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I loved the contraflow bike lanes in Paris[1]. In Paris, as far as I could tell, every street, including very narrow streets that basically only fit a single ca

I loved the contraflow bike lanes in Paris[1]. In Paris, as far as I could tell, every street, including very narrow streets that basically only fit a single car, are still two way for bikes. It was confusing at first since I didn't expect to be allowed to travel against car traffic. It sounds dangerous, but it worked well. Even when a very wide garbage truck took the street as I was biking towards it, I just pulled over and stopped on the side walk so it could pass. As someone who bikes a lot in Manhattan and Brooklyn, it really felt like bikes were much a first class citizen in Paris. [1] https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/bike-lanes/contra-flow-bike-lanes/#:~:text=Contra%2Dflow%20bicycle%20lanes%20are,the%20other%20for%20bikes%20only https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/bik....

markus92 4y ago
These are extremely common in The Netherlands, too. Pretty much all streets that are one way for cars, are two way for bikes.
- dr_dshiv 4y ago
  In the Netherlands, bikes don’t care
bombcar 4y ago
Pedestrians should be allowed to walk any which way including stairs and other shortcuts. Bikes should have dedicated lanes that are always two way. Vehicles should be the most inconvenienced (one way streets, one turn direction, etc) as “going around” isn’t a major problem. Designing to minimize interaction between the various forms helps tremendously-if bikes and pedestrians keep interacting negatively it gets harder to get support for more bike infrastructure (even though that’s usually the solution). Just like bollards can keep cars container, steps can help keep bikes contained.
Mordisquitos 4y ago
I love them as an idea. I wish the Barcelona local government would understand the simple concept of contraflow bike lanes on one-way streets. Instead they keep building more and more two-lane cycle paths on either side of one-way streets, fully segregating bicycle traffic from motor traffic. While they surely believe that makes it even safer for cyclists, in my opinion it is a terrible (and less safe) design for multiple reasons. Firstly, it continues to encourage the idea that cyclists are second-class parts of urban traffic, who may use the streets when by the benevolent grace of the Barcelona local authority they have been provided with their own mini-street on certain grown-up car streets. Secondly, having to divide the dedicated bicycle space in two, one for each direction of traffic, increases the risk of bike collisions and makes overtaking slow cyclists more of a hassle. Thirdly, it often makes cycling from A to B harder than driving if your route happens to follow the "standard" direction of the one way street and you need to make a turn to the side opposite the side where the cycle lane happens to be. This forces you to cross the ordinary one-way motor traffic lane, which you wish you were using in the first place, with the added difficulty that the cars are coming to you from behind. Finally, it really messes up with the crucial factor of predictability in road safety. So many dual-lane cycle paths on arbitrary sides of one-way streets make each intersection have its own personality, and you'd better hope the drivers you'll encounter are locals who know to expect surprise bicycles sprouting out in the opposite direction on their right-hand side. While one could argue that contraflow lanes also mess with predictability they do not, for the simple fact that traffic continues to follow the standard logic of circulating on the right of the road.
- marcandre 4y ago
  Lack of predictability can be a feature, at least according to Hans Monderman, famous Dutch traffic engineer. He believed drivers become more alert and cautious when there’s more uncertainty on the road. [1] From my experience, segregating biking lanes, and having more than one so as to allow passing is a definite plus. Bike collisions can be scary, but it's cars I'm really afraid of. FWIW, I cycle all the time, often in Paris, Montreal and Barcelona and have strong preferences for doing so in that particular order. [1] https://bigthink.com/the-present/want-less-car-accidents-get-rid-of-traffic-signals-road-signs/ https://bigthink.com/the-present/want-less-car-accidents-get...
  - masklinn 4y ago
    > Lack of predictability can be a feature, at least according to Hans Monderman, famous Dutch traffic engineer. He believed drivers become more alert and cautious when there’s more uncertainty on the road. I think lack of certainty and lack of predictability are very different concepts, and you want the former but not the latter. Lack of certainty means you don’t know what’s going to happen because you have blind corners or obstacles (e.g. trees, planters), this requires paying attention and leads to slowdowns because the driver is not confident. Lack of predictability is its brain-damaged cousin, it’s a drunk driver or a dump truck with an open gate.
josephcsible 4y ago
> I just pulled over and stopped on the side walk so it could pass. I wish cyclists did this even for traffic going the same direction as them.
- carlob 4y ago
  Note that contraflow lanes are a European directive for all places with a speed limit of 30 km/h. I'm Paris they just started marking them. If you are in a street where it's too narrow to safely overtake a bike without them climbing on the sidewalk, then you probably shouldn't be going much faster than the bike anyway...
  - avgcorrection 4y ago
    What is a European directive? An EU directive?
  - BrianHenryIE 4y ago
    Have you got a link to the EU directive? I haven’t heard of that and a quick search didn’t bring anything up.
    - carlob 4y ago
      I might have been wrong. I found the French, Italian and Belgian law that generalize this, but no EU directive (with a cursory search).
- analog31 4y ago
  I do this. I've got a mirror on my bike, I know what's coming up behind me, and I let cars pass when I can. I also pull over when driving on 2-lane roads if there's a string of cars behind me.
  - LtWorf 4y ago
    Most cyclists in non-urban roads I met in italy will just cycle in pair and keep 20 cars behind them going at 20km/h while chatting with each other.
WanderPanda 4y ago
I recently moved to NY and I‘m surprised by how bike friendly Manhattan and Brooklyn are. More bike friendly than most German cities (except e.g. Münster) imo
- pookah 4y ago
  Not pedestrians or runners though. Very common for cyclist's to blatantly mow through intersections and crosswalks like psychopaths. In Manhattan there's a famous local that uses a bullhorn to call them assholes. I've nearly gotten clipped by bikes multiple times. Americans also hardly ever use bell's or announce themselves. And then there's the silent killers on the E-Bikes...I think bikes and cyclist paths are good, it's just the US hasn't figured out how to integrate these things into society so you wind up with anti-social tour-de-france cyclists bogarting through children on tricycles and the general public. It's not a good situation.
  - atdrummond 4y ago
    My father and stepmom, after trying to avoid them countless times, were wiped out by an e-bike in Manhattan going much faster than the car traffic. Both of them are now frightened to walk in their neighborhood after having so many close calls. I thought they were being a bit hypersensitive given the accident but after visiting this week it’s unlike anything I’ve seen in any other “bike friendly” jurisdiction.
    - NegativeLatency 4y ago
      I’m not going to defend irresponsible bikers but it’s important to consider that if it was a car they’d potentially be dead.
      - atdrummond 4y ago
        I 100% agree - my point is that cars are easier to dodge in NYC right now with the relative slow speed in their neighborhoods. The e-bikes often go well above 30mph and pay no heed to lights or other traffic signals. I was honestly shocked after having biked myself on multiple continents and having seen much better bike etiquette pretty much everywhere else.
2-718-281-828 4y ago
Very common in Germany. I don't like it too much as I'm always a bit skeptical whether the car driver noticed the additional sign. https://www.knetfeder.de/fahrrad/bilder/radfahrerfrei.png https://www.knetfeder.de/fahrrad/bilder/radfahrerfrei.png
pxmpxm 4y ago
This seems like a far better idea than the segregated bike lanes with stuff in the middle (parking etc), because you can actually see any potential intersection contentions from afar. I'm still unclear how the former is ever a good idea, unless you have traffic signals on every intersection.
onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
I don't understand why bike lanes on one-way street don't go in the opposite direction of cars. It's easier for you to avoid the car and for the car to get around you.
- blacksmith_tb 4y ago
  My personal experience with riding in 'contraflow' bike lanes is they are often very handy, but can get unpleasant where they intersect with car (or even bike) traffic that's flowing normally. I'd generally rather ride in a protected bike lane (with a curb/berm between the car lanes and the bike, or even bigger barriers like planters or parked cars).
- cma 4y ago
  Sightlines are often tuned only for seeing oncoming traffic far enough to turn into it and not for seeing fastish stuff going the opposite way.

