Guerrilla Bike Lanes: San Francisco Makes Illicit Infrastructure Permanent

I don't know if everyone would necessarily be safer if vehicles who decide to stop did so by blocking a lane of auto traffic while leaving the bike lane clear. It would introduce a visibility issue which would prevent cyclists from seeing anyone walking in front of the stopped vehicle to and from the curb, for instance.

Cars, OTOH, just have to stand there and wait, and it doesn't take many minuted for a major gridlock to form.

And that's why I think it's reasonable to block bike lanes over car lanes. Why you have to block anyone is maybe the more important, but much harder question.

but i really feel for the delivery guys. if they park on the right they have angry bike riders screaming at them and shooting past them at high speed when they are trying to work. if they park in the middle of the street they have to somehow negotiate pallet jacks full of food across active traffic.

so sure, lets make it harder for single occupancy vehicles. they use the most resource and are arguably impossible to sustain going forward. but the bikes are directly in conflict with deliveries, contractors, busses, subway riders, and pedestrians. how do we deal with that?

I'm not sure what part of Fell St you are talking about, since the only part with a bike lane that I'm aware of is the section between Scott and Baker and there's no hill on that part. But I think you probably mean the section leading up to the left turn merge at Divisidero where there's also a lot of cars waiting in line for the gas station on the corner. I do sympathize, since as a cyclist myself I don't find that to be very safe either.

I guess I don't understand the part that makes you "furious for my own safety" though. You have the power to be safe in this situation. Just stop behind the blocking vehicle until it's safe to go around. The traffic light at Scott will eventually be red, which will block the traffic on Fell "pouring down the hill at 40mph+".

My own frustration with my fellow bicyclists' behavior is that a lot of us seem to think we deserve to never have to stop for any inconvenience ever. That we for some reason deserve to never have our feet touch the ground.

Sometimes traffic slows or stops in front of you. Sometimes you have to wait until it's safe to go around. Automobiles do this all the time and don't often complain by slamming on the horn or endangering themselves and others by suddenly swerving and taking the lane. Those that do take those actions in response to the minor inconvenience that is stopping and safely waiting are rightly derided as jerks.

- Never take a taxi, Uber, or Lyft unless both ends of your trip have parking or passenger loading zones available?

- Never have food, a package, or mail delivered unless your building has a dedicated cargo loading zone?

- Never shop at a store or eat at a restaurant which lacks a dedicated cargo loading zone?

Short term double parking is okay because living in a dense area would be totally infeasible if no one broke that law.

edit: I misunderstood. Yes, if the bike lane is contraflow of course use it that way. Everyone expects bikes from the "wrong way" in that situation. It's all about minimizing surprises to anyone in or near the street.

If there is no bike lane. Take the whole lane.

These are more historical remnants, new codes don't really allow for that but if a village was there at the time people still mostly used horse-drawn carts (which was very common until post-war) they weren't going to tear down all the houses to build the road.

It leads to interesting situations e.g. A380 parts heading to the final assembly line near Toulouse go through Levignac, some parts have inches of clearance from the houses.