Cycling in Canada

[Nouvellecosse]

With aircraft there needs to be significant separation between each vehicle since a) very minor collisions that would barely be fender benders on the ground can easily result in a crash for an aircraft, b) any crash is much more likely to result in damage or injury to people and property on the ground c) aircraft just can't be controlled with as much of precision since air is so thin and constantly moving. Various types of winds including updrafts and downdrafts caused by tall buildings or just various weather phenomena cause aircraft to deviate from their intended course sometimes by several metres in split seconds. That's one of the reasons why the seatbelt sign is always on during the takeoff and landing phases of a flight. The air near the ground is very turbulent since wind is powered by heat rising from the ground and air interacts with lots of objects and textures near the ground while it generally flows much smoothly and predictably at high elevations (with exceptions).

All of which means that it isn't practical to have a high density of aircraft operating in close proximity to one another. But that's exactly what you'd need to carry the large volumes of people needed to be useful in solving urban congestion. You might have small numbers of very wealthy people using aircraft to escape congestion like in Sao Paolo, but that's not useful for mass adoption. And of course that ignores the fact that aircraft tend to be much noisier than land vehicles so filling the sky above a city with low flying aircraft would result in horrific noise pollution. And it also ignores that aircraft use much more energy than land vehicles since they're not only propelling themselves horizontally, but also use energy to support their entire weight vertically. Which is why we generally only use aircraft for long distance travel. So while I'm sure there are niches in urban settings where "flying car" type stuff would be useful, mass implementation for general urban travel isn't one of them.

[MolsonExport]

Can you imagine the noise, the carnage, the collisions, of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of flying vehicles? The insurance costs for buildings, for vehicles?

The amount of energy needed to keep something so large in the air? to accelerate and decelerate?

Meanwhile, bicycles use no energy (other than that exerted by the bicyclist), emit no pollution, emit very little noise, take up little space, make the user healthier, are rarely lethal (unless, of course, in a collision with a vehicle), ...

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

There are a lot of parallel roads for Bloor and Yonge... etc for cars too. Let's remove them. They don't need it.

Which ones? What streets would you propose as an alternative to Yonge and Bloor? Be specific. Show us a map. Are your proposed routes as direct as the main streets? Do they require people to stop less or more? Do they provide direct access to businesses?

Originally Posted by Build.It

Until then though I'm gonna keep driving my Explorer/whatever SUV I replace it with. But you will never convince me to ride a damn bicycle to the office. This isn't the 19th century.

Your Explorer is 19th century technology. Bicycles are a more modern invention than cars. So using your argument, we should stop using those antiquated horseless carriages and start riding modern bikes.

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

[*]These bike lanes are widely supported by local residents and businesses, including the Bloor Annex BIA. The opposition largely comes from non-resident, non-taxpaying suburbanites - should their occasional convenience outweigh the needs & desires of the actual communities that are affected?[/LIST]

The Bloor West BIA appears to support them too.

[MolsonExport]

[cranes]

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...e8e163b-d616-5dba-842b-127daa2349d6.html
Kitchener’s Bike Day offers a host of activities on two wheels
The June 7 event will showcase the downtown cycling grid.

May 16, 2025 - Hit the downtown roads and trails on two wheels as Kitchener celebrates Bike Day on June 7.

Most activities take place from 1 to 5 p.m. on Water Street, between King and Charles streets. The event welcomes beginner and experienced cyclists, of all ages and abilities.

A release says the event will take place across the downtown cycling grid, which separates cycling and vehicle traffic and connects popular trails like the Iron Horse Trail, Spur Line Trail and the Trans Canada Trail...

Bike lanes on Cedar Street in Kitchener. Bike Day, on June 7, will showcase the city’s downtown cycling grid. Mathew McCarthy/Record file photo

[J.OT13]

One thing where Ottawa is way ahead of the curve (at least in North America).

• Video Link

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Re-posting from the [Saint John,NB] Active Transportation thread that I started this morning.

Many Saint Johners are very upset about the city "kowtowing to a vocal minority of urban cycling advocates" ... but really, it's just good policy and doesn't really even cost the city any more money when it comes to road re-construction. Personally, I think think the city council's commitment to bike lanes is one of the few things they deserve to be commended for.

The City of Saint John is pleased to announce the successful completion of the Main Street Activation Project, a transformative initiative aimed at improving safety, accessibility, and traffic flow for all road users. This milestone marks a significant investment in the city’s transportation infrastructure and reflects our commitment to building a safer, more connected community.

