Halifax Active Transportation

[Keith P.]

Well, I wouldn’t put it past the true believers. I know there was lots of chatter suggesting deliveries could be done by cargo bicycles.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Well, I wouldn’t put it past the true believers. I know there was lots of chatter suggesting deliveries could be done by cargo bicycles.

Even sofas and dining room tables????

[IanWatson]

The Brunswick bike lanes aren't open yet, so no surprise you didn't see any cyclists in them...

I'd also say that Downtown Halifax is the best it's been in my 38 years (okay, 33 - not sure I paid attention until I was at least 5). The goal shouldn't be to get cars downtown, it's to get people downtown. And the last 15 years of investments in infrastructure and residential intensification are achieving that. Does it mean some people no longer go downtown because they can't cruise there in free-flow traffic from all parts of HRM? Sure. But the the changes to downtown over the past decades have more than made up for that. And at the same time growth in other parts of the city mean that unless you are a Moosehead fan or really need to try Mystic, no one has to go downtown if they don't want to. There are plenty of restaurant and entertainment options popping up in the secondary "downtowns".

[bartekci]

[deleted]

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Well, I wouldn’t put it past the true believers. I know there was lots of chatter suggesting deliveries could be done by cargo bicycles.

I'm sure that would work in some places. I doubt we have the infrastructure for that to be reasonable at this point.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

The Brunswick bike lanes aren't open yet, so no surprise you didn't see any cyclists in them...

I'd also say that Downtown Halifax is the best it's been in my 38 years (okay, 33 - not sure I paid attention until I was at least 5). The goal shouldn't be to get cars downtown, it's to get people downtown. And the last 15 years of investments in infrastructure and residential intensification are achieving that. Does it mean some people no longer go downtown because they can't cruise there in free-flow traffic from all parts of HRM? Sure. But the the changes to downtown over the past decades have more than made up for that. And at the same time growth in other parts of the city mean that unless you are a Moosehead fan or really need to try Mystic, no one has to go downtown if they don't want to. There are plenty of restaurant and entertainment options popping up in the secondary "downtowns".

This is a good point. Downtown currently has less street and surface parking than anyone here can remember, and is probably more congested and more difficult to get around than ever. It's also got more people, more stuff, more life than anyone can probably remember, too. That doesn't mean congestion causes a better city--obviously it would be better with less congestion--but it also doesn't suggest that downtown is going to shrivel up and die because people have to wait in a left turn lane on Brunswick for a minute.

Downtown is busy because people like to go there for all the stuff that's there sports venues, arts venues, museums and tourist attractions, bars and restaurants, all of which make up something greather than their sum. Yes, people can eat at a restaurant anywhere, and maybe we could build a new sports venue out by a highway somewhere. But in part it is the concentration of things in one place that makes it desirable.

However, downtown occupies a few dozen blocks, connected by streets that were laid our 250 years ago. It is not possible to provide easy, congestion-free vehicular access, and it never will be. That doesn't mean we should accept any degree of congestion, but it does mean that we have to make it easy and safe for people to use other means of transportation, when they choose to do so. Ultimately that will make it better for people who want to stay in cars.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Can you point me to where you saw/read this?

I feel like it's a misunderstanding. My recollection is that it was pointed out that ambulances can use bike lanes to get around traffic if the bike lanes are designed to accommodate this (and they should be), which is a good way to build capacity to short-cut around bumper-to-bumper cars. Perhaps I'm remembering something different than you... suggesting ambulances BE bicycles is something that I'd be shocked even a biking "zealot" would suggest.

Linda White the Halifax councillor for Waye Mason's old riding actually said those words into a live Mic. The Premier stepped in soon after. Ms White is a Loon and proved it with her comments.Let Google be your friend .

