Sometimes it’s the small things that make a big difference when it comes to bike commuting.

Take the photo above as an example. That’s a University of Arizona CatTran shuttle, which in itself is pretty great. It offers rides to students and employees all around campus helping them move around without cars.

The shuttle you see here runs people from a parking lot at Ft. Lowell and Mountain to campus.

The trouble is, the UA has created a timed stop for this particular shuttle at the stop just south of Ft. Lowell and Mountain Avenue. Because it is a timed stop, the driver is required stay at the stop until a specified time regardless of whether students are waiting or not.

I’m a fairly confident cyclist and feel comfortable merging into traffic, taking the lane and passing the shuttle, but I’ve seen many less expericned cyclists freak out and not know what to do. Some merge without looking. Some get on the sidewalk and go around and still others stop behind the shuttle trying to figure out what to do.

It may seem like a small detail in the grand scheme of UA transportation, but it make a big difference in someone’s commute.

I’ve called the UA’s Parking and Transportation director who said he would look into alternative options, but did not say he would change it. I don’t expect it to change overnight, but the small details matter when trying to convince more people to ride and feel safe.

What seemingly small things make a a big difference in your bike rides?

22 thoughts on “The small things matter”
  1.  Park Avenue.

    Only downside is that crossing Fort Lowell is a bear, and you can’t get a direct north-south street north of Fort Lowell.

    And don’t get me started on the condition of Park south of Grant. It’s a moonscape.

  2. One of my ‘small things’ is debris and trash in the bike lane. Small rocks and and other debris that you wouldn’t even notice in a car can be like a slolam course in the bike lane. Usually this is more of a problem on roads where there really isn’t a bike lane – more of a striped gutter.

  3. Good point, Trip. I suggested the stop either not be a timed stop or the stop could be moved to the side street closer to the actual lot it is servicing. 

  4. Regarding the CatTran stop: it’s on City of Tucson roadway so you’d have to go to them with complaints. The little UA bureaucrat is only following orders and is unlikely to jeopardize his job by unilaterally staging the timed stop in a sensible place such as a nearby side street.

  5. “What seemingly small things make a a big difference in your bike rides?”

    On the positive side, mall security at El Con and Park Place malls don’t freak out and turn into mall security Nazis when you pound out fast laps on their fine asphalt very early in the morning. It’s a small sensible behavior on their part that makes a big difference. Just don’t tell the world about this, okay?

  6. The removal of the tracks at 8th St. & 4th Ave. that went to the Old  Trolley’s storage shed has made that trip noticeably more pleasant every time.
    As far as the Cat Tran stop, I guess it depends on what, “No Motorized Vehicles in the Bike Lane” means. Mountain Ave. is a bike lane proper, not a striped shoulder, so a ruling on regularly scheduled use is in order. Maybe back when an exception was made, bike numbers weren’t anywhere near what they are now. Timely adaptation to changing conditions is not a Tucson forte. The number of  private dorm shuttles operating on University, etc. are a growing nuisance.

  7. The removal of the tracks at 8th St. & 4th Ave. that went to the Old  Trolley’s storage shed has made that trip noticeably more pleasant every time.
    As far as the Cat Tran stop, I guess it depends on what, “No Motorized Vehicles in the Bike Lane” means. Mountain Ave. is a bike lane proper, not a striped shoulder, so a ruling on regularly scheduled use is in order. Maybe back when an exception was made, bike numbers weren’t anywhere near what they are now. Timely adaptation to changing conditions is not a Tucson forte. The number of  private dorm shuttles operating on University, etc. are a growing nuisance.

  8. On the positive side, in addition to tailwinds, it’s when a driver makes eye contact and waits for you to pass when they have the opportunity — and even the time — to pull out or turn in front of you. I always give those drivers a wave or smiling nod.

    On the negative side, it’s when a great bike lane on a busy road abruptly ends like on Tangerine.

  9. Waiting on a side street is a good option.  I have to admit, though, that I’ve had no issue with those buses.  SunTran buses are a different matter.

  10. No one seems to remember road conditions when election time comes around.  We get what we vote for.

  11. Isn’t there a Tangerine widening project that includes bike lanes in the works?  I thought I had read something like that.  It’s a toss up as to which is worse: Tangerine from La Cholla to Thornydale or Grant Rd from Craycroft to Tanque Verde.

