Bicycle traffic on Spruce and Pine Streets appears to have nearly doubled based on partial counts by the BCGP. The new bike lanes has resulted in an immediate shift in bike traffic in the Center City road network. With about 90% of the counts completed bicycle traffic has increased by 95% with the most dramatic changes on Pine St.
Look for a complete 2009 Bicycle Count Report later this fall.
This is the legacy blog of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. It is an archive of posts from 2003 to 2014. Making your ride better since 1972. https://www.bicyclecoalition.org
11 comments:
Riding a bike on Spruce and Lombard Streets westbound were especially dangerous before the bike lane installation. Lombard street has always been horrible and is especially more so now with increased car, more taxi driving actually, than ever but it is nice to have a street where you can feel safe commuting any time of day. The travel time by vehicle on each street, Pine and Spruce, has not really increased any so I can't see how anyone would complain. The only problem now is keeping the delivery vehicles and taxi cabs from parking in the lane, especially at night when the cabs tend to stop rather abruptly causing incidents.
no control?
Will you be releasing the full report, detailing times of day measured and the like?
I think bike lane numbers will only increase now that some repairs were made to the streets. When the lanes were first painted, some of the street conditions were downright dangerous for cyclists.
Let's all show some courtesy and common sense in our riding. It'll help make these lanes a permanent fixture.
hmm, after all these years I've just discovered that Philadelphia has its own cycling laws, in addition to the PA ones.
And I found something particularly terrifying:
§12-804 (2) Whenever a useable (sic) path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not use the roadway.
http://www.phila.gov/philacode/html/_data/title12/CHAPTER_12_800_BICYCLE_REGULAT/12_804_Riding_on_Roadways_and_.html
What can I do to help get rid of these silly new bike lanes? Returning the freedom to ride in either lane to me.
Matt - I recommend that you comment on the Philadelphia Bicycle Plan. You can send an email on the contact page. There will also be another round of public meetings in the Spring.
Bike Plan home page - http://www.tooledesign.com/philadelphia/
@matt
"What can I do to help get rid of these silly new bike lanes?"
The report just showed in one area a 230% increase in ridership with bike lanes, and you're asking what you can do to get rid of them? If you prefer to drive with traffic, then the question should be "What can we do to change the law to not require use of the lane?", not, "how do we get rid of something that is successfully attracting people to bicycling?", right?
I've only lived in Philly for a few weeks, so I timed it just right to enjoy the new bike lanes... which I am.
I am also encouraged by the data presented here that indicate less bikes on the sidewalk. I was almost taken out this week by a sidewalk biker and it really bugs me when bikers crowd the sidewalk -- I can only imagine what non-bikers think.
Do the bike lanes extend to the intersection stop line? If so, did you study the behavior there? Are the lines solid or dashed? Do cars merge into the bike lane to make a right turn close to the curb (as is traditional), or do they turn from the left of the bike lane? Have advocates thought about which is preferable? California has legislated the former, Oregon the latter. This confusion is, IMO, a real weakness and danger of bike lanes at intersections. Cyclists have been killed by right hooks while in such a bike lane. The safest option is to signal and negotiate a merge into line if possible. Bike lanes at intersections discourage this best practice and make motorists less accepting of it.
I assume when the full report is published, they will include important statistically relevant data such as days and times of day observed, weather, etc. Also, were any of the roads widened or had other configuration changes made, or were the stripes the only change? Statistical critique that I've heard directed at this type of study is that it doesn't always sufficiently isolate variables and distinguish causation from mere correlation.
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