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+--- Thread: Cycling in Waterloo Region (/showthread.php?tid=186)
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RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Chris - 12-06-2017
(12-05-2017, 08:33 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(12-05-2017, 08:18 PM)jamincan Wrote: I have to wonder if it wouldn't just be cheaper to buy the 50 members a bike that they can keep.
It probably would be, but it's not that simple, many of them probably lack a safe place to store a bike overnight, as well as lacking the ability/time/money to maintain one on a regular basis.
Still, it is such a small number, I have to wonder how valuable it really is.
For less than the price of a membership anyone can get a bike from Recycle Cycles. I think the Working Center should focus on that, mothball CAB and use those resources elsewhere and the region can look into whether or not a SoBi system would work here.
As for the parking in bike lanes in Uptown. I'd fly off the handle if I had to bike past that but the design, as it currently exists, looks like Downtown so I can see why people think it's parking. If I didn't read this forum I wouldn't know that is a (future) bike lane.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - MidTowner - 12-06-2017
The street shouldn't have been opened until it was completed. I walked Uptown on the weekend with my family to check out the Christmas activities at the square and the mall.
I'm grateful to the BIA for putting those activities on in part to "celebrate" the opening of King, but I wish they would be patient and let construction proceed until it's actually completed. I can't see how anyone would prefer sand and mud and an obviously incomplete job over waiting for it do be done properly.
By the way, although I had looked at the plans way back, we had no idea what the strip of mud and sand interspersed with asphalt patches that we were looking at was intended to be. We thought maybe interlock brick. It certainly didn't seem like it was intended for parking, or expected to be used for anything before completion.
Waterloo would have done well to emulate King Street through Downtown Kitchener. It's attractive, practical, and I personally do feel comfortable riding in mixed traffic there because the lanes are reasonable and traffic moves slow (it's a downtown, so I don't think that's an issue). There's plenty of street parking, but it looks much more attractive, so I don't see how anyone could credibly complain about the same design Uptown.
Oh, well.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Viewfromthe42 - 12-06-2017
The problem with roll curbs are that they are great for cars to roll up on. The curbs are supposed to be what make cyclists feel safe from cars, but because they didn't think of how DTK does their parking (with roll curbs), I will be shocked if we don't see someone southbound on King decide he wants to go to CIBC and rolls up onto the roll curbs as he would in DTK...only to mow down a cyclist.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-06-2017
(12-06-2017, 10:09 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: They should start reworking the Train Your Brain ION campaign about not driving on rails to be a Train Your Brain about not parking in bike lanes or putting leaves in them.
Please do not ever do this.
Still recovering from a concussion from slipping on leaves on an MUT. It's been horrible.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-06-2017
(12-06-2017, 09:59 AM)Section ThirtyOne Wrote: Problem is, I wouldn't have taken it that way. Your example of the bus stop is very different: "did you know" vs. "thou shalt not". People see those kinds of things very differently, especially coming from a random stranger that they don't know.
As for the signage, it needs to be put in place ASAP. It is not readily apparent what that space is to be used for (and this is coming from an avid cyclist remember!), so i'm willing to bet the general public would be equally as clueless. The zillion cars parking in the space definitely doesn't help the matter.
Well, we can agree on the signage.
Frankly, I don't understand people's propensity to drive off the road. There are a number of places around the city which have street parking, where drivers still choose to drive up over the curb onto the grass and park halfway onto the boulevard.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - GtwoK - 12-06-2017
Good lord, just visited uptown expecting the discussion in here to have been an overreaction, but it most suredly is not. I don't even bike, but I feel a strong urge to put a large dent in each one of the cars parked smack dab in the middle of the bike lane. Like, it's not just 1 or 2 cars. There isnt even a bike lane anymore because it's full of cars. Whats the point in even having it, if the city isn't towing every single one of these cars?
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - darts - 12-06-2017
It doesn't look too different from the parking in downtown kitchener and previously it was parking, it's not much of a leap to believe that it isn't parking now. I think there is quite the overreaction since no one outside of this forum really knows that it is a bike lane.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - ijmorlan - 12-06-2017
(12-06-2017, 10:43 PM)darts Wrote: It doesn't look too different from the parking in downtown kitchener and previously it was parking, it's not much of a leap to believe that it isn't parking now. I think there is quite the overreaction since no one outside of this forum really knows that it is a bike lane.
It’s not overreacting to be upset that after a lengthy debate at City Hall and a Council vote to implement segregated bicycle lanes that we don’t actually have segregated lanes.
