Options for opposing Connecticut Avenue changes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

I don’t. And if they take the bus or metro on the bad weather days so what?

Well, DC gets 114 days of precipitation. And it’s pretty cold to be on a bike for at least 100 days a year. The ROI on this project seems way overblown. Can’t we just start with speed cameras at every intersection and see if that changes driver behavior? If that doesn’t work, then look at changing the roadway. This just seems like typical DC ready, fire, aim.

It's almost like you ... didn't read all the DDOT materials about how they studied the corridor and chose redesign options.

And no, it's not too cold to bike in DC in the winter. Not at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

I don’t. And if they take the bus or metro on the bad weather days so what?

Well, DC gets 114 days of precipitation. And it’s pretty cold to be on a bike for at least 100 days a year. The ROI on this project seems way overblown. Can’t we just start with speed cameras at every intersection and see if that changes driver behavior? If that doesn’t work, then look at changing the roadway. This just seems like typical DC ready, fire, aim.

Given no one pays speed camera fines, it is clear there is no appettitie for enforcement. As such, the city has no choice but to change the physical attributes of our public spaces. That is why you see bump outs, speed tables, etc all over the city.

But that’s exactly why the bike lanes won’t work. Adding bike lanes will require ADDITIONAL enforcement. And, as you correctly note, DC can’t enforce what it already has. Just scroll through the bike mafia Twitter accounts and you’ll see daily hysterical posts about cars, delivery trucks, Ubers, emergency vehicles all parked in bike lines, protected and unprotected. What’s CT going to be like when 3000 bikes a day are forced into overcrowded traffic lanes because four Amazon vans are parked with their blinkers going across several blocks. So many things have to go right for this not to be a total cluster.

[Anonymous]

Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

I don’t. And if they take the bus or metro on the bad weather days so what?

Well, DC gets 114 days of precipitation. And it’s pretty cold to be on a bike for at least 100 days a year. The ROI on this project seems way overblown. Can’t we just start with speed cameras at every intersection and see if that changes driver behavior? If that doesn’t work, then look at changing the roadway. This just seems like typical DC ready, fire, aim.

Believe it or not, people are also active when it is cold out. Gloves and a face shield make for an easy bike commute!

DC actually has pretty mild winters so I don't think that has much impact on biking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

And the goalposts move again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

The seasonal effect in ridership on the MBT (mostly) connecting silver spring to downtown is a variance of less than 10% of riders in the dead of summer or winter compared to the other times. I.e., 90% of bike commuters on the MBT bike the same all year around. This is based on counter data since like 2016 on the trail. So no, you are wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

And the goalposts move again.

we shouldn't have sidewalks either, since people won't walk on them in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

The seasonal effect in ridership on the MBT (mostly) connecting silver spring to downtown is a variance of less than 10% of riders in the dead of summer or winter compared to the other times. I.e., 90% of bike commuters on the MBT bike the same all year around. This is based on counter data since like 2016 on the trail. So no, you are wrong.

Interesting. Do you have a link?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

The seasonal effect in ridership on the MBT (mostly) connecting silver spring to downtown is a variance of less than 10% of riders in the dead of summer or winter compared to the other times. I.e., 90% of bike commuters on the MBT bike the same all year around. This is based on counter data since like 2016 on the trail. So no, you are wrong.

Interesting. Do you have a link?

Not a direct one. How do I upload a screenshot to this thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

I don’t. And if they take the bus or metro on the bad weather days so what?

Well, DC gets 114 days of precipitation. And it’s pretty cold to be on a bike for at least 100 days a year. The ROI on this project seems way overblown. Can’t we just start with speed cameras at every intersection and see if that changes driver behavior? If that doesn’t work, then look at changing the roadway. This just seems like typical DC ready, fire, aim.

Given no one pays speed camera fines, it is clear there is no appettitie for enforcement. As such, the city has no choice but to change the physical attributes of our public spaces. That is why you see bump outs, speed tables, etc all over the city.

