Kyoto Bicycle Lane Karasuma

京都自転車専用レーン烏丸通

Kyoto recently added a new bike "lane" along a stretch of Karasuma Street. In addition, there are plans to extend it further south.

It runs on both sides of the street from Marutamachi, at the corner of the Imperial Palace, down to Shijo Street.

According to a city handout, the lane will ultimately stretch south from there to Gojo, Shichijo, all the way to Kyoto Station at Shiokoji Street (the orange colored part of the map).

Lanes are on both sides of the street. Each is an umber colored space painted onto the road, unfenced, and 2.5 meters wide.


View Kyoto Bicycle Lanes in a larger map

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Kyoto Karasuma Bicycle Lane

京都烏丸自転車専用レーン

And yet another bike lane has sprouted up in Kyoto this spring. Unlike the "line lanes" in central Kyoto - meaningless, dangerous, narrow "lanes" painted on the edges of the either side of the street (see below left) - the lane on Karasuma is an actual lane with symbols and a comfortable width.

It is a replica of the "bike lane" that passes in front of the police headquarters.

That is, it is not technically separated from traffic but rather a lane that has been painted onto both sides of the street.

It ends/starts at Marutamachi, but we are not sure how far it goes south of that and there is little information online (in Japanese; there is none in English).

Though perhaps a step in the right direction, we wonder:

how will drivers react to this?
how will cyclists behave in the lane?
how much did the paint job cost?
why isn't the lane completely fenced off from vehicular traffic?

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Tags Japan Touring Kyoto Cycle Japanese