How the bomb scare is impacting the Second Avenue bike lane

Take it slow starting at Third Street....

On Oct. 10, the machines will rise

We've been discussing the coming changes to the M15 route along First Avenue and Second Avenue... The M15 Select Bus Service starts on Sunday.... and I finally got my hands on the MTA's newsletter that explains all this...



And — oops! — I missed the open houses.....



As someone who depends on the M15 for this and that, this may or may not be helpful....



And for your cyclists!



And pedestrians!



Wow. The MTA calls these Refuge Islands?! Escape from Refuge Island!



Meanwhile...




Well, I'm all for keeping an open mind to see how all this will work....

Previously on EV Grieve:
On First Avenue, the machines are taking over!

Protest planned for reconfigured Avenues

[Image via Neighborhodr]

The reconfigured First Avenue and Second Avenue (bike lanes, bus lanes, pedestrian islands, etc.) have been a popular topic in recent months... and now an LES resident is organizing a protest about the changes...

As you can see from the flyer above, there's a protest planned for Friday, Oct. 15... I contacted Leslie Sicklick, whose name appears on the signs. She's helping organize the event...

Her background:
I was born and raised on the Lower East Side. I am a third-generation Lower East Sider. My dad's parents came here from Russia and lived on the Lower East Side since the 1920. My mother's mother came to the Lower East Side also in the 1920s. Unlike many people, my parents did not move and raised me and my brother down on the Lower East Side. I grew up in the bad days of the 1970s, so I have seen the neighborhood change. I have also been a driver since 1995, often taking my mom, who is handicapped, shopping.

On why she's doing this:
My father raised me to get involved and, if you don't like something, take a stand, which is what I am doing. My biggest complaint is, because of the bike lanes, New York is becoming impossible for drivers. I used to go to 1st Avenue for dinner, shopping and was able to park my car. My other complaint is with how dangerous some bike riders are and how nasty they are. I was walking across the bike lane on 1st Avenue and was almost hit. I was yelled at — that I should get out of the bike lane. Who the hell are these bikers? They probably have not even been living in East Village for very long. What are my rights? I have lived here all my life.

Also, there are fewer spaces for businesses to deliver food, packages. Do bikers bring in business to the City? No they don't, and many stores are losing business because there is less space for people to park and come into the stores.



What she hopes to accomplish:
I guess what I hope to accomplish is to get the message out there to Mayor Bloomberg to change bike lanes so they are not against the sidewalks where people are trying to cross. Bikes don't stop like cars do for lights — they keep going. Bike lanes also attract people on rollerblades, skateboards, runners ... I am not saying all of them are bad.

By Mayor Bloomburg, the idiot, doing this is punishing drivers and rewarding bad behavior of bike riders. Bike riders never stay in bike lanes. Also, how many bike riders are out there compared to drivers? I'd also like to know what is going to happen in the winter when there is snow and ice. What a waste.

This is New York, not Amsterdam. I believe Mayor Bloomberg is killing New York, and changed any character it used to have. I don't miss the City being so bad, but at least it had some character.



Previously.

Emotions in motion on the Second Avenue bike lane

Via Craigslist:

You were riding your bike down 2nd ave. Chastizing a cab as he turned - m4w (East Village)

Date: 2010-09-16, 10:01AM EDT

The cab was making a left on 6th street I believe and you turned slightly while shouting at him to recognize the bike lane. I told you I empathized. It's happened to me a few times. Then you rode south on 2nd Ave. You're feisty and beautiful. Hope you I hear from you.

Too soon to rename the bike lane Lover's Lane?

The East Village starts at the filth

EV Grieve reader Joe notes that crews just painted the bike lanes on Second Avenue north of 14th Street... and the new green paint inexplicably stops 10 feet south of 14th.

CBS 2 finds that some bicyclists ride through red lights and stuff in the East Village

CBS 2 camped out in the East Village to find some outlaw bicyclists. And they did! It's Bike Bedlam! (Catchy!)

NEW YORK (CBS 2) – The NYPD is on a ticket blitz, giving cyclists more than 15,000 violations so far this year. Many pedestrians say it’s about time and fear the city’s push to get people pedaling has led to danger on the streets and sidewalks. Some have even dubbed it “bike bedlam.”

The Big Apple is racing to become the bike capital of the world and the Bloomberg administration has added more bike racks, paths and lanes.

