Cycling in Ottawa

[silvergate]

It really shouldn't be hard to make it safe for cyclists, but here's some ideas the city should really be considering by now.

-No right turns on reds.
-Get rid of right-turn slip-lanes, those cars can turn at the light like everyone else.
-Increase the size of the plastic bollards along bike lanes, and stop using blue. Use a violent colour like red to increase their visibility.
-At signalized intersections, give every group their own turn, rather than letting everyone go at once.

This might slow down drivers a little bit, but driving is already ridiculously faster for 99% of trips in this city than any other mode of transport.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by silvergate

It really shouldn't be hard to make it safe for cyclists, but here's some ideas the city should really be considering by now.

-No right turns on reds.
-At signalized intersections, give every group their own turn, rather than letting everyone go at once.

These two!!! It would make driving, cycling and walking so much easier, safer and less stressful!!!

[DarthVader_1961]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...dget-1.5753592

[Lightspotting]

Funny how easy it is to find $113 million for 3.3km of strandherd widening but not a dime for cyclists

[DarthVader_1961]

Originally Posted by Lightspotting

Funny how easy it is to find $113 million for 3.3km of strandherd widening but not a dime for cyclists

My thoughts exactly

[J.OT13]

Fleury's proposing using revenues from the speed cameras. The City didn't reveal how much money they made with them, but over 10,000 tickets were issued in the first 18 days.

[OTownandDown]

Does anyone know how much was paid for the Riverside repaving from Lycee Claudel to the 417?

ALL the sidewalks, traffic islands and paving was removed and replaced, like-for-like, with no provisions for upgrades to the bike and walking path from Hurdman Station to Industrial (let alone Riverside, which is the only walking path to groceries for those poor suckers who live along Riverside in those apartment buildings).

There's a slip-lane from Riverside-North to Industrial-East that contains a blind corner thanks to the Cancer Park, and the island at the slip-lane is big enough for about 1.5 people to stand on, unprotected, inches from traffic flowing at 70km/hr. Every time I go through, there's at least four of five people waiting for the light, standing both on the island, on the road, and amongst the Cancer survivor family. I've come close to getting hit by a speeding slip-lane vehicle at least twice.

Did I mention this is the only bike path from the General Hospital to the Confederation Line, or even the direct bike path from uOttawa to the General Hospital? Or the catchment area of Altavista/Smyth to bike to Confederation Hurdman Station. At least you're on the way to the hospital already, when you get hit by a car.

Meanwhile this intersection and the one adjacent at AltaVista/Industrial (just as bad, but slightly less vehicle traffic) are listed in this g-damn report, even though Riverside was literally JUST rebuilt, and Industrial was rebuilt about a year or two ago, with no upgrades even attempted, except to flatten the median at Altavista/Industrial so you no longer have to bike face-first into oncoming traffic to traverse the intersection.

All that had to be done at Riverside/Industrial south-east corner was remove the tiny island, give people a safe place to wait on an enlarged corner as per the typical safe street design, and reinstate the single traffic light standard onto the sidewalk. Its not rocket science, and yet the intersection calls for $1.3 MILLION dollars to provide that upgrade.

What the hell is going on down at City Hall???

Does this look like fun?
https://goo.gl/maps/LAUiqRtzrKfXPkTG7

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

Does anyone know how much was paid for the Riverside repaving from Lycee Claudel to the 417?

ALL the sidewalks, traffic islands and paving was removed and replaced, like-for-like, with no provisions for upgrades to the bike and walking path from Hurdman Station to Industrial (let alone Riverside, which is the only walking path to groceries for those poor suckers who live along Riverside in those apartment buildings).

There's a slip-lane from Riverside-North to Industrial-East that contains a blind corner thanks to the Cancer Park, and the island at the slip-lane is big enough for about 1.5 people to stand on, unprotected, inches from traffic flowing at 70km/hr. Every time I go through, there's at least four of five people waiting for the light, standing both on the island, one the road, and amongst the Caner survivor family. I've come close to getting hit by a speeding slip-lane vehicle at least twice.

Did I mention this is the only bike path from the General Hospital to the Confederation Line, or even the direct bike path from uOttawa to the General Hospital? Or the catchment area of Altavista/Smyth to bike to Confederation Hurdman Station. At least you're on the way to the hospital already, when you get hit by a car.

Meanwhile this intersection and the one adjacent at AltaVista/Industrial (just as bad, but slightly less vehicle traffic) are listed in this g-damn report, even though Riverside was literally JUST rebuilt, and Industrial was rebuilt about a year or two ago, with no upgrades even attempted, except to flatten the median at Altavista/Industrial so you no longer have to bike face-first into oncoming traffic to traverse the intersection.

All that had to be done at Riverside/Industrial south-east corner was remove the tiny island, give people a safe place to wait on an enlarged corner as per the typical safe street design, and reinstate the single traffic light standard onto the sidewalk. Its not rocket science, and yet the intersection calls for $1.3 MILLION dollars to provide that upgrade.

