Take The Lane

Taking a stand on protected bike lanes

About four dozen people interested in safe urban cycling infrastructure lined the west side of King Street between Princess and Dupont streets in Waterloo tonight, to make a point about protected bicycle lanes.

The point is that the new bicycle lanes in Uptown Waterloo aren't protected. At least, not on the west side.

On the east side of the street in this section, parked cars act as a barrier between those using the bicycle lanes and motorists. The idea of using a car as a buffer for cyclists is nothing new, but it's a welcome addition to the cycling infrastructure in the very busy Uptown core.

But on the west side, there really isn't anything to differentiate the bicycle lane from, say, a raised parking area. No bollards, raised curbs, flex posts or street furniture mark the bike lane boundary. The slightly elevated curb might even be considered an invitation for a vehicle to roll up onto it, as did this truck on the east side.

On several occasions, I have seen vehicles actually pull completely onto the bike lane, to discharge passengers or cargo. It was a parked truck that disconcerted his cycling daughter earlier this year, that motivated Scott Weldon to make this lack of differentiation an issue.

Weldon and Jeff Fedor organized tonight's People Protected Bike Lane, modelled on similar events in Boston and San Francisco. 

A steady stream of volunteers arrived before and after the 5 p.m. start time, to line the street, standing roughly along the roadway edge of the bike lane, to provide a human buffer between cyclists and motorists.

Some of the cyclists using the lane appeared a bit baffled about what was going on, but enjoyed the applause they got. Based on friendly honks from the motorists and one friendly air-horn equipped trucker, some of the motoring public got the message.

Weldon and Fedor hope that Waterloo councillors, prospective councillors who will be seeking a seat in this fall's municipal election, and urban planners will get the message.

Weldon noted that it's ironic that planters and other street furniture on the west side will be placed on the boundary between the pedestrian sidewalk and the bicycle lane.

Indeed. How much better it would be to have those buffers placed on the boundary between the motorists and both sets of vulnerable roadway infrastructure users. 

Such a buffer has the additional value of reducing stress for drivers, who would not have to worry about whether a cyclist would roll off the not-really-separate bike lane onto the roadway. It sounds like a win-win.

 

 

Standing up for bicycle lanes

Cyclists from Waterloo Region will join forces to create a people-protected bike lane tonight in Waterloo.

Waterloo resident, cyclist, parent and community voice Scott Weldon is hosting the event tonight from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on King Street in Uptown Waterloo to raise awareness about the value of protected bicycle lanes in congested areas, particularly such places as the urban core.

The new Waterloo Uptown cycling lanes may be a bit confusing for motorists, who apparently think they can park or drive in them. A bit unnerving for a cyclist using the lanes, as Weldon's six-year-old daughter discovered this year.

Weldon is arguing for some kind of physical barrier — planters, posts, curbs, whatever — to more clearly define the spaces.

A good turnout would be a message to city council members, in this, a municipal election year.

You can sign up for the event through this Facebook event page.

These postal delivery vehicles belong in bicycle lanes

I thought it was amusing to read the Toronto Star story that ran earlier this year, about how Canada Post vehicles are the worst offender for those ticketed for parking in Toronto bicycle lanes.

While my partner and I were in France this fall, I was delighted to see postal vehicles that absolutely belonged in bicycle lanes.

 

This is a La Poste France delivery bicycle, ridden by a 40-something woman who was delivering small parcels and letter mail in the plaza near where we were staying in Caen.

She said the rugged, electric-assist bicycles are equipped with weather-proof bags, and are ideal for navigating some of the narrow streets in the old French city of about 110,000 people. She said there are about 100 of these bicycles servicing the community.

Now, here is an option for mail delivery in urban areas. Ottawa could look to this as a creative way to reduce its carbon footprint, as well as legitimizing bicycles (in the eyes of motorists) as part of our everyday road user community.

Share your cycling love: become a cycling instructor

Are you a cycle commuter, a touring cyclist, a club rider, an off-road enthusiast or just someone who enjoys the sound of bicycle tires on pavement?

Do you want to share that love of cycling? Do you want to earn some money doing it?

If you think you would enjoy mentoring others into the pleasures of cycling, you should consider taking the courses necessary to become a CAN-BIKE instructor.

CAN-BIKE is the national program for cycling education run by Cycling Canada. It’s offered to anyone (nine years of age and older) who wants to learn how to ride a bicycle, feel comfortable riding in cycling infrastructure and on streets, and refine the cycling skills he or she may already have.

