real point of these lanes is to take away street space from cars, not to give cyclists a safe place to ride.

[BobbyJones]

I take that route on a regular basis.

It's the street for me. The bike path is really a sidewalk extension from PA up to 52nd.

Just not worth the frustration.

[johnmdesigner]

I feel much safer riding next to trucks and buses on 10th, even with the construction that's going on. It's much faster too.

The Department of Transportation Alternatives will never admit that one of their segregated lanes is a failure. After all, the real point of these lanes is to take away street space from cars, not to give cyclists a safe place to ride.

Yes.
In the days before the lanes you just got up to speed and rode the crest of the wave. No peds would dare go out into the street.
There was a time when it was enjoyable to ride from my apartment across the GW bridge and up the Hudson. Now despite my best efforts and intentions there's always an incident that makes me wonder why I still bother.
On another note, as a pedestrian I have almost been hit twice this week by cars making illegal left turns from Broadway without waiting for the light to change. Today a car of middle agers almost hit me in the crosswalk. With the drivers window down I pointed out to them that they must wait for the light. A F-U was my reward.

[johnmdesigner]

This happened right in front of my building yesterday.

http://gothamist.com/2016/06/30/carjacking_washington_heights_mta_b.php

Now that's more like it!

[bikingshearer]

I especially enjoyed the number of cops and/or cop cars with not a single gendarme doing anything to keep peds or cars out of the bike lane. Worst of all were the two cops standing there, talking to someone who was also standing there, with the three of them blocking the entire bike lane. :crap:

Wouldn't it be great if there was some part of the public right-of-way that could be set aside for people on foot to travel and conduct their business so the cops could have talked to the guy there, out of the way of bike traffic? What a boon to pedestrian and vehicular safety that would be. Oh, that's right, there is such a thing. IT'S CALLED THE EFFIN' SIDEWALK, YOU MORONS. Pretty much every single street in Manhattan has one on either side of the asphalt. I don't even live in the same time zone as NYC and this makes me :mad:.

Okay, I feel better now. Sorry for shouting. Sort of.

[cachagua]

Today a car almost hit me in the crosswalk...

"HEYYY, I'm walkin' heah, okay? Okay? I'm WALKIN!!"

--Ratso Rizzo

[johnmdesigner]

"HEYYY, I'm walkin' heah, okay? Okay? I'm WALKIN!!"

--Ratso Rizzo

"I was just, uh, noticing that you're out of salami."

[Likes2ridefar]

I take that route on a regular basis.

It's the street for me. The bike path is really a sidewalk extension from PA up to 52nd.

Just not worth the frustration.

I got a ticket for doing that a few years ago. It was in the high teens and 8th ave.

[johnmdesigner]

What kills me is the "bike lane" on Fort Washington Ave going up to the GW Bridge. There's only 2 tight lanes of traffic and so someone just decides to take half of each lane and put a bike lane in it. You can't ride properly in the lane because the cops will give you a ticket and riding in the bike lane is suicide from parked car doors and school buses that run you off the road. Oh and the occasional deliveryman riding his bike the wrong way...

[fuzzalow]

Midtown through 8th Avenue from 38th Street through about 52nd Street is not ideal. And although it is not ideal, it is still navigable, so if you gotta use it, slow down and use it.

Some of this video reflects a lack of skillset that IMO makes this "slice of life" seem more dangerous than it is. In particular, the ever present left-hook while travelling uptown (8th Ave runs uptown) from traffic turning westbound off the avenue. The bike lane curb cuts away before the corner to make a left turning lane for cars - I prefer to position to pass left-turning traffic on the right in merging right before arriving at the corner. In fairness, the rider doesn't have to do this if he is positioned ahead of the left-turning vehicle - but if the rider is positioned even or behind the car, he will get left-hooked and/or crowded into the pedestrian crosswalk.

The above paragraph took 2 minutes to write. On the street what I just described takes 1 second. That's all the time you'll get.

The cars are always in play but the people, cops, double parked, etc etc are not as bad as the video except for the dense-pack in midtown for 10-15 blocks. Overall, it isn't that bad. And to get through it, just slow down.

Manhattan is fantastic on a bike. If you approach riding it like a sport cyclist with all the perceived entitlements of speed and right-of-way, you will die.

[R3awak3n]

this is most bike lanes in NYC. Nothing crazy on that video in comparison to ridding through china town and on 1st ave.

[DarrinNYC]

I've lived in Manhattan for four years, and I read all year regardless of almost ANY weather. I feel far safer riding among cars compared to bike lanes. I literally almost NEVER ride anywhere except with the cars!

[tctyres]

Yeah, that section of 8th Ave is an extended sidewalk. It's faster and safer to ride in traffic. While the police can ticket for just about anything, the roads are made for vehicles with bikes included. I would feel comfortable fighting a ticket for riding in traffic.

A couple of weeks ago, I rode that section of 8th Ave and there was a crazy guy threatening a shopkeeper with a knife. They had made it out into the rightmost traffic lane, with the shopkeeper telling the guy to put down the knife. I didn't stick around to learn what happened. The cops don't put up with crazy guys brandishing weapons in Midtown with several recent examples of cops shooting them.

[jensenn]

that wasn't so bad. camera angle/lens made everything seem closer to the rider. a bell and a good "YO!" once in a while has worked for me. you can still ride the "wave" of light up 1st avenue and down 2nd on the car lanes. as long as you're going fast enough cars don't usually mind. I feel more in danger in the green bike lane than anywhere else in NYC

[vertebraille]

Makes me glad I can live in NYC and not have to commute through Manhattan every day.

[fiamme red]

The photo below of the 8th Avenue bike lane in midtown (looking north) was taken yesterday and posted by a commenter on Gothamist. :help:

http://gothamist.com/2016/07/06/cyclist_deaths_nypd.php

http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/3907/4304/original.jpg

[fiamme red]

They're currently installing an extended sidewalk on 6th Avenue. Just give it a few days until it's full of pedestrians. :crap:

In a city where pedestrians outnumber cyclists 1000 to 1, putting a cycle track next to a sidewalk is a stupid idea. There's just no way the thousand peds are going to "respect" it for that one cyclist.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnvrJhiXYAASPi9.jpg

[R3awak3n]

/\ in New York yes. In Portland for example they would.

I have been here for 2 weeks and had to change the way I ride because I was being way too agressive. People here wait for you, let you go and seem like really respect cyclists. Different world.

That said, I miss NY

[verticaldoug]

I prefer 225th st to 240 st on Broadway under the tracks. I feel like Gene Hackman in the French Connection everytime I ride it.