- AT-Network - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

BBC News: Climate change: vision for future UK transport
by Charles F 29 Mar '20

29 Mar '20

UK transport minister says it's time to reduce car - driving...How do we get Canada/ manitoba | Winnipeg leadership to adopt this direction sooner rather than later?Climate change: 'Gob-smacking' vision for future UK transport - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52064509* Disclaimer *The BBC is not responsible for the content of this email, and anything written in this email does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the email address nor name of the sender have been verified.Sent from my phone.

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CROW Design Manual - free webinars (Urban Cycling Institute)
by Beth McKechnie 28 Mar '20

28 Mar '20

The CROW 'Design Manual for Bicycle Traffic' is widely regarded by experts as the best bikeway engineering guide in the world. In the coming weeks, the Urban Cycling Institute will offer a series of free webinars, each focused on one chapter of the book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-17vjmIkwG8

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WFP: UMSU votes yes on U-Pass
by Beth McKechnie 28 Mar '20

28 Mar '20

*VOTES YES ON U-PASS * THE University of Manitoba Students’ Union says Winnipeg Transit’s U-Pass program will continue at the school. The UMSU board of directors has voted in favour to “save” the U-Pass program, at an increased rate of $200/full-time student per term, up from $136.25/term — a hike the City of Winnipeg said is needed to cover costs.

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Globe & Mail: Coronavirus is reshaping the way we get around cities (Mar25'20)
by Beth McKechnie 26 Mar '20

26 Mar '20

Coronavirus is reshaping the way we get around cities https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/mobility/article-coronavirus-is-resha… The rising need for social distancing has been changing how we get around cities – and whether we get around at all. Right now, schools and some businesses are closed and more people are working from home to try to slow the COVID-19 outbreak. That means less traffic and fewer people taking transit. “There’s a huge reduction in traffic and urban personal travel,” says Lawrence Frank, a professor of public health at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In some places, the need to keep space between us is leading to a push, at least temporarily, for more active ways to get around. *Bogota, for instance, added 76 kilometres of temporary bike lanes to its 550-km bike network.* *“They took some of their transit lanes and gave them to cyclists – this is a smart idea and their weather allows it,” says Ahmed El-Geneidy, a professor at McGill University’s School of Public Planning. “When you cycle, you’re distanced from other people.”* *If the crisis continues for a longer period of time, El-Geneidy says he expects Canadian cities, including Toronto and Montreal, to look into temporarily adding more bike lanes.* “If you’re not sick, you can take a walk around the block – you can take a bicycle ride as long as you’re staying away from people,” El-Geneidy says. “I’m not an expert in public health, but if we have congestion on cycling routes, then it’s useless.” LONG-TERM CHANGES? But what happens after all this is finally over and we don’t need to keep two metres away from each other? “It will change something – what it will change, I don’t know for sure,” El-Geneidy says. “It can be a good time now to try biking and walking, and maybe in some places, we could see a return to more corner stores that people can walk to because people don’t want to take their cars or transit.” Although, it’s also possible that the roads could be more crowded, at least temporarily, with individual vehicles than ever because some people will be spooked off public transit. “Transit is not bad – we cannot allow this to be used to say that we shouldn’t be taking collective forms of transportation,” UBC’s Frank says. “That’s ridiculous. This is a short, unprecedented situation and we had time to react in advance.” REDUCTION IN POLLUTION? In China and Italy <https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/covid-19-air-pollution-1.5501810>, one side-effect of people staying home because of COVID-19 is a drastic reduction in air pollution, Frank says. According to the most recent Global Burden of Disease study, an estimated 3.4 million people worldwide died prematurely because of outdoor air pollution in 2017. During the lockdown, Frank expects China and Italy to see a drop in deaths from chronic diseases that are caused or worsened by pollution. “This shows us that how we get around has a dramatic effect on pollution,” Frank says. “We’re monitoring COVID-19 and it’s terrifying, but at the same time, it might be that more lives were saved because of the reduction in vehicle use and air pollution.” When these temporary restrictions end, this could be used as an opportunity for governments to change how we get around cities. They could invest more in transit, electrification and active transportation, including cycling , e-scooters and e-bikes, Frank says. That would mean more urban density instead of increasing sprawl out to the suburbs, Frank says. People who get around by walking or cycling instead of solely in vehicles are, generally. healthier overall. “You want to design a transportation system and lay out your cities so that there’s less vulnerability should something like this happen again,” Frank says. “We’d have to think past a contagious epidemic and make cities more conducive to biking and walking. It could have an incredible impact on chronic disease.”

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TOMORROW: Webinar on Public Health & Transportation
by Beth McKechnie 23 Mar '20

23 Mar '20

******************************************************** Caution: This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. ******************************************************** Join us on tomorrow at 2pm ET to discuss ways urban planners can collaborate with transportation and public health professionals. WEBINAR Urban Planning, Transportation, and Public Health Collaborations March 24, 2020 from 2:00pm - 2:30pm ET <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *Join us TOMORROW at 2pm ET for the latest webinar in our series! If you haven't registered yet, be sure to save your spot as space is limited. After the immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic has occurred, there are ways transportation agencies could benefit from better collaboration with public health agencies in the future. *This webinar will describe several ways in which urban planners are working with data sources and colleagues in public health and healthcare. Case studies show how collaboration is being used to improve planners’ ability to make data-driven decisions, measure the outcomes of a program that expands transit access, and broaden their understanding of how well the built environment and transportation access are helping to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of residents. This webinar will inform planners, DOTs, and researchers of existing resources that can be used in new ways. *Speakers:* *Renee Autumn Ray,* *Strategy and Innovation Leader, Conduent Transportation* *Alice Grossman, Ph.D,* *Senior Policy Analyst, Eno Center for Transportation* March 2020 24 REGISTER <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *Connect with us and don't miss out on other great resources!* [image: Facebook] <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> Facebook <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> [image: Twitter] <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> Twitter <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> [image: VIEW UPCOMING WEBINARS] <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> VIEW UPCOMING WEBINARS <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *Copyright © 2020 Eno Center for Transportation, All rights reserved.* You are receiving this email because you opted in to our email list. *Our mailing address is:* Eno Center for Transportation 1629 K St. NW Ste 200 Washington, DC 20006

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WFP: The Unicycle Guy relishes being the most noticeable commuter on the road (Mar21'20)
by Beth McKechnie 21 Mar '20

21 Mar '20

******************************************************** Caution: This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. ******************************************************** The Unicycle Guy relishes being the most noticeable commuter on the road ‘A WEIRD KIND OF FAMOUS’ https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/a-weird-kind-of-famous-568977702.ht… EACH morning, to get to work, most of the city climbs into sedans or minivans, a fair number sit on the bus, some bike, others who live close enough to do so walk — every trip moves along with the flow of traffic, and every commuter somewhat disappears into the thrum of urban movement. Not Daniel Voth. For one thing, he’s deceptively gangly, standing six-foot-three, often towering over the people he meets. And then, there’s that thing he’s sitting on to get to work every winter morning: a 36-inch high unicycle, decked out in neon green decals, in case you weren’t already staring. He wants you to stare. He dares you to smile. He loves your attention. “I call myself Dan, but people can call me the Unicycle Guy,” he says. So we will. The Unicycle Guy lives in an apartment on Garry Street, with his cat Jam Jams and five unicycles, a collection he’s been accruing for nearly three years. Every morning, around 8 a.m., he descends, wheel in the air, passing tenants who know him if not by name, then by his mode of transport. He started riding a unicycle three years ago, when he saw a man riding one along the Assiniboine Park walking bridge. The Unicycle Guy, who was then strictly a Car Man, was intrigued. The next day, he called every bike shop in the city, and bought the cheapest ’cycle he could find. His mother, Debbie-Lee Olfert, is no unicyclist herself — she says she can barely ride a bike. But she was not surprised to find out her son was picking up such a peculiar talent. “He is the most quirky person you’re going to meet,” she says. “And as the mother of grown-ass men, you stop telling them what to do and hope they make choices that aren't illegal, immoral, or life-threatening,” she says. “I say have fun, be safe, be smart.” At the time a Charleswood resident, the Unicycle Guy was determined to learn. He wouldn’t stop practising that first day until he could reach the bottom of the driveway without bailing, and soon enough, he could. “The origin to my interest is that riding a unicycle has always seemed like an impossible task, and I always liked the idea of doing something often perceived as undoable,” he says before a commute one March morning. “I always describe this as the easiest thing to learn that looks the hardest to do.” The Unicycle Guy isn’t wrong: from a distance, and up close, it seems like every moment not spent falling is a miracle, but ultimately, the pursuit of one-wheeled balance is one grounded in patience and trust. When talking about the unicycle, the Unicycle Guy takes on a somewhat spiritual tone: if you will it, you can ride. Soon after he got down the driveway, he aimed higher, and further: he wanted to ride to work. So, last summer, he sold his rattly car, forwent his $100 per month parking expenses, and rode away. The commute was 20 minutes by car, and though Google Maps doesn’t have a unicycle option, it took about an hour from Point A to Point B, an office on Market Avenue. In the summer, the ride was smooth, if not slightly scary. The unicycle shared lanes with its two- and four-wheeled brethren harmoniously, aside from a few heckles from the seatbelted population. Some passersby rolled down their windows to sing circus music — da da dada dada da da dada. The Unicycle Guy was unperturbed. In fact, he was delighted. He started riding his unicycle in even more unconventional ways. To the arena, he lugged his hockey bag. While eating sushi with chopsticks, he pedaled around. Jam Jams has joined him for a ride here and there. “I’m trying to stick out like a sore thumb, because I think the image is funny,” he says. “The looks I’ve gotten — I get a kick out of it.” Later in the year, he moved to Garry Street, where his daily commute shortened to 15 minutes, but the amount of recognition he’s received expanded ten-fold. A woman waiting with her children for the school bus says her kids look forward to seeing him every day. A bus driver on Waterfront Drive waves to him daily. On Broadway, one woman says she’s begun to text friends whenever she sees him roll by. “My friends in the Exchange speak of a unicycle guy,” she says. “He’s sort of a weird kind of famous.” His route shifts, but on this day, he darts across Main, and at the Via Rail station, makes a sharp left turn. As cars sit and wait, jammed bumper to bumper to bumper, the Unicycle Guy floats above it, zooming past a stationary Kia Soul and an idling Volkswagen Golf at nearly 20 kilometres per hour. Soon, he arrives at work, storing his wheel at his desk. This summer, he plans to ride to Kenora on his unicycle to raise money for charities of his choosing; he’s starting to figure out which now. Upon hearing those plans, his mom was once again unsurprised. “It’s such an absurd thing, but if it’s what he wants to do, I am not going to talk him out of it,” she says, adding that she’s proud he’s cut down his carbon footprint. As for riding to work in the winter, “All the power to him,” she laughs. “I always tell people, if I die or get hurt on the way to Kenora, I accept it,” the Unicycle Guy says, taking a serious turn. “But if I’m not doing the things that I enjoy in life, then what am I doing?” “I could just stay at home all day every day and not go out into the world, but if something’s going to happen, something is going to happen doing what I love,” he says. “I don’t walk anywhere unless I have to.” ben.waldman(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Study (US): Most car owners wish they didn't have to drive
by Beth McKechnie 20 Mar '20

20 Mar '20

Most people who get behind the wheel every day don’t want to be there. More than half of drivers wish they had another option for getting around besides their cars, according to a new poll from Data for Progress <http://filesforprogress.org/memos/gnd-for-transit-polling.pdf> — a startling revelation that busts the stubborn myth that most Americans simply *prefer *driving to greener modes of transportation. In fact, the survey suggests that when we put cars at the center of our planning decisions, we’re not truly serving the will of the people. Read article: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/03/19/study-most-car-owners-wish-they-didn…

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EOI for bikeshare/e-bikeshare in Winnipeg
by Patman, David 19 Mar '20

19 Mar '20

City of Winnipeg has released an EOI looking for firms operating bikeshare and e-bikeshare systems. https://www.merx4.merx.com/mbgov/solicitations/open-bids/Bicycle-and-E-Bicy… David Patman, P.Eng. Manager - Transportation Public Works City of Winnipeg Sent from my iPhone

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BMJ: People who cycle to work have higher rick of injury but benefits offset this risk (Mar11'20)
by Beth McKechnie 18 Mar '20

18 Mar '20

Commuters who cycle to work are at higher risk of injury compared to those who walk to work, use a car or take public transport. The findings are released today in a study by the University of Glasgow and published in the *British Medical Journal (BMJ)*. Overall, commuting exclusively by bicycle was associated with a 45% higher risk of injury that required a visit to hospital, and cycling commuters were also at a 3.4 fold higher risk of injury where the cause was listed as a transport accident. The risk of injury was higher still in those that cycled longer distances to work. However, the researchers found that the risk of injury is counterbalanced by the lower risk of cancers, heart disease and deaths seen in cycling commuters. Senior author of the study, Dr Paul Welsh, from the University of Glasgow, said: “We know there is a perception that cycling in commuter traffic is dangerous, and that this perception may be putting people off actively commuting by bike to work. “Now, as a result of this research, we can to some extent quantify the risk associated with this form of commuting. If 1000 people incorporate cycling into their commute for 10 years we would expect 26 more injuries, but 15 fewer cancers, 4 fewer heart disease events, and three fewer deaths. So, the benefits offset the risks, and this should be encouraging, but more needs to done to make commuter cycling safe.” https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_714428_en.html

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A Surge in Biking to Avoid Crowded Trains in N.Y.C.
by Beth McKechnie 16 Mar '20

16 Mar '20

A growing wave of New Yorkers are embracing cycling to get to work and around the city as their regular subway and bus commutes have suddenly become fraught with potential perils, from possibly virus-tainted surfaces to strangers sneezing and coughing on fellow passengers. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/nyregion/coronavirus-nyc-bike-commute.ht…

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AT Webinar: Implementing Bicycle Infrastructure Quickly in Edmonton & Bellingham (March 18th, 2-3pm)
by Beth McKechnie 16 Mar '20

