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Comment by ghoji | Hacker News Reader

A bike share being owned and operated by one of the biggest threats to cyclist safety is, well, it’s something.

I would guess from my own experience as a frequent ride hailing passenger that Lyft/Uber drivers are less of a threat to cyclist safety on average than regular drivers.

Can't imagine how you formed that impression. TNC drivers love to perform the "Crazy Ivan" and they love to double-park in bike lanes.

Except when they swerve and park in bike lanes.

I bike daily in San Francisco and that hasn't been my experience. My mental heuristics for risk to injury for me are, from least to most dangerous:

- City buses. Slow and predictable.

- Normal passenger vehicles.

- Lyft/Uber. Will often swerve right in front of me while they're pulling over. (Presumably because they're watching their phone to make sure they're dropping off in the right spot, or watching the sidewalk looking for their next fare.)

- Large pickup trucks. Not sure if it's the ride height that gives you the illusion you're further away or just a personality trait of their drivers, but a disproportionate number of my close calls are pickup trucks blasting by at high speed with no clearance.

- Old beater cars with dents/stuff falling off. These drivers can behave very unpredictably.

The increased risk is passenger's opening the door right as you bike past or jumping out at a stop light or something. with cabs you know the risk so raise your awareness but with ridesharing could be anycar as you normally can't tell from the rear whose ridesharing.

A good heuristic is that they're parked illegally in the bike lane.

I see it as a good thing that will shine more light on cyclist safety.

My wife used to work at a cycling advocacy organization that was often asked for feedback on bike share implementation, Ford included. I was skeptical, too, but what they told her was that they've already reached market saturation in urban areas, so if they want to grow their customer base, they have to look at forms of transportation that aren't automobiles.

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