Bike friendly coffee shop



On a recent visit to Bridgehead's roasting house coffee shop I couldn't help noticing the indoor bike parking for employees. At one point there were 5 bikes and 5 employees visible. Outside, the bike racks were all occupied. Bridgehead has always impressed me with their concern for the environment and this is just one more example. A certain downtown coffee shop that promotes the removal of the segregated bike lane could certainly take a lesson or two from Bridgehead.

Three on a bike

Recently there appeared a comment in the local paper pointing out the disadvantages of a bike vs a car. The anti-bike author expressed a very North American bias about bikes. Basically he said you can't do that much with them. They can't carry groceries (mine does) or they can't transport children. He specifically said two children so I thought of his comments when I saw this cyclist last week with two children on board. Nicely done too!

A spring made for bikes

Record warm temperatures are really bringing the bikes out. It's a great thing to see.

The winter cycling myth that Canadians hold so dear

We often hear the detractors of cycling in Ottawa say that few people cycle and that it's impossible to cycle in Ottawa in the winter. And though we Canadians like to take pride in being hardy survivors of winter we could take a lesson from others. It seems you can live in snowy climates and still cycle in the winter as is evident in these pictures taken by Marie in Uppsala, Sweden. It looks like winter to me.





It's really not about the weather.


Photos by Marie Clausén, taken in Uppsala, Sweden

Winter bike parade for winter cycling fans

The Citizen's for Safe Cycling is sponsoring a winter bike parade. The event will be held on Sunday, January 22. Winter cyclists are to meet at Laurier Avenue West and Percy Street at noon. The parade will travel down the Laurier segregated bike lane to the Ottawa City Hall at 110 Laurier Avenue. There will be free hot apple cider at City Hall to warm up participants. The event will go snow or shine. You can visit the CFSC website to view the CFSC promotional poster.

New E-bike rules for NCC pathways

The National Capital Commission has announced the new rules for electric bike use after public consultation. The new rules are as follows :

Capital Pathway

Electric-powered vehicles are prohibited on the pathways, with the exception of powerassisted bicycles that are physically similar to conventional bicycles. To further clarify,
scooter-type power-assisted bicycles (i.e. with a fairing) are prohibited.

Electric-powered bikes are the ones that look much like a moped. I'm glad they have banned these on the pathways. Why? My personal experience is they are always exceeding the 20k speed limit and I have never once heard a bell or signal from the rider/driver. This is quite important as they are almost completely silent. Even a well-maintained bicycle makes some noise as pedals are turned and gears shifted.

Bike lanes

Electric-powered vehicles are prohibited in bike lanes, with the exception of powerassisted bicycles (of any type). To further clarify, scooter-type power-assisted bicycles
(i.e. with a fairing) are permitted.

The N.C.C doesn't have many bike lanes but Island Park Drive would be under their jurisdiction. They are also constructing a bike lane along Wellington Street towards the Portage Bridge.

Sunday Bikedays and Saturday Short Loops programs

Electric-powered vehicles are prohibited on parkways closed to motor vehicles for the
Sunday Bikedays and Saturday Short Loops programs, with the exception of powerassisted bicycles that are physically similar to conventional bicycles. To further clarify,
scooter-type power-assisted bicycles (i.e. with a fairing) are prohibited.

Multi-use trails in Gatineau Park

Electric-powered vehicles are prohibited on natural surface trails intended for hiking and
mountain biking

Exceptions

These rules do not apply to motorized mobility aids (wheelchairs, three-wheel electric
scooters and four-wheel electric scooters).

There you go. I think this was a good decision but it will be interesting to see if the N.C.C actually enforces it. We shall see.

