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Dude, Where’s My Bike?

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Anthony — 1 Comment ↓

art or a truly stolen bike? 050820116831 by roland, on FlickrA little over a year ago, we talked about the Vancouver-based “To Catch A Bike Thief” project, an effort to hook up some bikes as “bait bikes”, wait for them to get stolen, then track them down and confront the thief. And interesting idea, but it looks like it fizzled and didn’t get very far.

Bike theft remains a big problem in Vancouver. Over 1800 bikes were reported stolen in Vancouver in 2012, a 20% increase over the previous year. The Vancouver Police Department provided some statistics for the past few years: Read more ›

City Releases Cornwall/Point Grey Road Design Proposals

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Anthony — 26 Comments ↓

2013-05 Cornwall-Pt Grey proposals 600px

This past weekend, the City released its design proposals for improvements along Cornwall Ave and Pt. Grey Road. The proposals were presented at three public meetings (the last one is today, May 27th, at the Kitsilano VPL Branch, in the basement, 4-6pm). Staff presented the designs that were considered and set aside, as well as those designs that are likely to be proposed to city council.

The corridor was broken into five sections: Read more ›

Vancouver Cycling News Roundup

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Anthony — No Comments ↓

10th and Pine t-circle removal

There’s a bunch of news and happenings around our community these days relating to cycling. Here are a few items:

Traffic circle removal

Last week, the Georgia Straight ran an article about how the City was going to remove the traffic circle at the intersection of 10th Avenue and Pine Streeet. This traffic circle was identified in the ICBC collision data as being one of the most dangerous for cyclists. In fact, in the seven years prior to the traffic circle being installed, there were zero reported bike/motorist collisions, but in the seven years following there were 17 reported collisions. Read more ›

The Key To Bike Safety? Ride Like You’re Invisible

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Anthony — No Comments ↓

Watch for bikesOne of the things people often ask me when they hear that I’m a daily bike commuter is: Isn’t it dangerous? The short answer is, no, it’s really not.

There is a longer answer, of course. The longer answer starts with something like: if you stick to the bike routes, are generally aware of your surroundings, and obey the rules of the road, you’ll be fine. Read more ›

Do Vancouver Cyclists Belong To Distinct Tribes? Cycle-Chic vs. Lycra

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Anthony

Cycle Chic(k) =) I read an op-ed last week in the Brisbane Times. The piece was about London Mayor Boris Johnson’s stunning £ 913 million ($1.4 billion Canadian) 10-year plan for new cycling infrastructure. Stop and absorb that number for a minute. $1.4 billion. Over $100 million per year. Proportionally, Vancouver would have to spend about $8 million a year to match this commitment. Instead, Vancouver is in the middle of a $25 million 10-year plan.

But that’s not what caught my attention in this article. Instead, the article focused on Mayor Boris’ remark that he wants to “de-Lycrafy cycling”. It moved on to a discussion about cycling tribes and a perceived growing divide among cyclists between those who believe cycling should be a normal, everyday activity that does not require “cycle-specific clothing” and those who stuff their body into skin-tight kit.

This divide isn’t restricted to London, or Australia. The “cycle-chic” movement manifested in Copenhagen but the North American chapters (is it a movement or a cult, I half-jokingly wonder) are quite vocal too. Vancouver, of course, has one of the more active cycle-chic organizations (see http://vancouvercyclechic.blogspot.ca). Read more ›

Spring Is Here. It’s Time to Bike to School.

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Anthony

Bike rackIn Vancouver, spring break is nearly over and the weather has almost tipped from completely wet and miserable to “Rain, what rain?” This is a perfect time to dust off the kids’ bikes, pump up the tires, oil the chain, check the brakes, and bike to school (if you’re not already).

I’ve seen claims that 40% of Canadian children get driven to school. If you have school-age kids yourself, pass by a school during your commute, or live near a school, then you’re already well aware of the congestion that occurs near schools. Studies have shown, though, that kids that use active transportation to get to school — walking, biking, scooter-ing, and so on — are more attentive in school, get better grades, and have a lower obesity level. In 2006, a study showed that while over 30% of students in Vancouver said they’d like to bike to school, only 2% actually did.

