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WFP: City, Bombers both lose in lame, ego-fuelled spat & Down, Set... Pay Up (Jun6'14)
by Beth McKechnie 06 Jun '14

06 Jun '14

City, Bombers both lose in lame, ego-fuelled spat <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/> By: Bartley Kives http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-bombers-both-lose-in-lame-ego-f… During the nightmarish inaugural season at Investors Group Field, one of the few silver linings for the Winnipeg Football Club was the eventual success of the game-day transportation plan. A year ago this month, getting to and from the new stadium was an unmitigated disaster. Long lines of vehicles stalled on the way to IGF, there weren't enough buses for passengers, fans arrived well after kickoff and then got stuck on the U of M campus long after the final down. By July, the situation had improved, thanks to the collective brainstorming of the Bombers, Winnipeg Transit, the Winnipeg Police Service and a number of city officials and consultants. By the fall, the Bombers actually boasted more than 1,000 fans rode bikes to the games, an average of 10,000 took buses and a total of about a third of the crowd got to and from the 33,500-seat venue by means other than personal vehicles. In a city as car-reliant as Winnipeg, this was an achievement. Convincing people in the Manitoba capital to walk, ride or take buses is no easy task. When presented with a proposition -- you could get to and from games faster, more comfortably and less expensively if you left your car at home -- Winnipeggers proved to be entirely logical. Now, these fans have been rewarded for their co-operation with the announcement of new user fees only days before the start of the CFL pre-season. On Thursday, the Winnipeg Football Club announced bus rides to the stadium along regular transit routes would no longer be free, but $2.55 -- the same fare charged by Winnipeg Transit. Rides home along these routes would remain free. Park-and-ride fares will be $5 when the regular season starts later this month, assuming there is no CFL players' strike. This is an insult to fans who went along with everything the club asked them to do last year. The result will likely mean some won't take transit and will take cars instead. If this clogs up Pembina Highway, more fans will get fed up with going to Bomber games altogether. This potential backslide is the result of a communication breakdown between the Bombers and the City of Winnipeg, who share the blame for the ridiculous situation where fans are told on a Thursday about a new plan for a game on a Monday. How did we get there? Originally, the Bombers signed a moronic transportation deal. Somehow, the football club agreed to cover the entire cost of game-day transit instead of maintaining the 2012 situation, where the city ate a portion of the cost. Last year, the city charged the Bombers $1.1 million in total and then informed the club it would cost $1.25 million this year. This means the city plans to charge the Bombers $12.50 per round trip to the stadium, as opposed to the $5.10 it charges for a pair of regular transit rides. (Yes, regular transit rides are subsidized.) Bombers president and CEO Wade Miller tried to negotiate a better deal last fall, knowing his team has to start forking over millions worth of stadium-building-loan repayments this year. Miller asked for a deep discount and was instead offered a more modest one in April. Mayor Sam Katz then yanked that offer off the table in May, claiming the club is doing too well to deserve a deal Winnipeg Transit director Dave Wardrop considered fair. Katz then successfully spun a portion of the public on the idea the Bombers would have just been receiving another subsidy, when in fact the club is being charged more than double the going transit rate. Miller, meanwhile, has compounded the situation. After failing to manage a key relationship with one of the club's stakeholders, the Bombers president now appears to be playing chicken with the city over the transportation plan. Even if just as many fans continue to take transit to the stadium this season with user fees up front, collecting fares at crowded bus stops will slow down the entire process. This is why transit warned against the idea. The Selinger government, meanwhile, is dithering on the sidelines, afraid to either criticize Katz for reneging on a deal or provide more cash to the team. The province offered to split the additional cost with the city, something the province does with all transit costs. But the Katz administration won't give the Bombers another penny, even if the Selinger government picks up half the tab. Surely, someone in this city has the leadership skills to put these squabbling children in a room and settle the impasse. There was a game-day plan that worked last year. Screwing it up over egos would be pretty lame. bartley.kives(a)freepress.mb.ca Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 6, 2014 B1 * * * * * DOWN, SET... PAY UP Fans to pay half fare on regular routes, $5 to park and ride <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/> By: Adam Wazny http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/down-set-pay-up-262112371.html With the start of the season fast approaching, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are moving forward with a pay-as-you-go transportation plan to get people to Investors Group Field this season. The CFL club announced Thursday those taking Winnipeg Transit to Investors Group Field events will have to pay the regular transit fare. The Bombers will cover the ride home, meaning a round trip will cost fans $2.55 to watch their local football team live. *Touchdown or incompletion?