Ottawa cyclist brainstorming session

Saturday (Nov 25) I attended the City of Ottawa’s Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee’s “Public Brainstorming Session”. Hosted by the RCAC’s Mike Powell, the session had the goal of coming up with some safety recommendations to be presented to the Ontario Coroner. (The Ontario Coroner had announced it would be looking at recent cycling deaths.)
The brainstorming session was well attended and Mike had us divided up at four tables with six or seven people to a table. At the tables were some familiar faces and quite a few Citizens for Safe Cycling members. The local media were well represented with CTV, CBC, Centretown News, Ottawa This Week and CBC Radio Canada all present. Councillor Marianne Wilkinson sat in, but I wasn’t sure in what capacity. Was she there simply to give her opinions like anyone else or was she acting on behalf of the city? I don’t know and I would’ve liked to have known at the start. Having said that, she did make some interesting comments and I was glad a city councillor took the time to participate.
Each table was given a question and we were asked to come up with concerns and potential solutions to problems. As you can imagine, there were many areas of concern and just as many ideas about what we could do about them. So, each table discussed a question and after twenty minutes of brainstorming we’d shuffle ourselves randomly at the other tables. There was a little overlap, but for the most part the tables changed membership.
I shall say here that the following ideas are not all mine, nor will I make any judgements on whether I find the ideas presented good or not.

Question 1. What are some of our safety concerns as cyclists?

It’s no surprise with the recent cycling death on Queen Street that dooring was a major concern. Closely related was the use of window tinting on cars. Many cyclists, and all safe cyclists, make a point of making eye contact with drivers. You're looking for signs of driver awareness and signals that a door is about to open. Window tinting, of course, makes this difficult to impossible. Window tinting is legal up to a point, but many felt that some after-market window tints are darker than legally allowed and that this creates a hazard to cyclists.

Proper maintenance of bike lanes is required to encourage winter cycling.

The right-of-way at right hand turns was another safety concern. Sharing the roads in close proximity to large construction vehicles and too fast traffic were noted often. Narrow roads that put cars and bikes too close together were also noted. Somerset Street West is a good example of a street that's much too narrow. The south side allows for car parking, but if you ride along Somerset heading east you need to take the lane or else you will be much too close to the parked cars. This inevitably irritates impatient drivers. Debris and poorly maintained bike lanes was mentioned. Cycle lanes that appear out of nowhere and end just as surprisingly are a major concern that was expressed at every table at some point. Last, but perhaps most importantly, was the lack of respect that's shown to cyclists and admittedly the lack of respect that some cyclists show to car drivers. It was great to see that at no time did there ever appear to be an “us vs them” mentality in the room. Everyone seemed to recognize we have to work together in this.

Bike lane in Copenhagen

Question 2. What changes to infrastructure would we like to see?

Again, dooring came up. It was suggested that more angle parking may help in this regard. The connectivity of our bike lanes was questioned and everyone agreed we need to fix this problem. Lanes that end at bridge approaches or that just fade away need to be fixed. Traffic light signal timing was a possible change that most agreed with. Advanced greens for cyclists and turning boxes that give bikes a head start seem to be things most would like to see. Very important, and something that is very prevalent in many jurisdictions in Europe is the slower speed limit along bike routes and in the more densely populated downtown area. As someone who was recently rear-ended by a speeding truck I’m strongly in favour of slowing vehicles down in the core of the city. Safer zones around schools was another idea that I actually hadn’t heard of before. Some suggested as much as a three block radius around schools should be parking free zones to allow for safer commutes by children to school. Lastly, but probably only because so many seem to take it as the most important idea, is the use of more segregated infrastructure. People generally feel safer away from heavy traffic and segregated bike lanes continue to be a strong favourite of most people. But not everybody!

Cyclists in Ottawa's Laurier segregated bike lane.


Question 3. What can we do about cycling awareness and education?

There were many interesting ideas including a “think bike” campaign targeting bus, cab and large truck drivers. Signage when entering areas with bike lanes was brought up. As well, the idea of the "John School"* for drivers involved in accidents with cyclists and reckless cycists was a popular suggestion. Rather than being ticketed the charged motorist/cyclist could opt for some cycling education. Another well received idea was having city officials involved in road planning spend four hours on a bike in city traffic. This would likely change how they see things from a cyclist’s perspective. I would love to see that! It was also suggested that the Ministry of Transport put some information in their packages for driver licence renewals reminding them to be aware of cyclists and the Highway Traffic Act as it applies to cars and bikes.

