irish times / bus lanes

demosuzki

the irish times motoring section is reporting that the minister for transport has accepted a MAG proposal to open bus lanes for bikes and a test pilot is starting soon.

"A proposal to allow motorcycles use bus lanes has been accepted by the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen and a pilot is due to get underway soon."

rgfuller

At last official sanction to use the lanes - how can you pilot it though - surely it's a matter of use them all or not.

demosuzki

rgfuller wrote:

At last official sanction to use the lanes - how can you pilot it though - surely it's a matter of use them all or not.

given its martin cullen...
i'd say its the minister wanting a photo opportunity at each and every lane as it is open to bikes.
proving his commitment to safety ahead of the elections :-)

/ds

Dub13

This is very good news.

wb

At long last. While everything normally takes years in this country, I presume they will get this done before the spring election.

sutty

this seems good, lets see if ever comes into action though

demosuzki

follow up article today says a cyclist's lobby group (Dublin Cycling Campaign) is objecting.

spokesman said it would be "a retrograde step as it would certainly increase the level of danger faced by cyclists".

Hotblack Desiato

which of course is complete bollo, for one thing motorbikes already use bus lanes, just not legally.
I've seen buses and taxis endanger cyclists many a time, but never saw a biker do so.
Thread on this on Commuting/Transport

subway

ninja900 wrote:

which of course is complete bollo, for one thing motorbikes already use bus lanes, just not legally.
I've seen buses and taxis endanger cyclists many a time, but never saw a biker do so.
Thread on this on Commuting/Transport

ive had to restraim myelf from posting on it.
cant believe the crap coming out of them.
its a disgrace, i always look out for the "motorbikes without motors" on our roads, as do most other bikers i hope.

im so pissed off at their ****ing arrogance.
they can go to hell and be damned if they think im letting another one pull across me with out indicating,
and any number of other transgressions car drivers get a bollocking for.

Steffano2002

Cyclist are only doing this because they're jealous of us I say! And, as ninja900 said, they shouldn't be worried about bikers... It's the buses and taxis they should fear!

faceman

Good news re bus lanes but feckin cyclists. They can break red lights, ride on the wrong side of the road, on the path and they're STILL not happy!

blorg

A lot of cyclists (myself included) think the DCC's objections are misguided in this case. From a cyclist's perspective motorbikes tend to be the most considerate of other road users, probably more so even than other cyclists. I don't see a problem with them in the bus lanes.

Kinetic^

Steffano2002 wrote:

And, as ninja900 said, they shouldn't be worried about bikers... It's the buses and taxis they should fear!

They better be damn well worried, I'm gonna smack the bejesus out of the next cyclist that puts his arm out and starts to move across the lane without looking!!!! :mad:

Dr4gul4

Kenny 5 wrote:

They better be damn well worried, I'm gonna smack the bejesus out of the next cyclist that puts his arm out and starts to move across the lane without looking!!!! :mad:

Yea whats with that like guys... reminds me of last thursday going back christchurch, and watching as a taxi decided to pull in on top of a cyclist.

Poor guy go the right of his life, lucky he was ok.

I'd like to think i always look our for cyclists, but they really do make sum strange manuvers on the road.


Like holding up traffic in a lane, and pulling over across the road 4 sum mad reason.

Or my fav,

Just accross from the Barge pub, on the canal.
Ever morning the same crack, im turning left towards the barge, and u have a head of cyclists who decide there gonna pull in front of me.


why people why !!! im going to get away a lot faster then you. just stay behind and we'll all be ok .

blorg

Dr4gul4 wrote:

Like holding up traffic in a lane, and pulling over across the road 4 sum mad reason.

Now I am NOT saying this is the case here, but many road users seem to be under the impression that cyclists are not allowed make (legal) right turns - which if you are to do them safely do involve sitting in the middle of a lane with your arm out until someone lets you into the lane to the right.

Dr4gul4

blorg wrote:

Now I am NOT saying this is the case here, but many road users seem to be under the impression that cyclists are not allowed make (legal) right turns - which if you are to do them safely do involve sitting in the middle of a lane with your arm out until someone lets you into the lane to the right.

ohh god im not implying i have a problem with that.. i mean thats perfectly fine, just go around in ure car/motobike

but what bugs me is guys who cycle in the middle of the road with no concideration for other drivers, forcing the traffic to slow down to there speed, thats just silly.

subway

just to safe the aggro,
this is a motorbike forum, im sure most of the guys on here would be happy that it stayed that way.
cyclicsts have their own forum to bitch and whine about the rest of the road users.
theres no need for it over here...

blorg

Dr4gul4 wrote:

ohh god im not implying i have a problem with that.. i mean thats perfectly fine, just go around in ure car/motobike

Hmm... not sure what you mean by "just go around" - if that means overtaking a cyclist when they are in the middle of the lane clearly signalling that they want to turn right (this happens often enough) then that's not a great idea. If it means undertaking safely when they are stopped at the turn, as you would a car, then sure.

but what bugs me is guys who cycle in the middle of the road with no concideration for other drivers, forcing the traffic to slow down to there speed, thats just silly.

There are a number of reasons cyclists cycle out a reasonable amount from the kerb. One is parked cars; you have to be over a door width out, which generally will put you at least in the middle of a lane. But the main one is to do with overtaking. If a lane is too narrow to allow a vehicle to overtake safely within the lane (and this is the majority of lanes) then the vehicle will have to cross the centre line to overtake in any case (1m is a generally agreed minimum passing distance.) Cycling too far in to the kerb will encourage cars/trucks to pass too close and at speed (you _should_ be slowing before overtaking a cyclist in any case.) TBH I don't think I have ever had a motorbike pass unsafely but cars and trucks do it every day, and I have been clipped more than once.

blorg

subway wrote:

just to safe the aggro,
this is a motorbike forum, im sure most of the guys on here would be happy that it stayed that way.
cyclicsts have their own forum to bitch and whine about the rest of the road users.
theres no need for it over here...

It's hardly "aggro", just explaining a cyclist's perspective on things and why we do things that you may see as inexplicable. I only posted to start with in response to the post about the Dublin Cycling Campaign complaining about motorbikes in bus lanes to say that I, and many other cyclists (there were several other threads on this) see no problem with motorbikes in the bus lanes.

subway

was just a general statement.
cars V bikes V motorbikes V peds could be argument from here to eternity.
its mostly been avoided over here and i think the forums better for it.

everyone is welcome to post here but i think it works better if were not arguing over whos in the right or better or whatnot

blorg

Sure, appreciate that. Well I'll just leave it with the on-topic statement that as a cyclist I think it's a good idea to let motorbikes into the bus lanes and many other cyclists agree. Motorbikes due to their size and maneouverability don't tend to contribute much if at all to congestion.

SonOfPerdition

subway wrote:

was just a general statement.
cars V bikes V motorbikes V peds could be argument from here to eternity.
its mostly been avoided over here and i think the forums better for it.

everyone is welcome to post here but i think it works better if were not arguing over whos in the right or better or whatnot

now Subway, unless i'm missing something, the one cyclist posting in here is in favour of us using bus lanes . . the only people bitching were fellow bikers (and i do believe you were one of them! )

subway

this is the forum for bikers to bitch and moan
i just didnt want it to turn into one of those
"why do cyclists always do x,y and z"
"who cares what cyclists do, cars do a,b and c"
"cars? forget cars its buses doing h,i and j"

and its no longer a discussion just people listing off what they perceive as the faults of every other group of motorists out there.