The reconstruction project introduced a number of key upgrades and design changes to better serve motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians:

Key Changes for Motorists:

• Reduced Road Width: Main Street now features two lanes in each direction, promoting calmer traffic and safer conditions.
• Intersection Reconfigurations: Sight lines have been improved at Station Street, Paradise Row, and Portland Street. Stop signs were added at Station Street and Paradise Row to enhance traffic control.
• New Traffic Signals:
• Route 1 Eastbound Off-Ramp (Red Rose Building): A new signal improves traffic flow and provides safe crossing for pedestrians and cyclists. Motorists should be prepared to stop.
• Main Street, Metcalf Street, and Simonds Street: This intersection now includes vehicle detection technology. Left turns from Main Street onto Metcalf Street are no longer permitted.
• Bike Boxes: Green-painted zones at intersections provide cyclists with a safe space to wait. Drivers must stop ahead of these boxes.
• Cross Rides: Green-painted crossings highlight bike crossing zones and improve visibility for drivers.
• New Yield Condition: Vehicles turning right from Union Street onto Main Street must now yield.

Improvements for Cyclists:

• Protected Bike Lanes: Installed alongside vehicle lanes for safer cycling.
• Bike Boxes and Signals: At Main Street, Metcalf Street, and Simonds Street intersection, cyclists must wait in designated bike boxes and obey traffic signals. Left-turn bike boxes are provided for safe turning.
• Bike Detection: Overhead sensors at key intersections activate bike signals when cyclists stop at designated areas.
• Multi-Use Paths: Installed in both directions:
• Eastbound across the Viaduct
• Westbound between Metcalf Street and Lansdowne Avenue
• Cyclists should use the lane closest to traffic.
• Reminder: Cyclists must follow all traffic laws, including stopping at red lights and stop signs, yielding when required, and using hand signals when turning.

Enhanced Safety for Pedestrians:

• Audible Pedestrian Signals were installed at the Main Street and Metcalf Street and Route 1 Eastbound Ramp intersections.
• Tactile Walking Surface Indicators have been added to all major crossings to assist visually impaired pedestrians.
• New Crosswalk Beacon: A Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon with audible tones was installed at the Route 1 Westbound ramp crossing on the Viaduct.
• Multi-Use Paths: Clearly marked paths separate pedestrian and cyclist zones. Pedestrians should stay to the outer edge of the path.

Here's what the "bike lanes" looked like 14 years ago:

• Video Link

and here is a video of the project from the CBC a few months back:

• Video Link


I'd say the only thing missing from this project (and missing from Saint John's cycling situation in general) is a city bike rental system:





A dozen or so of these type of stations scattered around the Harbour Passage and major bike routes like Main Street would fundamentally transform active transportation and cycling in Saint John for the better.


As Saint John is "the Port City", I think it would be a really cool project for the city and port to work together and "collect" city bikes from other great port cities around the world, such as the famous "Citi Bikes" from New York, to Amsterdam, to Shanghai, and beyond.

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

One thing where Ottawa is way ahead of the curve (at least in North America).

• Video Link

Don't you hate autocorrect!? I'm sure you meant Ottawa is way ahead of the CURB.. right?

EnvisionSaintJohn - love your enthusiasm and optimism, you're literally always envisioning creative, fun and positive future outcomes for Saint John. We all could use more of this in our cities.

Interesting news story on the shrinking the road back down to 4 lanes. There seems to be a back ash against bike and pedestrian infrastructure across the country, fueled by right of centre provincial governments and commuters stuck in traffic hell who blame bike lanes instead of lack of provincial and municipal investments in transportation. Halifax, potentially Montreal depending on the civic election, Ontario, and Alberta are just a few that come to mind. Hopefully the cities stand strong and don't allow a backward slide.

Speaking of bike infrastructure, here's an interesting channell showing city bike commutes around the world.. well, it seems to be mainly in Victoria, lol, I guess that's where the creator lives, but also lots from Europe and elsewhere:

https://www.youtube.com/@MultimodalExplorer

Here's one from August of the Blanshard street bike lane in Victoria:

• Video Link

and as much as we complain about the death of nightclub culture, aren't bike raves more wholesome, lol? In a plaza by the Johnson street bridge is where DJ's often set up their equipment for free shows and is often the starting point:

• Video Link

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[NetMapel]

• Video Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN5muvQ0-tM

Rare Nanimo, BC shoutout! Love to see less populated places become more people-friendly by being more accommodating to non-car transportation. Indeed, sometimes those places are better than the bigger city centres in terms of people-oriented infrastructure. This seems like a prime example of that.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

• Video Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN5muvQ0-tM

Rare Nanimo, BC shoutout! Love to see less populated places become more people-friendly by being more accommodating to non-car transportation. Indeed, sometimes those places are better than the bigger city centres in terms of people-oriented infrastructure. This seems like a prime example of that.

Nanaimo seems to be getting a lot of good press for its investments in bike lanes and cycling infrastructure. Nanaimo, BC is a good comparable to Saint John, NB even if it's a slightly smaller CMA than Saint John (but probably not for long). I think Nanaimo is even quite sprawled out like Saint John is, along with being bounded by the sea.


