Who Wants Bike Share in Jax?

[tufsu1]

TransForm Jax is working to bring bike sharing to Jacksonville....and we need your help!

Ever thought how cool it would be to ride a bicycle on a Saturday morning from the Riverside Arts Market to downtown, along the Riverwalk, even if you didn’t bring your own?

Be a part of the Bike Share revolution â€" Vote to bring a bicycle sharing program to Jacksonville. Tell the people at B-Cycle Jacksonville Wants It More! All you have to do is visit the link and enter your local Zip Code.

http://www.bcycle.com/whowantsitmore.aspx

[Dashing Dan]

We had someone from Transform Jax at our last BPAC meeting but he left early. 

Would you like a spot on our next agenda?

[peestandingup]

Its a good idea, but I think it runs the real chance of struggling (and ultimately failing) since the city itself sucks so much in this regard (bike lanes, networks & such). All the towns that sharing is successful in already had an established bike network. Jax would be doing it backwards.

[Dashing Dan]

BikecJax has done some homework on this question.  Check with them.

[tufsu1]

Its a good idea, but I think it runs the real chance of struggling (and ultimately failing) since the city itself sucks so much in this regard (bike lanes, networks & such). All the towns that sharing is successful in already had an established bike network. Jax would be doing it backwards.

does that include Des Moines, Iowa and Spartarnsburg, SC?

[tufsu1]

We had someone from Transform Jax at our last BPAC meeting but he left early. 

Would you like a spot on our next agenda?

sure

[Dashing Dan]

Nashville is breaking in two bike share programs.  See below.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120402/NEWS01/304020030/Nashville-s-public-bike-program-still-training-wheel-stage?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[Adam W]

FWIW, I think it would be wrong for Jax to promote bike sharing without (at the very least) creating bike lanes and promoting bike safety.

The last thing you want to see is people renting bikes and then getting hit by cars. I don't know how it would work in Jax, but when they rolled out the bike share program in London, suddenly there were a lot of inexperienced cyclists on the road. I lost count (literally) of the number of times I saw a cyclist on a Boris bike cheat death/serious injury. I honestly believe that things would've been much worse if traffic didn't move so slowly and there weren't cycle lanes/bus lanes for these amateurs to use. (I believe we've had somewhere near 200 accidents involving the bikes since they were rolled out in July 2010).

Just a thought.

[tufsu1]

well it all goes together....more bike lanes are being added every year....and just recently sharrows were added in Riverside.

[Adam W]

well it all goes together....more bike lanes are being added every year....and just recently sharrows were added in Riverside.

That's good, though I don't personally care for sharrows, especially in a city like Jacksonville where motorists are not used to sharing the road with cyclists (or seem to actively despise cyclists).

But it's a start, I suppose.

[cline]

well it all goes together....more bike lanes are being added every year....and just recently sharrows were added in Riverside.

That's good, though I don't personally care for sharrows, especially in a city like Jacksonville where motorists are not used to sharing the road with cyclists (or seem to actively despise cyclists).

But it's a start, I suppose.

So are you suggesting that no pavement markings warning motorists of the presence of bicyclists is a better alternative?

[Adam W]

well it all goes together....more bike lanes are being added every year....and just recently sharrows were added in Riverside.

That's good, though I don't personally care for sharrows, especially in a city like Jacksonville where motorists are not used to sharing the road with cyclists (or seem to actively despise cyclists).

But it's a start, I suppose.

So are you suggesting that no pavement markings warning motorists of the presence of bicyclists is a better alternative?

No, and I certainly don't follow your logic. I think dedicated bicycle lanes are a better answer than sharrows.

[cline]

well it all goes together....more bike lanes are being added every year....and just recently sharrows were added in Riverside.

That's good, though I don't personally care for sharrows, especially in a city like Jacksonville where motorists are not used to sharing the road with cyclists (or seem to actively despise cyclists).

But it's a start, I suppose.

So are you suggesting that no pavement markings warning motorists of the presence of bicyclists is a better alternative?

No, and I certainly don't follow your logic. I think dedicated bicycle lanes are a better answer than sharrows.

Of course dedicated bicycle lanes are the better answer in terms of safety.  That's obvious.  However, there are circumstances where adding a dedicated bike lane is not feasible (due to ROW constraints etc.) as is the case on Riverside where the sharrows were installed.  Travel lanes in that area are already very narrow and there is virtually no shoulder for bicyclists to ride in. Therefore the sharrows, at a minimum, alert drivers that bicyclists utilize the travel lanes.  That is a far better solution than doing nothing.

[Adam W]

well it all goes together....more bike lanes are being added every year....and just recently sharrows were added in Riverside.

That's good, though I don't personally care for sharrows, especially in a city like Jacksonville where motorists are not used to sharing the road with cyclists (or seem to actively despise cyclists).

But it's a start, I suppose.

So are you suggesting that no pavement markings warning motorists of the presence of bicyclists is a better alternative?

No, and I certainly don't follow your logic. I think dedicated bicycle lanes are a better answer than sharrows.

Of course dedicated bicycle lanes are the better answer in terms of safety.  That's obvious.  However, there are circumstances where adding a dedicated bike lane is not feasible (due to ROW constraints etc.) as is the case on Riverside where the sharrows were installed.  Travel lanes in that area are already very narrow and there is virtually no shoulder for bicyclists to ride in. Therefore the sharrows, at a minimum, alert drivers that bicyclists utilize the travel lanes.  That is a far better solution than doing nothing.

I agree. That's why my original post said the following (see above):

"But it's a start, I suppose."

In fact, I also said it was good. It seems as if you're looking for a reason to argue with me. I don't get it.

I've had more than my fair share of close scrapes with motorists in Jax, both the accidental kind and the intentional kind (where I was targeted for being a cyclist). Sharrows are obviously better than nothing, but in a city where motorists are blind to cyclists (either willfully or through ignorance), sharrows aren't much better at all.

But anyway, let loose a bunch of newbies on hire bikes and see how long it is before one ends up under the wheels of some pickup truck or SUV.

[Dashing Dan]

Of course dedicated bicycle lanes are the better answer in terms of safety.  That's obvious. 

It may be likely but it's not obvious.  Some would argue that cyclists are safer using the outside of a wide lane that does not have bike lane markings.