Sorry, ya'll but I've spent well near 20 years in Manhattan on a bike, 5 of them as a Professional Bike Courier, and those ridiculous Bloomberg Bike Lanes in Manhattan are not only yet another of Mayor Mikey's misguided attempts at Dunderheaded Civil Social Engineering, (on par with with his Jihad on Tobacco), but totally RETARDED as well. Shunting bikes off the side and out of traffic the way those stupid Bloomberg Bike Lanes do is not good for the bikes, or traffic, be it Pedestrian or Automotive. Creates many ore problems than it solves. Either bikes are equals on the road, or they're not, and my many years worth of experience on NYC's streets is compelling me to tell you that turning bikes into Second Class Citizens on the streets via these lanes is the very definition of a Bad Idea. If Mayor Weiner wants to have Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies to tear down these Public Menaces/Safety Hazards, not only will I be in the Front Row for that, I'll volunteer to hand him the damned scissors

It's amazing to me, that with all the issues that surround New York City and the mayoral elections, that THIS is the issue you people are concerned about. There's so much more beyond this, people. I'm to the point that I don't care who wins as long as Bloomberg is out. For all I care, we could have a woodchuck as our mayor.

The mayor's first act should be to change his name to

"Weiner Boy"

Then he could go on a junket somewhere with

Congressman Boehner

and

Congressman Dick Armey

Only in America would you find a group of politicians named Weiner, Boehner, and Dick.

weiner. douchebag. and i don't even LIKE bike lanes. i just hate people who have decided they make for a good political platform. go bring some jobs to NYC or something, OK "Tony"?

Yeah the most likely Democratic candidate just said Fuck you to anybody of liberal leaning ages 18-30.

Weiner just threw his election away.

Not weighing in on whether Weiner is a dick or not, but just on bike lanes - do those of you who bike to work think bike lanes are helpful? I find them dangerous and scary. If they are protected by parked cars, then pedestrians walk in them and step out into them constantly without even looking; if they are not protected, cars turn over the top of you as you pedal through green lights and double park in them - forcing you back out into traffic to the seeming surprise of drivers. I'm all for more biking and less cars, but the dedicated lanes seem like a wash to me.

M, I cycle often and commute by bike to work about 2 or 3 days per week. I tend to agree with you that bike lanes, particularly Class II lanes situated in the door zone next to parked cars often do not work well and are frequently ignored by the non-cycling public. I was recently cut-off in one by a service van trying to double park, and the bike lane on Adams St. in Bklyn, used as a drop-off by the Mariott, on the approach to the Bklyn Bridge is often a joke. Having said that, I use them whenever possible and tend to choose my routes based on where they are if only because they demarcate where bikers will be. There is always safety in numbers. I'm recently finding that on good days there are often about as many bikes on Bergen St. during morning commute going towards Bklyn Heights as there are cars.

While some streets may do better with shareways, I like lanes no matter what. They give bikers a presence that is often ignored otherwise. Of course, Class I lanes, the ones protected by a buffer zone of parked cars are the best. I find that if used with a sense of purpose and ownership pedestrians will tend to get out of the way. Occassionally I might try to gently admonish someone to use the sidewalk, but in general I find pedestrians wandering into protected lanes to be a danger more to themselves. It's unfortunate that Class I's seem to be rubbing the non-cycling public the wrong way. I think that there are benefits to them that the public is not always aware of. They do the most to encourage cycling, thus reducing the necessity of cars, and they are best at separating modes of travel to keep everyone out of each other's way which increases safety.

My attitude as a cyclist is to forcefully claim my rightful territory without being an AH. The lanes help me to do that.

It depends. For instance I think Alan St is fairly useful because there are less cars turning into the lane and less peds, but across Houston on 1st Ave sticking the lane is as hard as ignoring it.

My partner commutes in the 1st ave lane, though, because she doesn't travel as fast to begin with - we both agree that a functional East River path would be safer & ultimately quicker.

Honestly the best part of the lanes seems like the outside line - stick the outside line under your wheels and your more or less far enough out that you wont get doored as well as far enough out that cars will sort of expect you to veer into traffic as you avoid peds and double parkers. Its like your already in their traffic lane, but they can go around you with caution.

I like that, Israel's occupation of a non-existent entity. Very funny. And very bigoted.

Wow, this is just plain fun watching Fallout reach into his bag of analogies post after post! "You're just like a _____ from ______ back when _____. Go back to your ______ upstate and _______ with your mom etc etc" X40. Entertainment!

While in themselves, bike lanes are not a bad thing in some places, they don't appear to be used enough to warrant the expense and the problems that they do cause. What I see on Ninth Avenue is a mostly empty lane with half the bikers I do see still out in traffic and half the ones using the lane going in the wrong direction. There are so many written traffic directions that drivers, particularly out of towners are confused and end up in the wrong lane for making the turns they want to make so it's chaos on a busy day. Although we would all like to see fewer bike accidents, a lot of that is due to the way bikers ride and the lack of traffic enforcement. But after all is said, it may simply not be possible to make the city "safe enough" for biking to become a popular mode of transportation. No matter what they do, I will never be on a bike in this city. Sadik-Khan is practicing social engineering through her policies. Wait until her new pop-up cafe idea blossoms. That should cause a stir.

They could have an education campaign to let people know what the laws are when it comes to bicycle traffic. If you put in bike lanes and don't tell people how to use them, unless someone comes from an area where they were provided with bike education or are just experience enough, of course they aren't going to know how to use them. They could enforce speeding laws. I have never once seen a speeding car (which is the majority of them in this city) be pulled over here. I've never seen a car be pulled over for not yielding to pedestrians, cyclists or other cars who have the right of way.

The real problem is that most people in New York can't think far ahead enough beyond what they're having for lunch. Copenhagen is the bike mecca of the world. It used to have traffic like New York. It took them 30 years to get the safe streets they have now, but it worked. And yeah, yeah, New York isn't Copenhagen....but maybe we can give more credit to the population here and just have some fucking patience and foresight for once. More bikes=less congestion=everything moves a lot more quickly and smoothly. The city is punching itself in the face if it doesn't do this right, because the way traffic was before bike lanes wasn't working any better.

On top of that, look at the statistics for car ownership in the city. Not too many people own cars here, it's not practical to own, insure, park or drive a car here. We need alternatives.

Taco - smartest post I've read on this.

This guy needs to see a good Proctologist. . . so that he could have his head removed from his rectum!! This way- people may not refer to him as an ASSHOLE!

I'm afraid that the good congressman has been coming across as a [expletive] bozo lately. Perhaps he would be wise to keep his [expletive] mouth shut for awhile.

It sounds a lot more like Weiner making a joke at a cocktail party than making a political stand against bike lanes.

If you don't like bikes, support bike lanes and get them out of your way. Does he think his plan will have any effect on how many bikes are on the road in nyc?

Agree. I think we've reached a tipping point. The toothpaste is out of the tube and there's no way to get it back in. There are now tons of people living in areas with sub-par transit access. MetroCards are expensive, gas is getting even more so. Lots of people commute between neighborhoods not serviced by the Manhattan-centric subway system. Tons of young people are living further out in neighborhoods that are gentrifying the way the Lower East Side did already a generation ago.

People are going to bike. There's no stopping it now. The only question is how safe does the city want to make it for everyone, pedestrians and drivers included?

You're right, but the question also is how safe can the city make it? I doubt that the city can ever make it safe enough for a lot of us.
I agree with Andy that expanding mass transit is the best investment.