‘Bike culture’ enjoys limited receptivity among Canadians

[Eaglelord17]

Because the one person this week who may want to travel from St Mary's, Ontario to Berletts Corners, Ontario should have 24/7 buses running and available??

Sorry, I was referring more to localized bus services. Doesn’t have to be a ton of them, but on the hour at the minimum for the slower times.

We want people to use public transit but also make it so it’s unavailable a lot of the time. I have friends and family who work into the night which can’t catch a bus home. Or we don’t want people to drink and drive but don’t provide effective alternatives a lot of the time. Or many people without vehicles who have to work on holidays but don’t have public transit to get them to and from there.

The main people it hurts is the poor, and if we want to encourage others to use public transit we need to make it more appealing to those who have alternative options.

 

[Good2Golf]

I’ll slow down to check but not stop, unless I don’t have the right of way to avoid continuously unclipping then clipping.

Other than hitting them, the worst you can do to a cyclist is cut them off as you can’t instantly put your foot down.

Sure. Clips sound like good justification not to follow traffic laws.

 

[SupersonicMax]

Sure. Clips sound like good justification not to follow traffic laws.

I slow down much slower than 99% of the cars that make their “stop.” If you want to talk about following trafic laws, I hope you never drive faster than the speed limit and always come to a complete stop at stop signs.

 

[mariomike]

They don't slow down for stop signs.

They can hit 50 Km/Hr in a 20 Km zone going downhill S/B on the west side towards the lake.

 

[Underway]

A way to solve all these problems. Bike-only roads or paths. Full separation.

Design communities that put pedestrians and bikes first and cars last. Good luck getting that through municipal planning committees. Can't even get the NIMBY's to allow for mixed residential housing of four stories or less.

 

[daftandbarmy]

A way to solve all these problems. Bike-only roads or paths. Full separation.

Design communities that put pedestrians and bikes first and cars last. Good luck getting that through municipal planning committees. Can't even get the NIMBY's to allow for mixed residential housing of four stories or less.

The City of Victoria enters the chat...

... and that noise you can hear are the howls of outrage resulting from a perfunctory community consultation process manipulated to suit the needs of vote hungry council members

 

[mariomike]

Can't even get the NIMBY's to allow for mixed residential housing of four stories or less.

I'm no urban planner, but I suspect you are right.

This is a map of Toronto's zoning laws. Notice all the yellow? Those are designated as neighbourhoods. Only single detached houses are permitted.

I can't see our local ratepayers association getting on board with any changes to the status quo of the neighborhood.

toronto residential zones - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

 

[dapaterson]

Like I said- virtually every major west coast city.

Clearly a Maritimer, if you're calling Montreal a west coast city

 

[lenaitch]

They don't slow down for stop signs.

They can hit 50 Km/Hr in a 20 Km zone going downhill S/B on the west side towards the lake.

And this is what any discussion inevitably boils down to; the 'bikes are safer', 'cars kill people when they collide', 'bikes lose momentum', etc. Both sides retreat to camps that sound much like 'my dad can beat up your dad'.

I'm not philosophically opposed to allowing rolling stops ('Idaho stop') but it becomes a subjective matter of degrees. Looking at that clip, I didn't see a lot riders slowing down or looking both ways; most just seemed to blithely carry through the intersection at whatever speed they were travelling.

So long as it's a shared space, there has to be rules. Sure, maybe make the rules more appropriate, but no side gets to operate without any.

 

[lenaitch]

I'm no urban planner, but I suspect you are right.

This is a map of Toronto's zoning laws. Notice all the yellow? Those are designated as neighbourhoods. Only single detached houses are permitted.

I can't see our local ratepayers association getting on board with any changes to the status quo of the neighborhood.

toronto residential zones - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

Remember the days of the corner store or neighbourhood store? Where a variety store, grocery store or any small business could occupy the ground floor and an apartment or two in the one or two storeys above. These were mostly in residential areas but I remember them along main roads as well.

