Thoughts while enjoying a juice from The Yippie Cafe at the end of a beautiful ride…
1. At the end of Bleecker, the bike lane merges from the left hand side of the street to the middle, creating left and right turn lanes (see image below). The transition works quite well (not one confused rider during my observations), and seems to be a good mix between bike infrastructure and vehicular cycling know-how.
Shifting Bike Lane
2. The only question from the above scenario is where do cyclists making a right on Bowery go: in the bike lane or on the outside of the right turn lane? I tried both, and the latter option seems much safer, and puts you directly into the Bowery bike lane. Is this intuitive to most riders, or would signage and/or sharrows work?
3. Speaking of sharrows, at the Christopher Street intersection, the street splits into a Y, with the left side keeping the bike lane and sharrows appearing on the right side (see image). When there is traffic, its a tough move for cyclists to move from the bike lane to the shared lane. How could this be improved?
A tricky move from left to right.
4. I was in a bike flock of just three riders (I think that is technically a flock), and even then we exhibited our power in numbers. The highlight came when a car cut in front of us and parked in the bike lane. The cab that was driving behind it deferred to the three of us (who had to squeeze onto the car lane). Perhaps this would have happened anyway had there been just one rider, but with the three of us there, the cab had no choice. (That’s all on bike flocks for now, but stay tuned for a dedicated post coming soon).
5. Why aren’t more people riding Bleecker? It is an easy, scenic, and safe ride, and a good connection from west to east. It conencts well with Lafayette Street (which will bring you to Brooklyn Bridge), Bowery (which brings you to Manhattan Bridge), and puts you right into the East Village.
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