I’ve written about the four levels of CAN-BIKE programs planned by the City of Waterloo for 2018. I haven’t written about Level 5, Instructor Training. This is an adult or young adult advanced program, with 24 hours of instruction and additional online components. This is not a free program: the national examiner who instructs the class will be paid, and there will be insurance and participant costs to be covered by each instructor candidate. But some of that will be subsidized by the sponsoring agency (usually a municipality).

Once you graduate as a certified instructor, you can earn about $25 to $30 an hour for private or group lessons. And there are opportunities for contract or part-time employment with municipalities that want to sponsor CAN-BIKE education programs as a part of their green transportation demand management initiatives or through their recreation budgets.

Instruction is usually done on evenings and weekends.

As well, there is a community of CAN-BIKE instructors who share ideas and support one another in delivering the programs.  

If you have any questions about the instructor program, you can check out the CAN-BIKE website, or drop me an email. As we roll into another winter, it may be time for you to think about taking your cycling enthusiasm to the next level.

You read it here first: new CAN-BIKE classes for 2018

I have in my hands — hot off the presses — a bundle of brochures for the Spring 2018 CAN-BIKE Course Offerings from the City of Waterloo.

At the moment, the City of Waterloo (a Silver Level City under the national Bicycle Friendly Community program) is the only municipality in the Waterloo Region to offer all four levels of the Cycling Canada-sponsored national cycling education program, aka CAN-BIKE.

If you are a knowledgeable cyclist who wants to take your road experience to the next level, book April 19, 21 and 26, 2018 on your calendar for CAN-BIKE Level 4: Advanced Cycling Skills. The class will have in-depth, hands-on experience about riding in complex traffic situations, included the daunting LRT tracks and traffic, as well as class time spent on cycling maintenance, tire repair and cycling theory.

For young people and adults who have no riding experience whatsoever (so "learn-to-ride without falling over" instruction) Level 1 Classes will be held Tuesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 3. These are compact, accessible evening classes. Level 2 Classes, which take you beyond learning to ride to get into cycling fundamentals and perhaps some road riding, will be held Wednesday, May 9 and Thursday, May 17. And the Level 3 Class, which adds layers of understanding and experience on and off your bicycle, is a two-part session: Thursday, May 24 and Saturday, May 26.

These courses will be taught at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex by qualified CAN-BIKE instructors (including yours truly) who have years of experience in helping people of all ages feel comfortable and confident riding bicycles. 

Join the cycling generation.

(If you want a copy of the brochure, send me your email and I'll flip you a PDF. Please note that the City of Waterloo CAN-BIKE website is not yet updated. When I said you are reading this here first, I meant it!)

Will the Iron Horse Trail become redundant?

The Iron Horse Trail is a cycling jewel in the Region. Occupying the route of a former rail line to connect Kitchener, near the Rockway Golf Course, to Waterloo, just outside the Bauer Lofts, the IHT offers a special space for cyclists and pedestrians, removed from traffic.

But like many jewels, it has flaws. Quite a few, in fact.

Anyone who has ridden it from Ottawa Street to Caroline Street South, knows the flaws: the Courtland/Stirling intersection, the Queen Street crossing, the Victoria Park rail crossing, the West Avenue/Victoria Street double whammy, the Glasgow crossing (oh, that Tim Horton's traffic), the Union Boulevard crossing, and the Park Street crossing.

With this many flaws, you might ask if the Iron Horse is a jewel, or just an uncut rock.

So, the City of Kitchener is planning a number of changes to the trail between Queen Street and Victoria. 

They are all very impressive, but I wonder if the time for such changes has passed.

I was thinking this as I exited the trail at the notorious Courtland/Stirling exchange and started riding on the bike lane on Courtland. As a a trail rider, I have to stop at every road crossing; as a road rider, I join the traffic in riding through every traffic light. 

As more and more dedicated bicycle lanes and sharrow lanes are added to the local roadway infrastructure, how much value is there, for cyclists, in infrastructure like the Iron Horse Trail?

Add the Spur Line Trail and the Laurel Trail to the list. Why ride the Laurel Trail from Bearinger to Columbia (well, the Laurel Trail doesn't even go to Bearinger) when Hagey Boulevard covers the same ground (Note to City of Waterloo: clean the debris from the bike lane on Hagey!)?

Having said all that, I acknowledge that joggers, parents with strollers and dog walkers also use the IHT. But one wonders, don't they already have sidewalks? Everywhere?

