This is regarding “Traffic tie-ups” (Voice of the people, June 17), by letter writer Tom Kalter, whose victimized complaint, that “Millions of city drivers paying more than $3 a gallon for gas to wait in reduced traffic lanes for a few pedalers,” is dead wrong.
Every bike lane I have used in the city has been on streets where there is a 1 1/2-lane width, reduced to a one-lane width to accommodate a bike lane just one-half as wide as a car lane.
So where is the loss?
Cars don’t need 1 1/2 lanes to go single-file, do they?
Or do they go abreast, trying to squeeze between each other and parked cars?
The cars that are waiting and wasting gas are waiting for other cars, not bikes.
If more commuters used bikes, there would be less-congested streets.
The addition of these white lines clearly delineates who should go where. The real problem is that vehicles are hogging bike lanes, as they use them to double-park, make deliveries, pass or make right turns in places where bike lanes are clearly marked.