Some schools in Vancouver have programs to facilitate students biking to school. Some Parent Advisory Councils (PACs) have arranged “bike trains” or “bike buses” where a group of students and adults meet at pre-designated places along a route to school and then bike together to school (and back). It’s a great way for kids to gain experience and confidence riding their bicycle. Read more ›

Vancouver’s New Public Bike Pumps Spark Outrage

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Anthony

Public Bike Pump at Science WorldSome elements of Vancouver’s media stirred the pot last week over, of all things, two public bike pumps. The pumps were recently installed at Hawks Ave. and Union St. (on the Adanac bike route) and at Science World, near the convergence of the Seaside, Adanac, Ontario, and Central Valley Greenway bike routes. The pumps fit both Schrader and Presta valve types, and have been builIt to resist the elements. It’s been reported that the two pumps cost a total of $6,000.

CBC first reported on these pumps in early March. You can listen to Margaret Gallagher’s High Velocity report here. Read more ›

Stop signs and cycling: Should cyclists treat stop signs as yield signs?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Anthony

stop_sign_with_bicycle_yield-200x300Mainstream media has been buzzing this past week over comments made by spokespeople for HUB: Your Cycling Connection (formerly the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, VACC). The comments concerned HUB’s position on seeking legislation that will allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs. This is sometimes called a “stop as yield” law, or an “Idaho Stop” law.

In 1982, the state of Idaho passed a law that allows bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, and stop lights as stop signs (for straight through and left turns) and as yield signs for right turns. This law does not allow cyclists to “blow” stop signs or stop lights. It does not change the right-of-way rules. Data from before and after the enactment of the Idaho Stop law shows no change in cyclist injury rate.

Jason Meggs of the University of Bologna gave an interesting presentation (pdf) on the Idaho Stop law at this past year’s Velo-City conference.

Read more ›

Traffic circles: Studies show they’re dangerous to Vancouver cyclists

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Anthony

A little over a year ago, I wrote a bit on proper use of traffic-circles. In case you’re not familiar with them, traffic-circles are mini-roundabouts. They typically replace 2-way or 4-way stops on residential roads. Use of traffic circles is straight-forward: 1) Slow down before entering the traffic-circle, 2) Yield to traffic already in the circle, 2) Proceed in a counter-clockwise fashion around/through the intersection, signalling appropriately. The City of Vancouver uses traffic circles as “traffic calming” devices, intended to reduce the speed on residential roads and reduce collisions at intersections.

In Kitsilano, there are at least 19 traffic-circles on the designated bike routes, as the map below shows.

Read more ›

About that seaside (3rd Avenue) bike route

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Anthony

Seaside Bike Path (By Peter Wilson, used with permission)I attended one of the city’s open houses this past week about changes to Pt. Grey Road / Cornwall Avenue. It was an interesting experience. I’d already familiarized myself with the materials that were presented (click here to look at them yourself) so I didn’t learn much that I didn’t already know, but it was interesting to eavesdrop on the conversations that were happening around me.

At the open house I went to, there were about 40 people in the room representing quite a cross section of the community. There were people who lived in down in that area, others from other parts of Kits, and others from further afield. There were also quite a mix of older people and younger people, some with kids in tow. There were a few obvious cyclists (helmets, panniers, etc) but not many.

As I said, the conversations were interesting to listen to. They were much the same conversations that any cycling advocate will have heard, had, and will have again. One of the recurring positions was “There’s already a bike route on 3rd Ave, why does anything need to be changed?”

This is a valid point. There are, of course, a myriad of reasons why people think a change is necessary (safety, convenience, active lifestyle promotion, etc) but I want to focus on one of the other reasons: the 3rd Ave bike route (actually the Seaside Bike Route) is AWFUL. It’s a bike route in name only. Read more ›

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