Question 4. What legal and regulatory changes could be implemented to make cycling safer?

Adopting a mandatory minimum distance that cars must give cyclists (1 metre suggested) was easily the most noted change that people would like to see. Again, the issue of the tinted windows and why police seem to be ignoring some tints that are clearly illegal was talked about and it was suggested that the police themselves would have an interest in enforcing the laws that are already in place. However, some suggested that the maximum tint standard allowed today is too dark and should be changed. The lack of side guards** on trucks were another concern. A recent accident in Toronto where side guards may have prevented a cyclist’s death has highlighted this again. With the rapid pace of development in downtown Ottawa now we are seeing a large number of trucks in the heavily congested core and this summer we had a pedestrian death involving a right-turning dump truck. Some work needs to be done to make trucks safer. Another change many wished to see is the so-called Idaho Stop. This is where a stop sign can be treated as a yield sign for cyclists. It’s a very practical idea.

A bike "launch pad" on Laurier Avenue

These are just some of the topics that were discussed. There were far too many for me to put in this post (the infrastructure table had over 9 pages of notes!) but it does give you an overview of what we talked about. If I could pick five highlights for the session I would say that number one was the need for more separate/segregated infrastructure. This was the first item brought up at the infrastructure table. Number two would be the posted speed limit downtown. Most feel this needs to be lowered. Public awareness campaigns would be number three. Connecting the bike lanes we have to form a solid integrated network would be number four. It was unanimous that we have far too many dead links in this network. Number five concerned right-hand turns. Given this is where most accidents occur the participants had strong feelings about the need for advanced green lights and turning boxes (that put the bikes ahead of the cars) to keep cyclists safe when turning.

* What is “John School”?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_school

**What are truck side guards?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/infographic-truck-side-guards-designed-to-safeguard-cyclists/article2235084/?from=2235099

More new bike lanes

It's enough to make a CFRA show host have a stroke or cause a state of apoplexy in an Ottawa Sun reader, but here we go again: another segregated bike lane! This one is just a shorty, but a goody. Running along the north side of Wellington (starting at Bay Street) to the raised bike lane along the Portage Bridge it will be easy to make the connection here from the Laurier SBL coming up Bay Street. Another piece of the puzzle comes together.

Construction began today on the Wellington Street segregated bike lane.

New Scott Street bike lanes

For many years Scott Street has been one of the worst streets to drive on in Ottawa. In fact, I don't recall it ever being in anything but terrible shape. The right-hand lane eastbound in particular had a strong camber and was horribly rutted and pot-holed. Well, Scott Street finally had some resurfacing work and with that came an added surprise. Bike lanes! They're not segregated lanes and they don't run the length of Scott Street but it's still a small step towards making Ottawa a better cycling city. The new lanes run between Holland Avenue and Island Park Drive and I think they'll come in handy for many. Here's a view of the freshly painted lanes looking east down Scott Street.

Danielle Naçu memorial bike ride and walk

A good crowd showed up this morning for the memorial ride/walk. I'll not comment on the incident but simply present a few photos.



A colourful crowd starts to gather.



Ottawa's police were out on bike and motorbike.



City councillor Diane Holmes talking to Citizens for Safe Cycling President Hans Moor.



The crowd just after Danielle's brother Brent released some balloons.



Police estimated the crowd at 500.

Some thoughts on the Queen Street bike tragedy

The "Ghost bike" memorial on Queen Street

For the family and friends of Danielle Naçu, the recent deadly accident on Queen Street will forever be a part of their lives. As sad as I feel about it, my sadness cannot compare to that of those who knew her. So, the rest of us look for answers.

Following various twitter feeds and chats about this incident yesterday I was left with a feeling that most people feel an accident like this is a singular event and not really part of any pattern. I'm not so sure.

