For those blaming the cyclist, please answer the question from TroutMan. Would it have been cool for OP to pull over for a few minutes while blocking a car lane? If folks honked at him, would they be the dick?
I don’t really care about your biased opinion about cyclists in a region across the USA from me.
When you start seeing drivers treat a bike lane as ‘Free parking’ and place 3-4 cars per block you’ve rendered the bike lane useless. That’s cars in the bike lane in addition to the other issue they may have.
Then you start whining about why the cyclists aren’t using them.
Golly.
So, you complain that the cyclists have bike lanes that cost taxpayer dollars.
Then you complain if they are on the sidewalks.
Then you handwave the fact that cars park in the bike lanes as either no big deal or you don’t see it.
Cylists just can’t win with you, can they?
There are a few different type of bike lanes here in Boston - http://www.bostonbikes.org/infrastructure/types-of-bike-lanes
This is from the Cambridge laws, I couldn’t find the Boston traffic laws online:
My reading (IANAL) would be that stopping in a bike lane is not allowed. Stopping to discharge or pick up passengers isn’t an exception to that, although it is fine on streets without bike lanes.
To be fair, Section 14.1.a.1 makes double parking (even for a second) a violation so we know how well any of these laws are enforced.
It’s still illegal and unsafe. Pedestrians have been killed.
Still, many of the cites say they will ride on the sidewalk despite a bike lane.
The Op made it very clear he was stopped, not parked. Yes, it appears to be a minor traffic violation. So is riding your bike on the sidewalk. What’s critical is the BoyoJim did it for a only few minutes as opposed to a long time, every day, day in day out. He was also unclear if it was illegal, but cyclists have said they know it’s illegal and do it anyway.
Sure they can. Ride on the street,* like other vehicles.* Observe the Vehicle Code, *like other vehicles. *
Nor do I condone parking in the bike lane.
Yet bike lanes have been shown to lead to an increase in bike commuting, reducing overall traffic. Not every bike rider can be expected to be brave enough to handle the hassles of riding on the bike-lane-less streets with indifferent and sometimes hostile drivers. I say this as someone who can keep up with cars in moderate traffic.
No, you handwave it away as not being a problem.
DrDeth was hurt by a bicyclist. Deeply. 
[QUOTE=TroutMan;19257677… Why does the fact that some bikers are jerks, or some ride on sidewalks, mean that cars should be allowed to illegally park in designated bike lanes?[/QUOTE]
Because of the attitude that anyone in a car is automatically “better than” and more important than anyone on a bicycle. That is the crux of this whole discussion.
Except when, as usual, they take away a lane of traffic to make a Bike Lane, it exacerbates traffic issues. So it increases traffic.
It’s a very minor problem. Of course, if many people do it for extended period, not just for a minute like the OP did, then it’s bigger.
Everyone can learn to be a little bit more courteous when they’re on the streets, but it seems to me that its a more universally accepted belief that bikers don’t have to alter their means of transport to slow down.
If a car is on the street, but its blocked somehow or someone jaywalks, you stop or you go around them. That’s accepted practice and even if drivers don’t like it, its something they understand they should do.
But it seems to me that a large portion of bikers have this belief that they should not be made to slow down or stop or take an alternate route no matter what, and if anything impedes their biking in a bike lane or while on their legally-allowed streets, it is always the other guy’s fault, whether driver or pedestrian, and not the responsibility of the biker to modify his trip. Why should I have to, they argue, when this is MY bike lane, or I’m allowed to be on the streets too so piss off!
I have an easy solution for bikers whose lanes are blocked: go on the sidewalk. And no, I don’t mean go full speed on the sidewalk as if you’re the only one on the street. What I mean is bike on the sidewalk, slow down to near walking speeds, and watch out for pedestrians. And when you’re on the streets, if there’s no bike lanes, you take the crosswalk like a pedestrian so as not to slow down the cars. You are owed no courtesy if you don’t show any, and if the situation calls for you, you need to let others ahead of you or slow down if its safer. No driver would seriously believe that if they’re going 20 mph below the speed limit, that other cars would just have to suck it up. Those people try to move to the side and let others pass them. So why don’t bikers have the same courtesy? They know they’re slower than cars, so let the cars pass if its a crowded street. And they know they are a danger to pedestrians coming out of buildings, driveways, and around corners, so slow down to a safe speed.
Only a fool and ass of a driver would not slow down if its dangerous, and most of the time we blame drivers because they are in the bigger and more dangerous vehicle. They control the roads, so they need to be courteous. When they aren’t, we notice. But most drivers will let pedestrians cross and not bother bikers. But when you’re forced to share a lane, then bikers have to repay the same respect.
Awful idea, illegal in most places, very dangerous to everyone involved, and physically impossible in places without a curb cut. So let’s just pretend you never suggested this one, OK?
Most bike lanes don’t take up a whole lane, at least in my city, typically they are placed on an oversized outer lane. On two streets in (almost) center of the city 1 east and 1 west bound streets had 1 lane each converted to bikes only. This was out of a dozen+ 2 lane streets in and around the area. The effect on traffic was almost none. A lot of drivers sure whined a lot, however, but it turns out that cars are quite capable of making their own jams no matter how many lanes they have.
I find your anti-bike bigotry does not qualify you to determine what is or isn’t a minor or major issue for bikes.
MASSIVE projection here.
Also riding on sidewalks is stupid and dangerous. Do not suggest that.
Absolutely. As I said above, I’m neutral to bike riders, and am happy they have a dedicated bike lane and as a driver I respect it, but bikes on sidewalks piss me off like little else, both as a pedestrian and as a driver. I want to encourage the use of bike lanes, not discourage it.
How about WALKING your bike on a sidewalk, until you clear the obstruction that forced you to dismount?
Why should the bicyclist be the one that has to do this to get around someone illegally parked? How about the car not be in the bike lane to begin with?
It is an option (one I sometimes use when roads without bike lanes get backed up) but really, you want me to dismount, unclip and pull my bike onto the sidewalk as many as 3-4 time in a city block?
Or go around, yeah. It’s a city street, not a highway. Cars get blocked by things in the city all the time. They slow down, or they stop, or they go around. It isn’t that hard.
The analogy to interstate highways in the bike world are paved bike trails, like rails to trails. They usually run through the woods. Ride there if you want to go 45mph and never stop for anything until you get to where you’re going. In the city, you have to be aware of your surroundings, maneuver around obstacles, and slow down in heavy traffic and for people parking or pulling over. Just like cars do. Welcome to the city commuter club.
“Just like cars do.” So, it would be entirely appropriate for a bicyclist to stop (not park) his bicycle in a car travel lane while waiting for someone? And car drivers should be ready for this, deal with it, find a way to go around?