It's time we began connecting all the dots............ especially the difficult dots!

It's a recurring sight in Burlington - the ubiquitous Bike Lane Ends sign.  Sometimes there's no sign at all, the bike lane just disappears!

Like a chain, the bike network is as strong as its weakest links and there are too many weak links in Burlington.  Bike lanes end at the QEW over/under passes on Lakeshore, Brant St., Guelph Line, and Appleby.  On Walker's Line, there is an edge line, not a bike lane.

Disappearing bike lane Brant @ QEW

Northshore Road for example from Maple Ave. to west of the QEW is a prime candidate.  This forlorn stretch of roadway breaks the continuous bike lane from Aldershot into our downtown core.  It's a prime candidate for connecting dots!

Bike lanes also disappear when they approach major intersections especially when the bike lane gives way to channelized turn lanes, the exclusive vehicle right hand turn lane. Bike lanes are beneficial for both cyclists & drivers.  They provide motorists with a level of comfort knowing where the cyclist is going.

It's time to connect the dots, fill in the gaps.  It won't be easy.  It will take time.  We need our city engineers and planners to "fill in" one difficult gap each year.  From Amsterdam to Vancouver, from Australia to Europe, planners realize that 60% of the population would cycle if it were safer and comfortable.  This is the Interested but Concerned group who will come if you build it.  It's time Burlington started filling in the gaps.

TBV 2011!!!

It's become his legacy statement!  After the scandals of Madoff, Enron, Worldcom and others, its the mantra of savvy investors.  It will probably become the slogan for Burlington's Cycling Committee - Trust But Verify!

Ronald Reagan said "Trust but verify," but for the Cycling Committee it's Trust But Verify and keep doing it again and again.  It's Groundhog Day and deja vu all over again.  Why, such a cynical outlook?

Despite the new & improved 2009 Cycling Master Plan and the latest Future Focus VII document with 2 smiling cyclists highlighting  the transit & transportation page, proclaims  "In partnership with the Burlington Cycling Committee, update the 10 year Bikeway Master Plan  including strategies and recommendations related to financial and other resources required to ensure safe, reliable and fully integrated infrastructure for cycling," safer cycling seems to be a planning / engineering after-thought in Burlington.

bike lane missing in red

Engineering plans outlining improvements to the intersection at Brant St. & Fairview have been released.  We have existing bike lanes on Brant St. and Fairview St. but not on the northbound lane of Brant approaching Fairview.  At this heavily traveled intersection, and many others, there is a right turn lane for vehicles but no bike lane for cyclists.  Does the cyclist hug the curb or cycle in the through car lane?  As a motorist & cyclist, I dislike the uncertainty this causes.  The newly released engineering document, makes no allowance or mention of bike lanes on Brant St. between Maplewood & Fairview.

Yet, the 2009 Cycling Master Plan tells us exactly what is needed.  Why isn't it done automatically?  Why does the BCC need to painstakingly review engineering projects to claw out each small improvement it can wring out.  Does anyone read documents such as the 2009 Cycling Master Plan or is it a case they didn't know about the missing bike lane?

Burlington has made substantial improvements to its cycling network in the last few year.  And we can expect more in the future.  However, at times it feels it's two steps forward, one step back.  We can do better!  We must do better.  Its time to walk the talk - and this doesn't mean walking and talking at the same time.  It means getting it done, properly!

More details at the Public Information Centre Feb. 17, 6:30-8:30pm, City Hall, Room 247.


Woohoo!!    At tonight's PIC, city engineers displayed a revised plan that included a bike lane on Brant St. northbound, between Maplewood & Fairview.


Thank you!!!