markus92 4y ago

These are extremely common in The Netherlands, too. Pretty much all streets that are one way for cars, are two way for bikes.

dr_dshiv 4y ago
In the Netherlands, bikes don’t care

bombcar 4y ago

Pedestrians should be allowed to walk any which way including stairs and other shortcuts. Bikes should have dedicated lanes that are always two way. Vehicles should be the most inconvenienced (one way streets, one turn direction, etc) as “going around” isn’t a major problem. Designing to minimize interaction between the various forms helps tremendously-if bikes and pedestrians keep interacting negatively it gets harder to get support for more bike infrastructure (even though that’s usually the solution). Just like bollards can keep cars container, steps can help keep bikes contained.

Mordisquitos 4y ago

I love them as an idea. I wish the Barcelona local government would understand the simple concept of contraflow bike lanes on one-way streets. Instead they keep building more and more two-lane cycle paths on either side of one-way streets, fully segregating bicycle traffic from motor traffic. While they surely believe that makes it even safer for cyclists, in my opinion it is a terrible (and less safe) design for multiple reasons. Firstly, it continues to encourage the idea that cyclists are second-class parts of urban traffic, who may use the streets when by the benevolent grace of the Barcelona local authority they have been provided with their own mini-street on certain grown-up car streets. Secondly, having to divide the dedicated bicycle space in two, one for each direction of traffic, increases the risk of bike collisions and makes overtaking slow cyclists more of a hassle. Thirdly, it often makes cycling from A to B harder than driving if your route happens to follow the "standard" direction of the one way street and you need to make a turn to the side opposite the side where the cycle lane happens to be. This forces you to cross the ordinary one-way motor traffic lane, which you wish you were using in the first place, with the added difficulty that the cars are coming to you from behind. Finally, it really messes up with the crucial factor of predictability in road safety. So many dual-lane cycle paths on arbitrary sides of one-way streets make each intersection have its own personality, and you'd better hope the drivers you'll encounter are locals who know to expect surprise bicycles sprouting out in the opposite direction on their right-hand side. While one could argue that contraflow lanes also mess with predictability they do not, for the simple fact that traffic continues to follow the standard logic of circulating on the right of the road.

