Vancouver Bike Box


One of the incidental pleasures from our Vancouver, B.C. trip was seeing this bike box on Dunsmuir Street in the hear out downtown Vancouver.

This is a tool we have not embraced yet to any significant degree in Portland (I think we have a pilot somewhere), but is common in the Netherlands. At intersections, bikes can move to the front on a red light and gather in this box ahead of the rest of the traffic. When the light turns green, the bikes can immediately clear the intersection, without having to worry about cars turning right across their path.

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One of the incidental pleasures from our Vancouver, B.C. trip was seeing this bike box on Dunsmuir Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver.

This is a tool we have not embraced yet to any significant degree in Portland (I think we have a pilot somewhere), but is common in the Netherlands. At intersections, bikes can move to the front on a red light and gather in this box ahead of the rest of the traffic. When the light turns green, the bikes can immediately clear the intersection, without having to worry about cars turning right across their path.


2 responses to “Vancouver Bike Box”

  1. Wow, that’s a nice bike box Chris. We do have a pilot here in Portland but so far the concept has not been embraced or supported much by the City.

    Here’s a photo of our bike box. It’s at SE 11th and Harrison, just outside Ladd’s Circle.

    http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=19267211&size=o

    I think the problem is that we just need more education to make them work here. Cars don’t respect them and I don’t think most cyclists defend the space either. Perhaps if we filled them in with red paint it would help?

    Did you notice people actually using these…and did the cars seem to respect the space?

    Thanks.

  2. It was early evening, after rush hour, and I did not see any cyclist use the box (but I was on my way to dinner and didn’t hang out waiting). Motorists seemed to respect it for the brief period I was there.

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