Nanaimo's e-bike sharing program with 100 e-bikes across 16 locations, puts them eons ahead of the City of Saint John in terms of making cycling a more accessible and convenient mode of active transportation, and ahead of many much bigger cities. This is a really impressive program, and I find it interesting that BCAA is big part of it. I wonder, does Nanaimo also have non e-bike city bike rentals?


Saint John has e scooters and e bike rentals, but they are at tourist trap prices, and not priced to be an affordable means of transportation for residents of Saint John, as they are in other Canadian cities.



The Nanaimo e-bike program, however, is especially affordable for residents:

To ensure accessible transportation costs, frequent riders can choose a monthly subscription ($9.99) for a significantly lower per-minute rate of $0.10.

A system like the one in Nanaimo could be huge for Saint John and other smaller cities that should be far more bicycle friendly. 100 electric bikes across 16 stations that could be rented for as cheap as $0.10 per minute would be an absolute game changer for active transportation in most cities.

Also, it's notable that helmets are legally required for people riding bicycles in BC, just like the case is here in NB. Still, I think BC and NB would be better off getting rid of their helmet requirement and instead strongly recommend them as is the case in most of Canada. Nonetheless, BC proves that even when helmets are legally required, bike sharing programs can be an affordable and accessible form of transportation.

I think it's a shame that city bike rentals and e-bike sharing programs are not much more common across Canada, beyond the "big cities", but it doesn't have to stay that way.

The biggest problem in smaller cities seems to be motorists with very archaic and problematic views about cyclists being allowed to be on the road, etc. Saint Johners biggest complain about our bike lanes seem to be that "no one uses them"... but that could change very quickly if we adopted a similar type of e-bike sharing program like the one in Nanaimo.

Big ups to the people in Nanaimo that made these advancements possible.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

People like to talk about the menace of e-bike or e-scooter delivery folks because "they don't care" and zip around. Imagine those same people delivering in big hunk of cars who also drive like "they don't care". That will definitely will solve traffic and address people's safety. I'd much rather people being human while walking and cycling than driving a SUV.

I'm a big fan of biking and e-bikes, but not a big fan of e-scooters. "death trap" is the first phrase that comes to mind.

[NetMapel]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

I'm a big fan of biking and e-bikes, but not a big fan of e-scooters. "death trap" is the first phrase that comes to mind.

Haha I understand that feeling. It can be unnerving to see folks zipping around the side walk and being reckless. My perspective is a longer-term one, which is that hopefully with more people-friendly infrastructure like widening side walks, proper protected bike lanes and basically just getting more streets back to the people, it will bring balance back to the streets. Part of the frustration with e-scooters is that there aren't good spaces for them. The side walk is too narrow. The bike lane isn't protected, it's just a gutter, or the network is far from complete. Those are all reasons why there can be frictions between people walking, scootering and biking. The space for them is so precious and limited compared to the extra lanes given to cars to park and under-utilize sometimes. Then we can develop better culture as well on how to properly utilize these space instead of it being a bit free-for-all due to improper infrastructure.

[Nashe]

E-scooters tops activities landing users in Fredericton ER, says doctor

I've seen multiple interviews by ER nurses voicing their opinions on e-scooters, specifically. They see SO many injuries with them. They are so accessible, cheap and gifted with zero training. I've seen 10-ish year old kids doubling up on one of those rent-to-ride scooters in my own neighbourhood (fairly busy streets) zigzagging all over the road, sans helmets.

On my daily cycle-commute, I see lots of them on sidewalks, off sidewalks, going the wrong way, cutting diagonally across the street without looking... all while going faster than they should be comfortable with. It's terrifying.

[Drybrain]

My five-year-old almost got creamed by a teenager who must have been doing 25 or so on a sidewalk last week. The teenager was totally unconcerned when I pointed it out.

I was in Toronto a few weeks ago and was surprised to see very few e-scooters, until someone told me they’d been banned by the city. Toronto has a different problem, though: an army of food-delivery guys on gigantic e-bikes that are more like small motorcycles, thronging streets and bike lanes.

[niwell]

While they may be less common here than some cities due to the ban of rental e-scooters, there are still quite a few (illegally) on the roads and they are almost always a menace. But definitely outnumbered by the food delivery guys riding e-bikes that don't have mandated speed limiters and can hit 40+km/hr with ease. If they aren't pedal-assist (zero issue with these btw) they aren't supposed to be in separated cycletracks but that's almost always ignored. It's a huge issue as a cyclist, pedestrian or driver.

We have an acquaintance who's an ER doctor in Ottawa and traumatic brain injuries have spiked noticeably since e-scooter rentals have popped up. Considerably more dangerous than e-bikes.

[jc_yyc_ca]

Seeing the same thing with scooters here in Calgary. They're very popular, but with that has come a big increase in the number of injuries. I've heard the same thing from my neighbor who's a nurse.

