For those who haven’t heard, our almighty benefactors at the SFMTA have decided that under certain instances taxis can stop in bike lanes. This new genius-spew is of course ignoring the fact that taxis stop in the bike lanes, all the time, to offload everything. When riding my bike and telling them that it’s a bike lane, they generally just flip me off. I guess I should be thankful that they don’t run me down…
Anyways, if you’re a cyclist and have some degree of alarm in SFMTA allowing it (keeping in mind that more sane places like NYC do not) send an email like the one below to Deputy Director of SMTA Taxi Services, Christiane Hayashi (christiane.hayashi@sfmta.com). Naturally, if anyone else has another other addresses at SFMTA to send to, feel free to post them as well.
Christiane,
I’ve only recently heard about the plan to allow taxis to park in the city’s bicycle lanes as there appeared to be little if any public transparency in this.
Let me be one of the many to express incredible disdain for this decision from the SFMTA. Given the general attitude from taxi drivers towards all others on the road (especially bicyclists) and the fact that they already stop in the bicycle lanes to drop off any and all passengers, this will only make a bad situation worse. And, more than the inconvenience of having to swerve around taxis when one is riding a bike and in to vehicular traffic, it sets up the city for massive liability if it is permitting taxi drivers to engage in dangerous driving activities such as this.
Let me emphasize that I am not a member of the SF Bike Coalition. I am just a city resident who uses his bike to get places as the Muni system has become too cost prohibitive and unreliable. I implore you to reconsider this situation as it only polarizes those of us who would simply like to exist and transport ourselves around San Francisco without it becoming an all-out, lawyer-fueled fight for common sense.
1 Comment until now
At first I was annoyed by this, but the more I think about it, the more I realize this is probably the safer option. A taxi that stops but doesn’t pull over into the bike lane creates the same kind of hazard as a driver making a right turn without merging into the bike lane first–that is, an ambiguous situation where nobody has a clear course of action.
Suppose the taxi does not pull over in the bike lane. Then, (1) as a cyclist, you are less aware that somebody may be getting into or out of the cab; and (2) to avoid collisions with people crossing through the bike lane, you now have to move into the second car lane to safely pass the cab on the left. Alternately, if the cab is clearly in the bike path blocking your way, you can’t pass on the right at all (this is a good thing), and to pass on the left, you only need to merge into the first car lane. Furthermore, cars trying to pass that cab should also move out of your way into the second car lane, making the single lane change even easier.
Letting cabs pull over in the bike lane offers the same kind of advantages as riding in the center (rather than the far right) of a regular traffic lane: http://www.commutebybike.com/2008/03/18/top-5-reasons-to-claim-the-lane-and-why-its-safer/.