16 Mar '20

Please join Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg for a group viewing of the monthly APBP webinar in the EcoCentre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/uncategorized/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-o…> boardroom. This will be followed by discussion for those who wish to stay. Will be interesting to hear what Edmonton is doing! * * * * * Implementing Bicycle Infrastructure Quickly in Edmonton & Bellingham *Wed, March 18th | 2:00-3:00 PM* Presenters: - Chris Comeau, Public Works Engineering, Bellingham, WA - Daniel Harman Vriend, City of Edmonton - Olga Messinis, City of Edmonton -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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MP Andy Fillmore to lead National AT strategy development
by Beth McKechnie 11 Mar '20

11 Mar '20

Minister of Infrastructure and Communities has tasked Andy Fillmore (MP, Halifax) with leading the development of a national active transportation strategy. https://twitter.com/AndyFillmoreHFX/status/1237726425840594944

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Get Moving on Climate | Friday, March 13th
by Beth McKechnie 11 Mar '20

11 Mar '20

This Friday! Register here <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-moving-on-climate-a-transportation-event-t…> [image: CAT-Get_Moving_On_Climate-Event-Poster-FIN-683x1024.jpg]

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New Bicycle Registry Established by Portage la Prairie RCMP
by Ian Wassink 10 Mar '20

10 Mar '20

First announced December 15, 2019. The Portage la Prairie RCMP is rolling out a new initiative to help return stolen bikes to their owners. Cst. James Cameron is heading up the program. "I'm a new member to the RCMP, arriving in Portage la Prairie in June of this year," says Cst. Cameron. "During my time here, I saw an opportunity in the community to assist in recovering stolen and lost bicycles. RCMP have responded to over 50 calls of theft of bicycles this year alone." He says you can get your registration card at the detachment and it doesn't take much of your time. The information on the card is entered into a database and they will contact you if your lost bike is found. "The service is free and could assist in getting you your bicycles returned to you," says Cst. Cameron. "I hope that you take part in it, and we encourage that all members of the community that own bicycles to participate." https://www.portageonline.com/local/sign-up-for-the-rcmp-s-bicycle-registry… More info: The RCMP in Portage recently established a bicycle registry. This is voluntary and will assist in recovering stolen, missing, abandoned bicycles to owners. Serial numbers are crucial. RCMP will work with Portage Fire Department to enhance returning bikes to owners. Process to Register a Bike: Person submits Portage la Prairie RCMP Bicycle Registry business card with bike info to RCMP station. Additional info can be added on the back of the card, ex: owner name and address, unique features of bike. RCMP local detachment maintains a database (Excel spreadsheet) with above information. RCMP is open to enhancing this initiative as it rolls out to the public. Bicycle Registry cards are available at Two Tired Boys, The Greasy Chain, and RCMP detachment. It is not mandatory that a bicycle be entered into this registry at point of sale, however, The Greasy Chain will endeavor to do this as much as possible on sold and repaired bicycles. Process to be established for The Greasy Chain.

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WFP: Self-driving cars focus of bill (Mar5'20)
by Beth McKechnie 05 Mar '20

05 Mar '20

Self-driving cars focus of bill THE provincial government has introduced legislation to set the ground rules for the testing of self-driving vehicles in Manitoba. Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said the proposed Vehicle Technology Testing Act (Bill 23) would create a framework to enable examination of automated vehicles. “It is something that industry has asked for, that they be allowed to test on our roads,” he said of vehicle manufacturers. “They would like to have some kind of structure put in place.” Schuler said the province has considered the move for more than two years. He said following passage of the bill, the government would develop regulations and a permitting system in consultation with stakeholders. “By enabling developers to safely test emerging vehicle technologies on provincial roadways, we are supporting Manitoba’s large agricultural, trucking, heavy-vehicle manufacturing and technology development sectors,” Schuler said. Companies would have to obtain special insurance coverage, he said. “We are not going to ask Manitoba ratepayers at MPI to cover off, should something happen.” — Larry Kusch

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Montreal pulls the plug on e-scooters
by Beth McKechnie 04 Mar '20

04 Mar '20

The Montreal Gazette reported Bird and Lime e-scooters were popular, but compliance with helmet and parking rules was poor. E-Scooters may have had their problems, but they have a huge potential because the average trip on the scooters was just 1.5 kilometers (1 mi), and in 2019, 25% of the trips were linked to public transit. More than 50,000 riders took more than 200,000 trips in 3 months. The city's executive committee recently outlawed self-service rental vehicles following a pilot last summer that saw the vehicles deployed in various locations across the city. While the system called for the scooters to be returned to designated areas after their use, in many cases users simply left them on streets and sidewalks when they were done. Police also issued more than 300 tickets to users who ignored the city regulation requiring they wear a helmet while riding the scooters. https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-pulls-the-plug-on-e-sc…

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Upcoming Webinars: Health-in-all Policies Approach for Municipalities | Public Health Collaborations with Municipalities
by Beth McKechnie 04 Mar '20

04 Mar '20

Hi everyone, Here are a couple of free webinars that might be of interest to watch from the comfort of your desk: Health in All Policies: The importance and impact of a health-in-all-policies approach for municipalities <https://cc.readytalk.com/registration/#/?meeting=hd41ls8eu2ch&campaign=hitk…> (Friday, March 13th) *Public Health Sector - Collaborating with Municipalities <http://www.ncchpp.ca/182/presentations.ccnpps?id_article=2033>* (Tues, March 31st) cheers, Beth -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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WFP: City to boost street construction standards (Mar4'20)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Mar '20

04 Mar '20

*City lays down plan for tougher roads * * New construction rules geared to more durability* https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-to-boast-street-construction-s… WINNIPEG is adding new road construction rules with an eye to making its streets last longer. The changes should allow concrete construction to last 25 per cent longer and add 15 per cent to the lifespan of asphalt, said Brad Neirinck, City of Winnipeg engineering manager, noting local construction standards have lagged behind those of other Canadian cities. “We’re behind the times. We’re trying to move our specifications up to match what other jurisdictions are doing and improve our life cycle,” he said Tuesday. The new standards would ensure a higher quality of limestone, gravel and concrete are used to build certain roads, which would be stiffer and offer better drainage, helping them hold up better, said Ahmed Shalaby, a civil engineer who works with the city. “The improvement in performance is actually quite significant. Some of these materials can be twice as good as what we were using previously,” Shalaby told reporters. “It will drain faster, it will be stronger, it will have fewer cracks.” During Tuesday’s public works committee meeting, Shalaby warned councillors Winnipeg’s previous road standards were “in a way, obsolete.” The higher standards should also prevent some streets from requiring repairs every five or 10 years, he said. Developers at the meeting raised a series of concerns, including the spectre of increased costs and sending more rejected road materials to the landfill. Other issues about the new material rules could make it difficult for contractors to budget for work, said Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association. “We don’t know the extent to which it’s going to be subject to rejection… That creates risk, uncertainty and a potential spike in prices,” he said. However, city council’s public works chairman expects the changes will finally address citizen complaints that local roads haven’t been built to last. “We needed to get with the times and join other jurisdictions in building roads that are going to be built better and last longer,” said Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface). Despite industry concerns, it’s not clear if the change would actually increase construction project costs, Allard said. Even though the city would require that higher-quality materials be used, projects may also use smaller amounts of them, he said. “We need to go into the field and apply it to know exactly how much it’s going to cost,” Allard said. After hearing multiple presentations from concerned members of the construction industry, city staff said two key compromises should help address any potential issues: the higher standard for construction work will be implemented this year on contracts and subjected to ongoing review by a working group with industry members, and developers of some private-sector projects will be exempt from the new rules until 2021. In October, the city’s public service is expected to provide an update on how the new standard works out. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Webinar on cycling in suburban communities
by Orly Linovski 02 Mar '20

02 Mar '20

FYI Webinar: Incubating Cycling in Suburban Canadian Communities Wednesday, March 4th | 1:00 – 2:00 PM EST Learn how to incubate cycling through a community bike hub approach and tap into the cycling potential that exists for short bike trips in suburban environments, where cycling rates remain stubbornly low. TCAT’s approach can be used as a framework to increasing cycling in suburban communities across Canada. Safe infrastructure is a key enabler to more cycling, but it can be difficult to champion in places where a cycling culture doesn’t yet exist. A community bike hub can help to jump-start the process. Discover how unlikely partnerships and a targeted approach can grow cycling, and dig into the potential that exists within your own community. Link to register: incubatingsuburbancycling.eventbrite.ca<https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/webinar-incubating-cycling-in-suburban-canadian…> https://www.tcat.ca/webinar-incubating-cycling-in-suburban-canadian-communi… -------------------------------- Orly Linovski, Ph.D. (RPP, MCIP) Assistant Professor, Department of City Planning University of Manitoba 204-474-6424 / orly.linovski(a)umanitoba.ca<mailto:orly.linovski@umanitoba.ca> http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~linovsko/

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HAPPY CITIES – The Shape of Neighbourhoods and Well-being With Hazel Borys
by Beth McKechnie 28 Feb '20

28 Feb '20

*From:* Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba [mailto:lgnews@leg.gov.mb.ca] *Sent:* Tuesday, February 25, 2020 10:48 AM *Subject:* HAPPY CITIES – The Shape of Neighbourhoods and Well-being With Hazel Borys [image: Office of the Lieutenant Governor] *News Release* February 25, 2020 *HAPPY CITIES The Shape of Neighbourhoods and Well-being With Hazel Borys* *- - -* *Next Presentation in the Lieutenant-Governor’s Conversations & Celebrations Series of Free Public Events Celebrating Manitoba’s Ceremonial Home* Lt.-Gov. Janice C. Filmon invites Manitobans to join her in engaging in Conversations and Celebrations – a monthly gathering of fascinating and entertaining people from across this great province. Lt.-Gov. Filmon developed this initiative to honour the 135th birthday of Government House during 2018. Based on the overwhelming success of these monthly free public events, the program continues throughout 2020. *The next event will be Tuesday, March 10 at Government House. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.* March’s guest speaker is Hazel Borys, president and CEO of PlaceMakers. With city planning firms operating in Canada and the United States, Borys and her team are passionate about advancing the resilience conversation, and the belief that diverse, character-rich neighbourhoods can actually make us happier. She guides governments around the world through policy and land use law reforms – allowing walkable, mixed-use, compact places to develop by right – and helps developers design and enable liveable, loveable places. In her presentation, Borys will share some of the benefits that cities and provinces can enjoy in supporting these sorts of urban forms, and what Manitobans can do to strengthen our connection to each other and this place we call home. Members of the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra will provide entertainment at the close of the program. In her role as lieutenant-governor, as well as in her private life, Lt.-Gov. Filmon embraces the role of community connector. Her vision for Conversations and Celebrations is to continue to find meaningful ways to bring Manitobans together to learn, and celebrate unique talents, abilities and perspectives by embracing the rich diversity of this province and its people. “I am thrilled with how Manitobans have embraced this initiative and we have lots of great presentations planned throughout Manitoba’s 150th anniversary year,” said Lt.-Gov. Filmon. “People are leaving Government House at the end of the evening with their hearts and minds full, eyes wide open to the great things happening in our province and beyond, and inspired to make a difference.” Events will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. most often on the second Tuesday of each month. *Those wishing to attend must register in advance with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor by calling 204-945-2753. * Registration is now open. There is no cost to attend. - 30 - Media Inquiries Only: Kate Gameiro, 204-945-2752 *Please be advised that this email account is not monitored for inquiries or followup questions. Ce compte de courriel n’est pas surveillé et vous ne recevrez pas de réponse à vos demandes d’information ou questions.*

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Motor vehicle use is unhealthy
by Charles F 17 Feb '20

17 Feb '20

Clever study demonstrates that car ownership reduces physical activity and affects health, especially for older people. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/article-does-owning… When will the car Industry face Censure like the tobacco industry?Sent from my phone.

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AT Webinar: Street Typologies - An organizing framework for more walkable, bikeable streets (Feb 19th, 2pm, EcoCentre)
by Beth McKechnie 13 Feb '20

13 Feb '20

Please join Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg for a group viewing of the monthly APBP webinar in the EcoCentre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/uncategorized/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-o…> boardroom. This will be followed by discussion for those who wish to stay. * * * * * Street Typologies: An organizing framework for more walkable, bikeable streets *Wed, Feb 19th, 2:00 PM * Many cities transportation goals have shifted in recent years – becoming more multimodal, safety-focused, and equitable. While cities transportation goals have changed, many still rely on the Federal Functional Classification System, which prioritizes vehicle mobility and access, as the main framework for organizing, designing, and managing their streets. Recognizing this dissonance, cities are developing new street typology systems that better align their approach to streets with overall transportation goals. This presentation will share strategies used in Des Moines, IA and Phoenix, AZ to develop new street typologies that align with existing and future land use and create more walkable, bikeable streets. Presenters - Alex Hanson, Sam Schwartz Consulting - Brian Fellows, City of Phoenix - Jeff Wiggins, City of Des Moines

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WFP: Transit expansion outside city explored (Feb8'20)
by Beth McKechnie 08 Feb '20

08 Feb '20

*Study to probe bus service to bedroom communities* * Transit expansion outside city explored * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-to-study-linking-bedroom-commu… Winnipeg will study the idea of creating new links to bus service for those commuting into the city, possibly through large park-and-ride locations. City hall is working on a new transportation master plan and will review regional transportation as one piece of that effort. It will explore the ways many neighbouring communities — including Stonewall, Selkirk, St. Andrews, Springfield, Headingley and Rosser — might benefit from better links to Winnipeg Transit. "The question is, when they arrive at the city boundary, is there a way to shift their mode, get them out of their cars and perhaps on to our transit system?" said Alex Regiec, city master plan project manager. In addition to possible park-and-ride sites at the city’s boundaries, a consultant will be tasked to explore options to create an inter-governmental regional transportation body, add public transit links between the city and region, and provide advice on active transportation. The consultant must also figure out how much that would cost. Regiec said creating more regional access to Winnipeg Transit could help the city in a few key ways. "The benefits of a park-and-ride program… would be to reduce the amount of single-occupant automobiles on the road, which reduces the wear and tear on our infrastructure. It also gives people an opportunity to find a more economical way to travel within the City of Winnipeg, and it’s also a benefit to our transit system (by) encouraging ridership," he said. The broader transportation master plan is expected in June 2021, which will also weigh in on how infrastructure can be added to support cars, buses and bikes over the next 30 years, as well as the best options to move goods. Regiec said a series of consultant contracts to support the master plan will have a combined cost of about $1 million. He said those contracts should be awarded by early March. While the review is slated to explore extensions of public transit past the Perimeter Highway, the project manager for Winnipeg Transit’s master plan said Transit has not received any formal proposal to do that. "We don’t have the authority to operate transit outside city limits unless we were to operate as a contractor to another municipality," said Kevin Sturgeon. Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson said he expects new transportation options between Winnipeg and his community would be well-used: "I think if a bus service was predictable, it was efficient, if it was cost-efficient… I truly believe that it could be successful." Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) welcomed the effort to explore regional transportation planning. "When I’m on Pembina Highway and I see a continuous stream of vehicles coming in (each with) one person, one person, one person — (I think) for sure there is a way that we can change this... (We) need to start moving in that direction," she said. The councillor said she believes partnerships and funding from senior governments would be required to successfully implement a regional transportation plan. "This is not something the city can do on its own," Lukes said. Coun. Scott Gillingham, finance committee chairman, said the review’s cost estimates will be a key factor to determine what regional transportation infrastructure the city could actually afford to implement. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Walking, cycling and public transport remain greener mobility options than e-scooters or ridehailing
by Beth McKechnie 06 Feb '20

