Does your city have red-painted bus lanes?

[Cirrus]

Red-painted bus lanes are a clearly growing trend in the US. AFAIK you can find them in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle, with DC about to add its first. What other cities have them? I'm especially interested in US cities, but share what you got outside the US too, if you want.

Here are some pics from the cities I mentioned:

New York:

flickr user scott beale

San Francisco:

flickr user sergio ruiz

Chicago:

flickr user steven vance

Seattle:

flickr user oran viriyinski

DC (coming soon):

DDOT

[Steely Dan]

how perfect it is that the picture you posted of chicago shows not one, but two cars using the supposedly "bus-only" lane as a standing zone. that's the reality when the rules regarding such lanes are wholly unenforced.

[Cirrus]

Yes, obviously enforcement is crucial In San Francisco for example buses have enforcement cameras mounted on them, which is genius. In fact, I strongly suspect that part of the reason SF has rolled out so many of these red bus lanes is that faced with the prospect of a ticket, car drivers want bus lanes to be clearly indicated just as much as transit riders do.

Chicago, as I understand it, does no enforcement and so the lanes are ignored.

[fflint]

San Francisco's MTA just a couple days ago announced they'll be rolling out more red transit/taxi only lanes along lower Market Street.

There are red lanes just a block and a half from my apartment, to help a surface light rail line and critical crosstown bus line cross through Market Street congestion more quickly.

Interesting note on the SF photo above: that is a relatively new contra-flow red transit-only lane where Haight St. meets Market. Previously, that block was one-way only and inbound Haight St. buses were forced to make a series of torturous turns just to end up in the foreground of that photo. Now, it's a straight shot onto Market and travel times have improved several minutes.

[Cirrus]

Fflint, what do you think of my supposition that SF's good enforcement makes car drivers want red lanes as much as transit riders?

[fflint]

Well, you may know more about enforcement than I do, but if any motorist has received a ticket for driving in the red lanes via bus cam then I am not aware of it. I know that was the intention behind the cameras, but I think (again, not certain) there was some sort of delay in implementation and I'm not sure if that is still in effect. Anecdotally, I see motorists driving in red lanes all the time. A block and a half over, I hear the LRV operators blowing their very loud horns at motorists all the time. Generally speaking, enforcement is not SFPD's forte.

P.S. it does look like it is operational, according to the MTA. There has been almost no coverage of this on the niche websites or on the mainstream media. I don't know if motorists know this is going on until/unless they get a ticket.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Chicago, as I understand it, does no enforcement and so the lanes are ignored.

There's been little need for enforcement - the photo you posted is one of, if not the only, red bus lane in Chicago at the moment. It was a demonstration project years ago that didn't really lead anywhere. In fact, I don't believe there are any bus lanes in the city longer than a block or so, with the exception of this one on Jackson.

Now the city is building the "Loop Link" BRT which will include many blocks of the red lanes on Randolph, Washington, Canal, and Clinton. The city is spending the extra money to pave the bus lanes in concrete, which is dyed throughout with the red colorant so that the color can never flake off or wear away (although it can fade). This is a serious bus lane that can't easily be removed.


Capitol Cement Co

[fflint]

^Damn, that's impressive!

[nito]

As of 2008 there were 279km of bus lanes in London (https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/do...ed-traffic.pdf), which is up from 162km in 2000.

I suspect that the figure is now well over 300km due to the dramatic rise in bus ridership over the last 15 years, which as of the 2013-14 Transport for London Accounts stood at a staggering 2,405mn passenger journeys. That figure is up 70mn journeys on the previous year, or to put the figure into perspective is equivalent to the entire ridership of Chicago’s METRA. Considering that the London bus network carries more people than the entire Canadian public transport network (APTA YE 2014: 2,369mn), I doubt that the network would be able to cope without bus lanes.

I believe enforcement is done through cameras along the length of bus lanes and also on the front and rear of buses.


Image taken by Âme Photographie on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ammeph...480735/sizes/l

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The city is spending the extra money to pave the bus lanes in concrete, which is dyed throughout with the red colorant so that the color can never flake off or wear away (although it can fade). This is a serious bus lane that can't easily be removed.

http://static.wixstatic.com/media/e2...0_0.00_jpg_srb
Capitol Cement Co

That looks like what you often see on hard surface tennis courts. I suspect it will look cool. I like those warm colored tar lanes.

But they quite often went for something more radical in Central Paris anyway.


http://news.autoplus.fr/news/907532/...C3%A9los-Paris


http://www.moto-net.com/actualites-m...nce-video.html

I think the problem is the contemporary French society often shows too much incivility and distrust to anything, including the public authorities. Especially in a couple of our cities like Paris and Marseille. I guess that's why those embossed strips to literally physically segregate bus lanes have to be in use.

Those are frequent, but not everywhere yet. Some streets still have more simple painted strips like this.


http://transportparis.canalblog.com/tag/Bus%20Paris

Voilà. In any case, the use of painting and colors is most often restricted, although green and white painting may be widely used from time to time.

So only buses, cabs and bikes are allowed to use those lanes. Garbage trucks and of course the police and firefighters may also use them.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Yes, obviously enforcement is crucial In San Francisco for example buses have enforcement cameras mounted on them, which is genius. In fact, I strongly suspect that part of the reason SF has rolled out so many of these red bus lanes is that faced with the prospect of a ticket, car drivers want bus lanes to be clearly indicated just as much as transit riders do.

Chicago, as I understand it, does no enforcement and so the lanes are ignored.

As I understand it, legislation is required to change IL state law to make that kind of enforcement possible. I'm thinking this will eventually be required in Chicago and it seems to work pretty keeping bus lanes/zones clear in SF. I witness trucks and other vehicles parking at bus stops here all the time forcing the bus to stop in the street instead...something I basically never see in SF.

[fflint]

What? I see that all the time in SF when riding my bike.

[tech12]

Originally Posted by fflint

What? I see that all the time in SF when riding my bike.

Same. People aren't exactly great at following traffic laws in SF (or anywhere, really).

[k1052]

Originally Posted by fflint

What? I see that all the time in SF when riding my bike.

It's possible it's just less on a relative basis than I'm used to seeing in Chicago. I mean I come across beer trucks, semis, postal vehicles, moving vans, etc parked in bus stops on a regular basis.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by k1052

It's possible it's just less on a relative basis than I'm used to seeing in Chicago. I mean I come across beer trucks, semis, postal vehicles, moving vans, etc parked in bus stops on a regular basis.

I see all those things all the time, probably because my safety depends upon seeing such things. I need to know ahead of time the bus in front of me is going to move into my path and/or come to a full stop in the middle of the road, and block my passage, because some arrogant douchebag motorist has parked in the transit lane or bus stop, etc.

[The Chemist]

There are plenty of bus only lanes in Shanghai, but they're not painted red, and they tend to only be considered bus only lanes during morning and evening rush hours. Enforcement, from what I've seen, is pretty lax (but honestly, enforcement of all traffic rules in Shanghai is pretty lax, so this is not surprising at all).

[SkahHigh]

Montreal's future BRT on Pie-IX Blvd. will have red lanes. Completion 2018


http://www.cat-bus.com/wp-content/up...brt-pie-ix.jpg

[FREKI]

No, bus lanes here are just marked: "Bus"

[initiald]

I'll have to ask. I know Raleigh has plans to make at least one bus-only turn lane with separate signal, but not sure what it will look like. This is a fascinating thread.

[texcolo]

Why are they going with red lanes? I thought that was what the diamond designation was for.