Comments on: Eyes on the Street: Scott Street Bike Box Reappears

By: michaelSF

michaelSF — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:35:29 +0000

MTA spokesperson Judson True says the agency plans to experiment with colored bike boxes

“in the next few years.” Five words say so much.

By: g

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:34:53 +0000

All this bike box needs is “Stop” below the big white line, then it is very well done, appropriate to current sf lexicon.

And at that why? if there’s no cyclist maybe don’t stop?

Fact is the bike in the road says bikes are there which is always good if you are on a bike.

Those stencils are nice because you put them all over and just say bike, in a way its as if the less attempt at control the better. “bike only” as an example. It’s enough for the lane to just say bike.

also cuts down on capacity fights, all you are saying it is bikes are there. in a way you lookl at scott and it as if the street is kind of slow,

yeah bikes are on this street, yeah you got it. good job.

By: Dave Snyder

Dave Snyder — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:16:26 +0000

A design detail that would help is the elimination of the last dashed stripe between the bike lane and the bike box.

By: John Rogers

John Rogers — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:35:21 +0000

On Saturday I spent some time documenting vehicles stopping in the bike box, which I will forward on to the SFMTA. Most drivers clearly have no idea what it is. In 15 minutes of observing, only a big Compass Transportation bus stopped behind the box. Every other car ignored the box entirely, except for the few times there were cyclists in the box and they had no choice. Given how often the box is occupied by automobiles, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at how few bike riders used the box, preferring to wait for the light in what is left of the bike lane at the curb. Particularly jaw-dropping were the two drivers who turned right from the bike box, around the pesky cyclists waiting at the crosswalk.

By: Jim F.

Jim F. — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:14:12 +0000

I agree with Andy. Portland put up a bunch of billboards to help educate drivers what a bike box is. We should do that here! I ride 14th street all the time and never use the bike box there either. I just wait behind all the cars b/c its easier.

By: Stuart Matthews

Stuart Matthews — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:25:19 +0000

Yeah, I bike _every_ day, and hadn’t heard of bike boxes until today, and definitely didn’t know what it was supposed to be until reading the comments here.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:22:55 +0000

Perhaps it was the Mystery Stenciler!

As a side project, we should catalog all the faded, missing, or paved over pieces of the existing Bike Network.

I saw a sharrow with missing wheels on Hugo Street just this morning. I’m sure there are hundreds of examples out there. Once we have a nice long list, we should present it to the MTA and see just how quickly we can get that done.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:35:31 +0000

While it isn’t really clear what the bike box is even supposed to be, I think the location is actually alright. It’s a nice spot to be if you’re planning on turning left at the next intersection.

By: Andy Thornley

Andy Thornley — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:49:40 +0000

I don’t know, that’s a nice bright advance stop line and sharrow, but no instructions for users, and no designation that the bike box space is special. I could never get very angry at motorists for sitting in the box before, how would they know what they were supposed to do? You’re supposed to drive over sharrows everywhere else in the city, and few ordinary citizens “read” the advance stop line, it’s only geeks like us that understand the concept without further instruction, like “STOP HERE” on the pavement). Again, get a load of Portland’s much fuller public education effort, PSAs, billboards, brochures, and signage at the bike boxes themselves:

http://bikeportland.org/2008/02/12/pdot-unveils-bike-box-marketing-slogan-graphics/

At the risk of hurt feelings at SFMTA, I’ve got to grade this as a 1/2 bike box, keep working on it, team (and we’ll talk about the 3/4-complete Shrader valve later) . . .