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Cycling in Waterloo Region - Printable Version

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RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - chutten - 04-06-2018

I wonder if one could generate reasonable facsimiles of Waterloo By-Law tickets with a colour printer...


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 04-06-2018

(04-06-2018, 01:05 PM)chutten Wrote: I wonder if one could generate reasonable facsimiles of Waterloo By-Law tickets with a colour printer...

I suspect doing such a thing would be illegal.

Making a version of the flyer is probably less so.

The real challenge is that the people who park in a no parking/bike lane are probably correlated with the type of people who'd be okay with an assault charge in response to you touching their car.

Obviously a bit of a joke here, but it would be my main concern.  I get enough confrontation with drivers when I call them out for texting (or nearly hitting me while biking etc.).  

I do wonder what the police would do though, our world becomes insane when it comes to cars.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 04-09-2018

I got tired of the owner's daughter parking her hummer in our accessible parking spot at the last place I worked at, and made a fake parking ticket. It was hilarious when she came in screaming and freaking out about it. We all laughed at her and she never did it again.

There are currently no less than 15 cars parked in the UpTown Waterloo bike lanes today - every available centimetre of bike lane is cars. Not a single notice. The City is flat out lying about this.

When do we stage our protest?

https://youtu.be/nGmjYDAiXPE


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 04-09-2018

Blood boiling:

   

https://twitter.com/citywaterloo/status/983442016544706561

"my" concern?! As if this shouldn't concern the city?!

Angry  Angry  Angry  Angry  Angry


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - ijmorlan - 04-09-2018

(04-09-2018, 04:03 PM)Canard Wrote: I got tired of the owner's daughter parking her hummer in our accessible parking spot at the last place I worked at, and made a fake parking ticket.  It was hilarious when she came in screaming and freaking out about it.  We all laughed at her and she never did it again.

There are currently no less than 15 cars parked in the UpTown Waterloo bike lanes today - every available centimetre of bike lane is cars.  Not a single notice.  The City is flat out lying about this.

When do we stage our protest?

https://youtu.be/nGmjYDAiXPE

Awesome video. Should have many more views than it does.

Here’s a relevant protest idea, although I’m not sure I have enough chutzpah to do it: get one person with a bicycle per car parked in the bike lane. Stand in the traffic lane next to where the parked car is. Stay there until the car is gone. If the bike lane is empty, the blockade disappears automatically. Any extra people over and above the number of currently-parked cars wave signs somewhere not on the road.

If the police can be bothered to show up and enforce the rule that one does not stand in a traffic lane blocking traffic, it will be really obvious if they have no interest in ticketing the illegally-parked cars in the bicycle lane while doing so.

This would also illustrate how little space bicycles take up. A protest along these lines would pair a completely full bicycle lane with what just looks like a sparse line of well-spaced people standing in the traffic lane.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 04-09-2018

Well today's ride home was truly terrible. I have grown increasingly uneasy riding in our city, even since I was hit. I counted no less than 7 drivers visibly distracted. Two were directly behind me, which really get's the blood pumping. One of those drivers put his phone down long enough to make an obscene gesture at me presumably for taking the narrow lane for two blocks and slowing the driver from getting to the red light.

Another driver cut me off in the bike lane, not once, but twice. This driver was unbelievably bad. They pulled into the bike lane (perhaps to get their phone out), cutting me off, realized there was a parking space a block ahead, pulled out, cutting off a car that was passing me, then pulled into the parking space without signalling, cutting me off again, but only pulled half way into the spot, continuing to block the bike lane.

And a few blocks from home, while waiting at a red light to turn left (and signaling with my arm) a driver came up behind me, laid on the horn and gestured at the curb.

And to top it off, I have another flat tire, courtesy of the same glass in the Columbia St. bike lane, that I reported probably 12 months ago.

Does anyone know the procedure for filing a claim against the city for damage resulting from a failure to maintain the roads?


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - jamincan - 04-09-2018

http://www.waterloo.ca/en/living/potholes.asp

This page advises motorists to contact the City clerk if their vehicle is damaged by a pothole.

clerkinfo@waterloo.ca.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - robdrimmie - 04-10-2018

Regarding the Uptown Waterloo bike lanes, the city has made their position pretty clear: They are not bike lanes until the construction is complete. I don't see how protesting before they are "blessed" as being real lanes will make any kind of positive change. The city made a bad decision, but they've communicated that decision to us quite consistently.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - robdrimmie - 04-10-2018

(04-09-2018, 06:15 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: And to top it off, I have another flat tire, courtesy of the same glass in the Columbia St. bike lane, that I reported probably 12 months ago.

Does anyone know the procedure for filing a claim against the city for damage resulting from a failure to maintain the roads?

I was going through tubes like tissue until I bought a couple of Shwalbe tires with puncture protection last summer. King St and Black Arrow both carry a few different types (I'm sure other shops do as well, but those are the shops where I bought my two). I think they were about $90 each, but I'll make that back by the end of the summer simply by not having to buy tubes.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 04-10-2018

(04-10-2018, 09:54 AM)robdrimmie Wrote:
(04-09-2018, 06:15 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: And to top it off, I have another flat tire, courtesy of the same glass in the Columbia St. bike lane, that I reported probably 12 months ago.

