An odd bike lane in Metro Manila was featured in an online forum dedicated to the dark side of urban development.
A Redditor posted a photo of a bike lane along a highway of a city in the forum called r/UrbanHell or “The Downsides of Modern Development.”
“The portal to Third World Hogwarts,” the Redditor quipped.
It was in reference to the popular Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter franchise.
Based on the photo, it showed that a bike lane was painted at an underpass and in front of signage of a Petron gas station.
It was also blocked by the bridge’s pillar.
The bike lane’s arrow and lines could be seen directed toward it.
However, as a workaround, another lane was painted around the pillar to the right side. Two bikers could be seen using the small area dedicated for them.
This image was posted on Sunday, June 5. It had since been upvoted at least 2,616 times on the forum.
At least it’s clean
Amid the confusing bike lane mark, some Redditors were impressed with how clean the place is.
They compared it to similar underpasses in the United States.
“It’s a clean underpass with a well-painted bike lane, it’s much better than Chicago already,” one Redditor said.
“I’ll be honest, that doesn’t look too bad. Clean, has bike lanes, trees off to the side. It’s quite nice,” another Redditor said.
One Redditor quipped that the marker directs riders to the “Treats” restaurant on the right side.
“The bike lane is clearly sending you off to the right to get those Treats,” the user said.
According to the forum’s description, it is a community for photos of “all the hideous places human beings built or inhabit.”
“Come here for aesthetic appreciation of the darker side of the cities, towns, and villages in our shared world. We welcome any photos which show either ugliness, or a problem in urban development. Rural and suburban hell are also allowed,” the profile reads.
It boasts over 1.1 million members.
The post was later cross-posted to the subreddit for the Philippines called r/Philippines.
The Redditor who cross-posted it agreed to the original uploader.
“True True,” the user said.
Where it is
Interaksyon has learned that the bike lane is located along the Marikina-Infanta Highway in Pasig City.
The bike lane marker was also recent. According to Google Maps’ history, it is uploaded on the platform in March 2022.
An image of the same area showed that there is no bike lane painted there in April 2018.
Based on a Philstar.com report, in 2021, the Department of Transportation oversaw the construction of 313.12 kilometers of bike lanes in the region.
However, several cyclists and cycling advocates previously aired that some of these infrastructures are dangerous and inaccessible.
READ: Why some cyclists are avoiding bike lanes in Metro Manila
