You are right that the bicycle community does itself no favors with some of our behavior. We are working on it. I think the bigger issue I raised was about the Busses.
I am not sure there is anything that can be worked on ...
As a driver who lives in a very popular biking environment (and who has given some careful thought to the issues and has taken his own turns being a biker) I am increasingly convinced that riding a bike and driving a car on the same roads are fundamentally antagonistic behaviors.
I find that unfortunate, but I think it might be the case.
If that's true, then in Manhattan the cars should go. Even as a pedestrian it is frustrating to wait for cars at the end of every short block. I'm not sure how gridlock is helping anyone, they should just ban anything that isn't commercial or a taxi from most of the city. If you want to live in Manhattan and own a car, fine, just don't bring it in.
Yes, there don't seem to be good solutions. I don't want to get run over by a car, or have a car cut in front of me and turn into my path of travel, so sharrow/striped bike lanes aren't great. But in all of the separated bike lanes in NY, you have pedestrians cutting across them at all times, frequently hidden behind cars or behaving in erratic unpredictable manners, so these lanes aren't too good either. Granted, in a separated bike lane I'm more worried about killing a pedestrian that jumps in front of me, and less worried about my own health as I am in a sharrow/striped bike lane.
