Parking Meters on High Street Downtown

[Graybeak]

rus said:
That makes sense, but at the same time accommodating 2% of the population shouldn’t necessitate inconveniencing 98% of the population. Accommodation in proportion, perhaps.

[Neutzy]

JeepGirl said:
When passing parked cars, isn’t it recommended that cyclists stay clear of the door zone and “take the lane”? Seems that if you choose to ride in the door zone, you’re placing yourself at risk.

No, no, I meant a bike lane instead of a parking lane. I don’t think there should be on-street parking where the downtown High Street bus lane is at all. I think there would ideally be a bike lane, a bus lane, and a regular mixed-traffic/ private automobile lane in each direction. That would make that stretch a much more comfortable and safe place to ride a bike and make the bus lane more efficient. However, if adding a bike lane can’t work for some reason I think we should just maintain the current configuration of dedicated bus lanes. I don’t think it is fair to ask the majority of COTA riders to experience delays so a handful of business interests can have parking directly in front of their buildings.

[Graybeak]

But then, you have the other school of thought.

[JeepGirl]

Neutzy said:
No, no, I meant a bike lane instead of a parking lane. I don’t think there should be on-street parking where the downtown High Street bus lane is at all. I think there would ideally be a bike lane, a bus lane, and a regular mixed-traffic/ private automobile lane in each direction. That would make that stretch a much more comfortable and safe place to ride a bike and make the bus lane more efficient. However, if adding a bike lane can’t work for some reason I think we should just maintain the current configuration of dedicated bus lanes. I don’t think it is fair to ask the majority of COTA riders to experience delays so a handful of business interests can have parking directly in front of their buildings.

I thought I had replied to Pasquar….

But anyway, interesting that you don’t think it’s fair for COTA bus riders to experience delays with curb parking that would benefit local businesses, but yet have no problem encouraging delays for the majority of traffic (one lane for automobiles) to benefit a relatively very small percentage of cyclists.

[rus]

Neutzy said:
No, no, I meant a bike lane instead of a parking lane. I don’t think there should be on-street parking where the downtown High Street bus lane is at all. I think there would ideally be a bike lane, a bus lane, and a regular mixed-traffic/ private automobile lane in each direction. That would make that stretch a much more comfortable and safe place to ride a bike and make the bus lane more efficient. However, if adding a bike lane can’t work for some reason I think we should just maintain the current configuration of dedicated bus lanes. I don’t think it is fair to ask the majority of COTA riders to experience delays so a handful of business interests can have parking directly in front of their buildings.

But it is fair to ask the majority of car drivers to experience delays for a minority of bicycle / COTA riders?

ETA:
*looks over at JeepGirl*
*grumble*

[Neutzy]

rus said:
But it is fair to ask the majority of car drivers to experience delays for a minority of bicycle / COTA riders?

ETA:
*looks over at JeepGirl*
*grumble*

We’re talking about 1 mile of bus lanes that is the lynchpin of the entire region’s bus system. Even if this stretch of High Street were completely closed to private cars motorists would still get priority on the other 99% of Columbus streets. A single set of dedicated bus lanes in one small area of downtown is perfectly fair to motorists.

[JeepGirl]

Neutzy said:
We’re talking about 1 mile of bus lanes that is the lynchpin of the entire region’s bus system. Even if this stretch of High Street were completely closed to private cars motorists would still get priority on the other 99% of Columbus streets. A single set of dedicated bus lanes in one small area of downtown is perfectly fair to motorists.

No, your words were “I think there would ideally be a bike lane, a bus lane, and a regular mixed-traffic/ private automobile lane in each direction.”

Make up your mind what we’re talking about.

[rus]

Neutzy said:
We’re talking about 1 mile of bus lanes that is the lynchpin of the entire region’s bus system. Even if this stretch of High Street were completely closed to private cars motorists would still get priority on the other 99% of Columbus streets. A single set of dedicated bus lanes in one small area of downtown is perfectly fair to motorists.

Since you apparently don’t drive you’re in no position to dictate what’s fair to the vast majority of people who drive.

Eliminate the bus lane and ban bicycles from high street completely. Since COTA can still operate and bicycles would be permitted on 99% of other streets that would be fair, right?