06 Feb '20

A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) finds that, taken together with public transport, walking and cycling for short city journeys provide the greatest benefits for both human health and the environment in urban areas. The introduction and rapid uptake of app-based vehicle sharing schemes can also have benefits. However, the report points to studies which show that their impact on the environment is not always positive. E-scooter sharing schemes especially appear to attract users that would have otherwise walked or used public transport. While the use of shared e-scooters generates few direct environmental impacts, their green credentials can be questioned by the substantial negative impacts associated to their materials, their manufacturing and their frequent collection for recharging purposes. Similarly, studies show that ride-hailing apps such as Uber or Lyft do little to reduce emissions or congestion and actually draw people away from public transport. The transport and environment report ‘The first and last mile — the key to sustainable urban transport <https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/the-first-and-last-mile/>’ assesses how green and sustainable ‘first and last mile’ transport options such as bicycles, scooters or other means of short-distance travel can transform mobility systems in cities. The report also assesses how innovative urban freight and inner city delivery services, including the use of delivery drones, can make urban freight transport more sustainable. Full article: https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/02/20200204-eea.html

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WFP: One less bump on path to traffic-calming measures (Feb5'20)
by Beth McKechnie 05 Feb '20

05 Feb '20

*One less bump on path to traffic-calming measures * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-committee-hopes-reducing-obsta… IT could soon be a little easier to get a speed bump or other traffic-calming measures installed in your neighbourhood. City council’s public works committee approved a new process on Tuesday, after being informed the current method has a low success rate. The proposed policy still requires full council approval. Under the current system, a Winnipegger must persuade at least 70 per cent of homeowners affected by the desired speed bump to sign a petition in support of the change. The new system would reduce that threshold to 25 per cent. While any proposal would still have to satisfy strict engineering requirements to get the green light, city transportation manager David Patman expects the new process will make requests more successful. “We know traffic calming is one of those issues that’s growing in importance. More and more people want to look at traffic calming in their neighbourhoods,” Patman said. “We still want to see that there’s some buy-in, some local support for a project before it goes forward but (the 25 per cent requirement is) a lot less onerous than requiring 70 per cent.” The new process would allow requests to be made by a citizen, 311 inquiry, city councillor or staff. The public service would then screen the proposed site’s speed limits, traffic volume and other factors to ensure they are conducive to the change. Projects that pass that hurdle would be prioritized based on a site’s collision history, traffic volumes and safety concerns. The top priorities would then proceed to a design and public engagement process to determine which type of traffic-calming tool could work best. Finally, a speed bump or other recommended traffic-calming measure could either be tested as a pilot project or permanently implemented. That new process is expected to consider a greater variety of options to slow down traffic, since only speed bumps were considered in the past. Patman said final traffic-calming solutions could now also include speed tables, curb extensions, traffic circles, road-narrowing and other road treatments. “Our new process opens up a big menu of different options for traffic calming,” he said. Patman said each individual project would still require council approval. Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface), who chairs the public works committee, said he hopes council will support the changes. Allard noted dozens of Winnipeggers did secure 70 per cent of their neighbours’ signatures to push for a speed bump under the current system only to learn the proposed site didn’t meet city requirements. For example, the city would only add speed bumps on residential streets that don’t also serve as a transit route, a snow route or a residential collector street. A minimum number of vehicles also needed to be seen exceeding the speed limit to qualify the site for a speed bump. As a result, few traffic-calming requests were granted between 2015 and 2018. During that period, 32 of 156 requests for local streets met the 70 per cent petition threshold but none were implemented because the areas weren’t deemed suitable. For back lanes, 14 requests were filed but only two were granted. Allard said he expects simplifying the process could pave the way for more requests. “I think this is going to result in more demand for traffic calming in neighbourhoods,” he said. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Safe Speeds Open House (Feb 6th)
by Beth McKechnie 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

Safe Speeds Open House Thursday February 6 5pm - 7pm Yellow Dog, 386 Donald St 30km/h is the only safe speed limit when people are biking, walking, and driving on the same roads. Drop by to talk with local experts, and community leaders from Safe Speeds WPG. Ask questions, share ideas, and learn how this can work for Winnipeg. Drop in - have a beverage - have a chat Letters to City Council will be available to sign, if you want to demonstrate support. We will hand deliver them for you! https://www.facebook.com/events/2205577959750156/ ----- Thanks! *Denae Penner *(she/her/hers) Active and Safe Routes to School, Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 204-925-3777 ext. 114 | 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB *Green Action Centre is your green living hub* Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/>. Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/GreenActionCentre/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/greenactionctr> | Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/greenactioncentre/> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/green-action-centre/>

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WFP: Residents have say on Wolseley-downtown plan (Jan30'20)
by Beth McKechnie 30 Jan '20

30 Jan '20

Residents have say on Wolseley-downtown plan https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/residents-have-say-on-wolseley-down… A SWARM of Wolseleyites, West Enders, and other Winnipeggers descended on a Wednesday night open house to give feedback on the latest iteration of the Wolseley to Downtown Walk Bike Project — an ambitious plan that promises to transform areatransportation. The event packed the lecture hall at Westminster United Church, with a line of attendees snaking out the door and down the street. Chris Baker, an active transportation co-ordinator with the City of Winnipeg public works department, said the plans, maps, graphics and information on display to the public represented the recommended design for the project, following two previous rounds of public engagement. “But that being said, we’re here to collect meaningful feedback from the public and have meaningful conversations,” Baker said. “So once we collate all this, the online survey and tonight’s feedback, there’s still an opportunity to change the design, make some refinements. If we missed something, or missed the mark, we’ll be able to refine the design and make it the best it can be, and the most palatable for the most people.” Canora Street resident Chris Brown showed up with three pages of detailed notes outlining his concerns about how the plan intends to deal with rush-hour motorists who cut through Wolseley by converting sections of Westminster and Wolseley avenues into westbound, one-way streets. “What everyone I’ve heard say is: leave Westminster alone,” Brown said, explaining the plan will inadvertently shunt shortcutters onto his residential street. James Plett, who lives in West Broadway, was also concerned about the impact of proposed one-way streets in his neighbourhood. “My work location is never in the same location, so sometimes I need to go east and head down to Osborne (Street). And if the one-way is put in, that means I would have to go west onto Broadway, which is already a backed-up street. And this will definitelycause more people to start using Broadway.” Luanne Karn said she took part in previous phases of the consultations, in a successful effort to prevent a Transit bus from being run on Home Street. “It was both a good public engagement process, but also very negative in that it just came out of the blue at us,” she said. “I’m also concerned that they haven’t addressed the issue of cut-through traffic very well.” Marianne Cerelli, chairwoman of the Wolseley Residents Association, said she had some misgivings about the way public consultations had been done. Her group is holding a community meeting to discuss the plan, Feb. 10 at the Westminster Housing Co-op. “But all of that said, I think most people support active transportation,” said Cerelli. “They support having a bike corridor, they want people to be safe on their bicycles, they want people to be safer walking, they want to reduce the speed and the cut-throughs through the neighbourhood. “But the high-interventionist nature of the proposal has caught people off-guard, so I think they need to bring people along a little bit better, through a better engagement process.” Baker stressed the plan is still open to adjustment. An online survey on the project remains open until Feb. 9. solomon.israel(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sol_israel

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FYI security risks for e-scooters and riders
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 28 Jan '20

28 Jan '20

UTSA researchers review security risks for e-scooters and riders<https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/01/20200128-usta.html> 28 January 2020<https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/01/20200128-usta.html> Researchers at the University of Texas San Antonio have published<https://www.utsa.edu/today/2020/01/story/escooter-hacking.html> a review of the security and privacy risks posed by e-scooters and their related software services and applications. We were already investigating the risks posed by these micromobility vehicles to pedestrians' safety. During that study, we also realized that besides significant safety concerns, this new transportation paradigm brings forth new cybersecurity and privacy risks as well. -Murtuza Jadliwala, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, who led this study According to the review, which will appear in the proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Automotive and Aerial Vehicle Security (AutoSec 2020<http://www.codaspy.org/2020/AutoSec2020/index.html>), hackers can cause a series of attacks, including eavesdropping on users and even spoof GPS systems to direct riders to unintended locations. Vendors of e-scooters can suffer denial-of-service attacks and data leaks. <https://bioage.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4fbe53ef0240a4e0cc6e200d-popup> HAPPY TRAILS Terry Zdan, BA MEDes

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WFP: Crosswalk collision leaves man in hospital (Jan23'20)
by Beth McKechnie 23 Jan '20

23 Jan '20

*Crosswalk collision leaves man in hospital * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/crosswalk-collisions-continue-after… FOR the second time in as many months, a pedestrian was hit by a car near a crosswalk on Ness Avenue Wednesday. The crosswalk collisions follow a year that saw the highest number of pedestrian deaths ever in the province. And the city is already looking to see if improvements need to be made at one of the crossings, according to a city councillor. Brian Smiley, a spokesman for Manitoba Public Insurance, confirmed on Wednesday that 17 Manitoba pedestrians — nine in Winnipeg, three in other urban centres and five in rural areas — died after being hit by vehicles in 2019. Until last year, the most pedestrian deaths in a single year in this province was 16 in 2007, Smiley said. “Both pedestrians and motorists are entitled to use the roadways. It’s hoped both groups are safety aware and act accordingly. One death is too many,” he said. According to MPI statistics, on average about 12 pedestrians are killed by vehicles in the province. About half of them are killed at an intersection, while one in 10 deaths occur while they are walking on the road or crossing between intersections. On Wednesday, a man was hit by a car in the Sturgeon Heights area at about 6:30 a.m. The man was rushed from the site in front of Sturgeon Heights Collegiate in critical condition, but later was upgraded to stable, police said. The stretch of Ness Avenue was closed following the accident, but reopened later in the morning. Last month, two teenaged pedestrians were struck by a car as they walked across the street at the crosswalk at Ness Avenue at Woodlawn Street. The teens were taken to hospital in unstable condition, but later upgraded to stable. Area Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) said on Wednesday he will look further into how the latest collision occurred. The city is already exploring whether the crossing where the teens were injured needs to be upgraded with eye-level, flashing LED lights, Gillingham said. That type of system was installed at the crosswalk on St. Anne’s Road in the wake of a 2018 collision where an eight-year-old child was struck and killed while crossing the busy street at Varennes Avenue. “They’ve been installed at a handful of locations,” he said. “The department is looking to see if that is an appropriate place to put them. Now I will be looking into this one to try to understand the events surrounding this collision. “Unfortunately, it is another reminder that motorists really need to be aware while they are driving and that they are driving to conditions, and for pedestrians to always be aware of the vehicles around them.” kevin.rollason(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Webinar: Understanding How Women Travel
by Beth McKechnie 21 Jan '20

21 Jan '20

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Zdan, Terry (MI)" <Terry.Zdan(a)gov.mb.ca> Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2020 14:06:51 +0000 FYI traveling on the intercity trains in Japan – there are “women only “ designated cars. WEBINAR Understanding How Women Travel January 28, 2020 from 3:00pm - 3:30pm ET <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> What are the needs and experiences of women traversing LA County? LA County Metro recently released a report, “Understanding How Women Travel,” in a first-of-its-kind effort to answer this question. Developing from Metro’s Women and Girls Governing Council, this study aimed to collect data and offer findings that can help improve women’s safety and comfort on transit and attract and retain women to the Metro system. To ensure a comprehensive approach that captured the diverse needs and experiences of women in LA County, the project team deployed an innovative, mixed-methods approach to capture quantitative data as well as qualitative data from hard-to-reach rider populations including women experiencing homelessness, women immigrants, and women with disabilities. In this webinar, panelists will discuss the origin of the project, the methods used, and the key findings from the study. *Speakers:* * Chelsea Richer, **Associate, Fehr & Peers* *Claudia Galicia, **Senior Manager, Transportation Planning at LA Metro* *Meghna Khanna, **Senior Director, Countywide Planning & Development at LA Metro* *Alice Grossman, **Policy Analyst, Eno Center for Transportation* *January 2020* *28* *REGISTER* <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *Connect with us and don't miss out on other great resources!* [image: Facebook] <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *Facebook* <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> [image: Twitter] <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *Twitter* <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> [image: VIEW UPCOMING WEBINARS] <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *VIEW UPCOMING WEBINARS* <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> *Copyright © 2020 Eno Center for Transportation, All rights reserved.* You are receiving this email because you opted in to our email list. *Our mailing address is:* Eno Center for Transportation 1629 K St. NW Ste 200 Washington, DC 20006 Add us to your address book <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/vcard?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff96&id=d…> Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff96&id…> or unsubscribe from this list <https://enotrans.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=d2579cc7754f7b743881bff9…> .

