I would love to see one of them randomly replaced with a rigid bollard, but painted white to match

Sadly not everywhere yet. From cycling in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland a good bit this summer I see too many places where there is no bollard at all, just a line drawn on the ground that many ignore. Switzerland in particular was not fun to cycle in

I think they're this way in some places to allow emergency services to use them as a dedicated lane (cyclists should move to sidewalks and stop when hearing sirens)

You just gave me a boner.. uh I want those soo bad too! But the only reason why I think it’s like that here in US cities bc potential need for emergency vehicles cases.