Yes / No / Maybe

"No bike riding"

Bellingham has for some time banned riding bicycles on sidewalks in the two busiest and most dense business and shopping districts, the downtown Central Business District, and in Fairhaven. Both these neighborhoods consist of about six core blocks with six or so intersections, bordered by slightly less busy blocks.

At first the city marked these areas by painting this red symbol (at right) on street corners, which was mostly more or less effective, I think, although the Central Business District has some persistent scofflaws.

Recently they have been experimenting with a more positive message (below).

"OK to walk bikes"

The busiest blocks have the red "NO" message, while the fringe blocks have the new green "OK to walk" message.

This does seem like a nicer way to put it, but I'm not sure the distinction will be clear, considering that most cyclists don't read the sidewalk carefully as they ride.

I stay on the street, of course, except on the ugliest, most dangerous blocks or intersections. I find it is usually easier to dodge cars than pedestrians on the sidewalks.

This reminds me of my vacation in Montreal last summer. I generally felt pretty comfortable riding my bike on city streets in Montreal, even more than in my old home-city of Seattle. But on some occasions when I was in the downtown business center of Montreal during the lunch hour or rush hour, when I began to feel over-whelmed and unsafe in the heavy traffic and construction zones, I resorted to walking my bike on the sidewalk. There I got some dirty looks from other pedestrians who seemed to think I was taking up too much space or something.

Or maybe it was because many people can't recognize the difference between a tourist and a transient, a prejudice I've experienced before when travelling by or with a bicycle. A thought for another post.