Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[steveintoronto]

ebikes - powered. Need a license. Good. Silent killers and idiots in bike lanes. Get a license and be prepared to be held accountable to the rules of the road if you have an e-bike.

I fear something more than that. It's going to be a "war on bikes". Helmets, crack-down on cycling behaviour (which I actually favour as a full time cyclist, but not mandatory helmets) and legislation to restrict bike lanes, not enable them.

Doug Ford and cycling are mutually exclusive.

 

[muller877]

ebikes - powered. Need a license. Good. Silent killers and idiots in bike lanes. Get a license and be prepared to be held accountable to the rules of the road if you have an e-bike.

I think many people would say the same thing about cyclists!

I am hoping that they will allow e-bikes along bike lanes and e-scooters treated as gas-powered scooters. When I was in the Netherlands last year I was amazed at how many there were in the suburbs. Talked with co-workers over there and it allows them to go long distances to work with a bike (one travels 20 km each way). In the past they were 2-car families and now they are 1-car plus e-bikes.

Imagine if you could commute from Long Branch to downtown with an e-bike.

They still have beaters go to into Amsterdam or when they go shopping in the village.

 

[PinkLucy]

My Dutch friends hate those scooters in the bike lanes. It was a hot topic of conversation when we were there

 

[steveintoronto]

My Dutch friends hate those scooters in the bike lanes. It was a hot topic of conversation when we were there

Absolutely! But my friend (who is due here in three weeks again) also states that 'rogue' cyclists are also a problem there (She's from the Hague) but nothing like here.

Meantime:

Amsterdam’s ban on scooters on cycle paths comes into force
April 8, 2019

New road markings direct scooters onto the main roadway. Photo: DutchNews.nl

Read more at DutchNews.nl:
Amsterdam’s ban on scooters on cycle paths comes into force SocietyTravel April 8, 2019 New road markings direct scooters onto the main roadway. Photo: DutchNews.nl A ban on mopeds on most of Amsterdam’s cycle paths came into effect on Monday an an attempt to ease congestion and improve safety on the city’s streets. The new regulation will require all blue-plate mopeds to use the main roadway in around 80% of the area inside the A10 ring road. Riders will also have to wear a helmet. Some 500 wardens will be out enforcing the ban, but will not issue fines for the first two months while riders adjust to the change in the law. Under Dutch law small mopeds with a top speed of 25 km/h, known as snorfietsen, can use cycle paths and are exempt from the requirement to wear a helmet. However, the growth of traffic and the arrival of other vehicles such as cargo bikes, e-bikes, rickshaws and taxis has led to congestion and irritation among cyclists. Other cities with high cycle congestion, such as Utrecht, are considering following the capital’s lead. So many mopeds have been ‘tweaked’ to increase their top speed that the average speed measured on Dutch roads is 35 km/h, 10 km above the legal limit. Higher-powered scooters with a top speed of 40 km/h have been banned from urban cycle paths since 1999. Amsterdam has not been able to impose an outright ban because the law states that blue-plate mopeds can only be excluded from cycle lanes on roads with an exceptionally high volume of two-wheeled traffic. The road safety organisation SWOV has estimated that moving all scooters to the main roadway would save up to 300 traffic injuries a year. The Netherlands is the only country in the world where the majority of people who die in road accidents are on bikes or scooters, according to SWOV. However, the measure is not universally popular. Around 42,000 people have signed a petition calling for mopeds to be allowed to stay on cycle paths, on the grounds that making them share the road with cars and lorries will be less safe. (An earlier petition in support of the ban gathered 200,000 signatures.) Police have also said that increasingly complex traffic rules are becoming too confusing for users and officers to follow. Some vehicles, such as larger mopeds or brommers, can use cycle lanes in the countryside but have to travel on the roadway in cities. In addition, the wardens who regulate public order, known as boa’s, are taking action this week to highlight the growing pressure and aggression they face while carrying out their duties. Wardens in Amsterdam will not issue fines this week and have threatened to strike for three hours on King’s Day – April 27 – as part of a campaign for better protection. They have called for the government to equip them with body cams, pepper spray and batons so they can defend themselves against people who react violently to on-the-spot fines.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

Scooters and hoverboards add to Dutch cycle lane hell | World news ...
https://www.theguardian.com/.../scooters-and-hoverboards-add-to-dutch-cycle-lane-hell
Dec 20, 2018 - Utrecht is introducing a similar ban at the end of the next year. ... The Dutch central bureau of statistics found that 57 e-bike riders were killed.

I have sympathy for persons like @muller877 and their need for e-bikes, but @TransitBart is correct for *most* of the users. That being said, they're like the errant cyclists, but amplified with a motor they don't have to power themselves. I've had more than a few run-ins with e-riders.

 

[ADRM]

Well I'll be...

 

[steveintoronto]

Well I'll be...

View attachment 184007

That's the good news...I'm braced for worse.

 

[muller877]

My Dutch friends hate those scooters in the bike lanes. It was a hot topic of conversation when we were there

Scooters vs 4 wheel electric vehicles vs ebikes. All are allowed in the Dutch cycle lanes. I agree the first 2 are out of place. But the last look likes a bike, has a max speed of 30 (just like many road bikes) and does not take up extra room. There are both idiots on bikes and ebikes. Don't see why one is excluded vs the other...they both can coexist.

