unhookt

Excerpt from https://laist.com/2007/09/24/hollywood_bus_d.php

A cyclist westbound on Hollywood Boulevard hears a loud horn behind him as he rides in the right side of the #2 lane, alongside a row of parked cars and dangerously close to the door zone.

The motorist with the heavy horn hand turns out to be Metro Bus Driver #XXXXX and she passes the cyclist so closely that his left hand touches the side of the bus as it speeds past him. The number #1 lane is empty and nothing serves to prevent the bus driver from changing lanes to pass the cyclist except for a failure on her part to acknowledge the cyclist’s right to ride the streets of Los Angeles without having his life threatened.

The bus proceeds down Hollywood Boulevard to a bus stop at Wilton and stops. The cyclist pulls up on the driver’s side of the bus and addresses the bus driver informing her that honking at a cyclist with no room to spare will only serve to startle the cyclist and cause a dangerous situation and that as a professional driver she should know that if the lane is too narrow to share, she should change lanes in order to pass without endangering the safety of the cyclist.

The driver screams “You were in my way. You need to get off the road!” She slams the window shut.

The cyclist, who would have accepted a “Sorry, my bad!” and called it a day, pulled in front of the bus and informed the driver that he was calling the police to report the driver for Assault with a Deadly Weapon, the bus. She screams, points at her watch, tells the cyclist to move and puts the bus in gear.

If you feel like giving the Metro some feedback:

Lynne Goldsmith
Metro Bike Program Manager
213.922.3068
goldsmithl@metro.net

and

Metro Customer Relations
(213) 922-6235 and (800) 464-2111
customerrelations@metro.net

NotReady4Purple

Is there a pointer to this story that was not written by the cyclist?

I'd like to see what this story sounds like without the emotions and editorializing.

genec

“Bus operators are not told to honk at cyclists. As a matter of fact, the policy states that cyclists have the same rights on the road as motorists and that operators are to follow at a safe distance or pass with 3-4 l/2 feet of right side clearance.”

And yet neither the police nor the bus driver seemed to have any awareness of the above bus company policy.

Yup, once again, the cyclist loses, due to typical Autocentric thinking...

Treespeed

That's a shame. All of the busses that I encounter on my commute on Venice and Jefferson on a daily basis are courteous and give me tons of room.
I also show them the same respect by not filtering and passing them on the left.
I think the cyclist should have just reported the driver instead of making such a production of the whole thing.
Definitely a bit of over reacting.

Sawtooth

Hmmm....I got buzzed by a city bus the other day going around a curve and ended up with the tail end (the swingy dangerous part behind teh wheels) of the bus moving to the left and to within a couple of inches of me. JACK*****. It was a 3 lane one-way road with no traffic in the other two lanes. I think the driver was just angry because I had passed him on his left through an intersection. HMMM, lets add this up......I pass him on his left and show what he might perceive as disrespect to him or something......in retaliation, he almost kills me. NOPE....that math does not equate. The only conclusion I can come to is that these guys must have SH*T for brains.

School bus drivers are actually the WORST around here (perhaps only slightly behind construction supply truck drivers) in terms of buzzing. I was buzzed by a school bus the other morning who pulled into a school lot 1/2 mile up to sit idle. I followed him into the lot and asked him to give me more space next time or at least slow down. He responded by saying that he had to buzz me because a car was coming in the opposite lane!!!!! "Didn't you see that car coming?" he asked. I was incredulous. Had this guy never read the law regarding safe passing?!!! I told him the law was clear....you don't pass if you can't do it safely (especially so you can get to sitting in your vacant lot 5 seconds earlier. He finally came to his senses and apologized.

Man, these people just don't even think about the risks they put on others just so they can save a few seconds. CRAZY.

genec

The interesting thing is that most motorists consider that we are taking the risks, by cycling among them.

dobber

https://digg.com/politics/Metro_Bus_H...t_in_Handcuffs

unhookt

redundant...

maddyfish

Maybe this would not have occured had the cyclists not cowered in fear over at the side of the lane, and ridden out in the road where he belongs.

The Human Car

Commanding the lane is not a deterrent to:
“You were in my way. You need to get off the road!”

I can testify that (at least around here) that taking a center lane position will still have bus drivers trying to push you off to the side.

The Human Car

No links to the police or mayor?