I'm undecided on where I fall on scooters in general. It's always nice to see more people use the pathways, and the added users 'in theory' should translate into more infrastructure for bikes with the help of scooters.
One of the problems though, some pathways have a lot of leisure scooter users who love to make sharp turns right on the pathway without shoulder checking. It's happened to me twice on the past two years where I've run into someone. Luckily I don't tend to ride super fast so there weren't serious injuries.

[Innsertnamehere]

I have an e-bike (pedal assist with a throttle) speed-limited to 32km/h. It looks like a regular bike with a battery strapped to the frame.

It's apparently fairly easy to disable the speed limiters but I have no interest in that as even at 32km/h they can feel quite unwieldy. ESPECIALLY in busy, narrow bike lanes like on Bloor.

The rise of e-assisted mobility devices in general is shocking compared to 5 years ago. As a whole I think it's a good thing as it opens up cycling to a much wider range of the population who are otherwise not going to cycle for various reasons (sweating, physical capability, etc.), but yes, the bikes on the fringes can be really dangerous.

The perfect ones are the bike-share ebikes IMO - speed limited to 25km/h with mandatory peddle assist and no throttle.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Interesting news story on the shrinking the road back down to 4 lanes. There seems to be a back ash against bike and pedestrian infrastructure across the country, fueled by right of centre provincial governments and commuters stuck in traffic hell who blame bike lanes instead of lack of provincial and municipal investments in transportation. Halifax, potentially Montreal depending on the civic election, Ontario, and Alberta are just a few that come to mind. Hopefully the cities stand strong and don't allow a backward slide.

On this front, the optics of Toronto's ambitious bike lane expansion in recent years has come at an unfortunate time: traffic has indeed gotten a lot worse at the same time that much of the new bike infrastructure has come online; leading to the sort of low-information, correlation=causation conclusion that they're the culprit for the city's congestion woes.

In reality though, most of the bike lane expansion has come at the expense of street parking rather than actual traffic lanes. The bigger impacts on traffic congestion have been a result of the work being done to the Gardiner Expressway (thereby pushing extra traffic to city streets), combined with a multitude of other construction projects closing streets or reducing lanes throughout the core (Ontario Line subway, lane closures for condo developments, and never ending roadwork), and a population boom at the same time - with no real improvements or expansions to transit infrastructure. When I was there a couple weeks ago, it seemed like half of the east-west arterials were closed or operating on reduced capacity - and were of course all clogged with traffic.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

On this front, the optics of Toronto's ambitious bike lane expansion in recent years has come at an unfortunate time: traffic has indeed gotten a lot worse at the same time that much of the new bike infrastructure has come online; leading to the sort of low-information, correlation=causation conclusion that they're the culprit for the city's congestion woes.

In reality though, most of the bike lane expansion has come at the expense of street parking rather than actual traffic lanes. The bigger impacts on traffic congestion have been a result of the work being done to the Gardiner Expressway (thereby pushing extra traffic to city streets), combined with a multitude of other construction projects closing streets or reducing lanes throughout the core (Ontario Line subway, lane closures for condo developments, and never ending roadwork), and a population boom at the same time - with no real improvements or expansions to transit infrastructure. When I was there a couple weeks ago, it seemed like half of the east-west arterials were closed or operating on reduced capacity - and were of course all clogged with traffic.

The only time when bike paths remove an actual traffic lane is when parking is preserved (eg St-Denis in Montreal and most parts of Bloor in Toronto). People need to understand they can't have street parking and free-flowing traffic at the same time. It's either/or. The bike paths really have nothing to do with it.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

People need to understand they can't have street parking and free-flowing traffic at the same time. It's either/or. The bike paths really have nothing to do with it.

This is a good point. A lot of the congestion is just people parking and demanding spots right in front of businesses (while they'll walk the equivalent of 3 city blocks out at Costco). A lot of problems could be managed by adjusting this parking yet there is constant drama around it. It probably serves around 20% of the customers or less in a lot of busy urban commercial areas.

I think the bike lane politics are a bit complicated though and sometimes you do see the removal of turning lanes that probably do have an impact on car traffic. There is also only so much bandwidth for taking on projects and some cities are failing to manage critical items, which tends to cause the provinces to get involved.

It is such a big win in a busy city to have small electric vehicles like scooters and bikes though. I don't even own a car; I have an electric scooter and use car shares a few times a month.

Halifax is a case where electric scooters and bikes are potentially very useful. It's hilly in parts but the electric motors take car of that. Transit is not amazing but it's too dense for people to drive around everywhere, and a lot of trips are 3-5 km or so, a bit far for walking but perfect for a small vehicle going 22 km/h. In Vancouver the transit is far better but there are still gaps around parts of the city centre and a bike or scooter can be significantly faster than transit or driving.