Turn Off the Dark - it's happening in new New York City

Invigorated by another long weekend with friends in the city that never sleeps, I've come to love NY - the new, New York!  Each time we experience NYC, there are more cyclists and definitely more people walking and enjoying the streets.  It's becoming an urban cyclists' & pedestrians' haven. It's changing and it's changing for the better, fast - faster than the timid pace here in Burlington.

Below is a "Steetsfilm" video showing the growth of cycle tracks and bike lanes in NYC.  The video is a great one to watch with fabulous shots of green bike lanes, cycle tracks and people enjoying their city.  It's 11 minutes.  If you don't have the time, I'd recommend 3 very short segments:
1. 30 second mark shows the transformation of Times Square from a roadway dedicated to cars and its current state.  It's remarkable!
2. 50 second mark - Gridiron Sam states that a city planners and managers are thinking differently about road use bringing back more life to the city.  (We need that thinking in Burlington!)
3. 2:40 second mark - a 73 year cyclists enjoying the new & improved Columbus.

Complete Streets: It's About More Than Just Bike Lanes from Streetfilms on Vimeo.
Cycle tracks in Burlington?  At this point in time, in the Cycling Master Plan, no where else.

As for the new & improved $65 million & counting Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark, its better suited for Atlantic City rather than Broadway.  See Wicked instead - and don't forget to experience Burlington's 1st summer streets event, coming this September.  

If you build it, they will ride

At January's Burlington Cycling Committee meeting, Mayor Goldring asked if Burlington's newly paved trails were being used by more people.  I sensed he was really asking if the city made a wise investment with taxpayer dollars.
Burlington does not take cyclists or pedestrian counts, so no hard data is available. However, everyone around the table intuitively felt the number of people using the trails had increased.

In London (see previous post) and now in Montreal, the hard data shows that bicycle use jumps where the city invests in paths & bike lanes!

According to an article in the Montreal Gazette, "bicycle use has increased by as much as 40 per cent since 2008 in areas of Montreal where the city has invested in bike paths or lanes."  This is based on research from a study done by McGill University students.

From johnchow.com

"Ridership at the five locations went up by 20 to 27 per cent from 2008 to 2009, and by 35 to 40 per cent in 2010 compared with 2008."  Mayor Tremblay made it his mission to make Montreal a leader in bike use.  From 2008 to 2010 the city invested $25 million and added 100km of bike lanes including physically separated cycle tracks, the envy of North America!

Montreal is not resting on its laurels.  By the end of 2013, an additional ~300km will be added to the bike network.
Where there's a champion at city hall, there is a way to get cycling infrastructure done!  Burlington needs those champions.

Field of Dreams

Cycling advocates have always recited the mantra, "If you build, it they will come."  
Skeptics retorted bike lanes take lanes away from cars, parking spaces from business, cost too much money and only a marginal few would use them.
Skeptics, we [you] have a problem!


Transport for London, (the agency in London, UK, governing all modes of transportation) built 2 "Cycle Superhighways" as a pilot.    In other parts of Europe these are also known as quasi-Cycle Tracks!    Despite their unwieldy name, the Barclays Cycle Superhighways are new, continuous cycle lanes into central London from outer London.  They are safer, direct, coloured blue bike lanes, sometimes protected from vehicles, often part of the regular road .  The number of cyclists using the 2 routes rose by 70% over the same unprotected routes a year earlier.  On some stretches, the number of trips made by bike doubled.  Even better, 34% of the users were non-cyclists.  Business likes it as well!

Cdn built London bike share.

You can check out the video on the NY Times website as well as links to articles touting the benefits to users and business.


Its working in London.  Mayor Boris Johnson, is pushing ahead with more cycle highways and additional safety improvements.  He has chosen to lead and doesn't hesitate to implement radical ideas with vision. A record £116m will be spent in 2010/11 on infrastructure, training, promotion and education.  
The press release can be found here.

Boris Johnson, the cycling mayor.

By comparison, Burlington's 2009, 20 year Cycling Master Plan, needs a boost because it's already in catch up mode.  The saying goes, "If you build it, they will come."  In London, they come because it's built!

On The Right Track

It's nice to know that Burlington's 2009 Cycling Master Plan is on the right track -  the cycle track.

European cycle tracks

Common in European cities, "cycle tracks are bike lanes separated from travel lanes, parking lanes and sidewalks by pavement markings, pavement colouring, bollards, curbs, raised medians, or a combination of these elements. They are used by cyclists only."  (Burlington CMP pg viii)
  

North American

Cycle tracks are slowly but surely making their way into North America.  New York City's 9th Ave. is a prime example.  BC, Montreal, and Cambridge MA are other examples.
  
Even Rob Ford, the Toronto mayor who gave us Don Cherry's rant about bike riding pinkos, is also getting into cycle tracks.  His administration "has proposed a connected network of physically separated bike lanes in the city core."
  
Burlington's 2009 cycling master plan calls for 10km of separated cycle tracks on Dundas St. across Burlington from Kerns Road to BurOak.  The $3 million cycle track would be developed and hopely funded by the Metrolinx proposed rapid transit corridor for Dundas.
  
The taxpayer in me cringes at the cost of the cycle track!.  However, numerous gooooogle searches confirm the many, many benefits of cycling.  A UK study states "people who cycle to work experienced a 39% lower rate of all-cause mortality compared to those who did not."  Economically a Danish cost/benefit study showed that a $1 investment in cycling infrastructure, results in $10 of reduced health care costs and other savings.  An AECOM report in Australia cites $4 in benefits for every dollar invested.   And they are safer!  The sooner Burlington starts, the sooner we save taxpayer $$$$.

Green line shows the proposed cycle track in Burlington.