Anyone who has ridden a bicycle through "The Tube" between Alameda and Oakland, knows what a life-threatening experience it is. On Bike to Work day, I decided to transport cyclists for free. I made a couple of signs, did a little publicizing, and waited at the mouth of the Tube.
I ended up giving rides to 5 people and their bikes. I got to listen to them tell about trying to navigate the Tube on all the other times I haven't been there for them.
The Tube is really two tubes, each filled with one-way, freeway-speed traffic. However, there's but a single, roughly 3' wide lane along the edge of one of them, for pedestrians and cyclists. Total length of the trip is on the order of one exhaust and fume-filled mile, and Heaven forbid should you meet an oncoming cyclist, or even worse, the lane-filling juggernaut of the homeless guy on his way to Alameda to collect bottles and cans with his shopping cart.
So, I saved a few people from that stress, today. And the homeless guy got to cross without having to knock any cyclists over the rail and into traffic.
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