In these tough economic times I wonder how many home owners/landlords would sell their curbcut rights - like selling your development rights to preserve open space - for a lump sum. That property would lose forwever the right or opportunity have a curb cut - but they could keep thier garage for storage, housing, or bike parking.

On the downside, that would create more curbspace for parked cars, unless you trade the curbcut for a green space or bike lane.

Oh, rode Fell St yesterday about 3:30pm, bike lane blocked by 8 or 9 cars. Couldn't even see the renegade painting.

You have my full support! As a cycle-commuter in the city, I'm unhappy to see so many new cyclists keeping to sidewalks (and going counterflow on too-narrow bike lanes). Stencil away!

In a true Green strategy Fell and Oak would both have a traffic lane removed to create a physically separated bicycle lane their entire length, painted green, with curb cuts not allowed.

Just kidding, because that is politically (not technically) impossible!

I don't think it's a reasonable solution to advise bicyclists just not to ride on Fell. The Three Blocks of Terror between Scott and Baker are tremendously important to bicyclists who travel east/west in the city because they are the connection from the Wiggle to the Panhandle, which in turn is the connection to Golden Gate Park. The eastbound stretch isn't quite so awful because lights slow the cars from Baker to Divisadero, leaving only Divisadero to Scott a white knuckle ride. But going westward all three blocks are a horrendous experience of 40-45-even 50 mph cars zooming by your right elbow while you are forced to merge into said terrifying traffic to get around the gas station line. It easily is the worst part of every trip I take east/west in the city, and if Page Street didn't have the monster hill that it does, I would take that instead.

My answer would be to take out parking and created protected bike lanes (I would go for bidirectional lanes on Oak.) Of course I realize this wouldn't be popular with the neighborhood. The thing is, the back up for the gas station has got to be truly nasty for the people living in that area with all the noxious fumes created by the idling cars. Because gas stations are such environmental hazards, maybe they shouldn't be located so as to endanger the health and safety of residents? Maybe we should be rethinking how and where we fuel our cars altogether?

To those pedestrians frustrated with bikes, I agree that bicyclists shouldn't be riding on the sidewalk, and it might actually be a good idea to stencil "no bikes" here and there. However, I am somewhat sympathetic to the bicylists who ride on the sidewalk those stretch of blocks, because not everyone has the nerves of steel to cope with the traffic as it currently exists.

If there was to be a new front in site-specific advocacy (similar to market/octavia), this should be it.

We need to look at the big picture. There should not be an unprotected bike lane on the left side of Fell that goes past a very popular gas station. I would go so far as to say that it is irresponsible to have such a facility there because it exposes bicyclists to a high degree of predictable danger.

The connection between the panhandle (and GG Park itself) is simply too important for conditions to be this bad. One possibility is a bidirectional, fully protected bike lane on Oak St instead of Fell. There is no gas station and it is one block closer in to the wiggle. We could also do it by having bike lanes on both sides of Oak, one of which would be contraflow. We would need to remove parked cars for 4 blocks but it would be well worth it.

Any other suggestions for a better facility than the current Fell St bike lane?

http://is.gd/1qK7w

That gas station sucks for drivers as you have to get in the left lane, drive in and then try and either a) get out BEFORE the stoplight (good luck with that) or you end up going on Divisadero out of your way. Either way it sucks but the ARCO is usually the one with the cheapest gas.

Then of course you have to navigate with people who don't understand the concept of a one way multi lane road. Bicyclists caught in the middle of this? Hey, you're a helluva lot braver than I - if I was a biker I'd pedal like the wind the frak away from Fell.

Now the thing is, this area is a quasar of gas station activity. There's ANOTHER ONE with a bigass carwash on Oak, and then ANOTHER across Divis as well. Let's just say that with this trifecta, no one wins.

Peds don't win - we're all dodging cars. Cars don't win - we're too busy pissing off each other with our inability to follow traffic signals and common sense in a dense area causing traffic jams for cars, buses, and so on. Bicyclists? Holy frak, good luck with that. Bring your armor and your gun.

I'm not paid enough to know the answer, and I'm not a fan of knee-jerkism, but I'm not sure a stenciled bike lane will tell the minions blasting through there to keep an eye out for y'all. I don't mean that to be a jerk, I mean that in the "SF drivers are some of the dumbest in the world oh GOD don't get killed please" way.

oh and don't expect the gas station people to do a damn thing without the threat of La Ley shoving a boot up their ass. Trust me.

-marc

@kit, if you knew anything about that area you would know to drive in the middle or right lane when you approach divis, since when cars are blocking the bike lane they are also blocking the left lane, making it completely impassable.

How about going out and painting some bike lanes green?