But that’s exactly why the bike lanes won’t work. Adding bike lanes will require ADDITIONAL enforcement. And, as you correctly note, DC can’t enforce what it already has. Just scroll through the bike mafia Twitter accounts and you’ll see daily hysterical posts about cars, delivery trucks, Ubers, emergency vehicles all parked in bike lines, protected and unprotected. What’s CT going to be like when 3000 bikes a day are forced into overcrowded traffic lanes because four Amazon vans are parked with their blinkers going across several blocks. So many things have to go right for this not to be a total cluster.

They won't be forced into overcrowded traffic lanes. They'll be forced to get off their bikes and walk around the delivery vans in the bike lane or to bike very slowly between the van and the edge of the bike lane, like they do already when cars block the bike lanes. And anyway, if the traffic lanes are as overcrowded as you fear, the bikes will be going as fast as the cars are, and it won't slow things down much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

The seasonal effect in ridership on the MBT (mostly) connecting silver spring to downtown is a variance of less than 10% of riders in the dead of summer or winter compared to the other times. I.e., 90% of bike commuters on the MBT bike the same all year around. This is based on counter data since like 2016 on the trail. So no, you are wrong.

I wasn’t aware that the MBT trail was inches away from metro buses driving 25 MPH and spraying road salt on bikers. You data is clearly applicable to Connecticut Ave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unsurprisingly the most zealous bike advocates are the ones who will bike in any weather. This does not hold for the general population of bikers.

The seasonal effect in ridership on the MBT (mostly) connecting silver spring to downtown is a variance of less than 10% of riders in the dead of summer or winter compared to the other times. I.e., 90% of bike commuters on the MBT bike the same all year around. This is based on counter data since like 2016 on the trail. So no, you are wrong.

I wasn’t aware that the MBT trail was inches away from metro buses driving 25 MPH and spraying road salt on bikers. You data is clearly applicable to Connecticut Ave.

But Connecticut is WAY more convenient for bike commuters who live west of Rock Creek Park than the MBT, and if you're in a protected bike lane, why do you care how fast the buses are going nearby? (And if they're "spraying road salt" then that's right after a snowstorm, in which case ridership probably is down everywhere for a few days.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

I don’t. And if they take the bus or metro on the bad weather days so what?

Well, DC gets 114 days of precipitation. And it’s pretty cold to be on a bike for at least 100 days a year. The ROI on this project seems way overblown. Can’t we just start with speed cameras at every intersection and see if that changes driver behavior? If that doesn’t work, then look at changing the roadway. This just seems like typical DC ready, fire, aim.

Given no one pays speed camera fines, it is clear there is no appettitie for enforcement. As such, the city has no choice but to change the physical attributes of our public spaces. That is why you see bump outs, speed tables, etc all over the city.

But that’s exactly why the bike lanes won’t work. Adding bike lanes will require ADDITIONAL enforcement. And, as you correctly note, DC can’t enforce what it already has. Just scroll through the bike mafia Twitter accounts and you’ll see daily hysterical posts about cars, delivery trucks, Ubers, emergency vehicles all parked in bike lines, protected and unprotected. What’s CT going to be like when 3000 bikes a day are forced into overcrowded traffic lanes because four Amazon vans are parked with their blinkers going across several blocks. So many things have to go right for this not to be a total cluster.

They won't be forced into overcrowded traffic lanes. They'll be forced to get off their bikes and walk around the delivery vans in the bike lane or to bike very slowly between the van and the edge of the bike lane, like they do already when cars block the bike lanes. And anyway, if the traffic lanes are as overcrowded as you fear, the bikes will be going as fast as the cars are, and it won't slow things down much.

Right. So after a few days of continuously having to start and stop on their bikes they will get back in their car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

I don’t. And if they take the bus or metro on the bad weather days so what?

