BIXI Coming to Toronto in 2010? When will Calgary get it?

"The BIXI system is coming to Toronto – and I can hardly contain my excitement.

If you haven’t already heard, BIXI is Montreal’s bicycle-sharing program which was inaugurated on May 11th, 2009. It cost $15 million dollars to start and began with 300 stations around downtown Montreal with 3000 bicycles for rent. The system was expanded by the end of the summer to 5000 bicycles at 400 stations.

To rent a bicycle, you simply insert your credit card into the solar-powered station to purchase a membership – at a cost of $5/day, $28/month or $78/year. You are then entitled to use the bicycle for free as long as you return the bicycle to another station within 30 minutes. This enables the system to support a high capacity of users on short trips around the city."...

Study Shows Roads are Safer For Cycling than Sidewalks and Pathways

There’s a constant chorus — sometimes soft, sometimes overpoweringly loud — in every conversation about bike infrastructure in America. Its refrain: You’re safer without any bike lanes, separated lanes, cycle tracks, bike boulevards, off-road paths. Just take the lane, follow the rules, wear your helmet, and you’ll be fine.

A group of scholars at the University of British Columbia have found otherwise. They conducted a literature review, looking at all available studies linking bicycle safety with infrastructure. Their conclusions will be counterintuitive for some.

“Results to date suggest that sidewalks and multi-use trails pose the highest risk, major roads are more hazardous than minor roads, and the presence of bicycle facilities (e.g. on-road bike routes, on-road marked bike lanes, and off-road bike paths) was associated with the lowest risk.”

Walking/Cycling is a Great Alternative Way to Get to School

“No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks.” Ring a bell? Perhaps a long lost school bell? Yes, those are three of the most catchy lines of any pop tune in recent memory. I’m humming them as I write this. It was Alice Cooper’s iconic anthem to the end of the school year. ‘School’s Out’ was Number 7 on Billboard’s Top 100. The year was 1972."...

3 More Suburban Communities Connected to Calgary's Pathway System

"About 27,000 Calgarians just got connected. More than 80 kilometres of walking trails were officially opened for use recently, allowing the residents of three Genstar Development Co. neighbourhoods to pass under Highway 22X and connect with Fish Creek Park on the north side.

In turn, that pathway system goes all the way to downtown Calgary."...

Calgary's West LRT Expansion Announcement

"CALGARY- Calgary’s mayor officially launched the 37-month construction project to complete the West LRT leg, announcing Thursday that the line open for service at 5 a.m. on December 10, 2012.

Quebec-based engineering giant SNC Lavalin has been hired to build the stations, tracks and associated facilities.

The firm comes with impressive qualifications. It recently completed the Vancouver’s light-rail Canada Line on time and on budget."...

Montreal'rs Are Riding Bikes With Their Kids More

"Today is a bright sunny morning. I take my son, gather up our helmets and head to the back yard to get the bicycle; we are on our way to work and daycare.

I am one of those people you see on the streets of the city, wedged in traffic or bumping along a sidewalk, a toddler strapped into a little seat on the back of the bike.

People have told me I am brave, crazy and a risk-taker to take my 2-year-old son onto Montreal's streets on a bicycle. While some people smile and wave at my son, others look shocked to see us on the road."...

Rude Behaviour

Walking/Biking To School is Good For Children

"Your child is snuggly strapped in with a seat belt in the back seat and being chauffeured to school. It's hard to think of your child as enjoying anything other than a safe, even privileged life, especially when after-school activities are likely to be reached in similar four-wheeled luxury.

You might want to think again.

Some of the most polluted places in our cities are in front of schools, in large part because of the idling cars of parents dropping off their kids. Children are more vulnerable to air pollution than adults because they breathe faster and inhale more air for each kilogram of body weight. Being inside a car is no protection from air pollution either. The International Center for Technology Assessment reports that exposure to most auto pollutants is higher inside vehicles than at the side of the road."...

RIDING BIKES IS SAFE! FO REAL!

"Now it's no secret that segregated bike infrastructure is the only way ahead for cities wishing to increase their bike culture and daily percentage of trips made by bike. There is no alternative to this common sense.

Seeing John Pucher summing everything up in one entertaining, informative and inspiring video has made my day. He highlights the experiences of many European cities and debunks many myths along the way."...

Drivers are Responsible for 90% of Cyclist/Auto Collisions

"Who causes accidents—cyclists or drivers?

While there is a public perception that cyclists are usually the cause of accidents between cars and bikes, an analysis of Toronto police collision reports shows otherwise: The most common type of crash in this study involved a motorist entering an intersection and either failing to stop properly or proceeding before it was safe to do so. The second most common crash type involved a motorist overtaking unsafely. The third involved a motorist opening a door onto an oncoming cyclist. The study concluded that cyclists are the cause of less than 10 per cent of bike-car accidents in this study.

The available evidence suggests that collisions have far more to do with aggressive driving than aggressive cycling."...

Car Interior Air Quality Will Kill You!

"A Dutch study has proved, yet again, that the level of dangerous microparticles are higher inside cars than on bikes.

