mindstalk | Berkeley bicycling (Reply)

Certain people on Twitter and Bluesky, along with my own observations (like crossing Ashby or University, or the Hopkins bike lane fiasco) have given me a low opinion of bicycling in Berkeley. But for the first time today, I tried biking toward campus beyond Ohlone Park, first to check the Downtown Farmer's Market, and I have somewhat more nuanced opinions now. Somewhat.

Some key bad stuff is still bad. MLK Drive, a major way through the city, offered nothing for bikes, and it was the most natural way to my destination. I found that Milvia, down the east side of the market, actually has protected lanes, though getting to Milvia safely felt a bit dodgy.

After buying some food, I decided to take advantage of the lanes I saw, and coasted down Milvia. The lane became curb-protected (not sure if curb or flexpost earlier), which is definitely nice (though still won't stop a real runaway car the way bollards or Jersey barriers or planters would). The lane was often also parking-protected, though sometimes the parked cars were encroaching on the buffer.

Thing is, there's almost nothing on Milvia. Eventually I tried turning east. Center, way up north, had bike lanes, but blocked by a delivery truck, which was part of why I took Milvia. I didn't see anything else, even "bike route" markings. Based on the maps, I took Parker, which wasn't too bad, all the way to Telegraph, which was mapped as good bike lanes... I didn't see anything there. Walked my bike up to Dana, which has a pretty nice wide protected lane... except without any entry protections, so two cars were coming toward me in the lane. I kind of stopped and glared at them in the intersection, and they scattered.

Sad thing is, I don't think they were even together -- one got into the correct southbound lane, the other turned left. And glancing at the Bancroft/Dana intersection, I think they must have entered wrong on Bancroft, one stranger following another, then been forced to turn right on Dana. No idea if these were line jumpers or honest mistakes.

But they weren't even the first today! Going along the south side of North Berkeley, in another wide lane, a car (driven by an old lady) turned right out of the parking lot, into the lane. That's 3 cars in 40 minutes of biking.

(When I say "wide lane" here, I mean two-way lanes.)

Anyway. Hearst had some decent protection on the north side, for going west back to Ohlone Park. Shattuck, major commercial thoroughfare, had nothing.

Going by StreetView, a lot of this stuff is actually very new. Bancroft in July 2024 shows signs of the protection, but obviously a work in progress then. Dana in Feb 2023 doesn't have anything, just a painted gutter on the other side.

So, contra some of my more cynical thoughts, Berkeley is doing some things for bicycling, some of which are pretty nice. But it's doing the low-hanging "don't annoy drivers" fruit, rather than addressing letting bikes get to the actual interesting destinations. And even the good stuff needs some key improvements.

Tangentially, I'm getting more power on my bike, either from my body adapting or my having raised my seat another half-centimeter or so. There was a lot of going modestly uphill, which didn't bug me the way it would have in the past. Also I sometimes pedal faster than earlier speedometer experience would lead me to expect.