By the way, does anybody understand why they installed roll curbs? To me, the word “segregated” implies that there will be more than roll curbs separating the vehicular lanes from the bicycle lanes. Otherwise it’s barely different from regular bicycle lanes, even ignoring the fact that people generally don’t park ubiquitously in bicycle lanes (I mean, there are lots of scofflaws, but it usually still adds up to bicycle lanes that are mostly free of parked cars, just not free enough to count on not having to detour now and then).
And the failure to install appropriate signage before re-opening the road is inexcusable. I understand that construction schedules and so on can lead to an inability to completely finish before the weather turns, but installing a few signs is not a big job and should have been manageable. Also as pointed out by somebody else, the City should be towing these cars. What would they do with cars parked in the vehicular lanes?
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - darts - 12-06-2017
the overreaction was towards people wanting to confront others for parking there when there are no indications that they can't. I mean there are comments about putting stickers on property, denting it, scratching them.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - ijmorlan - 12-07-2017
(12-06-2017, 11:47 PM)darts Wrote: the overreaction was towards people wanting to confront others for parking there when there are no indications that they can't. I mean there are comments about putting stickers on property, denting it, scratching them.
OK, I get what you’re saying. I think for many of us, discussing creative ways to mess with parkers is a safe way of dealing with the frustration without actually doing anything rash. But I agree that actually doing most of those things would not be a good idea.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-07-2017
@ijmorlan. The roll curb is ostensibly so cyclists can exit the bike lane onto the road safely in case of obstruction--like an illegally parked car.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - ijmorlan - 12-07-2017
(12-07-2017, 07:49 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: @ijmorlan. The roll curb is ostensibly so cyclists can exit the bike lane onto the road safely in case of obstruction--like an illegally parked car.
That’s stupid. There wouldn’t be obstructions if it were a regular curb. Probably.
Also, the lanes are supposed to be segregated, which implies separation, which implies that smoothly sliding from one to the other is not an option. Vehicles on the general traffic lanes won’t be expecting it anyway.
At this point the easiest fix might be those plastic divider flags. Just attach them to the roll curb to clearly delineate the boundary of the vehicular zone.
Finally, I was thinking about the signage that we’re hoping they will install. First, I realized that “No Parking” is not correct; it should be “No Stopping”. Then I realized that even that isn’t really right: “No Stopping” implies that vehicles have business being there, they are just not allowed to stop (other than for other traffic). But vehicles simply have no business at all being in the bicycle lanes for even a microsecond, unless it is to cross them in order to turn on or off of the street. So I actually think they should just use divider flags or whatever those things are called, along with “No Stopping” signs to indicate that vehicles should not stop on King St. itself. On the other hand, they seem to have settled on “No Stopping” for the curb lane LRT segments, which are conceptually exactly the same as the bicycle lanes.
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Pheidippides - 12-07-2017
As a frustrated cyclist myself, I would say that the reaction here has been a bit of an over-reaction, or at least misdirected at the vehicle drivers.
The lane does not look like a bike lane, it isn't signed that way, and wasn't there beforehand so I don't blame vehicle drivers for being confused. If anything the frustration should be directed at the City or the contractor the city hired.
Do we actually know why they got so far behind? I mean other than a few large 1/2 day downpours it was actually a pretty good construction season in terms of dryness, temperature, and length. Perhaps the company bit off more than they could chew in scope or experience level or there was a reason they were the lowest bid?
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-07-2017
It just needs to be painted green (or some other standard colour - green seems to be it here, now).
Those white plastic barrier pole thingies are so ugly, I’d hate to see those here (or anywhere, really).
RE: Cycling in Waterloo Region - MidTowner - 12-07-2017
(12-07-2017, 09:04 AM)Pheidippides Wrote: The lane does not look like a bike lane, it isn't signed that way, and wasn't there beforehand so I don't blame vehicle drivers for being confused. If anything the frustration should be directed at the City or the contractor the city hired.
To me, it looks like an unfinished surface. A surface that you shouldn't walk on if you can help it, let alone leave your two-tonne vehicle sitting on. It seems like it's not intended to be bicycled on, either, or for anything else: it's just not finished.
It's not like there's not enough space between the eventual lane and the roadway to park a car.
I agree with your other statement, though. I wonder what the reason it couldn't be completed was.
I also agree with ijmorlan: there needs to be some kind of separation. Knockdown sticks probably would suffice. We're seeing that it will obviously be too easy for a motorist to block the lane with his car (or worse) as it is.