BIKES AND BUSES ON WILLIAMS AVE

Thoughts, observations on N. Williams bike traffic
BikePortland.org - Portland,Oregon,USA

I WROTE THIS ABOUT 7 YEARS AGO:
I attempted to get a decent photo of the "swarm" before they entered
into attack phase, however I could not activate my camera phone in
time.

As some of you know, these bicycle swarms attack buses using two
attack units, the "blockers" and the "confusers".

The bus generally comes upon one of these swarms at red lights. When
the light turns green the swarm breaks up into these two types of
attack units. The "blockers" pedal as fast as they can to get ahead
of the bus, their aim is to prevent the bus from ever getting ahead
of them, thereby "blocking" the bus. See my photo "blockers"

The "confusers" stay behind the bus, swarming to the left and right,
so the driver really never knows where they are or how far back they
are. This of course confuses the driver almost to a state of utter
despair.

Like the hyenas of the Serengeti, who relentlessly hound their prey
until they eventually just give up to exhaustion, the bicycle swarms
hope to break down the poor exhausted bus driver!