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

A lane to go straight and a turning left is a pretty normal configuration. The new setup will likely mean slightly longer waits during heavy traffic periods. The city's modelling has suggested that, though it's also suggested the new design will probably improve northbound traffic times slightly. We'll see. That's too bad, but it's an acceptable tradeoff in order to:

A: Significantly improve the convenience and safety for cyclists/scooters/all small mobility devices.

and

B: Remove the slip lane. Slip lanes are known to be dangerous to pedestrians, allowing vehicles to cruise through without slowing or stopping (which is what they're designed for). I'm pretty that if you were to conduct a survey of this intersection, you'd find pedestrians outnumber vehicles. Of course their convenience and safety should be prioritized. If some drivers have to wait 30 more seconds for the light to change, that's probably worth it. Add cyclists and the case only gets stronger.

I'm not some anti-car zealot who wants to ban cars doiwntown. But in an area like this, dense with all kinds of road users, cars should be made to proceed slowly and cautiously. There certainly shouldn't be infrastructure specifically designed to let them zoom around pedestrian-congested corners without stopping.

Cmon Dry, that section of Brunswick was never a fast or dangerous part of the street infrastructure in the City.The question that will be asked, especially after the Bike lane budget blow out, is the juice worth the squeeze? It will not be unless you are part of the 1% that are bike advocates.
We have added 100,000 new citizens to HRM in the last 6 Years yet the bikes have not arrived.Their Cars have.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

We have added 100,000 new citizens to HRM in the last 6 Years yet the bikes have not arrived.Their Cars have.

They have, though. Bike traffic has increased on South Park Street from 30,000 bikes annually in 2020 to 113,000 this year (so far, with more than a month still to go).

From 2021 to 2025 (again, year not finished) Vernon went from 32,000 to 49,000, Rainnie/Gottingen from 21,000 to 41,000 and Hollis from 26,000 to 37,000. Almon Street is alrady at 49,000 for this year so far, which is surprising to me as it feels pretty empty--but the numbers are there. Important to note as well that many cyclists don't trigger the bike counters--they sometimes malfunction, or cyclists may be on the street rather than the lane, or the sidewalk (of course they shouldn't be on the sidewalk) but overall the numbers are pointed straight up.

These are still relatively small numbers, about 3-4 percent of the auto traffic on these streets. But they are BIG year over year increases, and speak to the potential for further big increases as the infrastructure is built up. A few more years of growth at this pace and we could be loking at ten percent of travellers on South Park and Hollis and other streets using the bike lanes, rather than auto lanes. Given how little the bike lanes actually impede or take space away from auto lanes, that's a really good ROI.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

Linda White the Halifax councillor for Waye Mason's old riding actually said those words into a live Mic. The Premier stepped in soon after. Ms White is a Loon and proved it with her comments.Let Google be your friend .

Ok... my previous google searches for "bikes as ambulances, halifax" didn't net anything.

Helpful to know who was alleged to have made those comments, and I've now searched "[Laura] White Ambulance Bike] and found something at "The MacDonald Notebook," which I had not heard of before. It doesn't quote her directly, and there's no source, but SOMEONE has said that the Councilor has indicated people be taken by bicycle to an ambulance nearby, which does sound pretty wacko. I can't find anything to that effect on her website and I don't know the MacDonald Noteboook, so am not sure what kind of journalists it employs. I'd be shocked if someone said something so nutso and AllNS and/or the Halifax Examiner didn't pick up on it. Certainly something you'd hope the Chronicle Herald or CBC would catch too.

In any case, the drama is delicious, lol.

https://www.themacdonaldnotebook.ca/about/

[davedavedave123]

People used to try and kill me all the time in that slip lane while walking to the VG. Not slowing down and looking over their left shoulders for oncoming car traffic.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Ok... my previous google searches for "bikes as ambulances, halifax" didn't net anything.

Helpful to know who was alleged to have made those comments, and I've now searched "[Laura] White Ambulance Bike] and found something at "The MacDonald Notebook," which I had not heard of before. It doesn't quote her directly, and there's no source, but SOMEONE has said that the Councilor has indicated people be taken by bicycle to an ambulance nearby, which does sound pretty wacko. I can't find anything to that effect on her website and I don't know the MacDonald Noteboook, so am not sure what kind of journalists it employs. I'd be shocked if someone said something so nutso and AllNS and/or the Halifax Examiner didn't pick up on it. Certainly something you'd hope the Chronicle Herald or CBC would catch too.