Well, DC gets 114 days of precipitation. And it’s pretty cold to be on a bike for at least 100 days a year. The ROI on this project seems way overblown. Can’t we just start with speed cameras at every intersection and see if that changes driver behavior? If that doesn’t work, then look at changing the roadway. This just seems like typical DC ready, fire, aim.

Given no one pays speed camera fines, it is clear there is no appettitie for enforcement. As such, the city has no choice but to change the physical attributes of our public spaces. That is why you see bump outs, speed tables, etc all over the city.

But that’s exactly why the bike lanes won’t work. Adding bike lanes will require ADDITIONAL enforcement. And, as you correctly note, DC can’t enforce what it already has. Just scroll through the bike mafia Twitter accounts and you’ll see daily hysterical posts about cars, delivery trucks, Ubers, emergency vehicles all parked in bike lines, protected and unprotected. What’s CT going to be like when 3000 bikes a day are forced into overcrowded traffic lanes because four Amazon vans are parked with their blinkers going across several blocks. So many things have to go right for this not to be a total cluster.

They won't be forced into overcrowded traffic lanes. They'll be forced to get off their bikes and walk around the delivery vans in the bike lane or to bike very slowly between the van and the edge of the bike lane, like they do already when cars block the bike lanes. And anyway, if the traffic lanes are as overcrowded as you fear, the bikes will be going as fast as the cars are, and it won't slow things down much.

Right. So after a few days of continuously having to start and stop on their bikes they will get back in their car.

Right because that's what already happens now when bike commuters encounter parked cars in bike lanes? No. They'll keep biking and being annoyed about it, and posting to the Twitter accounts that you seem to spend a lot of time looking at for someone who finds the very idea of commuting to work by bicycle to be absurd and/or offensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just find it hard to believe that there are 3000 people along the corridor that are going to ride their bikes downtown in all weather with a backpack full of professional shoes/clothes, shower upon arrival, and then do the reverse at the end of the day. I know DDOT has their projections, but the studies could use a scrub from someone who specializes in human behavior. Of course some young folks and older PBS devotees will do it, but not 3000. So maybe 500 people per day?

I don’t. And if they take the bus or metro on the bad weather days so what?

Well, DC gets 114 days of precipitation. And it’s pretty cold to be on a bike for at least 100 days a year. The ROI on this project seems way overblown. Can’t we just start with speed cameras at every intersection and see if that changes driver behavior? If that doesn’t work, then look at changing the roadway. This just seems like typical DC ready, fire, aim.

Given no one pays speed camera fines, it is clear there is no appettitie for enforcement. As such, the city has no choice but to change the physical attributes of our public spaces. That is why you see bump outs, speed tables, etc all over the city.

But that’s exactly why the bike lanes won’t work. Adding bike lanes will require ADDITIONAL enforcement. And, as you correctly note, DC can’t enforce what it already has. Just scroll through the bike mafia Twitter accounts and you’ll see daily hysterical posts about cars, delivery trucks, Ubers, emergency vehicles all parked in bike lines, protected and unprotected. What’s CT going to be like when 3000 bikes a day are forced into overcrowded traffic lanes because four Amazon vans are parked with their blinkers going across several blocks. So many things have to go right for this not to be a total cluster.

They won't be forced into overcrowded traffic lanes. They'll be forced to get off their bikes and walk around the delivery vans in the bike lane or to bike very slowly between the van and the edge of the bike lane, like they do already when cars block the bike lanes. And anyway, if the traffic lanes are as overcrowded as you fear, the bikes will be going as fast as the cars are, and it won't slow things down much.

Right. So after a few days of continuously having to start and stop on their bikes they will get back in their car.

Right because that's what already happens now when bike commuters encounter parked cars in bike lanes? No. They'll keep biking and being annoyed about it, and posting to the Twitter accounts that you seem to spend a lot of time looking at for someone who finds the very idea of commuting to work by bicycle to be absurd and/or offensive.

Yes, the 50 current bikers will do that. But the projected other 2950 will not.