* RIDE ON: Highlights of the revised Winnipeg Blue Bombers transportation plan for 2014: *Winnipeg Transit* All regular and augmented transit routes will remain the same as they were 2013. Users will be charged a one-way fare ($2.55) to get to Investors Group Field. It can be paid by cash, transit ticket, or bus pass. The return fare is free of charge. *Park-and-ride* A $5 charge will be collected (per person) at each location prior to the game or event. A $40 season park and ride pass (per person) is also available. Chartered school buses begin departing two hours before kickoff. The park and ride locations include: McPhillips Station Casino, 484 McPhillips St. (parking for 500 cars). Club Regent, 1425 Regent Ave. West (500 cars). St. Vital Public Works Yard, 590 St. Anne's Rd. (300 cars). Manitoba Hydro , 820 Taylor Ave. (500 cars). Assiniboia Downs (300 cars). St. Norbert Hotel, 3540 Pembina Hwy (200 cars). Garden City Centre (100 cars). Kildonan Place (100 cars). *On-campus parking* The Bombers have secured 5,000 parking spots on the University of Manitoba campus. Season parking passes and flex-pack game parking passes are available for purchase. Cash parking in regular lots is available ($20) on a first-come, first-served basis. Passes can be pre-purchased or purchased with cash on game day. The Bombers are also offering a new parking lot for carpool vehicles (three or more people). Cost for a carpool parking lot spot is $10. *Why not bike?* Once again, the club is offering a secure bike valet service, with a capacity for 800 bicycles. There are also approximately 400 more unmonitored spots to lock up your bike on the IGF grounds. -- source: www.bluebombers.com The club is also asking patrons to chip in on the park-and-ride program, charging $5 per person for those wanting to use the service. Last year, both transit and the park-and- ride program were free for ticket holders. This time, though, the club was forced to come up with a way to help control transportation costs after the city rescinded a transit proposal that would have seen the club receive a discounted rate. That proposal saw the city offer the Bombers transit subsidies worth approximately $650,000 this year. Winnipeg Transit recommended the subsidy in April, after five months of negotiations aimed at reducing the burden for the non-profit football club. The Bombers are expected to make a $4.5-million principal-and-interest payment this year on $85 million worth of loans that helped build Investors Group Field, its year-old home at the University of Manitoba's Fort Garry campus. In a May 27 statement from the city, acting chief administrative officer Deepak Joshi said the Bombers no longer need the transit subsidy due to the club's "robust financial situation" -- a reference to a $2.9-million profit reported by the club for the 2013 season. Unhappy with the about-face, the Bombers huddled and came up with a new game plan, passing some of the costs down to the fans. "This new plan will help offset some of the transportation costs by about one-third," said Bomber president and CEO Wade Miller. Miller estimates the transportation cost for 2014 could be as much as $1.25 million. A third of that is just more than $412,000. In 2013, the city charged the football club $1.1 million, or about $11 per person, to transport fans to and from events at Investors Group Field. The city intended to increase that to $1.25 million, or about $12.50 per person, this year. Last year, an average of 10,000 people took buses to events at Investors Group Field. Miller expects a few pockets of discontent over the new transportation plan -- expect delays at Winnipeg Transit stops while Blue and Gold-clad fans fumble with their change stepping onto the bus -- but his overall sense is Bombers supporters understand the reality facing the club on game days. "At our Fan Fest over the weekend, people told me, 'We're OK with paying our own way, Wade, you do what you need to do and we're comfortable with paying our own way to get down to the stadium,' " Miller said, adding he doesn't anticipate a rework of the plan should problems arise mid-season. "The plan is the same as last year, that's the important thing. We wanted to make sure we didn't interrupt the service level because at the end of the year all the bugs got worked out. It was a successful plan that the Bombers and Winnipeg Transit put together." Besides shelling out for a ride, the biggest change will be for the park-and-ride users. Approximately 130 school buses will in operation for the park and ride program, up significantly from the 50-75 buses used last year on game days. The park-and-ride will include the same eight routes as last year. Buses leave 90 minutes before kickoff, and the last bus leaves 30 minutes before. The service is free for the first preseason game versus Toronto Monday. The $5 charge kicks in for the June 26 regular-season opener against those same Argos. -- with files from Bartley Kives adam.wazny(a)freepress.mb.ca Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 6, 2014 B1

