1. I saw that the bus was coming on full speed next to the truck. I looked back to let the bus driver know that I see him/her. She still came at me with full speed, squeezing me into the parked cars.

2. There was no bus stop for this Rapid. If I see a bus stop with people waiting, I usually take the lane and move out to the left of the lane to let the bus driver know that they can merge into the curb.

3. None of these suggestions would have helped me with the car incident where the driver cut me off. I’m still bruised and I can’t use my left arm.

4. I always write down the number of the busses (route and id #, time of day, direction and intersection) but it has not gotten me far. I report them, I get an email back saying that they will talk to their drivers and that’s about it.

I want these drivers fired and I want these incidents to get onto their driving record! I ride the bus all the time, with my bike and sometimes without. I always try to make friends with the drivers and I report the good and considerate ones as well to reinforce good behavior.

But drivers who endanger the life of others need to be punished. Maybe we should put them on a bike on a busy street and put them in front of one of their own buses. Topanga has an equestrians/mountain cyclists program. Maybe there could be a bus/urban cyclist program.

When you catch them at a stop, pull up on the drivers side. Grab those big mirrors on the side and twist them out of position.

Gets ‘em every time.

If you want to avoid conflict, I would advise being aware of any upcoming bus stops (usually near intersections). When you near a bus stop, either accelerate to let the bus pull over, or slow down to let the bus pull over.

Looking at the driver and making it known that you will respect their need to dump passengers (or pick them up) usually results in a good relationship as you both make your way down a large thoroughfare.

on my ride home from work, i leave downtown on my bike, or i could catch the #33 up venice.

if i take the #33 – that’s an extra half an hour of travel time.

so i’m well aware that many times on bikes we are faster than buses and cars in the macro sense, but in the immediate, roaring your engines, we are slower.

hence my point, there are good bus drivers who are tolerant of our “relative” (and immediate) slower speed.

happy?

Last week I rode to Hollywood & Vermont to catch a bus. I missed the bus by seconds. No worries! I’ll just ride south on Vermont and catch it at the next stop. Again, I just missed it by seconds. As luck would have it, I kept hitting red lights and the bus kept sliding through on yellows.

Eventually just decided to keep riding to my destination at 85th and Vermont. The bus and I were neck and neck all the way.

My point is this, when it’s all said and done, cyclists aren’t really traveling slower than the buses, we just don’t accelerate and brake to such extremes as the operators of buses (and other vehicles) do.

Studies show that moderate and consistent speeds result in greater throughput than rapid acceleration and deacceleration.

More cyclists! Moderate speeds! Greater capacity! Safer streets!

“See you on the Streets!”

i’ve had really close calls, and have been the victim of really bad driving by bus operators, both on metro and commuter express lines.

every time something bad happens, i file complaints. i’m not sure where they go – but, at least i’ve done my part. i’m not sure what else there is i can do.

there are also some good operators out there, and ones who know to give us space and are patient with our slower speed. it’s just the jerks that inevitably end up defining them, much like the behavioral outliers of all groups.