[I'd] like a bridge over troubled waters

Red Hill 

They come in different styles, shapes, designs, costs and extravagance but they all do the same thing.  They enable pedestrians and cyclists a safe, direct way of crossing the major highways throughout Ontario.  They encourage people to cycle by making it safer. They promote active life styles and eventually cut health costs.
Bridges over [troubled] highways aren't cheap!  While the Cambridge bridge cost a paltry (in comparison) $1.8M, Hamitlon's new Red Hill Creek bridge is budgeted at $7.6M, paid for by the provincial government!

With the help of MTO & GO Transit, Hazel's gone for the gusto & built a $17M monument in Mississauga.

Pickering bridge rending

Pickering's 22M bridge is a monster from both an aesthetic & financial viewpoint.  However the $22M price tag will be picked up by the taxpayers through MTO, Metrolinx and the federal government.  
Bridge are not inexpensive investments but compared to the $5.3 Billion cost of inactivity in Canada, they are a bargain.
Hope that Burlington is grabbing a share of these government handouts.  The prohibitive cost of these bridges for any municipality or city like Burlington to tackle on its own, makes it a Bridge too Far. 

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!

Opportunities don't last forever

Some think it takes too long for things to get done in Burlington.
Comfort levels are difficult to leave, change is hard to accept.  We all know the bigger things are the harder they are to change.  Gigantic cruise ships don't turn on a dime.  767s require longer runways, hummers bigger garages.  Change by the bureaucracy in the Big Apple must move at a snail's pace. 
  
Surprise, surprise, surprise!  It's harder to get cycling infrastructure done in Burlington than it is in New York City.  Really!
How is this possible?  The answer lies in the questions champions ask.  From Portland's Mia Birk to NYC's Janette Sadik-Khan and the world's Gil Penalosa, champions are more concerned with opportunities to get it done rather than reasons why it can't be done!

NYC Summer Streets

Sadik-Khan (SK) is not hesitant to act, consequently things get done.  "When you use capital funds for a project, you need approval from a few different places, and it takes months, sometimes years. So she takes a bunch of guys already painting double lines and gets them to dot a bike lane with the extra paint."  SK is also big on pilots. With a pilot change, you don't necessarily need community permission, since the idea is that you may end up just taking it down.  Like Mikey in the cereal commercials, SK found, once exposed to change, they like it! A former NYC traffic commissioner remarked that SK "has done more in the past few years than anyone did in the past fifty."  You can read the article here.
According to Janette Sadik-Khan, "If you can do it here," she says with a smile, "you can do it anywhere."

Virtue Moir Olympic Gold

Contrast that with the 2007 proposed bike lanes between Lakeshore Road and New St. on Guelph, Walkers & Appleby Lines.  After public consultations, it was decided that a pilot project on Guelph Line was needed before the 2007 project could be considered.  Bike lanes will eventually be added but it shouldn't take 5 years!
  

Bilodeau reached for Gold

We need that going for Olympic Gold attitude in Burlington!  We need champions at all levels at city hall to actively seek out  opportunities to make things happen & Burlington even better than it already is.  
Opportunities don't last forever and they seldom come around again.    

Don't get no respect!

Cycling master plans, despite their widespread health benefits and proven economic payback, are the Rodney Dangerfields of municipal plans.  Building a safe bicycle network remains a low priority with municipal staffers across Ontario.

Toronto introduced its 10 year Cycling Master Plan in 2001.  The goal was to build a bike network of 1,004km.  As of Dec. 31, 2010 43% of that goal was reached.
Hamilton's 2007 cycling committee suspended meetings because the city kept delaying bike infrastructure projects citing a  lack of staff to implement them.
Burlington's 1997 Bikeways Network Plan prioritized streets and was extremely detailed.  The plan was crafted by the hardworking volunteers of the Bikeways Committee of that time.  After 8 years, of anemic progress it too lagged behind its objectives.  From 2005 to 2009, 42km of existing multi-use pathways were added boosting the totals to 87km.
The new & improved, consultant enhanced ($$$) Cycling Master Plan saw light in 2009.
Since the inception, 8.2 km of new bike lanes have been added.  The plan calls for an average of 15km of bike lanes annually.