As an instructor, you learn as much as you teach

I just finished a gig as a CAN-BIKE instructor with a group of municipal employees here in Waterloo Region, and learned as much as I taught.

The CAN-BIKE program (Canada's recreational cycling education program) has been revised for 2017, with an online component, and a trimmed-down instructional component, reducing the instruction hours for accomplished riders to 12 hours from the previous 18 hours. The reduction is to make the program more accessible for the average user, and more deliverable by municipalities (through parks and recs programs, generally).

For me, it was sweating out how to deliver the guts of the program in a reduced format. And because it is a new program, CAN-BIKE and people like me are feeling our way around to just how it will be delivered. CAN-BIKE Level 4 is advertised as a 12-hour program, but you have to have some prep time (for preparing the in-class portion and for riding the routes in the on-the-road portion) so the actual teaching time is 10 hours.

There's a lot of ground to cover in 10 hours: the bike and the law, destination planning and road position, group riding, traffic dynamics, gearing, preparing for weather conditions, the drills in the parking lot and the actual riding through residential streets and major arterials (heck, you could talk for an hour about riding through roundabouts). 

I think I spent 10 hours in prep time: doing flip charts for the class, assembling handouts, emailing back and forth with the sponsoring municipality, mapping and riding the routes. I was dreaming CAN-BIKE for the week up to the classes.

The class is over, and I'm pretty happy with how it went. Now, to start sweating the next one.

I hate bicycle lanes in the springtime

Bicycle lanes in the springtime are a promise unfulfilled.

Here's the sign that proclaims the existence of the bicycle lane, such as on Hagey Boulevard at Bearinger Road in Waterloo, and what is there on the right-hand side of the road is so much gravel that the white demarcation line is not visible.

Any ride along a bicycle lane in Waterloo Region can turn up squashed catalytic converters, brake pads, flattened squirrels, windshield wipers and fabric items ranging from sodden winter mitts to ragged T-shirts. 

Any CAN-BIKE course will suggest that you stay in the left-hand side of the bike lane, to avoid debris, but who would expect the debris to go on and on and on?

No wonder many cyclists prefer to ride on the sidewalks.

 

"Act like you want us here"

I feel strongly about the role of business in helping support cycling culture, because businesses can be the destinations for cyclists. Shoppers, workers, browsers, patients, clients: we can all get to businesses on our bicycles.

But a lot of businesses don't seem to see us as clients. Bike racks are often an afterthought, if they are thought of at all. There are no bike racks at the Kitchener strip mall where I go to fill see my doctor, fill prescriptions and get blood tests. At the mall I visit to buy groceries and hardware, the bike racks are placed well out of the way, and almost out of sight, often being blocked by shopping carts at the grocery store, and pallets of fertilizer at the hardware store.

Do these business operators really want me to be there?

That was one of the questions raised at today's Waterloo Region Cycling Forum at the Kitchener Auditorium. More than 50 people — from bicycle clubs, community associations, municipal departments, the universities and cycling advocates — turned out to meet in focus groups to discuss the Region's bicycling future, under three themes: Safety and Education; Promotion and Branding; and Bikes and Business. Participants rotated through the tables, and had a chance to contribute thoughts to each theme.

For the Bikes and Business tables, bicycle parking was huge. Kevan Marshall, a planner with the Region's Transportation Demand Management department, who presented the B&B recommendations, said participants asked why it is that many malls have dedicated parking lot space for expectant mothers, but not for bicycles. Could businesses consider having a shelf for cyclists to leave their bags or helmets? In retail core areas, could businesses pool their resources to deliver goods to the home of a cyclist who stopped at several shops?

The message, said Marshall, is "Act like you want us here."

Those retailers who cultivate the cycling consumer will help build their future customer base. 

Mapping safe cycling, one point at a time

I happened to be in Victoria last month for an MEC-sponsored bike fest, where I had some chat time with the people at BikeMaps.org.

It's a University of Victoria-supported project that uses rider input and GIS mapping tools to show cycling trouble spots in urban areas.

Not surprisingly, there is a lot of information about cycling infrastructure in Victoria and Vancouver, but there is also mapping for the Waterloo Region. As with any crowd-sourced information system, you get as much out of it as you put into it. You can go to the website and add information about collisions or cyclist hazards, or you can download the IOS or Android app and use your mobile device.

You can learn more about BikeMaps by going to the website, or look for the guy in the BikeMaps T-shirt (that'll be me) during Kitchener's BikeFest on Sunday, May 29 at Kitchener City Hall. I'll have BikeMaps stickers to hand out.