What the hell is going on down at City Hall???

Yep, this is pretty typical. Same with Riverside between Hunt Club and Walkley, which already had paved boulevards at sidewalk level that could have easily been turned into official cycle tracks as part of the paving and curb and sidewalk work.

Nope.

Knowing this paving project was coming up I reached out to the city over a year ago to ask about the possibility of improving cycling. The response came back- no, this is a resurfacing project only, anything else was out of scope.

(There is an alternative route from the hopsital to Hurdman though: Head west on the Hospital Link MUP. Keep going past Alta Vista all the way to the Transitway. Turn north and take the connecting path to Lycee Place. Go north past Lycee Claudel and then up and over Riverside on the Transitway bridge).

[Multi-modal]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

Yep, this is pretty typical. Same with Riverside between Hunt Club and Walkley, which already had paved boulevards at sidewalk level that could have easily been turned into official cycle tracks as part of the paving and curb and sidewalk work.

Nope.

Knowing this paving project was coming up I reached out to the city over a year ago to ask about the possibility of improving cycling. The response came back- no, this is a resurfacing project only, anything else was out of scope.

Man, that recent re-paving on Riverside south of Walkley kills me - they even widened the asphalt "kill strips" to a bike lane width (do they really need to be that wide if they are just kill strips? you could at least TRY to grow grass/trees). All they would have needed to do was depress the curbs at the intersections, add some pavement markings for bicycle crossings, and add some signage. Almost no additional money compared to the total project cost. Infuriating.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by Multi-modal

Man, that recent re-paving on Riverside south of Walkley kills me - they even widened the asphalt "kill strips" to a bike lane width (do they really need to be that wide if they are just kill strips? you could at least TRY to grow grass/trees). All they would have needed to do was depress the curbs at the intersections, add some pavement markings for bicycle crossings, and add some signage. Almost no additional money compared to the total project cost. Infuriating.

Yes, that is exactly what I was arguing for with the project manager a year ago. They were insistent that curb work was out of scope. *headdesk*

[eltodesukane]

Will there ever be some bike/pedestrian bridges on Rideau River between Bank Street and the 417 highway?
That would be very useful to many, including me.

[Baybreeze12]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

Will there ever be some bike/pedestrian bridges on Rideau River between Bank Street and the 417 highway?
That would be very useful to many, including me.

I know that there are plans to redevelop the lands around Hurdman station which would include a couple pedestrian/cycle bridges. The timeline is quite far out into the future though, so who knows what it'll look like by then.

[OTownandDown]

Originally Posted by Baybreeze12

I know that there are plans to redevelop the lands around Hurdman station which would include a couple pedestrian/cycle bridges. The timeline is quite far out into the future though, so who knows what it'll look like by then.

Is the question relating specifically to bike/pedestrian bridges?

Smyth/Main bridge has full bike lanes with flexi-posts, the rail line bridge at Hurdman station is only sidewalk width but connects bike paths on either end of the bridge, and either side of the bridge, AND the old iron train bridge next to the 417 is a bike path connection. So I think the answer to your question is probably no, no new bridges, maybe upgrades to existing? The only limited bridge is at Hurdman, as these are just wide sidewalks meant for mixing pedestrians and bikes.

Although you could draw a straight line down Clegg and across the river, you end up right in the swampy bit at the wrong end of the hospital link road, leaving you equidistant from Smyth-to-Hospital Link. In all its a 2km gap between bridges from Smyth to Hurdman.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

Will there ever be some bike/pedestrian bridges on Rideau River between Bank Street and the 417 highway?
That would be very useful to many, including me.

I know there's been talk of a pedestrian/cycling bridge between Clegg and Hurdman, but it's always struck me as something that would have limited utility, at least until the area around Hurdman is more developed.

At present, there is a path along the Rideau shoreline from Clegg, along Scholastic, through Springhurst Park, where you can cross at the LRT bridge near Hurdman. For someone cycling, a Clegg/Hurdman bridge wouldn't save more than a minute or so. It would be more if you're walking I suppose.

[TransitZilla]

I think this was posted a while ago, but I just found it: details on the planned MUP along the LRT alignment from Blair to Montreal Rd. The green circles show where they are proposing accesses to the pathway.



https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/publi...ancement-study

[rocketphish]

Ottawa chooses scooters over bikes, opting not to revive a bike-sharing program
As the city pointed out in a report, there has been a trend in North America of decreasing bike-share programs with the growth of e-scooter programs.

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Mar 25, 2021 • 1 day ago • 2 minute read



Ottawa’s e-scooter program has deflated any potential for the return of a bike-share program, at least one run by city hall.

The City of Ottawa’s public works and environmental services department is recommending not proceeding further with an assessment of a bike-share program because it would be too expensive to manage.

Plus, its focus has turned to shared e-scooters as a “microtransit” option.