"Dooring", they call it. It happens so often it has a name. When I was in my teens I rode my bike everywhere. My favourite route from the west end of Ottawa to the downtown was along Richmond Road until it turns into Wellington Street. This was where my only dooring incident took place. I was travelling pretty fast on my road bike and I probably had my head down. Suddenly a car door opened. I slammed on my brakes. I hit the door straight on and left some tire tracks on the inside of the door. The driver was not apologetic. In fact, he swore up and down that it was my fault. I suggested he needed to get his head examined and that I was pretty sure you're supposed to look before opening your door. Well, he wasn't taking any lip from a 17 year old and continued to harangue me as I rode off. I imagine I threw in a few colourful words as I rode off. As disturbing as the incident was it taught me a valuable lesson. That lesson has stayed with me and I've never been in a dooring incident since.

I learned then to never trust that a car door won't open. I always scan inside cars as I'm coming along and if someone is in the car I'm expecting a door to open. I don't ride so close to stopped or parked cars either. It's not for everybody, I know, but I take my share of the road and that means moving out from the danger zone and into the other lane if required. You might get honked at (though I don't recall this happening often), but it's your right.

Having said that, I'm not placing blame on the victim. She was in her rights to be riding where she was. A stupid, momentary lapse in judgement (and a Highway Traffic Act infraction) by the car driver and her life was lost. As soon as the details of this accident became known I heard so many comments about what can be done to stop it from happening again. Some were very anti-bike (suggestion: no bikes downtown!) or that the cyclist should have ridden in the segregated lane three blocks further south. At the end of all the discussions and ideas I'm left with only a few thoughts about how to avoid such accidents.

The first thing I would suggest is that we continue to encourage the use of bikes for everyday transportation. I think we had a few decades go by where bikes were mostly used by road racers and mountain bikers. I remember trading in my road bike for a mountain bike and all that really did was lead me to ride less. I know many others who did the same. The result, I believe, was fewer bikes on the road and less awareness of the ones that remained. Now, however, many people are dusting off old vintage bikes and putting away or trading in their mountain bikes. In Ottawa over the last three years we've seen a noticeable increase in the use of upright or so-called city bikes. People are using the bike again for transportation and not just recreation. This needs to continue. The more cyclists become part of the transportation scene the more car drivers will be alert to them.

A second thought, and it amazes me this isn't being done already, is to include dealing with cyclists in the driver training of Canadians.
It's not done in Ontario and it should be.

Lastly, education and awareness for both drivers and cyclists is important but we also need physical separation of cyclists and cars. We need more than one segregated bike lane in this city. Painted lanes on roads are fine to some extent, but physical segregation is very successful in other cities in the world and we need more of it - now.

The Ottawa Citizen has some information on the accident and a link to a memorial ride for Danielle Naçu. You can find that information at the following link:

http://cycle.ottawacitizen.com/

Let's share the path!

One of Ottawa’s most popular cycle routes is the multi-use pathway that runs along the Queen Elizabeth Driveway on the west bank of the Rideau Canal. It is used by runners, skateboarders, parents with strollers, those walking dogs and those just out for a stroll. It is NOT a bicycle path.





However, it is heavily used by cycling commuters and the pathway can get quite busy in the morning and afternoon rush hours.
The afternoon rush can be a rather difficult time to be anyone but a cyclist on the MUP. For some reason, human nature I imagine, people are in far more of a hurry to get home than they are to get to work. This is a problem. People in a hurry. Rather, cyclists in a hurry. A big hurry. I know how fast 20kph is and so many are speeding. It’s particularly dangerous at the wide curve across from Waverly Avenue.

I walk this pathway almost every day after work to meet my partner. It’s a lovely walk in the spring when the lilacs are in bloom and in the fall when the colors are changing. In fact, it’s one of the better places to walk in Ottawa. Who doesn’t like a stroll along a river (or a canal)?
Well, one fellow that passed us recently certainly did not appreciate the beauty of this pathway or respect that it’s a shared pathway. As we were walking home, another couple exercise walking, came up behind us. They passed us on our left just as anyone would while walking, running or cycling. However, they straddled the centre line as they passed us by. Our cyclist in a hurry found this to be an outrage. As he passed all four of us, so close he almost touched the other couple, he had to flash us the one fingered salute as he vanished at a high speed. Yet another cyclist giving us all a bad name.