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Bike Week and the media launch
by Dave Elmore 06 Jun '14

06 Jun '14

The launch for Bike Week will take place at 11:00 am on June 10 at City Hall. Many of you may have heard of Bike to Work Day in the past but Bike Week represents the growth of this popular event into a full week of activities. Bike Week is more than just a 1 day celebration of riding bikes to work, it is a celebration of all people riding bicycles. It's for everyone. Whether you ride for recreation, fitness, transportation, sport, or just for fun, if you enjoy riding a bike, then Bike Week is a good fit. It will take place from June 16-22, 2014 and is going to feature a wide variety of bicycle related events for all types of riders. As always, Bike to Work Day and our barbeque celebration will take place on the Friday, June 20th. To get more information and to sign up for our e-newsletter, visit <http://www.bikeweekwinnipeg.com> www.bikeweekwinnipeg.com. Because Bike Week is for everyone, we are hoping that we can launch it at city hall with a wide variety of bikes and riders in attendance. Hope to see you there and please pass this along to everyone that you know that enjoys riding a bike. Thanks Dave o _ ( \ _ (X)\ /(X)

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Ottawa cycling group runs down 'sharrows'
by Dave Elmore 05 Jun '14

05 Jun '14

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/06/04/ottawa-cycling-group-runs-down-sharrows Ottawa cycling group runs down 'sharrows' The expanded use of painted "sharrows" on busy roads doesn't impress a cycling group, even though the city believes the markings promote safety. "It's a bit of an excuse instead of building real biking infrastructure," Citizens for Safe Cycling VP Alex deVries said Wednesday. Sharrows remind motorists and cyclists to share the road. It's simply a picture of a bike with a couple of chevrons. Now there are even "super sharrows" that take up the entire lane of traffic and draw attention to the logo with a painted green box. Sharrows came up during a council transportation committee meeting Wednesday as staff updated politicians on cycling infrastructure and programs. City staff said they have received positive feedback on sharrows, which also act as a communication tool to tell motorists that cyclists are also using the road. However, Citizens for Safe Cycling opposes sharrows. deVries said there is no proof sharrows provide a safety benefit to cyclists and that the resources could be better spent on enhanced cycling infrastructure. "Part of the problem is they're new infrastructure that people don't understand," deVries said. In 2013 Ottawa driving schools received information packages on various cycling programs, including the use of sharrows. The city has also distributed posters and information cards on the markings. Some sharrows are being painted on roads with fast traffic and cyclists might think they must ride where the markings are painted, deVries explained. The city says sharrows don't compel cyclists to ride in a particular spot in the lane. In one study of cycling injuries in Toronto and Vancouver, researchers at the University of British Columbia concluded sharrows pose an "increased risk" to cyclists. Cycling projects in Ottawa have picked up over the past three years. The city says it has spent $28 million on cycling programs this term of council and some councillors speculate it's actually been more with enhancements after road reconstruction. Judging by politicians' remarks Wednesday, the city should be doing even more. Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney pushed staff to explain why cycling infrastructure wouldn't be installed during a reconstruction of Ogilvie Rd., where he says there's a "dark hole" of biking connections. Staff ballparked the extra cost at $3 million and said it's too expensive. Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess wants the city to promote more cycling events and Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury wants cyclists to be given more consideration in planning construction zones.

