... all these things would happen way less if there were dedicated bike lanes that were strictly enforced as DEDICATED bike lanes. Next time you're on a busy street with bike lanes, pay attention to the number of double-parked delivery trucks and other stationary non-bike business. These make the road more dangerous and slower (an important factor in route choice) than a non-bike lane street.
I agree that bike lanes have safety problems, but let's not take it out on delivery drivers. Have you ever driven a delivery truck? Quite often there is not physical possibility of legal parking. At some point lanes are going to be blocked, and not just the bike line. The best we can hope for is enough courtesy not to entirely block the street.
I'm not making a judgement call, I'm just saying, it's gonna fuckin happen because deliveries must be made. You can write all the tickets you want, it just is the cost of doing business.
Also I'm not sure if you're referring to me or not, but I commute 95% by bike, over 4000 miles a year.
"Quite often there is not physical possibility of legal parking."
By the same token, quite often there is not physical possibility of legal cycling OR driving. Courtesy is the solution indeed, yet the rhetoric on the issue seems to point the finger at cyclist more than other parties involved.
The problem with the delivery truck/bus blocking the lane is that its easy and much more safe for a car to take half of the extra lane without obstructing the flow. This is a much more challenging a maneuver on a bike. Finally, these vehicles block the bike lane and then half of the right lane. Imagine if a truck was wide enough to block the entire two-lane roadway and force motor vehicle traffic to precariously dodge traffic going in the opposite direction. Not a bulletproof analogy, but worth considering...
That almost never happens in my country. Streets with bike lanes are very common. Sometimes a truck might stop where it shouldn't for 1-2 min, but they'll be fined if noticed.
Streets with bike lanes are way faster in my experience. But I'm also used to dedicated bike lanes.
You are lucky. My cycle to work (downtown Toronto, Canada) is in all fairness rather relaxed (bike lane 80% of the way, largely non-arterial street), but it is a rare day when I don't have to leave the bike lane at least once for a stopped delivery vehicle or truck. Best part? Any tickets they may get are waived if they go to the transportation department and prove they were on delivery. Apparently it's the city's way of being business-friendly.
