RANT ON! DC is making absolutely zero effort to clear snow from the bike lanes

[Anonymous]

Are cyclists ever NOT angry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are cyclists ever NOT angry?

I think some unclench when they sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not surprising, OP. Bicyclists are very much secondary citizens in the US. Please complain to your local elected officials.

I’m just so mad tho. Just want to scream in frustration. And no one is accountable. This city does NOTHING for you if you’re not a driver or a walker.

Can I vent and tell you that I am pissed that this city took so many car lanes and turned them into stupid bike lanes. Streets that use to have two lanes are backed up in traffic because they[ve been reduced to one lane. I am so mad that this city is doing so much for bikers who speed through red lights and stop signs. Vent over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike in the darn street, if it it that important to you. Did you notice that not all residents have cleared their sidewalks? Things don't run perfectly in winter weather - at least we have electricity and water!!

This. Bike with all the other cyclists who continue to clog roads even when there is a bike lane, nice and dry, right next to them.

Do you not know how to read you dolt? The bike lanes are covered with ice. Pushed there by snowplows clearing the street for CARS.
Idiot.

So when the snow fell, it only fell in the car lanes and bypassed the bike lanes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not surprising, OP. Bicyclists are very much secondary citizens in the US. Please complain to your local elected officials.

I’m just so mad tho. Just want to scream in frustration. And no one is accountable. This city does NOTHING for you if you’re not a driver or a walker.

Can I vent and tell you that I am pissed that this city took so many car lanes and turned them into stupid bike lanes. Streets that use to have two lanes are backed up in traffic because they[ve been reduced to one lane. I am so mad that this city is doing so much for bikers who speed through red lights and stop signs. Vent over.

No. You cannot. Go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike in the darn street, if it it that important to you. Did you notice that not all residents have cleared their sidewalks? Things don't run perfectly in winter weather - at least we have electricity and water!!

This. Bike with all the other cyclists who continue to clog roads even when there is a bike lane, nice and dry, right next to them.

Do you not know how to read you dolt? The bike lanes are covered with ice. Pushed there by snowplows clearing the street for CARS.
Idiot.

Yes. But even when they aren't, bikers refuse to use them. So why would I support extra effort for their lanes they won't use.

Cyclists have the same right to the road that you do, whether it’s in a bike lane or any other lane.

Sorry you have such anger issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're stupid enough to bike in bad weather, you deserve what you get.

What about it people going to work? You think it’s ok to ask people to risk death just to get to their job?

[Anonymous]

I agree with you, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t bike in the ice and snow. That is the last and least of any conceivable winter weather priority.

Says the American Car Driver, unable to understand that a large swathe of the urban population would be more upwardly mobile if they could bike safely, because they don’t own cars.

In other countries, bike lanes are cleared FIRST.

You should go to one of those countries. Here, we don't do that.

One day we will. And you’ll be thankful for that, because by then you’ll probably be riding a bike to work or for errands like we already do. Cars won’t be permitted in our cities anymore, or congestion pricing will keep all but a few out, as in London and other first world cities. And then the streets will once again be a place free of the terror of being run over by an idiot in a automobile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike in the darn street, if it it that important to you. Did you notice that not all residents have cleared their sidewalks? Things don't run perfectly in winter weather - at least we have electricity and water!!

This. Bike with all the other cyclists who continue to clog roads even when there is a bike lane, nice and dry, right next to them.

Do you not know how to read you dolt? The bike lanes are covered with ice. Pushed there by snowplows clearing the street for CARS.
Idiot.

So when the snow fell, it only fell in the car lanes and bypassed the bike lanes?

I can tell you’re being facetious, but I’ll address the issue because you’re to dull to grasp it.

It’s a two-part problem.

1) there is no fleet of small plows to clear the bike lanes. The ideal solution would be a large fleet of small vehicles the size of garden tractors, with small plows on the front which are narrow enough to fit down the bike lanes, to clear them of snow. Currently there is zero capacity for this. The smallest plows in DC are still mounted on gigantic pick up truck type vehicles. And the city calls these “small plows”! They are twice as wide as the bike lanes. Utterly useless.

2) in addition to the snow that falls in the bike lane and can’t be cleared, the plows clearing the street (for cars ) push the ice and snow out of the street and heap it into the bike lanes, where it can sit for weeks before it finally melts. So it’s not just a question of the bike lanes having ice in them the day it snowed, but then days and days afterwards.


If the city would buy a fleet of small plows to clear the bike lanes, that would solve the whole problem.

Although police should still be ticketing people who walk in the bike lanes, too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to scream at people who walk in the bike lanes as though they own it. They think it’s a sidewalk rather than a land reserved solely for cyclists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not surprising, OP. Bicyclists are very much secondary citizens in the US. Please complain to your local elected officials.

I’m just so mad tho. Just want to scream in frustration. And no one is accountable. This city does NOTHING for you if you’re not a driver or a walker.

Can I vent and tell you that I am pissed that this city took so many car lanes and turned them into stupid bike lanes. Streets that use to have two lanes are backed up in traffic because they[ve been reduced to one lane. I am so mad that this city is doing so much for bikers who speed through red lights and stop signs. Vent over.

Agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not surprising, OP. Bicyclists are very much secondary citizens in the US. Please complain to your local elected officials.

I’m just so mad tho. Just want to scream in frustration. And no one is accountable. This city does NOTHING for you if you’re not a driver or a walker.

Can I vent and tell you that I am pissed that this city took so many car lanes and turned them into stupid bike lanes. Streets that use to have two lanes are backed up in traffic because they[ve been reduced to one lane. I am so mad that this city is doing so much for bikers who speed through red lights and stop signs. Vent over.

Agree!

No one cares. Don’t you two have a trump rally to be at?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why on gods green earth would they prioritize bike lanes in an ice storm? They have barely main streets. And even the slightest bit of ice makes biking dangerous anyhow. Use a 4-wheeled vehicle or your 2 feet.

Right. OP is not some Ineos Grenadier or Jumbo Visma stud preparing for the Giro d’Italia. If you want to ride so badly, lose some weight, drop your heart rate, increase VOmax, go to Europe, get yourself on a Pro Continental team or a World Tour team, and become a domestique for Pinot, Bardot, or Quintana. Otherwise, take a day off.

[Anonymous]

If there were/when there is an actual network of interconnected* protected bike lanes to get anyone from a residential neighborhood to school or work, I'd be right there with you demanding its maintenance and consistent usability. But our bike lane network is utter shit, so it matters so much less.

Until DC builds it and catches up with civilized cities of the world, OP, you'll be the odd one out using bike lanes, and people will assume you wear lycra and are using it for leisure.

*I'm aware of the redundancy between the terms network and interconnected, but I'm trying to evoke a visual here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why on gods green earth would they prioritize bike lanes in an ice storm? They have barely main streets. And even the slightest bit of ice makes biking dangerous anyhow. Use a 4-wheeled vehicle or your 2 feet.

Right. OP is not some Ineos Grenadier or Jumbo Visma stud preparing for the Giro d’Italia. If you want to ride so badly, lose some weight, drop your heart rate, increase VOmax, go to Europe, get yourself on a Pro Continental team or a World Tour team, and become a domestique for Pinot, Bardot, or Quintana. Otherwise, take a day off.

Ah be quiet. City bike lanes are not for sport, they are for transportation.