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WFP: Speed limit reduced on Marion, Goulet (Jan20'20)
by Beth McKechnie 20 Jan '20

20 Jan '20

Pedestrian safety, business development cited as reasons for change Speed limit reduced on Marion, Goulet https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/permanent-speed-reductions-for-sect… TRAFFIC on two major streets in St. Boniface will have to slow down starting today and the councillor for the area calls that a sign of progress. “Marion and Goulet are not freeways through the heart of St. Boniface,” said Coun. Matt Allard in a statement. The speed limit on Marion and Goulet between St. Mary’s Road and Youville Street has been reduced to 50 km/h, from 60 km/h. Allard said the speed reduction is needed to make the area safer for pedestrians and promote development. “It has long been a goal of the St. Boniface community... to grow Marion and Goulet into the neighbourhood main streets they can be, and indeed once were,” Allard said. “The (60 km/h) speed limit is a barrier to the realization of that goal.” The streets, which have a mix of businesses and restaurants, are near St. Boniface Hospital and other community resources. Allard and the local business improvement zone have wanted to reduce the speed limit for years. In 2017, Allard launched his bid to change the speed limit, and St. Boniface neighbourhood associations passed resolutions in its favour. The motion failed. At the time, the provincial Highway Traffic Board had jurisdiction over municipal speed limits, and it ruled against the reduction. After lobbying by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the province passed the Traffic and Transportation Modernization Act, which eliminated the Highway Traffic Board and gave municipalities control over speed limits. The act came into effect in March 2019. Marion and Goulet are the first major Winnipeg streets to have their speed limits reduced under the new protocol. ben.waldman(a)freepress.mb.ca

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NTSB calls for action to curb spike in bicycle fatalities
by Wendy Chapman 17 Jan '20

17 Jan '20

Hi Beth, Please share with the network. Wendy Chapman Injury Prevention Coordinator Injury Prevention Program Winnipeg Regional Health Authority 2nd - 490 Hargrave Street Winnipeg, Manitoba R3A 0X7 Phone: (204) 391-0949 Scent Free Facility - visitors are asked to refrain from wearing perfumes/colognes/heavy-scented lotions/oils This email and/or any documents in this transmission is intended for the addressee(s) only and may contain legally privileged or confidential information. Any unauthorized use, disclosure, distribution, copying or dissemination is strictly prohibited. If you receive this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately and return the original. Ce courriel et tout document dans cette transmission est destiné à la personne ou aux personnes à qui il est adressé. Il peut contenir des informations privilégiées ou confidentielles. Toute utilisation, divulgation, distribution, copie, ou diffusion non autorisée est strictement défendue. Si vous n'êtes pas le destinataire de ce message, veuillez en informer l'expéditeur immédiatement et lui remettre l'original.

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New research: Data Mining to Improve Planning for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
by Beth McKechnie 14 Jan '20

14 Jan '20

*Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share...* *Data Mining to Improve Planning for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety* https://www.vtti.vt.edu/utc/safe-d/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/01-003_Final-… *Abstract* Between 2009 and 2016, the number of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities saw a marked trend upward. Taken together, the overall percentage of pedestrian and bicycle crashes now accounts for 18% of total roadway fatalities, up from 13% only a decade ago. Technological advancements in transportation have created unique opportunities to explore and investigate new sources of data for the purpose of improving safety planning. This study investigated data from multiple sources, including automated pedestrian and bicycle counters, video cameras, crash databases, and GPS/mobile applications, to inform bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements. Data mining techniques, a new sampling strategy, and automated video processing methods were adopted to demonstrate a holistic approach that can be applied to identify facilities with highest need of improvement. To estimate pedestrian and bicyclist counts at intersections, exposure models were developed incorporating explanatory variables from a broad spectrum of data sources. Intersection-related crashes and estimated exposure were used to quantify risk, enabling identification of high-risk signalized intersections for walking and bicycling. The modeling framework and data sources used in this study will be beneficial in conducting future analyses for other facility types, such as roadway segments, and also at more aggregate levels, such as traffic analysis zones. *Conclusions and Recommendations* While statistics show an increasing trend in using eco-friendly modes of travel, such as walking and bicycling, historical crash data shows a growing trend in road crash victims involving pedestrians and bicyclists. Utilizing multiple data sources, such as automated pedestrian and bicycle counters and video cameras, this study estimated pedestrian and bicyclist exposure and identified signalized intersections with the highest risk for walking and bicycling within the city of San Diego, California. A sampling strategy was used to identify a representative sample of intersections to collect short-term video data by applying cluster analysis and stratified sampling. A vision-based monitoring system was developed to automatically detect, track, and count pedestrians and bicyclists at the selected intersections. Situations where high-quality videos were used, a sufficient number of pedestrians and bicyclists were annotated, pedestrians and bicyclists were not too far from the camera, did not cross the intersection in groups, and good lighting was present, led to a high counting accuracy of 95%. Utilizing permanent counters, an extrapolation and a novel matching method were employed to estimate yearly counts that were used for estimating exposure by direct demand models. Exposure analysis identified transportation network, population, traffic generator, and land use variables as statistically significant in estimating pedestrian and bicyclist volume. Accounting for exposure as a normalization factor and considering other factors, such as frequency of victims and crash severity, in quantifying risk had a significant impact on the selection of high-risk intersections; not all intersections with the highest number of pedestrian and bicyclist victims were identified as high-risk. In addition, the variables were found to be influential at multiple buffer areas and showed differences across pedestrian and bicycle activity. The results underscored the importance of location and community in characterizing non-motorized demand, and targeted improvements to encourage non-motorized activities. The modeling framework and data sources used in this study will be beneficial in conducting future analyses for other facility types, such as roadway segments, and also at more aggregate levels, such as traffic analysis zones. The approach is also beneficial to public agencies, as it can help quantify the risk of walking and bicycling at intersections, which in turn can aid in the development of procedures to identify high-risk facilities and prioritize them for countermeasure implementation. It should be pointed out that safety performance functions were not considered in this study, and thus potential future work might focus on how a combination of risk quantification and performance functions can assess safety. Since crashes are rare events, the identification of high-risk facilities will be lengthy, and a potential future direction is to proactively assess safety by discovering near-crash situations in video analysis. This would enable researchers and practitioners to quantify risk and evaluate safety in a much shorter period of time. -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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FREE webinar: Jeff Speck and Jarrett Walker Explore Lessons Learned from Walkable City and Human Transit
by Beth McKechnie 14 Jan '20

14 Jan '20

*Please note we are circulating this as information in case you want to view this free APBP webinar on your own. We are not able to host a group viewing at the EcoCentre. Sounds interesting!* January 17 at Noon-1:30pm Free Island Press Webinar: New Discoveries and New Work: Jeff Speck and Jarrett Walker Explore Lessons Learned from Walkable City and Human Transit Register here <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001H6HvCU7VhjCB7du_g-BVhmC-pEj1Sn96i6vLpzvHQEwc…> Walkable City and Human Transit, both published in 2012, are two of the most important planning books of the past decade. A lot has happened since 2012, however, and authors Jeff Speck and Jarrett Walker have had ample opportunities since then to put their ideas to work, evaluate the outcomes and refine their positions. Join the Smart Growth Network and the Maryland Department of Planning at noon on Friday, January 17th, as they share their recent insights, projects on the boards, and take part in what promises to be a lively conversation with each other and webinar participants. Have your questions ready! -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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Webinar: Active Transportation Planning Through Health in All Policies (Wed, Jan 15th, 2pm)
by Beth McKechnie 10 Jan '20

10 Jan '20

Please join Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg for a group viewing of the monthly APBP webinar in the EcoCentre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/uncategorized/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-o…> boardroom. This will be followed by discussion for those who wish to stay. * * * * * Wed, Jan 15th, 2-3pm Active Transportation Planning Through Health in All Policies Public health and planning professionals working together to advance active transportation goals is not a new idea, but has become increasingly more popular as both professions have seen the value in partnership. This webinar will focus on a Health in All Policies approach to active transportation planning through data collection, prioritization, and cross-sector collaboration. Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach to improve the health of all people by incorporating health considerations into non-health decision-making sectors and policy areas. Presenters: Alison Redenz, Marion County Public Health Department Logan Lane, Health by Design Jodi Raymond, Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health

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New research: Improving protected bike lanes through intersections and strategies to improve accuracy of ped/bike counts
by Beth McKechnie 10 Jan '20

10 Jan '20

*(Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share)* *New Report Highlights Ways to Improve Safety of Protected Bike Lanes at Intersections* The * Transportation Research and Education Center* at *Portland State University* published a report <https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMjUsInVy…> that offers suggestions on extending protected bike lanes through intersections. Protected bike lanes are becoming increasingly common around the United States, yet there is little guidance for how to extend the protected lanes through one of their most dangerous links: the intersection. Led by Chris Monsere and Nathan McNeil of Portland State University in collaboration with Toole Design Group, the latest report from the National Institute of Transportation and Communities (NITC) offers contextual guidance for designing intersections that are comfortable for cyclists. *Strategies to Develop Accuracy Checks for Bike and Pedestrian Count Data* The * Transportation Research and Education Center* at *Portland State University* published a study <https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMjYsInVy…> that highlights methods to improve the accuracy of bicycle and pedestrian traffic monitoring data. The research provides a practical method to verify bicycle and pedestrian traffic counts and improve data review efficiency. The results of the research will help planners better estimate bicycling and walking to inform policy and decision making. -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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Scooter startup Lime is laying off 14 percent of its workers and exiting 12 markets
by Beth McKechnie 10 Jan '20

10 Jan '20

Scooter startup Lime is laying off 14 percent of its workers and exiting 12 markets https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/9/21058589/lime-scooter-layoff-shuting-down… -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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WFP: Councillor blasts city after accidentally walking into traffic (Jan9'20)
by Beth McKechnie 09 Jan '20

09 Jan '20

*Councillor blasts city after accidentally walking into traffic * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/councillor-blasts-city-after-accide… A WINNIPEG councillor got a scare Wednesday when he accidentally walked into oncoming traffic, coming off a downtown sidewalk that was recently narrowed by the public service. Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski), who is blind, was walking north from a media interview at Portage Avenue and Main Street, towards city hall around 7:30 a.m. When he passed around Main and Bannatyne Avenue — a strip that had part of its sidewalk narrowed this fall to accommodate a new loading zone — Eadie said he accidentally stepped off the sidewalk and into the road. The councillor said he was met with honks from drivers passing by, and one motorist stopped to direct him back to the sidewalk. “I just thought you know, ‘What a stupid setup.’ It makes it very difficult, especially in the winter. In the summer, there would be more identifiable markings at my cane-tip level that would have given me a cue as to where I was. But when you feel snow and stuff, it’s a different situation,” Eadie said. Afterward, the councillor blasted off an angry email to the directors of public works and planning, property and development (an email he mentioned would have contained more “F sharps” had he not been more relaxed thanks to a recent trip to Mexico). “Please remember to consult with stakeholders before running off half-prepared for the outcomes of changing our right-of-ways!” Eadie wrote in all caps. “I want to live a long accessible life as independently as possible. I don’t need anymore disabilities, thank you very much!” The narrowing of the sidewalk in question drew scrutiny last year, as it shrunk from 4.9 metres wide to 2.2 metres with little public consultation. The pavement was pared back to make way for a new loading zone in front of the School of Contemporary Dancers at 211 Bannatyne Ave, to help make room for student drop-offs after the loading zone to the west side of the building was replaced with a bike lane. Ken Allen, a communications officer with public works, said the transportation planning division has to balance pedestrian, cyclist and motorists’ interests when designing downtown right-of-ways. The juggling act “sometimes involves making compromises to achieve an acceptable solution for all users,” he said by email. Allen emphasized the new path still meets Winnipeg’s downtown accessibility standards, which legally require a 1.5-metre sidewalk. He said the street changes at the site included concrete pavement, curb and sidewalk repairs; construction of new curb ramps and asphalt overlay; and installation of detectable warning tiles at the intersection near 211 Bannatyne. Eadie said he was grateful there weren’t more cars on the road at the time of the incident, but doesn’t know if the public service could improve anything about the accessibility of the strip. On a later trip back to the area with the Free Press, Eadie couldn’t pinpoint the exact spot where he wandered into the road, but explained he must have come off the sidewalk — which is fairly low to street level — and into the loading zone, due to lack of traffic noises so early in the morning. jessica.botelho(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @_jessbu

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Langford bike shop sells first bamboo bike on Vancouver Island
by Beth McKechnie 09 Jan '20

09 Jan '20

Green Man Bikes is the first shop on [Vancouver] Island to offer bamboo bikes, which come directly from Boomers, a company in Ghana. Boomers produces bamboo bicycle frames for mountain bikes, city bikes, road bikes, and electric bikes. They source their bamboo from sustainable forests in Ghana and provide employment in many rural communities. A Boomers bamboo bike has “a zero carbon footprint, is lighter than steel … and isn’t fragile like carbon fibre,” according to the Boomers website. Full article & video: https://www.saanichnews.com/business/langford-bike-shop-sells-first-bamboo-… -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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WFP: Wolseley traffic-calming plan touted for cyclists (Jan8'20)
by Beth McKechnie 08 Jan '20

08 Jan '20

*Wolseley traffic-calming plan touted for cyclists * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-unveils-wolseley-to-downtown-b… DOWNTOWN residents can expect more one-way streets, protected bike lanes and traffic-calming measures if the city’s proposal for active transportation in and around Wolseley and the core gets the green light. Following more than a year of public consultations, the City of Winnipeg has made public its plans for the “Wolseley to Downtown Walk Bike Project.” The blueprint aims to close gaps in the area’s pedestrian and cycling network, while increasing safety and convenience for all commuters. It suggests making sections of major arteries, including Westminster and Wolseley avenues, one-way to prevent short-cutting that backs up traffic on surrounding residential streets. Also on the table are more right-on-red light restrictions, speed humps, and raised bike lanes and crosswalks. “Everybody has a right to get where they want to get to and you hope you can go as quickly as you can, regardless of your mode of transportation,” said Greg MacPherson, executive director of the West Broadway Community Organization. “I think they’ve done a good job of trying to balance convenience and safety, and the overall hope for a greener approach to transportation in this area.” MacPherson said the community has been pushing for changes to the flow of traffic in the area for years, since a large chunk of residents don’t own vehicles. He typically commutes on foot, although he also bikes and owns a car. While 70 per cent of the city’s population drives to work, the latest census data indicates only 37 per cent of residents in West Broadway rely on cars as a go-to mode of transportation. About 32 per cent take the bus, 20 per cent walk, and nine per cent bike to work. Wolseley resident Nicholas Douville, 38, bikes to work every day — rain or shine, summer breeze or windchill. He submitted some of the 11,000 comments the city received during phases 1 and 2 of the project. Douville said his main concern is Maryland Street gets so backed-up during rush hour motorists try to sneak through residential roads and create traffic jams, which can put cyclists in danger due to increased traffic in areas with no bike lanes. To avoid short-cutting, the city has proposed a westbound one-way traffic stretch between Maryland and Chestnut streets. As for other one-way sections, the city has proposed restrictions for eastbound traffic along Westminster, as well as Young and Balmoral streets west of Langside Street. “If there was a bike lane that could be cleared (on Westminster) and kept up, that would be the greatest thing, because I wouldn’t have to worry about driving straight along with cars,” said Santiago Lasko, a 16-year-old student who commutes to and from high school in the West End. A protected bike lane could stretch along Westminster, starting at Chestnut in the west, to Young and Balmoral streets and Granite Way until Osborne Street in the east, as per the plan. Mark Doucet, the study’s project manager and a transportation facilities planning engineer with public works, reiterated the intent of the study is to balance all commuter interests. Members of the public are invited to provide feedback online. The city is also holding an open house for in-person consultations at Westminster United Church on Jan. 29, 6-8 p.m. maggie.macintosh(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie

