I ride frequently on the streets with or without bike lanes. I am very alert and safety conscious, but I’ve had a number of close calls. If the city is a safe place to cycle, then more people will ride a bike. And unless the bike lane system is comprehensive and linked together, then it’s hard for many people to get where they want to. When commuters start looking out their window and see bikes whizzing by while their taxi meter runs up, they might buy a bike as well. Not to mention (as many have above) the number of children and teenagers that would be able to safely ride with distinct bike lanes.

It is inevitable that as winter approaches less people will ride their bikes. But, with just a little bit a warm gear, a splash guard and maybe a pancho – it’s still a great way to get where you’re going.

What about having a plan like this for other parts of the city? I agree there has been a lot more bike lanes installed but there’s still a huge need to get more protected bike lanes in the other boroughs.

Are you going to send these drawings to anyone?

Excellent drawings and renderings. Thanks!

I am mildly concerned about peds in the bike lanes, especially by Bellvue (I assume that the busses would have to go on the east side of 1st Ave, to accomodate people leaving the L train at 14th, and going to the hospitals) — those areas get quite crowded, and I’m concerned about peds standing in the bike lanes.

Overall it looks beautiful though. Thanks.

I know MTA and DOT had concerns, so I’ve read through their notes and spent some time this weekend thinking about how to service the goals, while addressing their concerns.

I drew up a design here: http://www.seankenney.com/downloads/streetsblog/east-side-sbs.jpg More renderings at http://www.flickr.com/photos/seankenney/tags/sbs/

I’m curious to everyone’s thoughts?

Regarding bus accommodation it will probably be better than Madison Avenue which (without any expert knowlege) seems to work quite well

First, by combining bus and cycle path in a two-lane separated path, then if a truck somehow gets into the path to park at the curb, the bus can detour around it through the cyclist portion. This should happen only rarely and since we are talking about professional drivers who are driving over the flexards it would be done carefully. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make to keep the buses running and the address the overblown MTA concern that the bus will be “trapped” in a separated lane.

Second, I think the cycle track, standing alone, is a very vulnerable political target that may be sacrificed as soon as there is a fight over reduced parking. If the cycle track is seen as a dual purpose roadway–ordinarily bikes, who always have the right of way, but occasionally an emergency bus “escape route” for use only when a bus must get around another vehicle that is illegally blocking the separated bus route–it ties the political fortunes of the two together.

East midtown at morning rush hour is a psychotic zoo of high-speed maniacal driving. Every few moments, the bus lanes are obstructed by taxi drop offs outside office buildings, big delivery trucks (water, beer, USPS, etc), and idling private buses (Hampton Jitney, etc).

Buses don’t pass me on my bike – I pass buses. In 20 blocks, I pass several buses on my slow bike ride because they can’t get through the mess. And when the bus lane is not full of vehicles “stopped for a just a sec”, commuters and taxis flood into the “free space” of the bus lane to pass slower traffic in their rush to get to work on time.

We here at Streetsblog are a creative and insightful bunch, and are clearly all underwhelmed by the DOT’s proposal. I think we all need to team up and present our own rebuttle of a proposal here and pass it along via TA to the DOT. Who’s with me?

I use first and second ave every day to get to work, either by bike or by bus. I’m seriously considering getting a car. If I can find two coworkers to carpool with me from Brooklyn we can pay for off street parking for the same price as we’re now paying for metrocards. I was hoping this plan was going to make my life easier, but it looks now like it won’t help much at all. The clear message from the city and state these past few years is that cars are always going to come first, so I might as well just accept that and join in. I’d cut my commute from 50 to 15 mins each way.

Even worse is when the bus lane is between parking and the rest of the street.

“While the offset bus lane is expected to reduce travel times the most, the MTA and DOT argued that it was inappropriate for narrower or busier parts of the corridor.”

That’s just completely false. We have a lane like that in Boston, it’s impossible to enforce because cars are allowed to use it to park (and make right turns). So any ticket can be countered with “I was parking”.

Bicycles Only: Thanks for the details. After reading your post, I verified that the lanes in the renderings were one-way lanes. As far as looping over to Broadway to go downtown, what do you do with the younger cyclists between 47th St and 42nd St, now that Times Square has been pedestrianized? Also, do you have any suggestions about what to do about salmon-cycling families who will be using the 1st Ave lane for downtown trips to avoid the lack of facilities on 2nd Ave? Maybe we should advocate for two-way lanes on both 1st and 2nd Avenues.