Bike Friendly Cities, Bike Hazard Cities.

TheLastMariner

This may be a never ending discussion, but here's my contribution.

Bad; The Northern New Jersey suburbs of New York City. The typical pocked roads but also few roads in the urban core where you can feel relatively safe on your 2-wheel vehicle. Parking your bike and leaving it unattended for 10 hours at most commuter train stations in Essex County is iffy. No bikes allowed on commuter trains into NYC during peak hours. No bike racks [that I am aware of] on buses heading into NYC. No bikes allowed on the major highways. Riverside path from Jersey City to Edgewater is incomplete and in some places, CLOSED by [luxury] apartment building managers, despite being a public amenity.

Good; Lexington, Massachusetts (Boston suburbs). The Minuteman Trail. Need I say more?

brianduffy

I'll nominate Alpharetta, Georgia, especially its downtown area, as unfriends to cyclist, pedestrians, the wheelchair bound and, well, anything but cars and trucks.

The roads are narrow in places. Roads that are frequented by large trucks (like cement trucks) have absolutely no margin and no sidewalk, and baby, it is not fun riding uphill with one of those babies growling away behind you. Or several, as could easily be the case. Far better to walk it, but there's not even much margin for walking.

The downtown streets are narrow and carry a lot of traffic, and the sidewalks downtown are NOT ADA compliant -- many of them still have steep curb dropoffs. So if you want to pull over to the sidewalk and let some traffic roll past, you're gonna spend time curb-hopping.

People must generally know this about Alpharetta, because I've seen no pedestrians on the half dozen or so occasions I've ridden there. I mean, nobody on the sidewalk.

Funny thing is Alpharetta could have very nice streets if they wanted them -- it's one of the richest towns in Georgia, since Northpoint Mall and much of it's subsidiary development fall within its borders. I mean, some of the homes around there -- there's one street I've been on that's nothing but fakey little horse farms -- the yards are HUGE and fenced into paddocks. Definitely THE place for the horsey set, if you know what I mean.

Where's all that money going? Not into the streets. I'm betting some city councilmembers have very nice swimming pools, though.

threaded

Good: Copenhagen, be even better if a-certain-few-who-spoil-it-for-everyone learned how to ride a bike in a responsible manner.

Bad: London, the City. Always feels like Death stalks you there.

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knobster

From what I hear Portland is awesome. I'm probably going to be moving there in the next few months so I'll post a report of it.

Bad is Tampa Bay area. That place is nuts with all the 80 somethings driving around in their 40 foot yahts. Was glad I moved out of there.

Eden

Portland has good and bad things
Good
lots of cycling facilities - bike lanes, bike areas on public transit etc.
lots of cyclists and more cyclists = fewer accidents
ridable weather pretty much year round
Bad
stupid laws force cyclists to use bike lanes - you can get a ticket if you don't use them
several high profile cyclist deaths this year, without consequences for drivers

I live in Seattle
Good
lots of cyclists - not as many as Portland, but growing
good laws - we have the right to be safe in this state, bike lanes are not mandatory and we can use as much of the lane as we feel is necessary
lots of bike paths if you are afraid of riding on roads
Also ridable weather pretty much year round
Bad
Drivers generally have little to no knowledge of traffic laws as they pertain to bikes and there is little enforcement of traffic laws in general by police (unless they think you are doing something else traffic infractions are pretty much ignored around here), so people can get away with driving dangerously around bikes. Someone I know was even threatened and assaulted by a motorist and the police did not take it seriously.

ABG

I now live near Lexington, in Medford. Boston suburbs are a mix of good and excellent biking areas (Cambridge, Lexington, Essex County) and bad and challenging/dangerous biking areas (Somerville, downtown Boston). I enjoy the mix of aspects out here

eltaito

I just moved to Santa Barbara, CA and it is an extremely bike friendly town.

The SBCC has done a fantastic job of ensuring that all of Santa Barbara County is extremely accessible and safe for bike riders of all types. There are many bicycle facilities located throughout the area that offer showers and lockers as well as benefits for employers that are "bike commuter friendly". When the weather is nice (which seems to be always ) there is almost a traffic jam of bikes on some of the busier bike routes (most notably on Sundays when all of the local bike clubs and the UCSB team are out riding around). All of this adds up to an atmosphere where you can feel safe commuting into work everyday. You can check out an online version of the area bike routes by following this link.

As far as "Bike Hazzard Cities"...I used to live in Wilmington, NC and riding there seemed to be like playing Russian Roulette. Narrow, high traffic roads with high speed limits and drivers that seem generally shocked to see a bicycle on the road all add up to some dangerous situations........not to mention that the local cops seem confused about a bicyclist's rights on the road .