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Dooring Bicycle Network
Good guy Uber wants to tackle dooring

Transportation network firm Uber has begun to trial technology that is aimed at reducing doorings of bike riders.

A feature in the Uber app alerts passenger—using push notification—if they're being dropped off on a street with a bike lane, and asks them to watch for bikes.

The company likewise is reminding drivers it can be against the law to stop in a bike lane.

The move is not before time: the Ubers of this world have clogged central cities with cars, creating many more opportunities for dooring, especially with passengers alighting unexpectedly while the vehicle is stopped in traffic.

Uber’s main US competitor, Lyft, already has a similar program underway.

Uber and Lyft are also encouraging riders to get in the habit of opening with the other hand. This is a technique where passengers and drivers look over their shoulder before exiting a vehicle to make sure no one is there.

"As the experts say, increasing awareness of safe behaviour increases safety," Kristin Smith, Uber's road safety product marketing manager, wrote in a blog post. "As a daily bike commuter and bike safety advocate, I know first-hand the challenges of urban bike commuting.”

Uber's pilot has officially started in San Francisco, Washington, DC, New York City and Toronto.

The sooner it gets to Australia the better.

There are times now when the bike lanes in some of the capital city main streets are blocked in numerous locations with Uber squatter vehicles, idling away while they wait for passenger bookings to show up.

Maybe the Uber driver app should remind them about the laws pertaining to obstruction of a trafficable lane.

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