  12.  And sotto voce, if you’re into practicing your off-road bike handling skills, there’s a very sweet patch of dirt just west of 4th Avenue on 7th Street. It’ll take ya right over to Ordinary Bikes.

  13. I assume college students are somewhat intelligent.  This isn’t a rocket-science situation.  What happens when you’re driving and the vehicle in front of you is stalled?  Do you wait behind in total confusion until the tow truck finally shows up?  Or do you look back (or forward), check to see if it’s clear, stop if you have to, be patient, and then go around?  (I’m thinking of Bill Cosby’s monlogue when he stalled his stick-shift car on a hill in San Francisco.   “Come around, idiot, come around.”)  The point is, when you’re a cyclist and there’s a fixed obstacle in front of you, can’t you just look over your left shoulder to see if it’s clear, and then proceed? 

  14. ** Do you wait behind in total confusion until the tow truck finally shows up?  Or do you look back (or forward), check to see if it’s clear, stop if you have to, be patient, and then go around? **

    Oh, I remember that from ‘Picture Picture’.

  15. silverpedals, I understand your point. However, from my experience it’s a tricky and sometimes dangerous affair. My experience by the way – roughly 3 years of riding up and down Mountain to get to and from the UofA.

    While riding you need to:
    – Negotiate with other cyclists
    – Keep an eye out for a lot of east west traffic on the numerous residential streets. Often these drivers don’t see you, or do see you and don’t realize how fast your traveling – pulling out in front of you.
    – Dealing with motorists who treat the bike lane as a driving lane. I’d like to see a physical barrier preventing that.
    – Deal with the cat tram regularly cutting in front of you and stopping. Sometimes several times in the process depending on the length of your trip.

    The problem with the Cat Tran is that it is contending with all of the same issues you are, but in a large vehicle with limited visibility. He has to watch out for cyclists, and motorists and merge between the two constantly. Add the times of the day where traffic is its busiest and you can see how this can be dangerous.

    The bike lane needs to stop being treated as a 2nd class lane. I would like to see enforcement of a policy that doesn’t allow motorized vehicles to enter the bike lane at all. Not Cat Tram and not moronic drivers who use it as a loading/unloading zone in front of the mech engineering building/sorority houses.

    A solution? A hard division between bike and traffic lanes. Possibly disallowing cross traffic on the streets intersecting Mountain. 

  16. Disallowing cross traffic on Mountain will never happen nor does it need to.  The situation with CatTran buses on Mountain is no different than with SunTran on any other streets:  sometimes they sit; sometimes they don’t; and sometimes they pull out unexpectedly or without looking to be sure they are clear of cars and bikes.  The ultimate answer is for drivers to better trained and to pay more attention and for riders to ride more intelligently and to pay more attention.  There are things that could make the situation better, such as the aforementioned option of having CatTran buses at timed stops wait on a side street.

  17. In this Mountain Ave example it’s the big things that matter, like why redesign the road as a freeway AND expect it to be a pleasant riding experience for cyclists? These two uses should have been separated. How many accidents have you seen at Mtn and Helen? Grant? I ride Mountain every day because it’s the most efficient (not safe) way to get to where I’m going, but it certainly isn’t fun.

  18.  Brian, you’re right.  I don’t mean to be facetious.  Bike routes/lanes need to be respected as lanes of travel and not as locations for trash cans, parked vehicles, extra driving lanes, etc.  It’s just that I see so many cyclists who don’t seem to use common sense.  Last weekend I was riding on Sunrise, and was passed by a woman on a high-end road bike.  She passed me by going out in the roadway in front of a car driver who had to slam on their brakes.   She couldn’t look back and wait a few seconds until it was safe to pass me.  It’s her life, I guess, but she might have taken me out too if she was clipped by the car.

  19.  That “little UA bureaucrat” is actually a pretty great bike advocate (if it is who I think it is). And though it is a City of Tucson street, UA sets their route and schedule, so ease up.

  20.  The problem with Tangerine is the changes in jurisdiction. It goes from Oro Valley (great road maintenance and bike lanes) to, I think, Pima Co (pretty good when it comes to maintaining bike lanes) to Marana (and well….).

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