Hoshnasi

Use you're hand and motion she pass on the left. Failing that, get the bus number and file a report.

edit to say the cyclist was wrong in trying to perform a citizens arrest and hold up all those people who just wanted to get to there destination. It would be almost impossible to prove an assault charge for what she would say was an accident.

unhookt

Yeah, this one's apparently aaaaalways buzzing:

The Human Car

I agree there was no need to hold up the bus. In my experience sometimes a report works and other times you have to go higher (our last alert had to go to the Governor to get a response.) We are still working on trying to get routine bus driver training in here but there is a noticeable difference right after we complain I just wish it would last longer then a few months.

maddyfish

That is part of public transportation: not being on time, sitting next to dirty people, getting felt up ( usually if you are a woman), getting robbed, so no need to worry about the people being held up, they're used to it.

kjmillig

This kind of stuff really pisses me off. Hit me/push me with a motor vehicle, grab my bike while I'm on it or holding it, or any other type of activity where I fell I'm in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death and one will be examining the projectile exit end of my choice of self-defense tools held in my professionally trained hands.

chipcom 

Ewww, there are laws against spanking your monkey in public ya know.

dipy911

The biker should not have held up the bus just filed a report and asked the witness to do the same. The passenger should not have thrown the bike and should be responsible for any damage. The bus driver should be fired and possible arrested for assault/battery(for trying to run him down while he is blocking the bus).

No one in this story, except for the witness, is blameless.
dipy911

ilikebikes

Heres the reply I got from them:


RE:
From: Goldsmith, Lynne (GoldsmithL@metro.net)
Sent:Tue 9/25/07 9:28 PM
To: tony ******* (**************)





Tony



We, like you, want this to be a “bike-able” city and we’re working hard to improve conditions for cyclists. Our agency is promoting bicycle use as an alternative to driving and bikes with transit, so it is important to us to do what we can to improve the on-street conditions. The agency takes this incident seriously and will be following up. Bicycles have a right to the road. There are some exceptions but I think the attitude of drivers is a universal problem (in the US) that those of us in bicycle planning are working hard on.



Thanks,



Lynne Goldsmith

Metro Bike Program Manager

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

One Gateway Plaza MS 99-22-5

Los Angeles, CA 90012

213.922.3068

goldsmithl@metro.net



"Share the Road with Bikes"

orange leader

I have seen this type of behavior from bus drivers a hundred times or more. They seem think they can just go whereever they want whenever they want. It's like the ultimate SUV drivers syndrome. Just because they're in the largest object on the road, they can do whatever they want. I've had busses pull out from a bus stop right in front of me (on bike and in car) and i've frequently been passed only halfway by busses that then pull over into their bus stop. I don't dress in camouflage when biking so there's no reason the bus drivers need to rail me into the curb as if they didn't see me. I haven't crashed yet, but that's because i am a fairly skilled rider, and can bunnyhop the curb when I'm sqeezed into it.

I had a friend run over by a bus from behind while he (my friend) was stopped at a stop sign (he lived because he was between the wheels) and the bus driver swore that he ran out in front of the bus, but we had it on video from a security camera across the street.
Bus drivers in general are a bunch of pricks towards cyclists.

I've seen busses run red lights, and stop signs. How often do they change routes that they don't know where the stop signs are?? I know they're not behind schedule, I used to ride the bus back when i was a kid they were always 5-15 minutes early, and then had to wait at certain stops for time to catch up.

The only way anything is ever going to be done is if the police dept gets themselves involved on the cyclists side. They need to go undercover and simply ride the roads and have squad cars back them up and take down anyone (busses AND cars) that gets too close, cuts them off, or hassles them in general.

bmclaughlin807

Sorry.... the police are too busy setting up stings on deserted roads in the middle of the night busting cyclists running stop signs in front of closed children's museums. Maybe next month they can look into doing something that actually saves lives. (Probably not, though.... there's that new donut place opening up.... gonna need LOTS of extra security for that)

DataJunkie

Or stings on deserted paths in the middle of commerce city.

My ride takes my by the new University station. Twice I have been squeezed into the gutter by a local bus driver. I was too busy trying to save my arse to report it. Now I take the lane. Idiots.

alicestrong

Live in LA and want a chance to speak out for cyclists? Thurs 27th..

https://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/p...p?id=1535#body