Not long ago, well-intentioned yet completely clueless city planning folks changed the traffic flow on Market to force drivers to turn right on 10th St. rather than continue to cause congestion problems while attempting to turn on the ill-suited 8th St.  However, this unfortunately put the squeeze on bicycle commuters as they tried to navigate the narrow, somewhat dangerous bike lane bestowed upon them.  It seemed a lot of valuable space was wasted, being used as an unnecessary “buffer zone.”

Fortunately, logic has prevailed and the buffer zone is history, replaced by a wider, safer bike lane. Cyclists win!  How often does that happen in San Francisco?

BEFORE courtesy of Streetsblog SF

Childishly amateur stop motion traverse through the new scene after the jump . . .

What are you doing white pickup truck?

Not gonna work buddy. That lane's for Muni and taxis only!

See? Told ya.

GTFO

And I'll just be on my way . . .

this doesn't look good

I approach an officer and ask what’s going on, and he just kind of shakes his head and more or less says (ridiculous paraphrase warning):

Well sir, a cyclist was trying to squeeze between some cars and a bus, and she slipped on those white circular raised bumps (in sweeping arrow formation) that attempt to separate the Muni and car lanes.  So she loses balance on her bike and thuds against the side of a bus, and then to add insult to injury Muni rolls over her bike.

I couldn’t talk to the “victim” because she (deduced from officer’s pronoun usage) was in an ambulance, but she didn’t appear to have any life-threatening injuries, and luckily Muni rolled over her bike instead of her leg or face.  Totally could have been much worse.

the culprit

Fellow cyclists!  We are very aware of how dangerous and slippery Muni rails can be in inclement weather, but there is another enemy in our midst!  Don’t let these unsuspecting lumps ruin your day!

More pics of the damage (and UPDATE) after the jump . . .

not so bad!

injured pride

scene of the "crime"

 Honestly, I really hope she is OK.  Seriously!

UPDATE!!!  I am a jerk and there is a little more to this story!  According to SFweekly.com, riders on the bus in question tried to get the bus driver to stop, telling him that he had hit a cyclist.  The rider merely replied, “She fell by herself,” and continued on his route.  Several eyewitnesses from the street supported the notion that the bus struck the cyclist yet continued on.  

Conflicting reports received by Muni spokesman Judd True more closely reflect my initial account (probably since those reports were from police).  Nonetheless, it is Muni policy for a driver to stop the bus when informed by riders that a collision occured, so this was definitely a violation of policy.  Furthermore, it seems as though more than the cyclist’s pride was injured since she was laying dazed and bloody in the middle of the street and needed to be immobilized on a gurney in the ambulance.

Of course, we all know that this will just lead to even more MUNI RAGE.