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Oregon becomes 4th state with "Stop as Yield" law for cyclists
by Beth McKechnie 07 Jan '20

07 Jan '20

*(Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share)* *Stop as Yield Law* Starting on January 1st a new law went into effect making Oregon the fourth state with a "Stop as Yield" law for people riding bikes (Idaho, Delaware, & Arkansas being the other three). Also known as the "Idaho Stop" after the law that was first passed there in 1982, this new law allows people on bikes to approach an intersection with a stop sign at a "slow speed" and if it is clear (no other person with potential right-of-way present) then they may proceed through the intersection without coming to a complete stop. If there is a pedestrian or other vehicle that has the right-of-way then the person on the bike is *still required to stop*. Different from the Idaho law there is no provision to treat a red traffic signal as a stop sign (except a flashing red light used at stop controlled intersections). This section from Idaho, which allows people riding bikes to treat a red traffic signal as a stop sign, was added in 2006 but was not considered for the Oregon bill. It's important to remember that this "Stop as Yield" law still requires people riding bikes to STOP if a pedestrian, a person in a car, or another road user may have the right-of-way at the intersection. Be courteous, take your turn, and be safe. If you've approached the intersection with care and it's safe and clear you can keep that momentum going and roll on through! For more information on how the law came to be read this post on BikePortland.org: "*How Oregon Got Idaho Stop* <https://eugene-or.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b0fe6c4eda5f68f34c6ec9…> "

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Oslo closing in on Vision Zero goal with no pedestrian or cyclist deaths in 2019
by Beth McKechnie 07 Jan '20

07 Jan '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Gary R. Cremeens <grc22(a)cornell.edu> Date: Tue, Jan 7, 2020 at 11:12 AM Oslo, Norway is getting closer to achieving a Vision Zero goal, with zero pedestrian or cyclist deaths last year. The city's lone traffic death occurred when a driver ran his car into a fence this summer — a decline from five traffic fatalities in 2018, according to Norwegian news outlet Aftenposten. The *Road Safety Annual Report 2019 <https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/irtad-road-safety-annual-…>*, recently released by the International Transport Forum, examines 41 countries' performance and repeatedly cites Norway's progress. The country nearly halved traffic deaths between 2010 and 2017, dropping from 208 to 107. Shareable Links (Same Info as above) · https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/oslo-vision-zero-pedestrian-cyclist-de… · https://www.facebook.com/CornellUniversityTransportationServices/posts/2899… · https://twitter.com/GaryCremeens/status/1214568097211977728 · https://www.linkedin.com/posts/gcremeens_oslo-closing-in-on-vision-zero-goa… Thank you, Gary Cremeens <https://www.linkedin.com/in/gcremeens> | Cornell University Transportation & Delivery Services <https://goo.gl/maps/G14w8nFzcaS2> Projects Associate II

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FI Road User Understanding of Bicycle Signal Faces on Traffic Signals
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 07 Jan '20

07 Jan '20

[http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=cover_nchrp_wod_273] [http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=viewthispdf]<http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_wod_273.pdf> [http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=sponsorbeta]<http://www.trb.org/main/blurbs/180122.aspx> [http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=buythisbook]<https://www.mytrb.org/Store/Product.aspx?ID=> Road User Understanding of Bicycle Signal Faces on Traffic Signals http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_wod_273.pdf 180122 Road User Understanding of Bicycle Signal Faces on Traffic Signals Prior to 2013, the use of bicycle-specific signals in the U.S. was limited to a few jurisdictions. However, in recent years, the number of installations has grown rapidly. This research identified more than 500 intersections using bicycle signals in a variety of contexts. Despite the recent approval and practice, the TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Web-Only Document 273: Road User Understanding of Bicycle Signal Faces on Traffic Signals explores the questions that remain regarding road-user understanding of bicycle signals. The objective of this research was to summarize and synthesize the U.S. experience with bicycle signal installations to identify any remaining gaps in understanding road-user comprehension and compliance with bicycle signals that could be effectively addressed through further research. E-Newsletter Type: Recently Released TRB Publications<http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs.aspx?fields=ENewsletterType|Recently%20Relea…> TRB Publication Type: NCHRP Web-Only Document<http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs.aspx?fields=PublicationType|NCHRP%20Web-Only…> HAPPY NEW YEAR IT will be EYE POPPING [8E11B49] Terry Zdan, BA MEDes

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WFP: Oslo holds key to making Winnipeg safer (Jan4'20)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Jan '20

04 Jan '20

*Oslo holds key to making Winnipeg safer * * Norway’s capital bans cars in certain areas* https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/oslo-holds-key-to-making-winnipeg-s… BRENT Bellamy has long called for more bike paths and pedestrian-friendly streets to make Winnipeg safer by reducing the number of fatal collisions. That’s why it wasn’t surprising for the senior design architect with Number Ten Architectural Group (who also writes a column in the Winnipeg Free Press) to take to social media Friday, pointing out different civic policies created different results in 2019. In Winnipeg, two cyclists and 13 pedestrians were killed on city streets; in similarly-sized Oslo, zero such fatalities were recorded. There was one angle Bellamy didn’t tweet about: he could easily have been the third cyclist killed, when an inattentive SUV driver collided with him at Wellington Crescent and Academy Road in early December. “I was so lucky,” he said Friday. “(The driver) was turning and looking for an opening, and I was yelling at him but he plowed into me. “He hit me just behind the seat. I have a Dutch bike, so I sit upright, and it was just like a tablecloth being pulled out — the bike was hit and I was left on the pavement in the same position.” Such an incident would likely not have happened had he been cycling in the Norwegian capital instead of Winnipeg, he said. One of the biggest reasons: Oslo has banned cars in certain areas of the city. As well, Oslo has replaced almost all of its downtown parking spots with lanes for bicycles, benches to sit on, small parks to congregate in, greenery, and dropped speed limits to 30 km/h. “The biggest difference between the two cities is just political will — they just decided to do it and they did it,” Bellamy said. “I was there five years ago, and they had no bike lanes and they have hills — it’s not a great place to bike — but they just decided, ‘Let’s do it.’ Traffic was getting worse there, just like here. We have 15,000 more cars on the road every year. Oslo was the same,” he said. “They decided they could build expensive, big roads or they could ban cars, build 15 kilometres of bike trails each year, and expand public transit — and it has worked.” Bellamy pointed to a tweet by Anders Hartmann, who works on policies for walking, cycling and road safety in Oslo, which had information on the number of road deaths in the city. Hartmann, after noting, “This makes me happy,” pointed to a graph that shows road deaths in Oslo, now with a population of 673,000, has not only been going down since 1975 (41), but has dramatically fallen since about 2007. Hartmann also noted the only fatality in traffic last year involved a driver who died after a car struck a railing at a light rail station. No children died in a traffic-related death in Norway in 2019. Still, Hartmann posted it doesn’t mean Oslo had reached Vision Zero, a global traffic project aimed at having no fatalities or serious injuries caused by vehicles. It began in Sweden in 1997, and the City of Winnipeg has since adopted it. “While we are making great progress, there is still a way to go to consistently keep deaths at zero for all road users,” he said. Marc Cohoe, executive director of Bike Winnipeg, said the Nordic countries and the Netherlands are at the forefront of Vision Zero, and he would like to see Winnipeg follow their lead. “The numbers show if you use that pathway, the results are there,” Cohoe said. “The numbers of people killed in a collision over there is miniscule compared to the numbers in North America. Losing 13 or 15 people on our streets isn’t acceptable. Why do we accept it on our roads, but we wouldn’t in the workplace? I’m hoping we can do more with the city’s transportation master plan this year. “Over there, they say five minutes of inconvenience isn’t worth the lives we are losing — we will still get around. And they have buy-in from the general population.” kevin.rollason(a)freepress.mb.ca

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New snow-clearing method allows Montreal cyclists to 'really see the asphalt'
by Beth McKechnie 21 Dec '19

21 Dec '19

*New snow-clearing method allows Montreal cyclists to 'really see the asphalt'* *Pilot project in Plateau-Mont-Royal and Ville-Marie involves sweeping pavement, spreading snow-melting brine* https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/plateau-mont-royal-bike-paths-snow-… It was so cold Thursday morning that parts of Magali Bebronne's bicycle froze, but the determined Montreal year-round bike commuter got her bicycle rolling and hit the road. To her surprise, she found the 20-minute ride through the Plateau-Mont-Royal easier than usual, despite the recent snow accumulation. That's because the borough is testing a new way of keeping its bike paths clean — a two-step process that uses street-sweepers to clear the pavement before coating the path with a special snow-melting brine. "When I rode on the Rachel bike path yesterday, I really noticed the surface was a lot clearer than it had ever been," said Bebronne, a program manager with the cycling advocacy group Vélo Québec "When you're riding on a bike, just a few centimetres of snow can really make it difficult to ride. Conditions that work for cars don't work for bikes." But with these new techniques the borough is testing, "you can really see the asphalt," she said. That's why her organization has been pushing the city to get more of such equipment out on the road. The method has already been tested in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, and now Ville-Marie is giving it a shot, along with the Plateau. The sweepers can be deployed when the accumulated snowfall is about five centimetres or less. Tractors towing tanks filled with a calcium chloride solution then spread the solution onto the paths. The brine coats the asphalt and makes it easier to clean after the next storm. While this method could be used on sidewalks, it's not as effective on concrete, because asphalt's dark colour absorbs heat and melts the snow faster. 'If you plow it, they will come' The results on the bike paths have left everybody smiling, so far. Blue-collar workers have had no problems implementing the technique, and cyclists have been giving positive feedback, said Coun. Marianne Giguère, who is the city's executive committee member in charge of active transportation. "With all the climate changes that we have — having very cold, and then very warm, and the cold and snow and rain and everything — we need to adjust our old methods," she said. "The cyclists are quite happy," said Giguère, a councillor in the Plateau's De Lorimier district and a long-time voice for cyclists. Keeping bike paths clear in the winter is a sure way to encourage people to bike to work or school all year round, she said. "If you plow it, they will come," said Giguère. She said the number of winter cyclists is estimated to have doubled since more effort has been put into keeping bike paths clear. "In Montreal, the popularity of winter biking has risen a lot every year." Boroughs are always looking for new ways to keep streets, sidewalks and bike paths clear of ice and snow, she said — comparing notes at the end of the season on new methods they've tried. Officials also attend annual winter cycling conferences that bring municipal representatives of wintry cities around the world to share ideas. Cyclists pedalling no matter the cold Even when temperatures plummeted to bone-chilling levels by Thursday evening, cyclists were pedalling up and down Rachel Street East's protected bike path. Vélo Québec's headquarters is on Rachel Street, and Bebronne said she'd seen a mother with her two young daughters all out biking earlier in the day. When the path is clear, she said, people are more inclined to cycle, no matter how frigid the temperature. - Montreal's new 'proactive' snow-clearing plan comes without big budget boost <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-snow-removal-operations-20…> She, too, has seen a substantial increase in the number of cyclists using the bike path as the city improves snow-clearing techniques on bike paths. Now, she said, it's time to adopt tried-and-tested methods throughout the city. "Maybe not every borough would have to invest in such equipment, but maybe it's time to imagine that such equipment could be shared between boroughs," Bebronne said. "One piece of equipment could go over the bike path of a few central boroughs."

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WFP Editorial: Winnipeg hasn’t arrived as a cycling city (Dec19'19)
by Beth McKechnie 19 Dec '19

19 Dec '19

EDITORIAL *Winnipeg hasn’t arrived as a cycling city * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/winnipeg-hasnt-arrived… WINNIPEG has long been known as a city that prioritizes cars. So, you’d be forgiven if your reaction was “Huh?” earlier this month when a list from online real estate brokerage Redfin ranked Winnipeg in the top 10 Canadian cities for biking. This ranking is best taken with a grain of road salt, however. Our city’s score, 61, puts us at “bikeable.” We have a good way to go before we could be considered “very bikeable” (70 to 89 points) or a “biker’s paradise” (90 to 100). Victoria, B.C., topped the list with a score of 80. For a city to rank above 90, its citizens must be able to run daily errands or commute to work via bike. Access to bike lanes, road connectivity and hilliness are all factors in the bikeability score. So, we have flatness going for us. Winnipeg’s bike-lane infrastructure, meanwhile, leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a slipshod patchwork of unprotected sharrows with few protected lanes, many of which come to abrupt ends. A lack of connectivity creates a chicken-and-egg scenario: cyclists are likely to avoid lanes that are frustrating to use, and then motorists complain that the bike lanes aren’t being used. And, as we’ve seen in the Exchange District — held up as a positive example of urban density — business owners are annoyed with what they call piecemeal development in the area, including bike lanes. Our winter-city climate is often cited as reason to not invest in cycling infrastructure, especially the kind geared toward commuter cycling. But Minneapolis, routinely ranked the most bikeable city in the U.S., has a climate similar to ours. Average highs are a few degrees warmer in the Twin Cities than in Winnipeg, but its placement on the globe means it is just as susceptible to deep-freezing arctic air masses and snowstorms as its neighbour to the north. The average annual snowfall total in the Twin Cities is 115.1 cm, one centimetre more than Winnipeg’s annual total. They’ve figured it out. Why can’t we? Bike Winnipeg’s co-chairwoman Liz Shearer told the Free Press that the lack of a fully connected cycling grid keeps Winnipeg from being a bikeability leader. But that’s only part of what’s holding us back. Beyond the accessible bike lanes, weather and terrain, a place’s “bike-friendliness” should consider the attitudes of drivers toward cyclists. Winnipeg’s bikeability score of 61 is tied with that of Toronto, a city in which 41 cyclists were killed or seriously injured in 2018. Is that really “bikeable”? An Australian study published this year found that around half of non-cyclists viewed cyclists as “less than fully human,” and that “dehumanization measures were significantly correlated with aggression toward cyclists.” It’s not a stretch to say Winnipeg can be a rather cyclist-hostile city. Yes, there are bad cyclists and bad drivers, to acknowledge another common argument. But a bike does not become lethal weapon the way a 2,000-kilogram car travelling at 60 km/h does. To become a truly bikeable city that actually merits being on a top-10 list is a noble goal. Cycling is good for our increasingly sedentary bodies and good for our environment. But getting there will involve more than building protected lanes and more cyclists embracing our designation as a winter city the way cyclists in Nordic countries have. It will also involve an attitude adjustment that extends across the broader community.

