Who here has experienced bike rush hour? I'm talking about 7am in Amsterdam or Copenhagen when everyone is biking to work. In my city in the US (Grand Rapids, MI) I'm lucky that most of my commute is along protected/dedicated bike paths where cyclists are few and far between. This allows me to safely move as fast as I can make my bike go and I only have to keep a lookout for vehicles about pedestrians.
How big of a nuisance is rush hour?
Does it slow you down?
What speed does bike traffic generally move at during rush hour?
Has anyone witnessed cyclist-cyclist disagreements/ road rage due to lack of space?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GqoTB3jypWMg7htF7 this like a 2mile/3kilometer stretch.
by hollowfoot
19 Comments
Typically there is no such thing as a bike rush hour as we don’t get held up like cars do, and the space means even then it’s no big issue (thinks space taken by 6riders vs 6cars). However I do get significant delays on my commute on shared paths, pedestrians walking erratically, weaving or just standing vacantly staring at their phone. I just swap onto the road in those situations
I’ve used the busiest bikelanes of the Netherlands (which is not in Amsterdam by the way) on a daily basis for years. Hated it, had a crash due to the congestion, found a less crowded way to work. A few more km, a lot less stressful.
Average speed on a Dutch bikelane is about 20 km/h, but that is increasing due to the increasing popularity of ebikes. The with of the lanes and the congestion are becoming increasingly problematic in many places.
Cherry Creek Trail in Denver definitely gets more congested during standard commute hours. The trail definitely needs some widening/passing lanes to accommodate for congestion.
This morning I biked 10 miles. Saw one other bike, and one walker. We take our rush hours seriously.
Bicycle commuted for 35 years to all my jobs – never crowded on trails or streets. This was in Colorado.
I wish my city had bike rush hour! I missed a light waiting behind a group in the bike lane recently and I was super excited.
Lake Front Path in Chicago has rush hour in the evening in good weather, partly because of so many pedestrians where they shouldn’t be, but also more bikes. Morning commute is beautiful though.
Busiest I’ve experienced was around Utrecht Centraal in the morning. Extremely high density of cyclists. Some conflict with peds but they mostly know to watch the fuck out.
Intersections can get quite congested but after a green light you rarely drop below 80% of normal speed. Bike paths quickly free up as you get further from the station.
Never see road rage, even after collisions.
I experienced a pseudo-Amsterdam rush hour when an annual summer bike event here (Pedalpalooza) [had their kick off ride](https://bikeportland.org/2024/06/01/bike-summer-kickoff-ride-recap-and-photo-gallery-386966). I was riding through downtown surrounded by so many bikes. I am an experienced rider but I was slightly nervous. Everyone was really cool, and as long as you concentrated on who was in front of you, it was fine.
I commute in Southern California.
Once I saw two other bicycle commuters over the course of a ~15 mile commute.
One was on a mini-bike riding against traffic on a strode without a bike lane.
It was a busy day.
I bike through the most bike friendly neighbourhoods in Montreal, and I can tell you, right about now I really miss biking to work through the snow in February, when it was just me and a couple of other cyclists.
Since the beginning of May, the bike lanes have been packed and while the vibe is very nice (lots of kids, people on all sorts of bikes), it’s stressful when you’re commuting 10 km and just want to get home. I’ve started doing what only the aggressive young guys on fixies do and getting into the car lane, which on some roads is much emptier.
In my area the “bike lane” is just a line painted in the street gutter, so it’s pretty rare to see anyone biking at all.
Dublin has occasionally a small amount of congestion on the bike lanes, maybe a tailback of six or eight bikes waiting for a light to change, but normally it’s pretty free-flowing.
I experience it every day in Boston, especially on the way home.
Today in Winnipeg,Canada I was in a line behind 4other bikes. 2 were ebikes. I also am heading away from the downtown so even in a car theres little traffic.
I am seeing more and more bikes out. Seems to be a 50/50 mix of regular and ebikes. So far the ebikes have been nice and not blowing by at 60km/h. If they pass they wait till it’s safe. So far so good.
I give a high five to the only other cyclist I see on my way home. If one of us is late, we wave from across the street. My commute is in Anchorage, Alaska.
I live in a michigan in a medium city and I bike to work everyday, never have to compete with other cyclists (rarely do I see any) but definitely have to compete with cars (few dedicated or safe bike lanes). It can be very dangerous unfortunately.
In metro Boston, I see dozens of cyclists in my 7-mile commute. Some intersections have 8-10 bikes waiting at a red light. Since much of my commute is on a separated bike path, I also have to deal with pedestrians, strollers, and dogs.
[Minuteman bikeway](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuteman_Bikeway) and [Somerville community path](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerville_Community_Path)
Visit Cambridge, MA along Mass Ave, and you’ll witness the glory of investing in cycling infrastructure.