In any case, the drama is delicious, lol.

https://www.themacdonaldnotebook.ca/about/

The MacDonald Notebook is an offshoot of Allnovascotia.com from one of their original writers, Andrew MacDonald. It’s sort of a cross between AllNS and Frank Magazine, but nowhere near as cringey as Frank.

Laura White seems to be a cross between Waye Mason and Sam Austin, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she said something as dumb as that.

Regarding the previous post about cycling numbers, I’m sure a lot of those are due to those rental electric scooters one finds piled up at a lot of intersections on public property. Those things fly past here at speed frequently, usually ridden by young folk who think helmet use is optional. No concerns there at all apparently.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The MacDonald Notebook is an offshoot of Allnovascotia.com from one of their original writers, Andrew MacDonald. It’s sort of a cross between AllNS and Frank Magazine, but nowhere near as cringey as Frank.

Laura White seems to be a cross between Waye Mason and Sam Austin, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she said something as dumb as that.

Regarding the previous post about cycling numbers, I’m sure a lot of those are due to those rental electric scooters one finds piled up at a lot of intersections on public property. Those things fly past here at speed frequently, usually ridden by young folk who think helmet use is optional. No concerns there at all apparently.

A lot of those people might be drunkenly speeding around in cars if not for the bikes and scooters, so it might be considered a win.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

A lot of those people might be drunkenly speeding around in cars if not for the bikes and scooters, so it might be considered a win.

Sorry, I have to say that this is simply a silly comment, for so many reasons that I don't have to explain.

Unless you forgot to include the "" emoji or something... then I will say:

Though the way some of them ride on the sidewalk at full amperage output, you might have something here... I've almost been clipped, by the m-fers of the genre, a couple of times. Then there's the 12 year olds dicing with car traffic, unaware of their mortality - yep, that was a great birthday gift for junior...

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Regarding the previous post about cycling numbers, I’m sure a lot of those are due to those rental electric scooters one finds piled up at a lot of intersections on public property. Those things fly past here at speed frequently, usually ridden by young folk who think helmet use is optional. No concerns there at all apparently.

Indeed, probably a good number of them are. But that hardly seems like a bad thing. They're still people not using cars and clogging up the roads, and having the dedicated bike lanes means they're travelling with traffic that is more their speed rather than speeding down the sidewalk or slowing down cars on the road.

[Keith P.]

No, it's a bad thing, trust me. My favorite this season was one blowing past my house at top speed at dusk one summer evening, no light, no helmet, with a full set of clubs in a golf bag sitting across the handlebars, not even slowing down as he entered the intersection at the end of the block. Seemed safe.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

No, it's a bad thing, trust me. My favorite this season was one blowing past my house at top speed at dusk one summer evening, no light, no helmet, with a full set of clubs in a golf bag sitting across the handlebars, not even slowing down as he entered the intersection at the end of the block. Seemed safe.

Stop signs are just a suggestion to most cyclists. Unless a car is physically entering the intersection when the cyclist arrives at the stop sign, they will just blow right through the intersection to conserve energy.

[JET]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Stop signs are just a suggestion to most cyclists. Unless a car is physically entering the intersection when the cyclist arrives at the stop sign, they will just blow right through the intersection to conserve energy.

Good thing we never see cars doing that, like maybe when pedestrians are trying to cross intersections.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by JET

Good thing we never see cars doing that, like maybe when pedestrians are trying to cross intersections.

Most Car owners obey the laws of the road. It seems there are consequences when they don't. The 1% are in the ascendant thus their bubble of safety also includes an above the law clause.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

Most Car owners obey the laws of the road. It seems there are consequences when they don't. The 1% are in the ascendant thus their bubble of safety also includes an above the law clause.

Bicyclists ignore the rules of the road because there are no consequences for their actions. They are unlicensed and do not have to carry or pay for insurance. Motorists if caught get demerit points on their license, may be fined and may have their insurance premiums go up. What consequences do bicyclists have for bad behavior???