CalBike
  • About
  • Advocacy
    • 2025 Legislative Watch
    • Keep Bike Highways Moving
    • Support the Quick-Build Pilot
    • Sign-On Letters
  • Resources
    • News
    • Report: Incomplete Streets
    • Bicycle Summit Virtual Sessions
    • California Bicycle Laws
    • E-Bike Resources
    • Map & Routes
    • Quick-Build Bikeway Design Guide
  • Support
    • Become a Member
    • Business Member
    • Shop
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • About
  • Advocacy
    • Legislative Watch
    • Invest/Divest
    • Sign-On Letters
    • Report: Incomplete Streets
    • Bike the Vote
  • Resources
    • News
    • California Bicycle Laws
    • E-Bike Resources
    • Map & Routes
    • Quick-Build Bikeway Design Guide
  • Support
    • Become a CalBike Member
    • Business Member
    • Shop

In response to criticism from “vehicular cyclists,” some opposed to AB 1193 which created a new class of bikeway, the separated bikeway, the California Bicycle Coalition issued this statement:

The California Bicycle Coalition will advocate for bicyclists’ access to the roadway without fail, regardless of whatever facility might be present. With regards to separated bikeways, we hope they are so well designed that everybody will choose to use them in place of the mixed traffic lanes because they’re superior, and we hope we’re so successful at encouraging bicycling that even well-designed separated bikeways overflow with cyclists into the roadway.

Advocates who oppose cycle tracks were unprepared for their arrival in the U.S., hoping they would go away, and that was a losing strategy. We wanted to encourage cycle tracks, so we wrote legislation to do that, and in so doing, ensured that cycle tracks were defined as a separate class of bikeway instead of a kind of class 2 (which would have been mandatory) and adjacent to, rather than a part of, the roadway (so that the requirement to ride as far to the right as practicable would not have compelled cycle track use). If not for us, cycle tracks would have come and been considered bike lanes and therefore mandatory. No other state did that. It was a bold maneuver to preserve cyclists’ right to the roadway when a cycle track is present. You’re welcome.

Finally, the language we use to refer to separated bikeways in public is unimportant. Thanks to us, these are class 4 bikeways not class 2 bike lanes, and that’s what matters. If the public calls them protected bike lanes — and that’s what the public will call them because that’s what they look like — it won’t change their legal status. Yes, the cops will sometimes ticket against behaviors that are not against the law, like riding outside of a cycle track, just like they currently ticket you for not riding in the gutter even though the law is clear that it’s not required. Changing that requires education of the cops (and getting lots more bicyclists out there so that cops’ family members are regular riders). Pissing into the wind calling them “separated bikeways” in public won’t make one iota of difference in getting cops not to ticket against riding in the roadway. That’s why we call them, in public, protected bike lanes, and will continue to do so, because that’s what they seem to be. Legally they’re different, thanks to us.

Latest News

  • California State Capitol
    CalBike’s Legislative Agenda at the Halfway PointJune 11, 2025 - 2:56 pm
  • Complete Streets bill passes
    CalBike Works with Caltrans to Move Complete Streets ForwardJune 11, 2025 - 2:48 pm
  • California highway boondoggles
    California’s Budget Prioritizes Freeway Expansion Over Safe StreetsJune 9, 2025 - 5:00 pm
Follow a manual added link

Get Email Updates

Follow a manual added link

Join Calbike

  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to X
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
  • Link to Instagram
About Us

Board
Careers
Contact Us
Financials & Governance
Local Partners
Privacy Policy
Staff
State & National Allies
Volunteer

Advocacy

California Bicycle Summit
E-Bike
Legislative Watch
Past and Present Projects
Report: Incomplete Streets
Sign On Letters

Resources

Maps & Routes
Crash Help and Legal Resources
Quick-Build Bikeway Design Guide
Report: Complete Streets
All Resources

Support

Ways to give
Become a Member
Donor Advised Funds
Donate a Car
Business Member

News

Blog
CalBike in the News
Press Releases

© California Bicycle Coalition 2025

1017 L Street #288
Sacramento, CA 95814
© California Bicycle Coalition 2025

Marin Museum of Bicycling OpensA Letter Regarding our Theme — Equity in Motion
Scroll to top