And for those who now bike in the Humber Valley please be careful. By Bloor St the pedestrian path is closed (flood damage) so everyone is using the multi-use path. Strollers, dogs, toddlers, kids with training wheels on bikes out for the first time this spring. And then you see an idiot on a bike going full out (20-30 km/hr +), headphones on and thinking they own the entire path. Very dangerous.

 

[steveintoronto]

And then you see an idiot on a bike going full out (20-30 km/hr +), headphones on and thinking they own the entire path. Very dangerous.

They are, and I yell more at other cyclists of late than I do motorists. I slammed one the other day as I was getting off a streetcar. Entitlement manifests in many forms. That being said, the number of motorists flying by opened streetcar doors is astounding of late.

 

[ADRM]

That being said, the number of motorists flying by opened streetcar doors is astounding

I hadn't appreciated the scale of this problem until moving into my new office, which is directly beside a streetcar stop. I hear the streetcar horn blare at drivers whizzing past the open doors about once every 10-15 minutes, every hour throughout the day. I legitimately don't understand how more people aren't regularly killed.

 

[steveintoronto]

I legitimately don't understand how more people aren't regularly killed.

I boggles belief. On the 506 route, going west from Spadina to Roncy, it's not if it happens on the trip, it's 'how many times' it happens. I swear, there was one day a few weeks back that it happened four times. The worst spot is going over the Dundas Street rail bridges at Stirling Rd. The cars don't just fail to stop, they *fly* past. If anyone gets hit, chances are high it will be fatal. Or worse. I always sit at the back of the streetcar to act as lookout...it's the least I can do to help ameliorate the situation. Sixth sense is right the majority of the time (it comes from cycling sense for decades of survival) as to tell who isn't going to stop, and then reflexively yell to those getting off.

 

[ADRM]

From Cressy's latest newsletter:

As part of the Cycling Network 10 Year Plan approved by City Council in 2016, bike lanes will be added to Dan Leckie Way, connecting Queens Quay to the yellow Puente de Luz Bridge, as well as new bike lanes continuing north from the bridge along Portland Street. In addition, the bike lanes on Fort York Boulevard are planned to be extended along Bremner Boulevard to the existing cycle track on Simcoe Street. And a new cycle track will be constructed on Navy Wharf Court and Blue Jays Way, connecting to the core network on Peter Street, Richmond Street, and Adelaide Street.

 

[Tuscani01]

Great, so the most useless bike lanes in the city are going to be extended. All of the lanes along the railway lands need full separation from the street. Fort York feels unsafe enough - cant imagine how bad Bremner and Blue Jays Way will feel.

I'd rather see the path along the North LInear park widened slightly to accomodate a bike path vs. this shitty expansion that will amount to nothing more than paint on roads that feel like highways. It would be a much better route to cross Spadina as you don't have to wait forever for the light, and you don't have to deal with any cars.

 

[ADRM]

Great, so the most useless bike lanes in the city are going to be extended. All of the lanes along the railway lands need full separation from the street. Fort York feels unsafe enough - cant imagine how bad Bremner and Blue Jays Way will feel.

I'd rather see the path along the North LInear park widened slightly to accomodate a bike path vs. this shitty expansion that will amount to nothing more than paint on roads that feel like highways. It would be a much better route to cross Spadina as you don't have to wait forever for the light, and you don't have to deal with any cars.

Couldn't agree more -- the City plainly needs to get its head out of its ass when it comes to building unprotected bike lanes (and especially those in the dooring zone).

On the bright side, it's about damn time they extend the protected bike lanes from Peter down to Bremner -- that's a no-brainer.

 

[steveintoronto]

From Cressy's latest newsletter:

As part of the Cycling Network 10 Year Plan approved by City Council in 2016, bike lanes will be added to Dan Leckie Way, connecting Queens Quay to the yellow Puente de Luz Bridge, as well as new bike lanes continuing north from the bridge along Portland Street. In addition, the bike lanes on Fort York Boulevard are planned to be extended along Bremner Boulevard to the existing cycle track on Simcoe Street. And a new cycle track will be constructed on Navy Wharf Court and Blue Jays Way, connecting to the core network on Peter Street, Richmond Street, and Adelaide Street.

This is the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway name game all over again. I'm gonna need a map. I know where the 401 is, as do most. But only a few of us know where the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway is...or care.

Oh...THAT one! I didn't even have it in memory as being yellow:

- : Youtube

 

[ShonTron]

Great, so the most useless bike lanes in the city are going to be extended. All of the lanes along the railway lands need full separation from the street. Fort York feels unsafe enough - cant imagine how bad Bremner and Blue Jays Way will feel.

I'd rather see the path along the North LInear park widened slightly to accomodate a bike path vs. this shitty expansion that will amount to nothing more than paint on roads that feel like highways. It would be a much better route to cross Spadina as you don't have to wait forever for the light, and you don't have to deal with any cars.

Yes, along with a bridge over Spadina Avenue, with a good interface with Simcoe to either go north, to the financial district, or south, to the Lake Shore path or the MGT on Queen's Quay. it should act like the Railpath, designed for cyclists, joggers and such.

Painted lanes on Bremner are just going to be Uber/Lyft parking zones, especially after Jays games and other events at SkyDome.