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WFP: City gives frosty reception to reopened bridge over troubled water (Dec17'19)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Dec '19

17 Dec '19

*City gives frosty reception to reopened bridge over troubled water* https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-gives-frosty-reception-to-reop… Plus CBC coverage: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/men-cleared-ice-omands-creek-bridge… THERE’S not much love at city hall for the two residents who did what the entire public works department was unable to: reopen the Omand’s Creek footbridge. Brad Hignell and Chris Beauvilain spent three hours Saturday morning clearing ice from the footbridge — a key link in the active transportation network which connects Wolseley to River Heights and Assiniboine Park — which the City of Winnipeg had closed for safety concerns after an unusual late fall flood and freeze-up. While area residents may be grateful for not having to make a long cold walk or bike ride detour, the city was not impressed. “What the residents did at the Omand’s Creek footbridge, though well-intentioned, did not mitigate the public safety risk that existed at this location, as it went beyond simply clearing ice off the bridge surface,” a city spokeswoman said Monday in an email to the Free Press. “Opening and closing bridge structures can only be done by professional engineers; the residents who ultimately cleared and reopened the bridge had no way of knowing whether the structure was sound. Luckily, an inspection by our bridge engineers (Monday) morning confirmed that the bridge had not sustained any structural damage due to the ice nor subsequent unsanctioned clearing.” Despite what Hignell and Beauvilain had accomplished with a bit of sweat and hard work, the spokeswoman said conditions in the area had been simply unsafe for crews to access with their equipment. “Fluctuating water levels through late October and November caused overland flooding that formed thick, hazardous ice that — for weeks — expanded and contracted on, underneath and around the bridge,” she said. “This posed potential for damage to the bridge structure, which we were unable to inspect until the ice was cleared — a simple task in and of itself, but one the city decided not to undertake due to other, less easily mitigated hazards in the area. “When the ice formed, expanded, and contracted on the pathways, it created a two-layered system of thick, uneven surface that made the trail incredibly steep and unstable and also left a sharp drop-off leading onto the bridge. The risk of taking machinery down these pathways to adequately clear them and lay enough sand to create traction outweighed opening the area to foot and bike traffic through the winter.” City hall thus erected barricades, and forced those who used the route on foot and bike to take a long, windy detour, until Hignell and his friend (both of whom had studied engineering at university) grabbed a couple of picks, bars, shovels and a bucket of gravel. Ward Coun. Cindy Gilroy did not respond to questions on the bridge. Coun. Sherri Rollins, chairwoman of council’s protection, community services and parks committee, said she understood the two men’s frustration but said city hall opted to side with caution when safety is at stake. “Sometimes things are closed for reasons. Whether it’s high river levels, and this is a reality this year, where there’s a lot of paths and skating (closed) that isn’t about budgetary cutbacks, it’s about safety,” Rollins said. “I don’t want Winnipeggers to be confused by that.” Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of the public works committee, echoed that stance. “City staff did their job, and made a judgment call using the available information to ensure public safety,” he said in an email statement. Ironically, the public works department had envisioned such a scenario, and had proposed replacing the bridge in 2010 with one with greater river clearance. It dropped the idea in the face of overwhelming opposition from local residents. The civic spokeswoman said while the footbridge is structurally sound and safe to cross, the same can’t be said for the pathway on either side. Crews and heavy equipment were in the area Monday. “We urge anyone who chooses to use the pathway to please exercise caution and be aware of the steep incline and decline, as well as the uneven terrain,” the spokeswoman said. Anders Swanson, executive director of Winnipeg Trails Association, said the public works department appears to have done a good job keeping other parts of the active transportation network cleared this winter. “I don’t know why they gave up on the bridge,” Swanson said, adding the bike and pedestrian paths continue to be treated in a second-class fashion. “If there was a sewer line break or a big pothole in the middle of Portage Avenue, it wouldn’t be acceptable to stretch snow fencing across it and walk away.” — with files from Danielle DaSilva aldo.santin(a)freepress.mb.ca

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WFP: Driver charged with death at crosswalk (Dec14'19)
by Beth McKechnie 14 Dec '19

14 Dec '19

*Driver charged with death at crosswalk * * Police allege novice motorist not supervised* https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/driver-charged-in-crosswalk-death-o… A 31-year-old Winnipeg woman charged in connection with a collision at a crosswalk in March, in which a child was killed, was allegedly a novice driver who should not have been driving without supervision, police say. On Friday, Winnipeg police announced that Highway Traffic Act charges have been laid against the unidentified driver in connection with the March 18 incident that killed a four-year-old girl and injured her mother. Genet Bruk and her daughter Galila were struck at the crosswalk at Isabel Street and Alexander Avenue, on their way to Dufferin School to meet her six-year-old son at lunch time. Galila later died in hospital and her mother is still recovering from her injuries, a family friend said Friday. The charges related to the collision include careless driving causing death, careless driving causing bodily harm, disobeying a traffic device and operating a vehicle as a novice driver without a supervising driver. The driver was released on an appearance notice, Winnipeg police said in a press release. It stated the Highway Traffic Act charges were laid at the direction of the Crown. The most serious charges — careless driving causing death and bodily harm — have a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison. It defines careless driving as driving “without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway.” Had the driver been charged under the Criminal Code of Canada, the penalties would have been much harsher and required the Crown to prove the driver was criminally negligent and driving in a way that’s a “marked and substantial departure from the standard of a reasonable driver.” “That would be driving with wanton disregard — so poorly and badly in a way nobody could possibly expect for someone to operate a vehicle,” said criminal defence lawyer Scott Newman, who has no connection to the case. “The Highway Traffic Act has a lower burden of proof.” Hearing that the driver has been charged nine months after the fatal collision was news to Dorota Blumczynksa, a friend of Galila’s mother and the executive director of IRCOM Isabel, where the Eritrean family has lived since arriving in Canada last January. “If there was a mistake made or inadequate training, or someone was not supposed to be driving, should a person be held to account for their actions? Absolutely,” said Blumczynska, who doesn’t know anything about the accused. “Nothing will bring Galila back, but it’s for the safety of others.” The child’s mother, Genet Bruk, now uses a wheelchair outside the home and a walker inside the home and is receiving physiotherapy, said Blumczynska, who’s had tea at the home several times and cries with the woman every visit. “She’s got a very, very long road to physical recovery. She hopes to walk again independently.” Emotionally and spiritually, she and her husband are coping, Blumczynska said. “They have found an enormous amount of comfort in their faith. They believe their daughter was called to be at God’s side. They’re able to make sense of their world in that way and come to some peace with this tragedy.” She hopes that news of the charges being laid may act as a deterrent and prevent more fatalities. “None of the children who witnessed that accident, none of my colleagues who accompanied the (victims) to hospital or saw Galila’s lifeless body will ever be the same,” she said. “I think it’s important to understand we are accountable to one another and responsible for one another.” carol.sanders(a)freepress.mb.ca

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WFP: Omand’s Creek footbridge closed till spring due to ice (Dec14'19)
by Beth McKechnie 14 Dec '19

14 Dec '19

*Omand’s Creek footbridge closed till spring due to ice * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/hazardous-ice-closes-omands-creek-f… A well-used footbridge in Wolseley, considered an integral part of the active transportation network, will be closed until late spring. City crews blocked access to the footbridge over Omand’s Creek last week, after late-November flooding submerged the structure and froze into thick, hazardous ice, public works spokeswoman Julie Dooley said. “It’s completely iced over, so it’s just not safe for people to walk over it,” she said. Every spring, the bridge is flooded when the Assiniboine River spills into the creek and submerges parts of Omand Park in Wolseley. Latefall flooding, however, is uncommon. Dooley said the crossing had been under ice for a few weeks before it was closed, and creek levels have since returned to normal. There’s no indication the structural integrity of the bridge has been affected, she said, yet the city won’t make an effort to restore public access this winter. “We appreciate the inconvenience of the closure but want to ensure all park users stay safe. Pedestrians can still access the other side of the bridge by rerouting down Raglan Street to Portage Avenue,” she said. Anders Swanson, executive director of Winnipeg Trails Association, said the closure is an example of deficiencies in the city’s maintenance of active transportation networks. “That bridge and the detour is indicative of a number of gaps in the city where we need things to be designed to accommodate all users, all year long,” Swanson said. The path through Omand Park is popular with cyclists, runners and pedestrians who use the footbridge to cross Omand’s Creek while out for walks with their dogs, running the popular Wolseley- Wellington loop or travelling between the Polo Park area and downtown. Without access to the crossing, people are choosing instead to traverse the heaved ice of the frozen creek, or head north on Raglan Street to Portage Avenue, and south again to the parkway to get to their destination, and neither option is ideal, Swanson said. “It really points to the fact that what are your alternatives? And when you have a city with the bare minimum of connectivity, every little piece counts,” he said. The bridge is also part of the North Assiniboine Parkway, which ties into the city’s planned active transportation network on Empress Street, part of a $22.83-million rehabilitation project of Empress Street and the overpass. It’s also a critical alternative to cycling on Portage Avenue, Swanson said. Given the importance of the bridge to the active transportation network, and the frequent flooding of the creek, more political attention could be paid to improving infrastructure in Omand Park, Swanson said. Raising the bridge to avoid chronic flooding would be a good starting point. danielle.dasilva(a)freepress.mb.ca

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AT Webinar: Education and Encouragement - Bringing the Right People Together (Dec18th, 2-3pm)
by Beth McKechnie 12 Dec '19

12 Dec '19

Please join Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg for a group viewing of the monthly APBP webinar in the EcoCentre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/uncategorized/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-o…> boardroom. This will be followed by discussion for those who wish to stay. * * * * * Education and Encouragement: Bringing the Right People Together December 18 at 2:00pm What really changes a person’s behavior? How can agencies and activists help inform appropriate behavior on our streets and pathways? When new infrastructure or operations are introduced, how can we ensure that users understand intentions and exhibit safe operation? How do we best utilize the resources of agency staff and advocacy resources to help this process? We'll examine the effectiveness of Education and Encouragement, and how to broaden the tent of who’s involved in the "soft" E's.

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CBC: Canmore will charge for downtown parking to keep bus service fare free (Dec8'19)
by Beth McKechnie 11 Dec '19

11 Dec '19

Canmore will charge for downtown parking to keep bus service fare free Parking downtown will cost $6 a day on weekdays starting summer 2020 ttps:// www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/canmore-parking-1.5388552 The Town of Canmore is hoping to alleviate congestion and fund its transit service by charging parking fees. Town council approved the change on Tuesday, which will affect those parking between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, starting summer 2020. Parking downtown will cost $6 a day, or between $1 and $1.50 per hour to park, depending on whether or not it's peak season. Residents who live in the area will be able to register for permits. Mayor John Borrowman said while the move has been controversial, he's urging residents to wait and see how it plays out. "Parking has never been free. It's always been a cost that has been borne by the local taxpayer: the cost of providing that infrastructure and maintaining it," he said. "With paid parking and those paid parking revenues going toward our transit fares, our visitors are helping to pay for those costs, rather than 100 per cent of them coming from local residents." The money is earmarked for Canmore's local transit service, Roam, which is fare-free. Borrowman hopes the parking fees might alleviate congestion — which has been an increasing problem in the Bow Valley. "I hear from residents that they simply don't come downtown anymore because it's too busy. I am anticipating that through this program, we'll find that residents start coming back into the downtown because it is easier and it's less congested," he said. Banff is also considering introducing parking fees.