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Sunday Bicycle Route Street Closures
by Beth McKechnie 05 Jun '14

05 Jun '14

To accompany the articles below, attached is a copy of the letter that was sent to homeowners regarding enforcement of the Sunday Bicycle Route Street Closures. While the bylaw is great, it doesn't make sense to remove the physical barricades, which are a relatively inexpensive and strong visual reminder that the roadway is closed to motorists on Sundays and holidays. (Also, the ability to enforce a bylaw is not the same as allocating the resources to do so.) The name could/should be changed from Sunday Bicycle Route Street Closures to Ciclovia Routes or Sunday Open Streets as the intent is to open the roadway for all non-motorized forms of travel/recreation -- walking, cycling, rollerblading, skateboarding -- and give them priority over motorists. (That's certainly the way it used to be on Scotia St when we bought a house there 20 years ago. It was like a mini-Ciclovia every Sunday.) cheers, Beth * * * * * Drivers' bike-route fines loom Bylaw would enforce Sunday road closings By: Oliver Sachgau *http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/drivers-bike-route-fines-loom-261932831.html <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/drivers-bike-route-fines-loom-261932…>* Sunday drivers who just can't steer clear of four special streets blocked off during the summer months will be punished if they get caught. In the past, drivers had been discouraged from driving on Wellington Crescent, Wolseley Avenue, Scotia Street and Lyndale Drive on Sundays and holidays. But the proposed bylaw would make it an offence, and mean a ticket -- likely around $90. The bylaw would be in effect from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., according to a letter from the city to residents in the areas the bike routes run through. Sally Gordon, who lives on Lyndale Drive, said she supports the proposed bylaw, as it would make biking safer for her, as well as kids in the neighbourhood. "We've got a lot of kids, young ones, just learning to bike. There's people that just come roaring down Lyndale like you wouldn't believe," Gordon said. Patrol Sgt. Kevin Cisaroski of the Winnipeg Police Service said the aim is to add bite to what's currently an unenforceable rule, giving police the power to respond to complaints. "This is the next step in the evolution of the bike-route program... rather than leaving it up to voluntary compliance," Cisaroski said. "The original bike routes weren't done by way of law. We couldn't do anything about it if people complained about non-compliance." If the bylaw goes through, Cisaroski said officers would patrol certain blocks and watch for offenders. He said police might offer a few weeks of education and hand out warnings instead of tickets. But he stressed that won't be considered until the bylaw is passed. If the bylaw is passed, the city would remove barricades that currently go up on days when the routes are up and replace them with more permanent signage. Winnipeg city councillor John Orlikow (River Heights), who proposed the bylaw, said it's important to him the bylaw gets passed quickly. "It's a great community place on Sundays, having a street that's safe. For one day (a week), making sure that cars are off that street is warranted," Orlikow said. "I grew up on Wellington Crescent, running cross-country with my dad or speedskating. Having one day where you can feel safe, I think it's a great thing." oliver.sachgau(a)freepress.mb.ca Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 5, 2014 B2 * * * * * CBC coverage: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-bylaw-to-make-driving-on-4-…

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WFP: Public works committee OKs school-zone bylaw (Jun4'14)
by Beth McKechnie 05 Jun '14

05 Jun '14

Public works committee OKs school-zone bylaw By: Aldo Santin <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/> http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Public-works-committee-OKs-school-zo… A proposed bylaw to reduce vehicle speeds around some elementary schools is going to city council with the support of a civic committee. Members of public works voted unanimously Tuesday in support of the new bylaw, which will lower speed limits around some kindergarten-to-Grade 6 schools to 30 kilometres per hour. "This is a good first step," Coun. Jenny Gerbasi said. Committee chairman Coun. Justin Swandel said he didn't think speed is a safety concern around Winnipeg schools but added the bylaw "is probably a good thing." If approved by council later this month, the bylaw would come into effect for the start of the 2014-2015 school year, lowering speeds around specific elementary schools between the hours of 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m., from September to June. The lower speeds would not apply to regional streets adjacent to schools. The bylaw applies to 171 schools, leaving out about 50 schools because of requirements where signs must be placed. Coun. Harvey Smith told the committee he thought the bylaw should be expanded to include parks. However, public works directors Brad Sacher said the bylaw can't be expanded to include other areas without amendments to provincial legislation. Council approved the principles supporting lowered speed limits around elementary schools in July 2012 and set aside $1 million for signage. However, before Winnipeg could implement the change, the city had to wait for the province to amend legislation -- which it did in September 2013 -- giving municipalities the authority to lower the speed limits around schools to 30 km/h. Mayor Sam Katz had promised to have the bylaw in place before the end of 2013 but Sacher said writing the bylaw was a complex procedure that included identifying every school and street that will be affected.