I don't know if all the city's myriad of consultant designed plans have a similar success rate of under 50%.  One wonders why they spend $$$ on  plans if the objectives are so easily and consistently ignored.

Its been my experience that playing catch-up rarely results in reaching your targets.  Let's hope the 2011 capital budget remedies the shortfall!

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.

The gift that keeping on giving - in a good way!

IKEA walks the talk.  

After finding that 20% of its Danish customers biked to IKEA, the world's biggest put-it-together-yourself furniture chain, provided bike trailers to enable their Danish customers to get the household products home!

Here in North America, IKEA USA really does believe that Change Begins at Home!  Each of its 12,400 U.S. employees were given bikes for Christmas.


No assembly required!!!!!!
"IKEA notes that riding a bicycle 30 minutes a day can burn a number of calories equivalent to an individual shedding 30 lbs. Cycling just 30km a week can help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 50%. Riding a bike versus owning and driving a car can also save an individual $8,000 annually in automobile-related costs (gasoline, general car maintenance, and insurance costs)."  It's the gift that keeps on giving in a good way!  Healthier employees, also take less time off, lower the company's health costs and are happier!


Sadly, Canadian employees didn’t get bikes.  However, IKEA Canada commissioned Canadian artists to produce 5,000 unique pieces, one-of-a-kind art for their annual co-worker holiday gift, supporting Canadian talent and artists.   

No Assembly!

Let's hope, the bike, as a company Christmas gift is a prelude of great things to come!  Hopefully other retailers, and companies jump on the bandwagon and offer their employees bikes sweetened with a uniquely Canadian 1 year free service program at MEC.  It would require confident, forward thinking CEOs and management to embrace this idea.  I'll wager that an Return on Investment analysis would show the company would recoup its investment many times over.
Thanks for your comments and emails.
Merry Christmas to all!  

Beijing out of its haze - Back to the Future

No longer a common sight

"Twenty years ago, four out of five residents in the Chinese capital pedalled to work through  one of the world’s best systems of bicycle lanes."   Beijing's 9 million bicycles are being crowded out & disappearing.  Bike lanes are blocked by parked cars & frustrated motorists seeking to avoid traffic jams.  It is now "The most congested city on earth." 


The number of cars in Beijing has doubled since 2005 & 2,000 more cars are added daily.  4.7 million cars in 2010!  Pending car regulations, have spiked sales to 3,000 per day in Dec.

The Globe's Wheels section points out the fallacy of the auto-centric planning mentality.  According to Zhang Yu, a senior engineer with the Urban Transport Center under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, “Before 1990 the government was building more and more roads but that was fine because there was a need for those roadways,” she said. “But after that, the more roads they built, the more serious the traffic jams became. So building new roads does not solve traffic jams.”

Avg Speed 20kph!
4miles in 2 hours.

"Zhang suggested different classes of tickets on public transportation to attract better-off customers, better bus and bike lanes, and more space for pedestrians. Building more roads was not the answer, she said." 
During the Olympics traffic congestion was reduced.  Cars were banned from roads on alternate days based on an even / odd system and the license plate number.   At some time, the only option is to ban cars or ironically, to make the cost so prohibitive, only the rich of this socialist country will be able to drive.  

Are there any clear days left to see
Beijing?

"[Chinese].... studies show that 60 per cent of the time, people's destinations are less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from their homes."  Its 57% in Canada!
 
Drowning in cars, bumper to bumper gridlock and a sickening pall of air pollution blocking the sun, Chinese leaders are now drafting regulations to "encouraging people in the former land of bicycles to revert to pedal power."  The state's next 5 year plan targets boosting  the number of cyclists by 25%.
The haze in Burlington is also lifting as it slowly moves back to the future.  Bike lanes help everyone, including drivers!  Why shouldn't there be bike lanes on Lakeshore Road?  The sooner, the better!