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WFP: Winnipeg pedals into Top 10 (Dec9'19)
by Beth McKechnie 09 Dec '19

09 Dec '19

*Fully linked grid would move city higher up Canadian list* *Winnipeg pedals into Top 10 * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/winnipeg-pedals-in-at-no-9-56596… ASK a random Canadian about Winnipeg’s reputation, and they’re more likely to mention the cold or crime than cycling. But new rankings from online real estate brokerage Redfin put Winnipeg squarely in the Top 10 Canadian cities for biking, tied with Toronto and Richmond, B.C. The rankings don’t qualify Winnipeg as a “biker’s paradise” (for cities with a score of 90 and above) or even “very bikeable” (70 to 89 points). But Winnipeg’s 61-point score earns a modest “bikeable” status in Redfin’s view, a category for cities with “some bike infrastructure.” Redfin’s bike-score ratings are similar to its proprietary walk scores and transit scores, which are often mentioned on real estate listings. (The company acquired Walk Score in 2014. Winnipeg’s average Walk Score is just 53, while Toronto has a Walk Score of 71.) The company’s inaugural Canadian bike-friendliness ranking covered roughly 100 cities, Redfin’s lead economist, Taylor Marr, said. “We know from our years of experience that people really value walkability. They also value being close to transit increasingly... But also people really value bikeability, not only for the health benefits but also for the cost savings,” said Marr, who commutes by bike in his home city of Seattle. The bike-score rankings evaluated cities across four criteria — topography, cycling infrastructure such as bike lanes, the number of bikeable destinations and the share of the population that commutes by bicycle. Liz Shearer, co-chairwoman of cycling advocacy group Bike Winnipeg, said bike ridership is on the increase in Winnipeg, “and as infrastructure is built, so is ridership... When people feel safer, they ride more often, which shouldn’t come as a surprise.” But Winnipeg’s lack of a fully connected cycling grid keeps Manitoba’s capital from being a true leader in bikeability, she said. Shearer is concerned about the future of the 20-year active transportation strategy Winnipeg passed in 2015, saying the plan is being underfunded by the city. “We’ve gotten international recognition for this cycling and pedestrian plan, but words without action is just a dream,” Shearer said. “So if we’re not enacting and funding this type of plan properly, we’ll never reach its full potential.” The chilling spectre of Winnipeg winters is frequently invoked in public discourse around the city’s need for cycling infrastructure. Redfin’s Marr said the company’s scoring model didn’t account for weather directly, although the share of bike commuters serves as an indirect proxy, especially in North America. “(You) often see somewhat of a correlation in terms of places that are more weather-friendly for biking do have higher shares of people biking. What is really odd, though, is that you don’t necessarily see that relationship very strongly on an international scale,” he said, citing the cold weather cycling paradise of Copenhagen. Winnipeggers tend to wear their cold weather credentials as a “badge of honour,” Bike Winnipeg’s Shearer said. “So it’s surprising when I hear that people think we’re not able to embrace (winter cycling) as part of our lifestyles, and I do think that it is because there is a lack of infrastructure so that people can feel safe and protected,” she said. “If we were to be able to make cycling a safe and convenient option year-round, then the only barrier we’d have to face in taking our bikes out on a winter’s day is the same battle we already face every day that we leave our homes as Winnipeggers.” Shearer encouraged Winnipeggers to try winter cycling if they haven’t before, suggesting a test ride on a route that’s protected from traffic. “I don’t want anyone to feel like they’re pressured into trying something that makes them feel unsafe, but I would encourage people to try something new, and to see what routes are available to them — and if there isn’t a safe route to get them from A to B, who should they talk to, to make that happen?” Victoria led Redfin’s bike-friendliness rankings with a score of 80, followed by Vancouver (79) and Montreal (73). Redfin rates Minneapolis as the most bikeable city in the U.S., with a score of 84 points. solomon.israel(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sol_israel

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WFP: Slower speeds urged after pedestrian injuries (Dec6'19)
by Beth McKechnie 06 Dec '19

06 Dec '19

*Slower speeds urged after pedestrian injuries * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/slower-speeds-urged-after-pedestria… HOPES for a safer, more pedestrian- friendly Winnipeg drew about five dozen people to the Old Grace Housing Co-op on Thursday night to hear local advocacy group Safe Speeds Winnipeg make its case for lower speed limits. Clayton Rudy, presenter and Safe Speeds Winnipeg member, said the organization was founded after “so many incidents where people have been injured or killed” on Winnipeg’s roads. “And that sparked a grassroots group to form to discuss the problem and explore some of the solutions.” Safe Speed Winnipeg’s key goal is convincing the city to reduce the default speed for Winnipeg roads from 50 kilometres an hour to 30 km/h unless otherwise posted. Back lane speed limits would be cut from 30 km/h to 15 km/h under the proposed policy. “Because there are thousands and thousands of kilometres of roads in the city, rather than going block-by-block through the whole city to see what needs to be lowered, the position of Safe Speeds Winnipeg is that the default should be lowered and then the city can raise the speed limits, or keep them as is in the case of higher-speed roads,” said Rudy, a private-sector transportation engineer whose presentation to the town hall focused on the science of pedestrian safety. “But it’s far more efficient and effective, to improve safety on the streets, to have a low default and then raise where it’s appropriate to do so.” Safe Speeds Winnipeg was among a number of groups that pushed Winnipeg’s public works committee to lower speed limits this past summer, after the provincial government allowed Manitoba municipalities to set speed limits on their own. Rudy said that effort didn’t succeed, although the public service has been assigned to study the matter. “Because of the amount of people and the frequency with which they’re injured or killed on the roads, it’s an urgent decision to make, and there’s no real need to wait for more reports and more studies to make that decision that the default should be lowered,” Rudy said in an interview before the town hall. Fellow presenter and Safe Speeds Winnipeg member Sylvia Buchholz believes the city’s willingness to at least reconsider speed limits is promising. “It’s a hard topic, right? People feel so passionate about it, but judging just by the tragedies that we’re reading in the news more and more, I think this is gaining public support,” she told the Free Press ahead of the event. In her presentation, Buchholz highlighted that her group’s proposal wouldn’t mean speeds would be limited to 30 km/h across the entire city, saying the policy would mostly affect residential areas. Cutting speed limits sounds like a good idea to attendee Allison Penner, a Wolseley resident who attended the meeting with her partner and nearly two-year-old son. She thinks improved infrastructure such as crosswalks and speed bumps would also help calm traffic in her neighbourhood. “Our kid is getting a little bit older, he’s going to be starting school in a couple years,” Penner said. “And we live right on Westminster, so we see how the traffic kind of just whips through, and it feels really unsafe.” Fellow meeting attendee Donald Swanson said he’s almost been hit by cars while crossing Portage Avenue, and also expressed concern about traffic on Sherburn Street where he lives. “On Sherburn Street, there’s a lot of kids, and they’re always playing in the front and people are whipping up and down,” he said. Coun. Scott Gillingham represents Winnipeg’s St. James ward, where two teenagers were injured Wednesday morning after being struck by a car at Ness Avenue and Woodlawn Street. He said he couldn’t attend the Thursday town hall but was open to the idea of reducing speed limits in residential neighbourhoods. “I don’t know if I support 30, but I’m certainly open to looking at something lower than 50 km/h on residential streets,” he said. MLA Lisa Naylor attended the event in her Wolseley constituency, and said pedestrian safety was an issue she heard about frequently while door knocking during the recent provincial election campaign. “The presentation tonight was really well done,” Naylor said. “I think they’re talking about a change across the entire city. I don’t feel like I have enough information to have an opinion on that, but I certainly think we would benefit by some lower speed limits in some areas of this neighbourhood, for sure.” solomon.israel(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sol_israel

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Distance driven per person still down from maximum in 2004 (US)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Dec '19

04 Dec '19

Would be interesting to see similar breakdown for Canada. The US numbers are trending upward but still below the max in 2004. See full article (with charts!) here: https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/12/distance-driven-per-person-is-stil… - An increase of 40.9% from 1984 to 2004 (from 6,612 miles to 9,314 miles). - A decrease of 9.0% from 2004 to 2013 (from 9,314 miles to 8,472 miles). - An increase of 4.5% from 2013 to 2018 (from 8,472 miles to 8,855 miles). [image: Untitled] <https://bioage.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4fbe53ef0240a4a4239b200c-pi>

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Request for Proposal for Professional Consulting Services for Winnipeg Area Transportation Master Plan - Core Framework Study
by Mark Cohoe 04 Dec '19

04 Dec '19

Sorry, that last email got sent before I wanted. The city has released an RFP <https://www.winnipeg.ca/matmgt/bidopp.asp#1243-2019>( https://www.winnipeg.ca/matmgt/bidopp.asp#1243-2019) for the Core Framework Study of its Transportation Master Plan. Project Milestones Task Milestone Date Project Work Plan February 16, 2020 Background, Existing Conditions, Challenges & Future Options August 31, 2020 Transportation Modelling of Future Options October 30, 2020 White Paper outlining key findings November 30, 2020 Development of Draft TMP Core Framework Study January 29, 2021 Development of Cost Estimates, Benefit / Cost Analysis February 26, 2021 Final TMP Core Framework Report March 31, 2021 Final Transportation Master Plan By others by (June 30, 2021 ) Mark Cohoe Executive Director Bike Winnipeg t: 204-894-6540 e: mark(a)bikewinnipeg.ca

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Request for Proposal for Professional Consulting Services for Winnipeg Area Transportation Master Plan - Core Framework Study
by Mark Cohoe 03 Dec '19

03 Dec '19

The city has posted an RFP for the Transportation Master Plan. Project Milestones: Task Milestone Date Project Work Plan February 16, 2020 Background, Existing Conditions, Challenges & Future Options August 31, 2020 Transportation Modelling of Future OptionsOctober 30, 2020 White Paper outlining key findings November 30, 2020Development of Draft TMP Core Framework Study January 29, 2021 Development of Cost Estimates, Benefit / Cost Analysis February 26, 2021 Final TMP Core Framework Report March 31, 2021 Final Transportation Master Plan By others by (June 30, 2021 )

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WFP: Bike-building marathon brings community together to help children in need (Dec2'19)
by Beth McKechnie 02 Dec '19

02 Dec '19

*Putting the pedal to the metal * * Bike-building marathon brings community together to help children in need* https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/putting-the-pedal-to-the-metal-5656… STAFF and volunteers at a community bicycle repair shop are aiming to make Christmas special for hundreds of children by giving them the gift of cycling. The WRENCH (Winnipeg Repair Education and Cycling Hub), an organization dedicated to making bicycles and cycling accessible to everyone, is holding its ninth annual Cycle of Giving event on Dec. 7. The 24-hour event will bring volunteer mechanics together to build more than 350 bicycles that will be distributed to children in need. The bike-building marathon takes place at the Orioles Community Centre at 448 Burnell St. Longtime WRENCH volunteer Robert Schulz Sr. looks forward to volunteering at Cycle of Giving each year. For Schulz, it’s an opportunity to do something meaningful with his two children, Robert Jr., 14, and Chanel, 11. “This whole Cycle of Giving has allowed me to be a good dad… by spending time with (my children) and interacting with them doing the same activity,” Schulz says. “It’s drawn us closer together in a lot of ways.” A dedicated cyclist, Schulz is proud to say that each bicycle his family owns has been built at the WRENCH. His children are avid cyclists, something Schulz has encouraged because it contributes to environmental sustainability. Schulz is a teacher at École Luxton School, an elementary school in the North End. He works with a small class that’s typically made up of about eight boys, and his volunteerism at the WRENCH has influenced his work in the classroom. Each year, Schulz’s students build bicycles for themselves. They also build an additional bicycle that is gifted to a student they have never met. “It’s a magical day here at Luxton when the bikes are given out,” Schulz says. “What a great way to teach empathy, humility and sustainability.” Like Schulz, Kim Segal is looking forward to this year’s Cycle of Giving. Each year, the self-employed massage therapist tries to spend as many hours at the event as possible. “You meet so many different people from all walks of life,” Segal says. “I love the fact that at the WRENCH, everybody is equal.” Watching the pile of finished bikes grow during Cycle of Giving is exciting, she adds. “It’s emotional when you think of all the people that are benefiting from this. I can’t think of many things I have been involved with where it’s such an incredibly good feeling of giving back.” In addition to volunteer bike mechanics, Cycle of Giving relies on volunteer bike cleaners, card makers, food servers and site crew who help set up, maintain and tear down the workshop. Anyone interested in volunteering can visit thewrench.ca/cycle-ofgiving- 2019 for details. In conjunction with the event, the WRENCH is raising $30,000 for its year-round programming, says Patrick Krawec, the organization’s managing director. People can donate at thewrench.ca. Donations of children’s bicycles and parts are also welcome. Cycle of Giving is a joyful celebration for those who participate, Krawec says, adding that the gift of a bicycle can help the recipient imagine a better tomorrow. “The impact of these bicycles in the community cannot be overstated,” he says.

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New Online Snow-Clearing Portal Launches (Nov30'19)
by Beth McKechnie 01 Dec '19

01 Dec '19

WINNIPEG - A new online portal was launched today, designed to make accessing snow clearing information easier for Winnipeggers. Winnipeg.ca/snow <https://winnipeg.ca/publicworks/snow/default.stm> includes winter parking ban information, a comprehensive FAQ, and – most notably – a new snow clearing status map for major snow plowing operations. Residents can now check on crews’ progress during major plowing operations and residential plowing operations by searching an address and viewing the percentage completed. During a major plowing operation, residents will be able to search an address, and view the percentage completed by geographic area for Priority 1 and 2 streets, as well as sidewalks and pathways. During a residential plowing operation, residents will be able to search an address, and view the percentage completed by snow zone. Residents can also view street priority by searching an address on our street priority map, in addition to viewing snow routes on a searchable map. The new resource also features information about the new winter maintenance improvements for identified Active Transportation (AT) priority routes that will be implemented city-wide, including a searchable map displaying the routes. Under this new system, identified priority AT routes will be cleared within 36 hours after three or more centimeters of snowfall. Prioritization occurred as part of a greater maintenance strategy developed over the last few years in consultation with various active transportation user groups; it supports making daily walking and cycling more convenient and accessible year-round travel modes for people of all ages and abilities. https://www.manitobapost.com/winnipeg-news/new-online-snow-clearing-portal-…

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Global News: Exchange District business owners fed up over ‘piecemeal’ development in the area (Nov29'19)
by Beth McKechnie 30 Nov '19

30 Nov '19

Exchange District business owners fed up over ‘piecemeal’ development in the area https://globalnews.ca/news/6234378/exchange-district-business-owners-fed-up… A group of Exchange District business owners are calling for a moratorium on development in the area, telling the city there needs to be a better plan in place for things like bike lanes, parking, and loading zones in the neighbourhood before work starts up again. The group, which includes former Blue Bomber and Shawarma Khan restaurant owner Obby Khan, say recent changes made to the streets — in particular new bike lanes that have taken over parking spots and loading zones — have been bad for business. Khan says many are reporting a 20 to 30 per cent drop in business and he’s personally lost “six figures” since losing street parking across from his McDermot Avenue restaurant two years ago. “What are we trying to do? Are we trying to create a community or are we trying to create one way roads to get people out of the downtown core?” he said. “Do we want to make active transport or do we want to throw bike lanes in the middle of busy streets and get people out of the downtown core — What is the plan? What is the vision? “Us as business owners are feeling the squeeze right now without this plan.” Khan, along with the owners of King + Bannatyne and Bodegoes, canvassed the Exchange, getting signatures from a total of 67 local business-owners who echo their concerns. In a letter presented to Winnipeg’s mayor and council last week, the group calls for an end to “one-off interventions around parking, transportation, construction or development” in the Exchange until a comprehensive plan is created. They also want parking prices to drop from $3.50 to $2.50 in the area and to see recent street changes reversed. Khan stresses the group is not opposed to active transportation — in fact they welcome it — but want to see a plan put forward and more consultation with area businesses before work is done “We love the bike lanes, we are pro active transportation,” he said. “What we are not pro for is the design, implementation and roll-out without any real consultation of business and how the bike lanes were executed. What was the plan? What was the vision? Or did you just throw bike lanes down? “Stop doing piecemeal, stop putting in a loading zone here, stop putting in a light here or back-in parking here — what is the whole vision for the Exchange?” Khan said the group has gotten a good response from the city, and Mayor Brian Bowman said he is listening to the group’s concerns. “I appreciate the dialogue,” Bowman said Friday, telling 680 CJOB he’s working with business owners and the Exchange District BIZ to find solutions. “There’s been a lot of investments made in the downtown, including the Exchange, over the last few years and obviously we want to make sure that we’re doing our best to ensure that the businesses are as successful as possible. “We have some more work to do… finding the right balance is obviously key” In the meantime, Khan says if nothing changes, some businesses — including his — may look at leaving the Exchange District. “Everything needs to be looked at together to come up with a solution,” he said. “The Exchange is a vibrant, fun, beautiful area — we need to come up with a plan with the city, with urban designers, with residents, with business owners to make this work for everyone.”