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Active Transportation - linking Winnipeg to the Capital Region
by Beth McKechnie 05 Jun '14

05 Jun '14

*From:* Janice Lukes [mailto:jlukes@shaw.ca] *Sent:* Wednesday, June 04, 2014 7:51 AM *Subject:* Active Transportation - linking Winnipeg to the Capital Region Good morning! Many local active transportation representatives participated in the Manitoba Capital Region <http://leadingmanitoba.ca/default.asp> Transportation Master Plan consultation process - and provided input on improving connectivity to and from the Capital Region. The Transportation Plan will be ‘launched’: *Tuesday, June 10, 2014*9:00a.m. – 1:00p.m. REGISTRATION DETAILS: click here <http://www.manitobacapitalregion.ca/notices_detail.asp?notice_ID=220> As Manitoba moves forward in becoming a multi modal global transportation hub <http://www.centreportcanada.ca/about-us> – results of this study and how active transportation is dealt with should be very interesting. *Chris Lorenc, president of the heavy construction association, commended the province for its continued role in developing CentrePort. He predicted that Canada's first inland port "will have the impact of magnificently transforming Manitoba's economy into a global trading powerhouse." Free Press <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/highway-renewal-to-proceed-ashton-13…>* *Yes – the power ALL kinds of transportation!* *Thanks* *Janice Lukes*

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New proposal for Parcel 4 at The Forks
by Beth McKechnie 04 Jun '14

04 Jun '14

New Proposal for Parcel 4 at the Forks Winnipeg, MB, Canada / 680 CJOB - Winnipeg's News & Information Leader CJOB Team Coverage <cjobnews(a)cjob.com> June 04, 2014 05:25 am http://www.cjob.com/2014/06/04/future-the-forks-parcel-4-decided/ The last piece of undeveloped land at the Forks could be transformed into two parking structures, housing, some retail and plenty of Green space that will also link the site to downtown. It’s an ambitious plan that will transform the surface parking lots known as “Parcel 4″ opposite the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights. That’s the land near Shaw Park that was put forward as a possible sight for the controversial hotel and water park plan that was eventually killed by city council. Some details of this new plan are still being worked out and there will still be another round of public consultations before anything is finalized. The plan also needs approval from the City of Winnipeg. Forks North Portage Partnership President and CEO Jim August says the idea is that the retail will include market style shops and the site would also include a link to Upper Fort Garry under construction south of Broadway on Main. And August says they want to push more pedestrians through the Portage and Main area in anticipation of it eventually reopening to traffic. “We really believe that a pedestrian flow to Portage and Main is important so our engineers have been working on that.” He says they’re also looking at putting a walkway of some kind over the rail lines. Waterfront Drive may eventually be extended through Point Douglas. The plan will take shape over the next five years as the public consultations continue. There are no cost estimates at this point. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Forks. [Note: here's more background if you're keen - http://www.theforks.com/railside]

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The first major academic study of protected bike lanes in the U.S. is out
by Dave Elmore 03 Jun '14

