Ranking the best and worst types of bike lanes

[CopperScott]

My town has a shoulder on the main road that's about 1m wide. The next town over has the same exact shoulder, except it has a bicycle logo in it. What both towns failed to realize however, is that paint is not infrastructure.

[juliapoelstra]

Today, I'm in a two-way, separated bike lane when I hear honking behind me. I've got a car driving behind me! The two-way bike lane was just large enough for her to get her car down but she's squeezed between two curbs.... And then she was honking at ME! lol.

[bigJovialJon]

I would rate a LOW TRAFFIC road with no infrastructure at all higher than a road with painted bike lanes.

[Gribbo]

I have -1 out of 10 for the painted cycle lanes on the side of a busy road in a modern development near Jakarta. The cycle lanes are painted green. Very commendable except they used regular paint with no non-slip ingredient and with a surface very similar to black ice when wet. Doh!

[tamaraking]

I personally prefer sharrows to painted bike lanes because sharrows give you permission to use the entire width of the road and remind motorists that you have a right to do exactly that. Motorists get really mad if you leave that painted bike lane to avoid rocks, broken glass, construction debris and roadkill. My council doesn’t clean the painted bike lanes so it’s like riding through gravel at best.

[dirtywaterpj_dj]

The other bad thing about that painted bike lane is the section with parked cars. If someone opens their car door into the bike lane…

[stefat]

In my experience I would say that some of the worst bike lanes in my city (Florence, the orignal one) are the shared ones with pedestrians, a good way to make the commute way more dangerous for both parties involved😅

[Leonium]

Personality I prefer 2 way bike lines because It gives you more room for error when it's quiet or you're traveling with others. Also, if it's on both sides off the road you don't need to cross as often.

[GMPax]

Sharrows < Taking the Lane < Painted bike lane (next to cars) < Painted bike lane (next to curb) < Separated Lane < Protected Lane

(I call lanes "separated" if they only have a wide painted buffer and _plastic_ posts; it's not truly protected until there are barriers motor vehicles *cannot get through* ... e.g. steel bollards or concrete barriers.)

[MarijnRoorda]

An entire country designed for people, 100 out of 10. Welcome to The Netherlands!

[shroomchild]

As an American with almost no bike paths I just go on the side walk and yell at people.

[tasomaniac]

There is one more option in Germany nowadays: Fahrradstraße. It means bicycle street. It's bicycle only + only for people living in an apartment in that street (parking only)

[Ihwaz]

I rank painted on bike lanes lower than no bike lanes. Painted on bike lanes have been proven to lead to drivers giving less space to bicycles when passing than no markings at all.

[yokljo]

There's also two kinds of sharrows: Those at the side of the lane and those in the middle of the lane. I much prefer the ones in the middle because at least it doesn't imply that I should try to ride on the edge so cars can drive next to me in the same tiny lane.

[TheTrainStationinc]

My city had the brilliant idea of making a sharrow out of a parking lane.
You ride down the parking lane until you encounter a parked car then you merge into traffic to go around it.

[jaridkeen]

I dont consider any painted bike lane a Bike Lane. If you wouldn't let a 5 year old ride there alone in the bike lane, then its not a bike lane. Its a Street for Cars

[bertnewton]

I actually like the sharrows. They give me more confidence to own the lane if I have to.

[JonGZBOS]

Painted cycle lanes are death traps in my city. People get killed because of car doors, people pulling into or out of a parking spot without looking. A lady recently got smacked with a car door, fell into opposing lane and got ran over and died. They are the 0/10 in my eyes.

[deldarel]

I really like the two-way bicycle lanes. You often see two people cycling next to each other and with the extra lane you can pass them. It also gives leeway to cargo bikes.
And lastly often cyclists don't cross the road twice in order to cycle 100m on the correct side of the road. Having two way bicycle paths on both sides of the road accommodates this. It's not to reward people who initially cycled on the wrong side, it's to help the people who suffered from others doing that.
It's quite common in cities in the Netherlands to have two-way bicycle lanes on both sides, and it's also a relatively new development. 10 years ago you barely saw it outside of the busiest parts of a bike main net.

[KellyS_]

This is an older short, but I've just moved to Milton Keynes (UK) which has an extensive network of multi-use paths that were specifically designed to keep pedestrians and cycle traffic separate from auto traffic. They are *wonderful*! They're often a faster more direct route than it would be to go out to the main road, then ride in the gutter with 50 mph cars speeding past. Certainly less stressful. They're a joy to walk or ride on.