There’s a few reasons actually, although I’ve considered it. Some of the cons I listed include:
Difficulty locking up a scooter
People misunderstanding that this scooter is not a rideshare scooter when locked up
Sticking out like a sore thumb when locked up could increase odds of theft
Small wheels means that smaller potholes and bumps could cause safety concerns
Not easy to transport purchases from the grocery store, or at least less easy than a bike that could have a basket or a messenger bag
Stand-up position can be pretty bad on my back
I’d much prefer having a bikeshare or a scootershare for the sheer convenience of it. I wouldn’t need to charge it personally, wouldn’t need to store it, woudln’t have it on the back of my mind whenever I left it unattended. A lot of this is likely PTSD from getting my bike stolen back in college. On my onewheel, I rode for about 1500 miles the last couple of years before I finally sold it. I’d imagine I would ride something a lot more if it was safer, but it’s all mostly about safety and peace of mind for me.
How much thought went into this? I’m being serious, 5 maybe 10 minutes? I’ll agree there’s a problem with pedestrian crossing, but it has nothing to do with line of sight or plastic bollards, it’s the idiots who don’t even use the crosswalk or wait for traffic to calm. Now this pushes the bus further toward the intersection of Hargett St. making bikes swerve in a less opportune time.
Both locations were already labeled “NO Parking” so what exactly does this accomplish?
These items went into place before the meeting. If this is a solution, it didn’t solve anything. Been in Boston all week, but I’ll be checking into this again as soon as I can
Heard back from RTA committee member (Jenn Truman!) about the blount st bike lane update.
"The good part of the news is that GoRaleigh and RATPdev have made an operations plan to significantly reduce the amount of time that buses spend parked there at the bus stop along Blount. Driver schedules, breaks, and utilizing the driveway just inside Moore Square will all be utilized instead of this space. They have also installed the white flex post bollards to only allow one bus at a time to be parked instead of two. This will improve the visibility for pedestrians at the crosswalk as well.
The not great part of the news is that there is currently no plan to improve the bike lane and the road cross section in general. There’s significant barriers to staff being able to quickly make changes to the bike lane and the loading area due to NCDOT road requirements, the existing conditions and road width and other factors. However, staff reminded all of us that this bike lane was installed as a temporary bike lane as the cross-section for Blount St will significantly change over the next 1-2 years as the BRT dedicated lane is installed. At this time, there is no written plan for how bikes will be accommodated alongside BRT, though it is something that BPAC and staff are actively working on. Staff is starting a new planning process: The Downtown Mobility Study to address the need to plan for better bike infrastructure across downtown and identify which corridors can accommodate better bike lanes and create a fully connected corridor."
So, small victory with hope for more change in the future. As it stands now, have def noticed fewer parked buses as I’ve walked by in last week or so.
Yeah, I actually noticed that on Monday before I left. Walked by the area 3 times (I walk a lot) and didn’t see a bus there a single time. This was before they had this meeting. Previously, I had walked by there about 12 times in a week and saw a bus parked there 11 times (I counted)
They just need to get rid of the bike lane if they are going to keep using it for bus parking. Just make it a bus parking lane, and stop calling it a bike lane. Ridiculous.
My guess is this is what’ll happen when the BRT comes in, a big, painted BIKE & BUS ONLY lane. Seen plenty of those in Boston. Not ideal but maybe better in this situation.