Coun. Shawn Menard won support last year to have staff investigate the potential for returning a bike-share program to Ottawa, and run by the municipal government, as part of a new bike-parking strategy.

But the results of the strategy, which were released Thursday ahead of a transportation committee meeting on April 7, conclude it would be too expensive for the city to operate a bike-share program.

The city’s consultant, Stantec, considered four options for the return of a bike-share program in Ottawa, but the best model identified, one which the city owns but contracts the management, would require a one-time $4-million expense to buy 700 bikes and infrastructure for parking stations and $3 million annually for a company to manage the program. Rental revenues wouldn’t cover the costs.

Ottawa has seen bike-share programs come and go.

There was the Capital Bixi Bike program overseen by the National Capital Commission between 2009 and 2013. Then Bixi filed for bankruptcy.

The not-for-profit Right Bike service lasted between 2012 and 2017.

VeloGo was launched in 2015 after CycleHop’s acquisition of Bixi, but the company decided not to deploy in Ottawa in 2019.

The city has been willing to entertain pitches from bike-share providers since then but there has been no interest.

As the city pointed out in its report, there has been a trend in North America of decreasing bike-share programs with the growth of e-scooter programs. There’s more money to be made with e-scooter rentals, the report suggests.

The city is currently accepting proposals from companies interested in operating shared e-scooter programs. The city will select three companies to operate in Ottawa in 2021. Shared e-scooter programs were first permitted in Ottawa in 2020.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...haring-program

[J.OT13]

Today's Transportation Committee includes a presentation on a bike parking strategy. First presentation.

• Video Link

[rocketphish]

Councillors show interest in city bike-share program, but staff warn resources aren't available

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Apr 07, 2021 • 54 minutes ago • 2 minute read

Councillors want city staff to get a better handle on the potential for municipal taxpayers to pay for a bike-share program.

Bureaucrats told the transportation committee on Wednesday they don’t oppose the notion of a bike-share program in Ottawa, but some councillors wondered why staff are already running the idea into a ditch.

Coun. Jeff Leiper didn’t understand why staff were recommending against a city-owned bike-share program after the committee last year simply asked for them to investigate the idea as part of a larger strategy on bike parking.

The decision should ultimately be council’s, Leiper said.

Staff concluded that a city-owned bike-share program, with the program management contracted out, would be the best option if the city pursued an in-house rental service.

One major problem is the potential cost, estimated at $4 million for 700 bikes and related infrastructure, plus $3 million annually to have a company run the program. Even with rental revenue, there could still be at least $500,000 covered by property tax money each year.

The other problem, as public works general manager Kevin Wylie explained, is having enough resources to manage a bike-share program.

Bike-share services in amalgamated Ottawa have come and gone over the years, but none have been operated by the municipal government.

Any idea of reintroducing a bike-share program has been left in the dust of a new e-scooter program.

The city has shifted its resources to supporting a pilot project allowing e-scooter rental companies in Ottawa. Wednesday was the last day the city was accepting proposals from e-scooter companies to operate in central-area communities during the second year of the pilot.

But councillors like Catherine McKenney and Diane Deans saw a big difference between e-scooter and bikes when it comes getting around the city.

McKenney said e-scooter rentals aren’t replacements for bikes and they believe e-scooters could be competing with the transit system, even though allowing the program is meant to complement the LRT and bus network by providing a travel option to the transit stops.

Deans said she considers e-scooters a “novelty” that has a downtown focus. She told staff they should consider selling the naming rights of a bike-share program to cover the costs.

Bike Ottawa’s Dave Robertson tried to convince the committee that it makes sense to have a bike-share program, considering the popularity of similar programs in other Canadian cities, like Toronto and Vancouver.

Robertson appealed to the city’s desire to get more people travelling on public transit, especially after the Stage 2 O-Train expansion is finished.

“If 77 per cent of all Ottawans are going to be within five kilometres of our LRT stations, getting there by active transportation will be critical,” Robertson said.

Coun. Shawn Menard directed staff to take a more detailed look at ways to fund a bike-share program, but the committee didn’t take a position on whether the municipal government should pursue it.

“I think it’s worth looking at the next term of council when we’re setting priorities,” Coun. Glen Gower said.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...rent-available

[waterloowarrior]

North Grenville looking at 3m MUPs rather than cycle tracks along widened 43
https://pub-northgrenville.escribeme...cumentId=15346

[LRTeverywhere]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

North Grenville looking at 3m MUPs rather than cycle tracks along widened 43
https://pub-northgrenville.escribeme...cumentId=15346

As someone from the area I have to agree with the report and say this makes sense, it has been a long struggle for North Grenville to get the funding to do this project. Like it says in the report the majority of pedestrian and cyclist destinations will be on the south side of the road meaning lots of extra crossings would be needed to make the north side of value, I'm actually surprised that the north side is still getting a MUP for that reason aswell.