[Cole]

rus said:
Since you apparently don’t drive you’re in no position to dictate what’s fair to the vast majority of people who drive.

Eliminate the bus lane and ban bicycles from high street completely. Since COTA can still operate and bicycles would be permitted on 99% of other streets that would be fair, right?

Does that mean if a person drives that he/she is in position to dictate what’s fair to other drivers?

Regardless, High Street is going in a direction of being less transit friendly and potentially less bike friendly. It’s true, a small portion of the population uses transit but the vast majority of them are required to go downtown for connections.

COTA makes about 2100 trips per weekday. About 1600 of the trips go through downtown. I don’t know what’s fair or equitable, but High Street is a major corridor for transit and will remain so as long as COTA uses High Street as a transit mall.

As for bikes, the proposal of 14′ outer lanes with sharrows would be better than current conditions. However, the door zone would be a threat as would bus traffic continuously merging to avoid park cars. Overall, I would probably continue to travel on Front Street but High Street would be enticing if there are periods of the day in which parking is not allowed (likely, 7-9 AM and 4-6 PM)

[JeepGirl]

Cole said:
Regardless, High Street is going in a direction of being less transit friendly and potentially less bike friendly.

Is the proposal less transit/bike friendly than the current situation?

Downtown Action Plan
Project 2 – On-street parking on High Street:
o Mound St to Nationwide Blvd
o Outside lanes: 14’ shared lane with sharrows, bus/bike lane during peak hours and bike/parking lane during non-peak hours.
o Inside lanes: 11 feet
o Timeline
Parking will be implemented in 2012
Sharrows will be installed in 2013 in conjunction with resurfacing

[NerosNeptune]

“bike/parking lane”

ugh

[lifeontwowheels]

NerosNeptune said:
“bike/parking lane”

ugh

+1

I also get where Walker is coming from. Why couldn’t the city install metered lots like the SN has to accomadate the need for extra parking? Win-win?

Even with rush hour parking restrictions there is still a lot of potential to delay bus traffic during non-rush times. Drivers still have 3rd/4th to move through downtown, plus 315/71. Hard to buy the argument that keeping High more transit/bike/ped friendly is all that much of an “inconvenience”.

[Cole]

JeepGirl said:
Is the proposal less transit/bike friendly than the current situation?

Downtown Action Plan
Project 2 – On-street parking on High Street:
o Mound St to Nationwide Blvd
o Outside lanes: 14’ shared lane with sharrows, bus/bike lane during peak hours and bike/parking lane during non-peak hours.
o Inside lanes: 11 feet
o Timeline
Parking will be implemented in 2012
Sharrows will be installed in 2013 in conjunction with resurfacing

Yes, the proposal is less transit friendly than the current situation. The lane dimensions matter less than what the buses have to do in traffic.

Currently, buses stay in one lane throughout downtown High Street. Under the proposal, buses will have to merge in and out of traffic to access bus stops in order to avoid cars.

I am unable to quantify the delay but it’s reasonable to say that there will be a delay. Maybe at the meeting on Thursday the amount of delay to transit will be quantified.

As for buses, as I said, it’s probably a wash. The current situation has a ton of buses which leads me to avoid High Street because I don’t lane split and I prefer not sitting in traffic behind the buses. The proposed situation is slightly better for travelling in that bikes should be able to continually move. The proposed situation may be slightly less safe for those who abide traffic laws because of the door zone, buses merging in and out of traffic, and cars parking/leaving.

In fact, I would argue that the proposal is less friendly to vehicles trying to pass through downtown. Being behind a car that is parallel parking isn’t my favorite past time.

So overall, we are adversely affecting all modes of transportation for a little over 100 parking spots.

[ehill27]

rus said:
That makes sense, but at the same time accommodating 2% of the population shouldn’t necessitate inconveniencing 98% of the population. Accommodation in proportion, perhaps.

On High St downtown, there may very well be a higher percentage of bus+bike occupants than cars.

[Pickerington_Kyle]

The only area I would approve of metered parking on High Street is along the Commons and the Courthouse.

[Author]

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