Does anyone know the procedure for filing a claim against the city for damage resulting from a failure to maintain the roads?

I was going through tubes like tissue until I bought a couple of Shwalbe tires with puncture protection last summer. King St and Black Arrow both carry a few different types (I'm sure other shops do as well, but those are the shops where I bought my two). I think they were about $90 each, but I'll make that back by the end of the summer simply by not having to buy tubes.

Yeah, I have considered getting more puncture proof tires.  I started running slicks because I like riding out in the country, not seriously, but anyways, I might have to change my mind.

That being said, I didn't start having trouble till I started riding on Columbia.  So much glass.  The city should be cleaning it, I've asked them a half dozen times already.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 04-10-2018

(04-10-2018, 09:35 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: Regarding the Uptown Waterloo bike lanes, the city has made their position pretty clear: They are not bike lanes until the construction is complete. I don't see how protesting before they are "blessed" as being real lanes will make any kind of positive change. The city made a bad decision, but they've communicated that decision to us quite consistently.

So they've definitely clearly communicated that the bike lanes are closed.  But that does not mean they are parking.

They have no parking signs and have had no parking signs for months, but bylaw has refused to enforce the no parking signs and recently the website now states that parking is permitted.

So the city has done a terrible job of communicating where parking is permitted.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 04-10-2018

(04-10-2018, 10:52 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: So they've definitely clearly communicated that the bike lanes are closed.  But that does not mean they are parking.

They have no parking signs and have had no parking signs for months, but bylaw has refused to enforce the no parking signs and recently the website now states that parking is permitted.

So the city has done a terrible job of communicating where parking is permitted.

This.

And the biggest problem? Now that they've allowed it for so many months, all these people are going to come back once it's open, remembered they parked there previously, and continue to do it because it's a roll curb and not actually fully separated.

Regarding tires: I really feel like I'm living on borrowed time - but in a couple of years and thousands and thousands of kilometres on all sorts of roads and trails, I've yet to ever get a flat, across multiple bikes. I don't know what I'm doing right, but I'm going to keep on doing it! One of my coworkers lives about 3 km from our office and he's already had 10 flats this year.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - jamincan - 04-10-2018

Dan, you could try a tire like the Continental Gatorskin. It's a road tire that's supposed to be more durable and puncture resistant.

One thing to keep in mind is that it is possible to get flats from running the tire pressure too low. If you do get a flat, it's worthwhile checking to determine the cause of the flat as the thorn or glass that caused the puncture may still be embedded in the tire. If you can't find a cause, look for the hole in the tube; it is kind of looks like a snake bite, you probably got a pinch flat from running the tire pressure too low or hitting a pot hole or bump too hard.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 04-10-2018

(04-10-2018, 02:21 PM)jamincan Wrote: Dan, you could try a tire like the Continental Gatorskin. It's a road tire that's supposed to be more durable and puncture resistant.

One thing to keep in mind is that it is possible to get flats from running the tire pressure too low. If you do get a flat, it's worthwhile checking to determine the cause of the flat as the thorn or glass that caused the puncture may still be embedded in the tire. If you can't find a cause, look for the hole in the tube; it is kind of looks like a snake bite, you probably got a pinch flat from running the tire pressure too low or hitting a pot hole or bump too hard.

Oh, I always find the source of the flat, and it is always a piece of road debris, sometimes a staple (which also gouged my rim Sad:

   

But most often, a small piece of glass, which I pickup routinely.  If I don't find and pull it out of the tire, I'll have a flat again within a day.

My favourite was a wire BBQ bristle, that Ziggy's cycle didn't find after three attempts.  It was after that that I decided that I would figure out how to fix my own tires.

But yeah, something like that might be a good choice, but it's frustrating.  I went years with no puncture while biking to the university, if only the city would maintain their infra properly I wouldn't have to buy 60 dollar tires.


RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - robdrimmie - 04-10-2018

(04-10-2018, 10:52 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(04-10-2018, 09:35 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: Regarding the Uptown Waterloo bike lanes, the city has made their position pretty clear: They are not bike lanes until the construction is complete. I don't see how protesting before they are "blessed" as being real lanes will make any kind of positive change. The city made a bad decision, but they've communicated that decision to us quite consistently.

So they've definitely clearly communicated that the bike lanes are closed.  But that does not mean they are parking.

They have no parking signs and have had no parking signs for months, but bylaw has refused to enforce the no parking signs and recently the website now states that parking is permitted.

So the city has done a terrible job of communicating where parking is permitted.

As you say, the website says parking is permitted. Councillors and the city respond to inquiries about the lanes with "we are putting cards on." It took them a long time to get to that point, but the message over the past week or two has been clear. Wrong-headed in my opinion, but clear. 

I also agree that it's going to take some time to unravel the miseducation. If we'd gone the winter with no plowing in the lanes and signs up that said "bike lanes under construction, coming this spring!" then they'd have had a good four months of educating drivers and cyclists both about what was coming.

I wish someone from King St. Cycles was on the forum. Their knowledge of cycling advocacy and the Uptown BIA would add some interesting depth to this that I don't think would come through from a simple twitter inquiry.