"Watch for bikes" warnings in cabs?

I think it's a good idea (as I've been doored by a cab).

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Permalink Reply by El Dorado on April 16, 2013 at 7:34am

As a part time taxi driver AND bicyclist I know that most cab companies are placing them in their cars.  Although, many here do not realize that taxi drivers have the right to use bike lanes for passengers entering or departing. Also, calling 311 does help. Taxi driver complaints can be seen on the B.A.C.P. web site.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on April 16, 2013 at 7:41am

No. You are wrong. Stop posting this.

El Dorado said:

Although, many here do not realize that taxi drivers have the right to use bike lanes for passengers entering or departing.

Permalink Reply by Sue Clark on April 16, 2013 at 7:53am
A day without a troll is like...
Hmm...what would it be like?
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 16, 2013 at 8:53am

Around here, it's sometimes tough to picture, but I'd love to see a troll-less day.  ;)

Sue Clark said:

A day without a troll is like...
Hmm...what would it be like?
Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on April 16, 2013 at 9:06am

Troll-oh-lol?  You called, Comrades?

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 16, 2013 at 9:08am

It's perfectly OK/legal for a homeless guy to set up his cardboard box home in the bike lane...

Permalink Reply by Davo on April 16, 2013 at 9:26am

I don't like the "logo" and text saying "Door lane". To me, that makes it look like the lane is intended for doors swinging open, not for awareness of bikes.

Steven Vance said:

BTW, this will happen in Chicago but the presser keeps getting pushed back. There was something "ready to go [last week, April 11], but it was postponed" according to CDOT. 

Permalink Reply by David P. on April 16, 2013 at 9:45am

Sorry, my brain short-circuited and I confounded two different features - what I was really thinking of were window switches that can be locked out by the driver. You're right - child-proof door latches have to be activated manually from the latch in the door jamb. Nonetheless, it's not a technologically difficult problem.

James BlackHeron said:

Perhaps newer cars are different, but typically these child-locked doors can only be opened from the outside when engaged, and are not something that can be electrically switched by locking/unlocking the doors from the driver master door locking console. The child-lock mechanism is a physical switch on the inner portion of the door that mechanically uncouples the inner handle.  I haven't purchased a newer car in a long time so maybe this has changed somewhat.

The point is that I don't think that cab riders are going to take well to being "locked in" by the driver and unable to escape the cab on their own without being "released" from the front seat driver/cabbie. 

I like Cameron's idea of having a warning light come on whenever the meter is stopped and the driver is being paid.  That would help LOADS I think.  But other than people ditching I think that people do tend to jump out while someone else is paying to run to the trunk and get luggage and things like that.  It wouldn't hurt to have any kind of advanced warning though.

I'll have to do some more reading in Steven's link.  It sounds like it might help too. 



David P. said:

Every car with electrically-operated door locks has a switch on the driver's door that disables the inside  rear door handles - this has always been intended to prevent children in the back seat from opening car doors. This kind of thing is not much more than a programming issue on most modern cars.

James BlackHeron said:

How would this work?  Just wire a buzzer/beeper to go off whenever the door of a cab was opened?  It wouldn't give you any more warning than the visual clue of the taxi door opening and wouldn't be much good unless you were riding with your eyes closed.   No advance warning would be forthcoming, and it would just be one more traffic noise among the millions of other traffic noises and cars beeping at each other mixing into the din and confusion of city traffic.

If it were to give some advance warning it would either need to be electronically hooked up to a psychic network similar to the one in Minority Report to predict when a cab rider might decide to throw open a door to jump out, or the door would need to be locked so they couldn't get out on their own without the cabbie first unlocking it, setting off the buzzer/beeper and also giving a couple of seconds warning first on a time-delay relay until the door actually did unlock to let them out.

hmmm...   That sounds like an idea!

Sarah Lewert said:

What if there was some sort of audible warning that a cab makes when someone is exiting? Similar to how large trucks have the "I'm backing up" sound? Maybe a flashing light too?

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on April 18, 2013 at 2:59pm

Yeah I had this idea (not that I was the first, obviously) the last time i saw another massive, sprawling internally-contradictory set of tips on avoiding dooring. It'd be good to actually put some reminders up where people can do the one thing that would actually prevent dooring, which is "pay a fucking tention for once before you open a door." 

I also have been doored pretty much exclusively from the left with doors opening into the bike lane. 

Permalink Reply by Dan Ciskey on April 18, 2013 at 4:54pm

I think this creates a wonderful paradox wherein a cab driver with ye standarde five foote bike lane to his right can't ever let a passenger out. If he pulls into the bike lane, it's illegal. If he stays in the traffic lane, he hasn't pulled to the curb which is also illegal. I, for one, love this de jure ban on cabs letting passengers off on bike laned streets. More five foot door zone bike lanes, please!

Edit: if this hypothetical street has a parking lane to the right of the bike lane I'm sure the cab driver will find a break in the parking, like a loading zone, alley, or side street and let out his passenger. As long as he's The First Cab Driver To Ever Successfully Merge Across A Bike Lane everything will be fine. But I think we should put in more five foot door zone lanes just to be sure.


Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

No. You are wrong. Stop posting this.

El Dorado said:

Although, many here do not realize that taxi drivers have the right to use bike lanes for passengers entering or departing.

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