marcandre 4y ago
Lack of predictability can be a feature, at least according to Hans Monderman, famous Dutch traffic engineer. He believed drivers become more alert and cautious when there’s more uncertainty on the road. [1] From my experience, segregating biking lanes, and having more than one so as to allow passing is a definite plus. Bike collisions can be scary, but it's cars I'm really afraid of. FWIW, I cycle all the time, often in Paris, Montreal and Barcelona and have strong preferences for doing so in that particular order. [1] https://bigthink.com/the-present/want-less-car-accidents-get-rid-of-traffic-signals-road-signs/ https://bigthink.com/the-present/want-less-car-accidents-get...
- masklinn 4y ago
  > Lack of predictability can be a feature, at least according to Hans Monderman, famous Dutch traffic engineer. He believed drivers become more alert and cautious when there’s more uncertainty on the road. I think lack of certainty and lack of predictability are very different concepts, and you want the former but not the latter. Lack of certainty means you don’t know what’s going to happen because you have blind corners or obstacles (e.g. trees, planters), this requires paying attention and leads to slowdowns because the driver is not confident. Lack of predictability is its brain-damaged cousin, it’s a drunk driver or a dump truck with an open gate.

josephcsible 4y ago

> I just pulled over and stopped on the side walk so it could pass. I wish cyclists did this even for traffic going the same direction as them.

carlob 4y ago
Note that contraflow lanes are a European directive for all places with a speed limit of 30 km/h. I'm Paris they just started marking them. If you are in a street where it's too narrow to safely overtake a bike without them climbing on the sidewalk, then you probably shouldn't be going much faster than the bike anyway...
- avgcorrection 4y ago
  What is a European directive? An EU directive?
- BrianHenryIE 4y ago
  Have you got a link to the EU directive? I haven’t heard of that and a quick search didn’t bring anything up.
  - carlob 4y ago
    I might have been wrong. I found the French, Italian and Belgian law that generalize this, but no EU directive (with a cursory search).
analog31 4y ago
I do this. I've got a mirror on my bike, I know what's coming up behind me, and I let cars pass when I can. I also pull over when driving on 2-lane roads if there's a string of cars behind me.
- LtWorf 4y ago
  Most cyclists in non-urban roads I met in italy will just cycle in pair and keep 20 cars behind them going at 20km/h while chatting with each other.

WanderPanda 4y ago

I recently moved to NY and I‘m surprised by how bike friendly Manhattan and Brooklyn are. More bike friendly than most German cities (except e.g. Münster) imo

pookah 4y ago
Not pedestrians or runners though. Very common for cyclist's to blatantly mow through intersections and crosswalks like psychopaths. In Manhattan there's a famous local that uses a bullhorn to call them assholes. I've nearly gotten clipped by bikes multiple times. Americans also hardly ever use bell's or announce themselves. And then there's the silent killers on the E-Bikes...I think bikes and cyclist paths are good, it's just the US hasn't figured out how to integrate these things into society so you wind up with anti-social tour-de-france cyclists bogarting through children on tricycles and the general public. It's not a good situation.
- atdrummond 4y ago
  My father and stepmom, after trying to avoid them countless times, were wiped out by an e-bike in Manhattan going much faster than the car traffic. Both of them are now frightened to walk in their neighborhood after having so many close calls. I thought they were being a bit hypersensitive given the accident but after visiting this week it’s unlike anything I’ve seen in any other “bike friendly” jurisdiction.
  - NegativeLatency 4y ago
    I’m not going to defend irresponsible bikers but it’s important to consider that if it was a car they’d potentially be dead.
    - atdrummond 4y ago
      I 100% agree - my point is that cars are easier to dodge in NYC right now with the relative slow speed in their neighborhoods. The e-bikes often go well above 30mph and pay no heed to lights or other traffic signals. I was honestly shocked after having biked myself on multiple continents and having seen much better bike etiquette pretty much everywhere else.

2-718-281-828 4y ago

Very common in Germany. I don't like it too much as I'm always a bit skeptical whether the car driver noticed the additional sign. https://www.knetfeder.de/fahrrad/bilder/radfahrerfrei.png https://www.knetfeder.de/fahrrad/bilder/radfahrerfrei.png

pxmpxm 4y ago

This seems like a far better idea than the segregated bike lanes with stuff in the middle (parking etc), because you can actually see any potential intersection contentions from afar. I'm still unclear how the former is ever a good idea, unless you have traffic signals on every intersection.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

I don't understand why bike lanes on one-way street don't go in the opposite direction of cars. It's easier for you to avoid the car and for the car to get around you.

blacksmith_tb 4y ago
My personal experience with riding in 'contraflow' bike lanes is they are often very handy, but can get unpleasant where they intersect with car (or even bike) traffic that's flowing normally. I'd generally rather ride in a protected bike lane (with a curb/berm between the car lanes and the bike, or even bigger barriers like planters or parked cars).
cma 4y ago
Sightlines are often tuned only for seeing oncoming traffic far enough to turn into it and not for seeing fastish stuff going the opposite way.