This sense of entitlement to the pathway, this get out of my way I’m an important person in a hurry attitude just sends such a terrible message about cyclists. Many are coming too close to pedestrians. Here’s a suggestion. How about slowing down a little…maybe take in the scenery and enjoy your bike ride and let others enjoy what they are doing as well. Let’s share the path!

Look both ways before you cross the street!

One of the first rules you learn as a child is how to safely cross a street. Look both ways! How many times do we hear this as children? And yet, as adults, we often forget to do this. Last week I spoke to a cyclist who had been involved in a collision with a salad toting pedestrian (that red line in the photo is the salad trail). According to the cyclist and another passerby, the pedestrian just entered the bike lane without looking. I hope that had they made it safely through the bike lane that they may have looked both ways before crossing the avenue. Perhaps not though. The cyclist involved in this collision said he had a number of close calls with other pedestrians. It seems they are ignoring this simple rule that they learned as children. For myself, if I am not making eye contact with a pedestrian near the bike lane I am going to assume they are not going to look. A good place for the bell as well. The Laurier segregated bike lanes are only a month old. The police and paramedics were called to this scene but it seemed precautionary rather than necessary. According to the City of Ottawa there have been no major incidents along the SBL. Let's hope it stays that way.



Looking east down the Laurier segregated bike lane.

Urban mining on a bike

It seems that the citizens of Ottawa throw away a lot of stuff that easily converts into money. Some wise people take advantage of this. I have seen several urban miners on bikes but this guy is the champ so far.

Laurier Avenue segregated bike lanes officially open

Today the Laurier Avenue segregated bike lanes officially opened. A large and diverse group of cyclists gathered as well as a small group of protesters. After a series of small speeches it was time to try out the lanes. The initial ride was lead by Mayor Jim Watson. This project has been very controversial in Ottawa, a city that always resists change. Now that the lanes are here for the next two years perhaps we can put all the acrimony behind and just see how things work. Personally, I suspect the Laurier SBLs will be a big success and the first of many that we will see.



Alex deVries, vice-president of Citizen's for Safe Cycling (SFSC), discusses the Laurier SBL with Mayor Jim Watson. I overheard the mayor say how important it is to write to your local papers. Very true! Don't let the complainers make the most noise.



I did say a diverse group. Charles Akben-Marchand, president of the Centretown Citizen Community Association had a rather interesting swing bike. He's also part of the team that runs the very successful bike parking at Bluesfest.



One of the many volunteers doing some bike lane outreach.



A pair of Dutch cyclists happy to have a segregated bike lane.

Bike launch pads on Laurier Avenue

If you have been down Laurier Avenue in the last few days you may have noticed these "launch pads". These pads will facilitate the turns of cyclists from the Laurier segregated lanes. According to the City of Ottawa, "To enable safe left turns for cyclists using the pilot facility, bike “launch pads” have been proposed at intersections in front of automobile traffic and pedestrian crosswalks. These launch pads would enable cyclists to safely perform a two-stage left turn: the cyclists would cross the intersection in the designated cycling lane, then would wait on the launch pad for the traffic signal to switch to allow movement on the cross street.

Originally these were going to be blue but green works for me too. This one is at Laurier and Bay but there will likely be more in the next few days. On inspection, they appear to be made of a skid resistant material that should last a good while. I am looking forward to sitting in my launch pad!

The founder of Copenhagen Cycle Chic speaking in Ottawa

Mikael Colville-Andersen, founder of the international cycle chic movement and author of the fabulous Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog is speaking tomorrow in Ottawa. Though often criticized as being about pretty girls in heels, cycle chic is really about getting more people cycling. By depicting cyclists going about their business in normal clothing...that is to say, not spandex bike shorts and clip-on shoes, cycle chic attempts to show that cycling is available to the masses. And it's succeeding!

http://www.cycling-vision.ca/events/index.html