JayVee
Well-Known Member
For Geneva, where I commute, I voted “it’s pretty good”. Over the past 10 years Geneva has constantly been upgrading its road infrastructure to take cyclists into account, so I give the city a lot of credit for effort, even if everything is far from perfect.
I would have gladly taken you guys for a virtual “GoPro” tour of Geneva’s bike lanes, but unfortunately I broke my arm a couple of days ago.
The Good
Geneva has a large bicycling community due to its rather flat topology. Over the past years, the city has progressively been upgrading it's road infrastructure so that every street has a bike lane with dedicated traffic lights and signalization. Bike paths are easy to find: there are signs all over the city which guide you towards them. To encourage cycling, Geneva has made an efficient use of its existing infrastructure by creating bike paths that use underpasses, overpasses, pedestrian zones, back streets, and trails. At large intersections, bike lanes have been laid down in red to make them more visible. Bridges are progressively being widened or redesigned so that they can better accommodate bike traffic. In the peripheral areas of the city where there are high speed transit roads, cycling lanes have been separated from the rest of the traffic for better safety.
** Geneva is both a city and a canton. But the territory is so small, that I have chosen to consider both the city and the canton for this evaluation.
The Bad
Unfortunately, Geneva has a rather unhealthy obsession with its trams. In the mid 90s the city had reduced the number of tram lines, and many of us had hoped that this archaic means of transportation would disappear. To the dismay of many cyclists and drivers, several new tram lines have been inaugurated over the past few years. In the commuter landscape, the presence trams is detrimental to cyclists. Tram tracks are extremely slippery in the winter or when it’s raining and, unlike a bus, a tram cannot swerve to avoid you. In the center of Geneva there are several places where bike lanes cross trams lines. At certain intersections cyclists need to yield priority to trams, but the manner in which this has been implemented is often confusing and dangerous. The safest option is to build a small “island” where cyclists can stop. The cheaper and less safe alternative is to paint traffic signalization on the ground. Unfortunately, this is the option which has been chosen in several strategic locations.
The fact that bicycles have to share a lane with Taxis and Buses can also be quite problematic. If you’re riding an S-Pedelec, you can zip along those quite nicely, but if you need to ride a slower type of bike you will feel the pressure of the angry bus drivers behind you.
The Funny
For years, the city council has been promising that all options to widen the Mont Blanc bridge would be studied, so as to better accommodate the (difficult) cohabitation between pedestrians and cyclists. However, these promises have never really became a reality. So a couple of years ago someone decided to paint a fake bike path on the bridge as a form of symbolic protest. The text is in french, but you can look at the pictures here:
http://www.paperblog.fr/4800421/une-vraie-fausse-piste-cyclable-sur-le-pont-du-mont-blanc/
I would have gladly taken you guys for a virtual “GoPro” tour of Geneva’s bike lanes, but unfortunately I broke my arm a couple of days ago.
The Good
Geneva has a large bicycling community due to its rather flat topology. Over the past years, the city has progressively been upgrading it's road infrastructure so that every street has a bike lane with dedicated traffic lights and signalization. Bike paths are easy to find: there are signs all over the city which guide you towards them. To encourage cycling, Geneva has made an efficient use of its existing infrastructure by creating bike paths that use underpasses, overpasses, pedestrian zones, back streets, and trails. At large intersections, bike lanes have been laid down in red to make them more visible. Bridges are progressively being widened or redesigned so that they can better accommodate bike traffic. In the peripheral areas of the city where there are high speed transit roads, cycling lanes have been separated from the rest of the traffic for better safety.
** Geneva is both a city and a canton. But the territory is so small, that I have chosen to consider both the city and the canton for this evaluation.
The Bad
Unfortunately, Geneva has a rather unhealthy obsession with its trams. In the mid 90s the city had reduced the number of tram lines, and many of us had hoped that this archaic means of transportation would disappear. To the dismay of many cyclists and drivers, several new tram lines have been inaugurated over the past few years. In the commuter landscape, the presence trams is detrimental to cyclists. Tram tracks are extremely slippery in the winter or when it’s raining and, unlike a bus, a tram cannot swerve to avoid you. In the center of Geneva there are several places where bike lanes cross trams lines. At certain intersections cyclists need to yield priority to trams, but the manner in which this has been implemented is often confusing and dangerous. The safest option is to build a small “island” where cyclists can stop. The cheaper and less safe alternative is to paint traffic signalization on the ground. Unfortunately, this is the option which has been chosen in several strategic locations.
The fact that bicycles have to share a lane with Taxis and Buses can also be quite problematic. If you’re riding an S-Pedelec, you can zip along those quite nicely, but if you need to ride a slower type of bike you will feel the pressure of the angry bus drivers behind you.
The Funny
For years, the city council has been promising that all options to widen the Mont Blanc bridge would be studied, so as to better accommodate the (difficult) cohabitation between pedestrians and cyclists. However, these promises have never really became a reality. So a couple of years ago someone decided to paint a fake bike path on the bridge as a form of symbolic protest. The text is in french, but you can look at the pictures here:
http://www.paperblog.fr/4800421/une-vraie-fausse-piste-cyclable-sur-le-pont-du-mont-blanc/
Actually, I never realized how much of that area is surrounded by France. Still, cities like Phoenix and Salt Lake run 40 or 50 miles on a side. People commute for hours into LA, and building was intense during the early century boom, far from the central city. 