03 Jun '14

http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/the-first-major-academic-study-of-p rotected-bike-lanes-in-the-u.s.-is-out It's a sign of how new the modern protected bike lane <http://www.peopleforbikes.org/green-lane-project/pages/protected-bike-lanes -101> is to the United States that we have known very little about them, scientifically speaking. Until now. Most academic studies of modern protected lanes have relied on data from countries where culture, land use, street design and social behavior are dramatically different (the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany) or from Canada, which has led the North American protected lane revolution <http://bikelanes.ca/on-urban-bike-infrastructure-canada-is-now-leading-the- way/> . Three widely noticed Canadian studies, led by Harvard's Ann Lusk <http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2011/02/02/ip.2010.028696.ful l.pdf+html> , the University of British Columbia's Kay Teschke <http://cyclingincities.spph.ubc.ca/injuries/the-bice-study/> and Ryerson University's Anne Harris <http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/19/5/303.full> , focused mostly on safety. And though all three concluded that protected bike lanes greatly improve bike safety (28 percent fewer injuries per mile compared to comparable streets with no bike infrastructure using Lusk's methodology, 90 percent fewer using Teschke's; in Harris's study, protected lanes reduced intersection risk by about 75 percent), they've drawn some thoughtful criticism <http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/19/5/303.full/reply#injuryprev_el_1 0126> for underexamining the importance of intersections, where most bike-related conflicts arise. Today, Portland State University's National Institute of Transportation and Communities <http://otrec.us/NITC> released its voluminous findings <http://ppms.otrec.us/media/project_files/NITC-RR-583_ProtectedLanes_FinalRe portb.pdf> from a wide-ranging study of protected bike lane intersections in five U.S. cities. It's based on 204 hours of video footage that captured the movement patterns of 16,000 people on bicycles and 20,000 turning cars; on 2,301 surveys with people who live near the projects; and on 1,111 surveys of people using the protected lanes. "This has never been done on this scale - having five cities and a number of different sites being done at the same time," NITC spokesman Justin Carinci said in an interview Monday. "The number of hours of video review is unprecedented. But the perceptions piece is really the most definitive of it: This is a big enough sample that we could say for each of the (projects), people feel safe riding them. People say we should have more of them." The new study was co-funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Summit Foundation <http://summitfdn.org/> and PeopleForBikes. The team was led by PSU's Christopher Monsere, Jennifer Dill, Kelly Clifton and Nathan McNeil. You can download the whole report <http://ppms.otrec.us/media/project_files/NITC-RR-583_ProtectedLanes_FinalRe portb.pdf> immediately, but if you want the Cliff's Notes, we'll be digging into this huge study here on the Green Lane Project blog one angle at a time, all this week: * Tuesday: How protected lanes affect ridership <http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/everywhere-they-appear-protected-b ike-lanes-seem-to-attract-riders> * Wednesday: Protected bike lanes and intersection safety * Thursday: What protected lanes can't do * Friday: Finally, scientific evidence that changes to auto parking make people crazy Stay tuned - for those of us who see the potential for bikes to improve cities, the findings are exciting and the notes of caution are useful. We'll be here all week.

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Protected Bike Lanes Aren't Just Safer, They Can Also Increase Cycling
by Dave Elmore 02 Jun '14

