Sounds to me like they ought to have daily Critical Mass rides across the bridge during rush hour until they reopen the path again.
Let’s observe what happens to auto commute times.
Before: approx 1 hour
After: approx 1 hour
Possibly even longer, people biking might switch to using cars and more than 2 car lanes doesn’t do shit.
100%
Forcing cyclists and pedestrians into lanes with cars is sure to make commute times better for drivers! I wonder why uptake on better transport methods is so low with great decisions like this.
Oh, it’s even worse. Bikes and pedestrians are banned from the bridge. They claim there’ll be a bus, but it’ll be almost useless. It’s not planned to run 27/7 and zero promises on frequency.
I’ll bet $20 they’ll cite its emptyness as justification for terminating that service too.
If I lived in the area, I would intentionally ride there anyway, and fight the ticket in court.
I know it wouldn’t change anything, but fuck them.
Why? They wanted a breakdown lane.
fuck.
That fucking sucks.
A major problem with this path is that it has terrible access on both ends and no amenities (i.e. bathrooms, water, parking).
On the Pt. Richmond side you have to go under the freeway through a dodgy pathway and on the Marin side, you have to ride along the freeway with cars going 60-70 mph.
Recreational bikers need a staging area to load/unload their bikes and there is none of that on either end. There is a bike path from Emeryville to Richmond, but then it stops around the ferry terminal. There, your only option is to go through city streets in Richmond and dodge traffic. It’s even worse if you’re a pedestrian.
Contrast this with the Bay Bridge where there is a great staging area as well as bathrooms on both the Oakland and Treasure Island side. It’s a great walking/biking bridge.
Extra sad part: there are multiple spaces on both ends, right as you get on/off the bridge they could have put staging/amenities, but they chose not to.
“Vote Blue no matter who!”
