Does your city have red-pavement bus lanes (the sequel thread)?

[Cirrus]

Hello. Five years ago I created a thread asking people to say if their city has any red-pavement bus lanes.

At the time, the list of US+Canada cities with red lanes was short: Only New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, and the suburbs of Toronto & Vancouver. Additional red lanes were planned in Washington and Montreal. From outside North America, people mentioned red lanes in London, Copenhagen, and Melbourne.

But since then they've proliferated, and the US federal government just amended rules to make implementing red pavement bus lanes a lot easier. So I want to ask again.

If your city has or is planning red-pavement bus lanes, show them here!

[Cirrus]

DC is rolling out bus lanes at a rate of about 1 or 2 per year right now, and the standard practice is to make them red.



Silver Spring and Arlington have started doing it too, so far at only very minimal sites:






Baltimore has a bunch all over downtown:

[Busy Bee]

Technical question... Is the red paint a specialized coating just for horizontal high traffic pavement? Does it have elastomeric elements like striping paint does?

[emathias]

Yes, Chicago does. It's relatively recent, though, since 2000, I think.

[Steely Dan]

pertinent article:

Chicago is getting more bus-only lanes. Could they alleviate rush hour congestion?
With more rush hour enforcement, bus service could actually get more reliable

By Sara Freund Updated Jan 7, 2020, 3:27pm CST



In Chicago, bus ridership has steadily declined while ride-hailing services have skyrocketed. The city’s congestion is worse than ever before, which slows down buses and increases pollution.

How is the city fixing this? More dedicated bus lanes. Better enforcement for those bus-only lanes. And, higher fees for Uber and Lyft trips.

In April, bus-only lanes appeared on Chicago Avenue, and in October the funding for the Bus Priority Zone Program was quadrupled from $5 million to $20 million. In order to help the bus service improve, the Chicago Department of Transportation announced Tuesday it would impose rush hour restrictions on traffic.

The red bus lanes are only effective if other traffic isn’t in the way, so the city will begin to better enforce policies of no idling or stopping during morning and evening commutes along Chicago and Western avenues. Cars that choose to park in the bus lanes could end up with a $100 ticket.

source: https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/10/1...ayor-lightfoot


not only is it nice to see the city quadruple the budget for adding more of these lanes and extending them out into the neighborhoods, it's especially promising to hear that they plan to actually step-up enforcement so that the investment made in the bus lanes has a chance to actually mean something.

[Crawford]

I believe NYC has had exclusive bus lanes since buses replaced trolleys. Major Manhattan avenues already had bus lanes in the early 20th century. Fulton Street in Brooklyn had lanes, and then became bus-only in the 70's. 14th St. in Manhattan is bus-only as of 2019. I believe Jamiaca Ave. in Queens was bus-only in the 70's and 80's, but now allows cars, with buses in exclusive lanes.

If you take an express bus to Manhattan, you're probably using a bus lane for much of the ride, particularly in Manhattan. As in other cities, there has been an explosion of bus lanes in recent years, especially outside of Manhattan. Most are BRT lines with the subway-style fare collection. Examples include Fordham Rd. in Bronx, Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn, and Hylan Blvd, on SI.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Technical question... Is the red paint a specialized coating just for horizontal high traffic pavement? Does it have elastomeric elements like striping paint does?

There are a variety of treatments, but none of them are as simple as "paint." The red is usually more durable and more textured, but less reflective than striping paint. Sometimes it's literally grit rather than a liquid coating.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

not only is it nice to see the city quadruple the budget for adding more of these lanes and extending them out into the neighborhoods, it's especially promising to hear that they plan to actually step-up enforcement so that the investment made in the bus lanes has a chance to actually mean something.

Oh yeah. . . I take the 60 to and from our datacenter during the one day a week I'm downtown, and until there's some sort of automated ticket-writing enforcement regime, the bus lanes on Madison and Washington are going to be used as passing lanes for impatient motorists with entitlement issues. . .

. . .

[harryc]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

Oh yeah. . . I take the 60 to and from our datacenter during the one day a week I'm downtown, and until there's some sort of automated ticket-writing enforcement regime, the bus lanes on Madison and Washington are going to be used as passing lanes for impatient motorists with entitlement issues. . .

. . .

Over a decade ago I was in London (the big one) and the cabbies there swore up and down that if you (a cabbie) so much as look at a bus lane you would have a ticket in your mail-box that evening. And that they doubled after only a day or two.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Technical question... Is the red paint a specialized coating just for horizontal high traffic pavement? Does it have elastomeric elements like striping paint does?

Chicago went for a more permanent option that wont just wear off after a few winters:

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by harryc

Over a decade ago I was in London (the big one) and the cabbies there swore up and down that if you (a cabbie) so much as look at a bus lane you would have a ticket in your mail-box that evening. And that they doubled after only a day or two.

I like it. . .

. . .

[hkskyline]

Toronto

8716 by Downsview34., on Flickr

[Echostatic]

Austin has one, on Lavaca Street, but it's quite faded.