Bike on the left hand side of the lane?

[Tory]

I have a strong urge to say that we should bike on the most left lane, on the left hand side of lane....


Thoughts?

[joe]

Are you saying bike right beside the centre line?

[Tory]

in deed.

oh that was a long response. I recently set up an email account just for forums that I will actually check. time to set that up for this.

Sidewalk
parked cars
westbound driving
westbound biking
centre line
eastbound biking
eastbound driving
sidewalk

--------pros-------------
*automobile right turn interaction with cyclist relieved
*dooring issues relieved
*getting squeeze into the curb relieved
*I personally find cyclists are more visible if they are not hugging the curb
*probably less deathly pot holes.. and if riding 700x23c, they can really be a serious concern
*drivers would have a better ability to judge how close they are to cyclists

-----------------cons-------------------
*One COULD feel more vulnerable, I personally wouldn't.. I don't think.
*Head on collisions with cars.... perhaps cyclists, but we're better than that.
*more difficult to pull of the road in emergency (which I have actually needed to do a couple times from chain drops and loose stem that came from a store on a new bike! I wont mention who!)
*if one is struck by a car, which I think would be less likely, but if it were to happen
one could be launched into on coming traffic.


probably some more. but. Possibly deserves some thought

[Todd Tyrtle]

I remember a photo (Maybe you posted it, Joe?) of cyclists using the Spadina ROW during last year's striike. That, in all honesty, looked like an ideal situation. Right in the middle, protected by a curb, your own signals and advance green for left turns. No more right hooks, squeezing, etc. Seems like an ideal situation IMO.

[joe]

Good memory, Todd. :)

The post is here (it was a photo of the day).

There is an accompanying one too:

You can see the pics on flickr (by garry choo) here and here.

[Todd Tyrtle]

Thanks Joe, for reposting that. It is one of my favourite pics. So much potential. Make an ROW about half that size down a few major E/W and N/S streets in the city and imagine how different getting around the city could be.

Other pie in the sky projects:

Close Queen to private autos (there are enough other E/W thoroughfares already nearby). Queen streetcar speeds up with no left turners and door zones are eliminated. Heck, give one more lane on each side to pedestrians and one lane each way to active transit.

Also: how about elevated bike thoroughfares. Cars park underneath, we ride above. How expensive could it be? Who would be negatively impacted in the end? Getting up/down is still a little problematic in my mind. I do like the idea of sitting in a second or third floor apartment and watching the bikes go by...

And then, of course, I really like the idea of leaving the Gardiner up instead of tearing it down. That'd be one hell of a cross-Toronto bike route!