[bryanlarsen]

Are segregated lanes any better? It seems to me that the vast bulk of the danger for cyclists is at intersections (the dreaded right hook, mostly). A segregated lane can make it harder for a car to see you and prevents you from taking the lane to make yourself obvious.

What we need are protected intersections; the rest of the road can be painted or segregated, I don't really care.

https://peopleforbikes.org/blog/four-u-s-cities-are-racing-t...

It really doesn't have to be much, just bollards in the middle of intersections forcing cars to make a wide right turn would be enough.

[protonimitate]

Intersections are dangerous for sure, but I think it mostly depends on the city and driving culture each has.

One thing that segregated lanes help immensely with is double-parking in painted bike lanes, and bus routes that weave in and out of bike lanes to make their stops.

Ideally we'd have both segregated lanes and protected intersections.

[jessaustin]

bus routes that weave in and out of bike lanes

Have you really found this to be a problem? Everywhere I've lived and cycled, buses are the most predictable vehicles on the road. When they approach from behind, they leave plenty of space. They rarely go very fast. They stop often enough that you'd never get stuck behind them. Unlike a lot of other "professionally driven" vehicles, they know where they're going and don't make last-second turns. They signal their turns. Any cyclist unaware enough to be endangered by a city bus is also threatened by every other vehicle on the street.

[leetcrew]

> Everywhere I've lived and cycled, buses are the most predictable vehicles on the road.

living in a midsize US east coast city, this does not match my experience at all. city bus drivers have the same mentality as truck drivers on the interstate: I'm bigger than you so you better get out of my way. it's a common occurrence to see a city bus pull all the way over to the right for a stop, then cut across four lanes of traffic to turn left at the next light.

[jessaustin]

That sounds like a complaint to address to whomever designed that bus route, not to the drivers on the route? I'm sure the drivers don't enjoy that maneuver. (and sure, sometimes that's going to be unavoidable for any particular route...) Frankly, you sound a bit like an automobile driver, complaining about interstates and cutting across four lanes. On a bicycle it's easy to observe, plan ahead, and avoid the maneuver you've mentioned. For one thing, it always occurs in the same place! Also, it's great to be cycling behind a big vehicle as it vacates a lane: you've got first dibs on the free space.

[protonimitate]

Yes, at least in Boston it's a major issue. I've personally seen three separate instances of a MBTA bus forcing a cyclist on to the curb by approaching them from behind, passing, and cutting them off.

They _should_ be predictable, but that does not seem to be the case in my anecdotedal experience.

And regardless, why put the onus of responsibility on the bus driver when a segregated lane would solve the issue entirely?

[em-bee]

> They stop often enough that you'd never get stuck behind them.

depends on your locality. the experience i have is that because of the stops, the bus travel speed matches that of a bike. so when you are close to a bus you are passing the bus every time it stops only to be passed by the bus on the way to the next stop.

you then always have to watch out to not get in the way of passengers, or in the busses blind spots.

a totally seperate path gives me the peace of mind that i only have to worry about pedestrians and not try to avoid getting into the way of bigger vehicles.