02 Jun '14

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/06/protected-bike-lanes-arent-just-safer -they-can-also-increase-cycling/371958/ Not all bike lanes are created equal. A line in the pavement dividing cars from cyclists is nice, but it doesn't provide nearly the comfort of a protected bike lane - a track separated from vehicle traffic by a row of parked cars, or a curb, or at least a line of flexible posts. Cyclists who use protected lanes say they feel safer, and some studies show they truly are safer, with their risk of injury cut in half <http://www.citylab.com/commute/2012/10/dedicated-bike-lanes-can-cut-cycling -injuries-half/3654/> . That's great for committed riders and public health more broadly. But what about city residents who don't already ride a bike, perhaps due to safety fears? After all, it stands to reason that cities invest in bike infrastructure not just to secure the existing rider population, but to expand it. So is the assurance of a protected bike lane enough to make a cyclist of those who might otherwise choose another transportation mode? New research suggests that, to a modest extent, the answer is yes. Today a study team <http://otrec.us/project/583> led by Christopher Monsere of Portland State University released a thorough analysis of new protected bike lanes in five major U.S. cities. The researchers videotaped the new lanes, conducted local surveys, and gathered data on cycling trends to get a full picture of life in these new corridors - comparing what they found to rider habits before the protected lanes were installed. They found that ridership increased anywhere from 21 to 171 percent, with about 10 percent of new riders drawn from other modes. The analysis focused on new bike facilities along eight city streets: Barton Springs, Bluebonnet, and Rio Grande in Austin; Dearborn and Milwaukee in Chicago; Multnomah in Portland, Oregon; Oak and Fell (a street couplet) in San Francisco; and L Street in Washington, D.C. Some of the corridors had an unprotected bike lane before the study, others had nothing at all. While the research looked at a range of measures, including safety and lane design, we'll focus on ridership here. Cycling rates rose on the new lanes across the board. The following chart, prepared by the researchers, shows street ridership counts based on an average of city data and video analysis. The biggest gains - with ridership more than doubling - occurred on two streets converted into two-way lanes. That's to be expected, but the fact that even streets with an existing bike lane saw a spike in ridership shows just how attractive protected lanes are: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/newsroom/img/posts/2014/06/protected_lane_chart/7 f1810311.jpgVia Monsere et al (2014) Those results are impressive, but on their own they have limited meaning, since cycling in these cities is on the rise everywhere. A better baseline comparison comes by placing ridership in the new corridors against general trends across the city. Here, too, the protected lanes performed well. Ridership in the new lanes beat the city average along all but one street - and on that street (Milwaukee) it matched the average. http://cdn.theatlantic.com/newsroom/img/posts/2014/06/Change_in_Ridership_Av erage_Increase_Protected_Lanes_Citywide_Increase_chartbuilder/6600db3f3.pngC ityLab The key is not just whether the protected lanes attract more riders, but whether they attract new riders. In surveys, the researchers found that across all five cities, 65 percent of riders would have gone by bike along this street anyway, and that another 24 percent, evidently comforted by the protected lane, would have traveled by bike but gone a different route. Critically, 10 percent of the new riders would have taken another (unspecified) mode - a share that reached 21 percent along the Dearborn corridor in Chicago: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/newsroom/img/posts/2014/06/Shift_in_Ridership_Fro m_Other_Modes_New_Mode_chartbuilder/e2bb9ade5.pngCityLab (data for Bluebonnet not available) So protected bike lanes do seem to serve the double purpose of improving rider safety while also inspiring people to ride in the first place. There are some key caveats to keep in mind: the big percentage swings reflect relatively small total numbers, often in the tens of riders, and it's unknown how many riders made a true shift from driving (as opposed to from other transit modes). These are also five cities with growing bike cultures: it's unclear how well protected lanes would perform in places where cycling isn't already a rising subculture. But there's fewer of those places <http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/05/rise-bicycling-smaller-and-midsize-u s-cities/9059/> every day, which is precisely the point.

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US Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program: 2014 Report: Continued Progress in Developing Walking and Bicycling Networks
by Beth McKechnie 02 Jun '14

02 Jun '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Terry Zdan <tjzdan50(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 13:33:11 -0500 Subject: US Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program: 2014 Report: Continued Progress in Developing Walking and Bicycling Networks *http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/ntpp/2014_report/index.cfm <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/ntpp/2014_report/ind…>* *13. ABSTRACT* *In 2005, the United States Congress directed the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to develop the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP). The program provided over $25 million in contract authority to four pilot communities (Columbia, Missouri; Marin County, California; Minneapolis area, Minnesota; and Sheboygan County, Wisconsin) for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and nonmotorized programs. This report summarizes the progress and results of the NTPP from August 2005 through December 2013, updating and expanding upon the analysis from the Report to the U.S. Congress on the Outcomes of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program, submitted by the Federal Highway Administration in April 2012. This report analyzes the results through December 2013 of the NTPP in terms of program implementation, transportation mode shift toward walking and bicycling and associated improvements pertaining to access and mobility, safety and public health, and the environment and energy. From 2007 to 2013, the pilot communities observed an estimated 22.8 percent increase in the number of walking trips and an estimated 48.3 percent increase in the number of bicycling trips. This report examines how the NTPP pilot communities provide examples to other communities interested in implementing and evaluating nonmotorized investments.* -- Terry Zdan 126 Duncan Norrie Drive Wpg MB R3P 2J9 CANADA tjzdan50(a)gmail.com <tjzdan(a)gmasil.com> ng. Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>

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