I posted about how Traffic Kills More People Than Traffic Accidents before, but this recent survey reconfirms the science.

Despite the air pollution it is healthier to cycle in traffic than sitting in a car. The levels of particles in the air are greater inside a vehicle than on the bike lanes. So even though a cyclist breathes in more air than a motorist, the concentration of microparticles is lower for the cyclist.

The health benefits of cycling greatly overshadow the harm caused by breathing polluted air, the study adds."...

URBAN VS. SUBURBAN?

"Once upon a time, more than three decades back, this newspaper employed a reporter named Tim Padmore.

Padmore was a scientist by training but a writer by choice, gifted in transforming the complex issues of a new-fangled thing called environmentalism into highly readable stories.

He was the quintessential brainiac nutty professor, spirited and perpetually dishevelled, often sporting breakfast in his beard.

He was different, too, in that he commuted to South Granville by bicycle, usually showing up for work red-faced and sopping wet from a downpour.

Padmore, you see, lived with his young family in Richmond, where he built a funky house and liked to do good for nature, then something of a novelty this side of the Gulf Islands."...

Calgary's First "Ciclovia" Style Event

"The Bow River Flow is Calgary’s answer to similar events that have blossomed in cities all over the world – Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Bogota and more. It is part of a world-wide renaissance of cities built for people.

In its first year, the Bow River flow will take place adjacent to the community of Hillhurst-Sunnyside. In future years, we envision communities all along the riverfront co-hosting the event.

So join us on August 23rd. Bring your family, your neighbours, your grandparents, your pets, your bicycles, your tricycles, your in-line skates, you wheelchairs, your scooters, your yoga mats, your picnic baskets. Join the Flow - roll, float and stroll."...

Calgary Changes Some Parking By-Laws

"CALGARY - Some small businesses in the Beltline and along 4th Street will no longer have to supply parking for customers, under a bylaw change easing restrictions that proponents say will make the core more vibrant and help existing and would-be merchants.

"It's precedent-setting," David Low, executive director of the Victoria Crossing BRZ, said of the planning commission's decision Thursday.

Low, who has argued for the change for more than a year, said it will help those businesses already operating as well as any that are thinking about opening."...

Carmageddon Averted

"When New York City opened up new pedestrian zones in the heart of Midtown this summer, naysayers predicted a traffic nightmare. Nearly two months later, we're still waiting for the much-feared Carmaggedon."...

New Calgary Pathway Project Announced

"CALGARY - Parks Foundation Calgary will today announce it's starting work on a 10-kilometre bicycle pathway along the city's east edge.

The first phase of the East Calgary Greenway will run in the same corridor as the east portion of Calgary's ring road from Airport Trail down to Elliston Regional Park at 17th Avenue S. E., the Herald has learned.

With a price tag around$6 million, it's the largest-ever project for the non-profit parks foundation--and is part of a bigger vision to eventually install a green band of pathways around the entire Calgary ring road.

"This is especially big because there are so few paths for recreation or green projects in east Calgary," Ald. Joe Ceci said Tuesday."...

Calgary's SW Section of Ring Road is Dead

"Tsuu T’ina First Nation members voted strongly against a proposed agreement Tuesday that would see the long-awaited southwest leg of Calgary’s ring road built through their reserve.

More than 60 per cent of voters were opposed to the deal.

Tsuu T’ina Chief Sandford Big Plume said the citizens have spoken and their wishes will be respected.

“The Nation will not enter into this agreement,” he said.

“This result reflects the passionate feelings Tsuu T’ina people have for their land. This was more than a simple economic transaction for us,” he said. “We consider our land to be a sacred trust.”...

Retire Your Ride

"Sometimes two wheels are better than four. Retire Your Ride, Canada’s National Vehicle Recycling Program, announced today that, effective immediately, participants are being offered up to $490 off the purchase of a new, high-end commuter bicycle through a national partnership with the Bicycle Trade Association of Canada (BTAC). More information can be found in the attached Information Sheet

“The goal of Retire Your Ride is not only to improve air quality by reducing the number of older cars on the road, but also to promote the use of sustainable transportation,” said Fatima Dharsee, Executive Director of Clean Air Foundation. “We’re encouraging Canadians to think about trading in four wheels for two - an act that will benefit both the environment and their health.”...

Amsterdam: More Trips by Bike than by Car

"AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands - The bicycle is the means of transport used most often in Amsterdam. Between 2005 and 2007 people in the city used their bikes on average 0.87 times a day, compared to 0.84 for their cars. This is the first time that bicycle use exceeds car use."...

A CITY MADE FOR CYCLISTS (hint, its in Europe)

"There's a big, disturbing gap between what's normal for cyclists in Toronto and what's normal for cyclists in Copenhagen. Normal in Toronto means biking as an edgy urban sport. Normal means risking life and limb to dodge cars, pedestrians and, during the winter, ice and snow on roads and dicey bike paths. Normal in Copenhagen means bike paths receive the same kind of snow removal as the city's main arteries. In Copenhagen, half the city's population uses some of its 350 kilometres of devoted lanes, which is normal."...