JustSarah
Smitty, I’ve done the same when traffic is moving and I don’t see buses immediately approaching, because I know I’ll clear the lane without impeding a bus. Today, though, traffic was backed up from the high bridge down 35th; since no one was really moving anyway, I knew I wasn’t blocking anyone from continuing straight to get onto the high bridge… but I knew if I got over into that turn lane, I’d be one more car blocking that bus from getting to the stop.
I can see both sides. I think the only thing that is clear is that not enough thought went into how traffic actually flows when those portions of the lanes were made bus-only. I wholeheartedly support bus-only lanes, but in practice they don’t work so well if they’re not dedicated lanes, like on the bridge.