Except for grandfathering, I don't think Toronto zoning even allows for them now and, even if they do, neighbours would no doubt howl about the traffic, noise or smells.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I believe that’s a tax levied on fuel in each of the Metro Vancouver municipalities serviced by TransLink for transit. I can’t comment on its effectiveness.

How else are you going to pay for that 6% Corporate expenditure? They need to pay all those 6 figure planners to tell the politicians what they want to hear.

 

[Halifax Tar]

If we're going to designate road space to bikes they should be treated as a motor vehicle.

Age requirements, coursing, practical and theoretical testing, liscencing and registration of the bikes with a plate and necessity of insurance. As well as enforcement of the same traffic laws.

Have a caveat that you can keep your bike unlicensed so long as it doesn't use government owned and/or maintained roads and highways.

 

[SupersonicMax]

If we're going to designate road space to bikes they should be treated as a motor vehicle.

Age requirements, coursing, practical and theoretical testing, liscencing and registration of the bikes with a plate and necessity of insurance. As well as enforcement of the same traffic laws.

Have a caveat that you can keep your bike unlicensed so long as it doesn't use government owned and/or maintained roads and highways.

Should we have the same for people walking on sidewalks?

 

[Grimey]

The City of Victoria enters the chat...

... and that noise you can hear are the howls of outrage resulting from a perfunctory community consultation process manipulated to suit the needs of vote hungry council members


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As a commuter or consumer, I hate them. As a cyclist, I feel much safer. At least on the lanes on Pandora. The Warf St. one is a disaster.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Should we have the same for people walking on sidewalks?

 

[daftandbarmy]

As a commuter or consumer, I hate them. As a cyclist, I feel much safer. At least on the lanes on Pandora. The Warf St. one is a disaster.

Yes, it's almost like they could have run a few months of 'proof of concept' lanes, set up with plastic cones etc, before they poured all that concrete and festooned the roads with confusing, expensive signage.

It was as if it was all done based on the 'cat's away, mice shall play' principle

 

[GK .Dundas]

To this day I have no idea when they actually decided to build bike lanes in my end of town .And the few times I might have spoken out .
I was actually working.....as contract security at City Hall....
The one meeting I was able to attend and that hadn't been apparently packed with supporters of the bike lane plans. Took place in a local Church and that was an Information Meeting and that the decision had not only been made involving the bike path but because of changes to the street this would also affect the local bus routes as well.
To put it mildly finding out that you might have to walk another 500 meters ( at worst) did not further endear the plan to the local peasantry.
Furthermore stories began to circulate about in the initial surveys taken to gauge acceptance of the project. Allegedly some households who supported the project were somehow counted twice anothers not at all .
More then a few people were fairly outraged that this was the first time they'd even heard of the Bike Path project.

 

[SupersonicMax]

No, that’s a fair question. Where do we draw the line? Are we going to require kids to hold a “bicycle license” to bike on public roads or on bike paths in a neighbourhood? If so, at what stage? When we kiddie wheels come off? Pedestrians also need to follow rules. Do we require a license to make sure they know and are capable of following the rules?

 

[dapaterson]

Do we stop assuming that a single test at age 16 is sufficient?

 

[mariomike]

Remember the days of the corner store or neighbourhood store? Where a variety store, grocery store or any small business could occupy the ground floor and an apartment or two in the one or two storeys above. These were mostly in residential areas but I remember them along main roads as well.

Except for grandfathering, I don't think Toronto zoning even allows for them now and, even if they do, neighbours would no doubt howl about the traffic, noise or smells.

As you say, most have been conveted to residential. One of their giveaways is the angled corner door. In some cases, these have been covered over, but an angled wall on a corner building is a sign of a former store. Sometimes, you can still spot the former step up to the covered door. Another indication is a recessed door. A full-length ground floor window, once used for displaying goods is also a sign. Doors were flush to to the ground, with no front porch.

I've noticed plenty of former corner stores converted to residential in older neighbourhoods.