However, as CBS 2’s Tony Aiello found out, spending a few minutes along the new bike lane on First Avenue makes clear that plenty of New Yorkers have little liking for the biking.

“It would be one thing if the bike riders obeyed the lights and things — they don’t,” Lower East Side resident Amber Rogers told Aiello.

In a recent 20 minute period at First Avenue and Sixth Street, CBS 2 counted 17 bike riders running red lights and more than two dozen riding the wrong way and against traffic.

There's video, but CBS embedded the wrong code....

Thanks to EV Grieve reader Creature for the tip.

StreetsBlog discussed some of CBS2's week-long report here.

Bus and bike lane hijinks from the weekend

On First Avenue and Second Avenue...






The obstacles just seem that more apparent with the presence of signs, of course...

Previously.

New bus lane signs for First Avenue

New bus lane signs went up this week on First Avenue... perhaps this will ease some of the ongoing confusion here with parking and not parking and what not...



Meanwhile, as the outline on the Avenue shows, there's apparently more work to do here...



Like, perhaps, one of these island/divider thingamajigs from further down the Avenue...



[Many thanks to Blue Glass for the top two photos]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at First Avenue's new bike lanes and "floating lane"

Celebrity dares cyclists to hit him

On First Avenue near First Street.

7:45 a.m., First Avenue, July 23

Meanwhile, the commenting continues on [Updated] Looking at the First Avenue's new bike lane and "floating lane."

While we were discussing the First Avenue bike lanes yesterday ...

Workers were putting down the green paint ... Perhaps this will help ease some of the confusion for everyone along here...




And noted...



Thanks for all the comments on yesterday's post...jump on in...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the First Avenue's new bike lane and "floating lane"

[Updated] Looking at the First Avenue's new bike lane and 'floating lane'

In recent weeks, I've had several conversations with readers about the ongoing renovations of First Avenue... in which a dedicated bike path and bus lane are going in (most people think the bike and bus lane additions are a good thing, especially among my cyclist friends, but...)

Anyway, work continued on the Avenue this past weekend...





Topic No.1

Have you looked at the parking instructions yet?



The floating lane? As EV Grieve reader Blue Glass said to me, "only an engineer could make street traffic so confusing."

Topic No. 2

The possible impact on local business. Foot traffic aside ... a lot of the stores here are the kind in which people are used to quickly parking and zipping in for the goods (especially during holidays, where cars are double-parked on 11th Street around to First Avenue for Veniero's) ... How will the stores accommodate customers who want to stop for a few minutes to make a purchase? Ditto for quick deliveries. The bus and bike lanes have removed some parking spots. Several shop owners are worried about the reduced parking options... look for a story on the topic soon from a local TV station...





Topic No. 3
Not everyone is really hip to the dedicated bike/bus lanes yet...




Here's an example of someone stopping for a quick pick up at Veniero's ... what you don't see here is the bicyclist nearly taking off the car door...



It will take some time here for everyone to learn to live with the changes... motorists...cyclists...pedestrians...merchants...cops...at least until the city paints in the green bike lane.

Updated: Noonish... As for the local news report I mentioned... NY1 has filed a report, East Village Businesses Find Fault With New Bus, Bike Lanes. To the story:

The new bus and bicycle lanes along First and Second Avenues are part of a major city traffic overhaul, but local business owners say the lanes are taking up parking spaces and creating obstacles for delivery trucks.

Business owners say the lanes, which stretch from Houston Street to 34th Street, force delivery men to walk into the bicycle lanes and forces them to run the risk of injury.

"My truck has to park away from the curb. Now my employees have to cross through an active bike lane and there's a possibility of being hit by a bicycle, and there's cyclists getting hurt. My driver's getting hurt," said hardware store owner Jim Doria.

"Should have the bike lane on the other side, the way it was before and parking would be on the same side," said business owner Jawad Rasul. "I think that would be a lot better for the bikers and for the store owners."

And the comments are getting going on this topic...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Hot tar for a hot night

The Second Avenue bike lanes: What do we think so far?

For further reading:
Matt Harvey had a piece in the Post Monday titled, Attack of the killer bikes!

Bike lanes on Avenue A

I had the same reaction to this as East Village Idiot: Where did these things come from -- seemingly overnight. I walked across Avenue A yesterday and there were...bike lanes...Went back for a few photos this morning.