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WFP: Exchange District businesses petition city for master plan (Nov29'19)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Nov '19

29 Nov '19

*Issues with** parking, transportation, construction, development brought forward* *Exchange District businesses petition city for master plan * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/exchange-district-business-owners-p… DOZENS of Exchange District business owners frustrated with bike lanes popping up, loading zones taken away, and rising street parking rates have signed a petition asking the City of Winnipeg to hit the brakes. The group of 67 is asking the city put in place a moratorium on any more changes for parking, transportation, construction or development before a comprehensive plan is put into place for the area, and following full consultation. As well, they are asking for pay parking to be rolled back to 2017 rates and the city to commit to “immediately modify the recent, radical, physical street changes” by looking at impact on businesses, traffic circulation, parking, and safety concerns. Ibrahim (Obby) Khan, one of the leaders of the petition and owner of Shawarma Khan restaurants, said Thursday he has seen business drop at his Exchange District location about 20 per cent in the past two years. “It’s almost a six-figure loss,” Khan said. “We’re all local businesses which have put our passion and money on the line in the city and we need city council to help us... We need to get back to having a master plan for the area.” The businesses to sign the petition include: Toad Hall Toys, Pan Am Boxing, King and Bannatyne, Warehouse Artworks, Mayberry Fine Art, King’s Head, Deer + Almond, Into the Music and Parlour Coffee. At a civic committee meeting earlier this week, Khan was even more blunt about the changes outside the doors of his restaurant. “I feel betrayed,” he told city councillors on the innovation and economic development committee. “I feel hurt and I put so much into my store and it is dying a slow death. “You said you wanted to revitalize our downtown core, and we feel though you have turned your backs on us.” Khan said area businesses are fully supportive of bike lanes, but there should have been an overall plan for the area before they were put in. “No rights on reds because of bike lanes implemented on these lanes,” he said. “I love the idea of bike lanes, but the rollout, design, implementation... is a catastrophe — it is killing businesses. “Was there thought put in to how it’s going to affect the business owners?” Former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray, who lives, works and owns a business in the downtown, said he signed the petition because he believes the city needs an updated plan for the Exchange District. “I’m a 12-months-of-the-year cyclist,” Murray said. “We do want bicycling infrastructure in the area. But we need to have it better designed and organized... We are asking the mayor and council to put up a planning group. “Right now, it really looks like an evacuation plan there.” David Pensato, executive director of the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone, said the owners group is also concerned about the price of street parking in the area. Currently, the price set by the Winnipeg Parking Authority is $3.50 per hour in a large portion of the Exchange, but the city is looking at hiking it further. “It’s not supposed to be for revenue,” he said. Jeremy Davis, a spokesman for Mayor Brian Bowman, said the mayor has received the group’s letter and petition. “Mayor Bowman has met with area businesses and the Exchange District BIZ to discuss their concerns,” Davis said. “The mayor will continue to be actively engaged with the Exchange District BIZ to find solutions that can be acted upon for everyone’s benefit.” kevin.rollason(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Measuring transportation success by improving people's access to jobs and services
by Beth McKechnie 27 Nov '19

27 Nov '19

*An excellent blog series from Transportation from America on how we currently measure the success of our road networks (i.e. vehicle speed) and how we should be measuring them (access to destinations, such as jobs and services). * MAKING ACCESS THE FOCUS OF TRANSPORTATION Catch up on a week spent focusing on "connecting people to jobs and services" The concept of measuring transportation success by improving people's access to opportunities <http://t4america.org/platform/>—not vehicle speed—is often hard for people to wrap their heads around. Especially because we have been wrongly conditioned to believe that being able to drive fast equals a transportation system that works. That's why we spent last week unpacking our third principle <http://t4america.org/platform/> for transportation investment, connecting people to jobs and services. Here's what we discussed: *(1) Success is getting people where they need to go: *For decades, transportation departments have been measuring the wrong thing: vehicle speed. Instead of measuring the speed of a car, we should measure the success of our transportation system by how many jobs and services people can access safely, quickly and affordably. Read more on our blog > > <http://t4america.org/2019/11/19/its-time-to-define-transportation-success-b…> *(2) How bad metrics lead to even worse decisions: *When the top priority of our transportation investments is moving cars as fast as possible, the end product is streets that are wildly unsafe. This focus on vehicle speed and throughput is the result of outdated metrics that utterly fail to produce a transportation system that connects people to what they need every day. Read more on our blog > > <http://t4america.org/2019/11/18/destination-access-week-how-bad-metrics-lea…> *(3) To improve equity, we need to measure what matters: *Our current process for deciding which transportation projects to build only considers vehicles—entirely ignoring people walking, biking, or taking transit. This ignores the impacts on everyone not using a car, particularly low-income persons, people of color, and older adults. Read more on our blog > > <http://t4america.org/2019/11/20/to-connect-people-to-jobs-and-services-we-n…> *(4) How does measuring access actually work? *Our colleagues at the State Smart Transportation Initative explain how this new practice of measuring access (called "destination access" by academics and policy wonks) works in real life, and where and how is it already being used. Read more on our blog > > <http://t4america.org/2019/11/20/connecting-people-to-jobs-and-services-week…> *5) Rethinking shared mobility:* Be it a new mode, like dockless e-scooters, or a mode as fundamental as walking—all transportation decisions must focus on connecting people to jobs and services. The New Urban Mobility Alliance's Madlyn McAuilffe writes about how shared mobility technologies can focus on achieving this goal. Read more on our blog > > <http://t4america.org/2019/11/21/connecting-people-to-jobs-and-services-week…> *(6) The legislative path forward: *Local governments, states, and metropolitan planning organizations need support from the federal government to undertake this new approach of measuring people's access to jobs and services. It’s high time for Congress to make robust travel data and analysis tools available to transportation agencies. Read more on the blog > > <http://t4america.org/2019/11/21/connecting-people-to-jobs-and-services-week…> *(7) Why Des Moines wants Congress to step up:* The Des Moines Area MPO wants to fund projects that improve access the most. But—like most MPOs and local governments across the country—its budget for the technology that makes this possible is small. It’s time for Congress to help local communities invest in the right projects. Read more on the blog > > <http://The%20Des%20Moines%20Area%20MPO%20wants%20to%20make%20a%20shift%20to…> *(8) What happens when Jarrett Walker takes over your Twitter: *Who better to explain how far we've deviated from transportation's purpose—to connect people to opportunity—and how to get back on track than transit planner Jarrett Walker? Walker and his team are famous for helping cities across the world align their land use with transit goals. Check out the tweet highlights on our blog > > <http://t4america.org/2019/11/25/jarrett-walker-twitter-takeover/>

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Toronto Star: Most peds and cyclists killed or seriously injured in Toronto hit in daylight, with clear visibility (Nov26'19)
by Beth McKechnie 27 Nov '19

27 Nov '19

*Amid arm-band backlash, police data shows most pedestrians and cyclists killed or seriously injured in Toronto are hit in daylight, with clear visibility* https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/gta/2019/11/26/amid-arm-band-backlash-poli… A weekend event where seniors were given fluorescent arm bands to help protect them from getting hit by cars has sparked a fierce backlash from safe streets advocates who say the measure amounts to “victim blaming.” Toronto Coun. James Pasternak was the latest to cross advocates on Monday after he tweeted that high-visibility clothing or reflective gear is “a key part” of keeping everyone — including pedestrians, construction workers, cyclists and crossing guards — safe. Toronto police investigate the scene of an Oct. 13 crash in which two pedestrians and a baby in a stroller were struck at the intersection of Pharmacy Avenue and Ellesmere Road shortly before 11 a.m. The driver fled the scene, police said. (Rene Johnston / Toronto Star) That comment has prompted nearly 300 outraged responses <https://twitter.com/PasternakTO/status/1199016505343651841?s=20> from people who say asking pedestrians to wear reflective gear is at best a distraction from the city’s efforts to reduce traffic deaths. Several noted that a crossing guard <https://www.therecord.com/news-story/9734496-waterloo-crossing-guard-struck…> wearing a bright yellow and orange reflective vest was recently hit during daylight hours in Waterloo, and referenced recent crashes in which drivers plowed into (very visible) buildings. <https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/11/22/driver-arrested-after-15-cars-h…> “Wearing high visibility gear to protect yourself from negligent and reckless drivers is like asking people to wear fire-retardant pyjamas to bed just in case there’s a fire because someone was irresponsible with fire codes & safety,” said one typical response from Dale Thompson <https://twitter.com/daleethompson/status/1199349959826513920?s=20>. “In other words: This isn’t a pedestrian issue,” he wrote. The arm bands are supposed to make pedestrians, especially seniors who are the ones more likely to be hit, more visible to drivers. According to Toronto police data, most pedestrians and cyclists who are killed or seriously injured on city streets are hit by drivers in daylight hours with good visibility. Between 2007 and 2018, a majority — 1,413 in total — of killed or seriously injured pedestrians and cyclists were hit in daylight with clear visibility, the conditions in which an arm band would be unlikely to make a difference. Those conditions account for 51 per cent of the 2,741 pedestrians and cyclists have been killed or seriously injured over that period. The other 1,328 were hit under other conditions, from dusk to dawn, or in rainy, snowy, fogging or otherwise unclear visibility. Police and Coun. Cynthia Lai handed out hundreds of the armbands to seniors at Scarborough’s Woodside Square Mall on Saturday, part of an event in which officers shared safety tips like the importance of making eye contact with approaching drivers. Lai later defended the event to the Star saying everyone has a shared responsibility for road safety. This kind of effort is “textbook victim-blaming” that contributes to “misinformation” that pedestrians somehow contribute to their own deaths, said road safety advocate Jessica Spieker, a spokesperson for advocacy groups Friends and Families for Safe Streets. “To distribute arm bands to seniors flagrantly flies in the face of all of the evidence about road safety,” she said, adding that drivers and infrastructure are at fault he “vast majority” of the time. According to a city report on the same police data prepared as part of the city’s Vision Zero plan to reduce traffic deaths <https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-134993.pdf>, aggressive and distracted driving contribute to a majority — 52 per cent — of all crashes that cause a death or serious injury on Toronto streets. Spieker said she is frustrated with the “agonizingly slow” progress on making streets safer under the city’s plan. Ahead of police board meetings last week, Toronto police <https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/11/21/toronto-police-board-reinstates…> pointed to how crashes have spiked as traffic enforcement has fallen over the last six years. Police pointed to a sharp decline in provincial tickets arguing that the board should reinstate a dedicated traffic enforcement squad, something it agreed to do on Thursday. Separate statistics also presented to the board show Toronto police charged fewer drivers with a criminal traffic offence in 2018 than in any year since the city’s amalgamation in 1998 <https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/11/22/even-as-collisions-rise-toronto…>. Toronto police Deputy Chief Peter Yuen also defended the arm band giveaway, saying Sunday it was planned as part of Pedestrian Safety Month for seniors, who are disproportionately hit. “Visibility is a key contributing factor in many pedestrian, road and traffic incidents,” he wrote in an email.“We’ll continue to do all we can to protect our communities and eliminate deaths and injuries on our roads.” Speaking to CBC Radio’s “Metro Morning” on Tuesday, Councillor Pasternak expanded on his reasoning for supporting giving out the armbands, telling host Matt Galloway that the main focus of Vision Zero is to get cars to slow down and making roadways safer, but there’s also a “public education” aspect. “And that’s why we’re encouraging people to, when they’re crossing, to make eye contact with vehicles as they stop, to put away the cellphone and look up as they’re crossing, wear bright clothing, and of course for all traffic to stop.” Pasternak, councillor for Ward 6 —York Centre, also chairs the Infrastructure and Environment Committee which oversees the city’s Vision Zero road safety plan. He rejects the idea that the arm bands are victim-blaming. “No one’s forcing anyone to take it,” he said. “Nobody’s playing blame here.” Insisting that Vision Zero is working, Pasternak admitted there’s “mayhem” on the roads. “And I don’t like using the word lawlessness, but to some degree people are totally disregarding signalized intersections, stop signs, speed limits, it’s a major problem,” he added. The World Health Organization, he noted, does encourage <https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/ma…> educating pedestrians about the importance of wearing light-coloured clothing and reflective materials. “If we can save one life by reflective clothing or reflective gear I think it’s worth it,” he added. Traffic deaths have not significantly declined in the city since council first adopted the Vision Zero plan in 2016, and both collisions and pedestrian deaths hit a high for recent data last year. Based on the Star’s count, 34 pedestrians have been killed in Toronto so far this year. *With files from Ed Tubb* *May Warren is a breaking news reporter based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @maywarren11 <https://twitter.com/maywarren11>*

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TAC Latent Demand for Active Transportation - Practitioner Survey (closes Nov 22)
by Beth McKechnie 21 Nov '19

21 Nov '19

*From:* Ronauq Sabharwal <Ronauq.Sabharwal(a)cima.ca> Good morning, The *TAC Transportation Planning and Research Standing Committee* is undertaking the project: *Methods for Estimating Latent Demand for Active Transportation*. Thank you to those who have already completed the survey. A reminder that the deadline is this Friday, November 22. The survey takes approximately ~15 minutes to complete. Your input will greatly help in understanding the existing research and develop various methodologies to estimate latent demand for active transportation and their benefits and dis-benefits. If you are an employee in the public sector: The Jurisdictional Survey Link <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surve…> *If you are an active transportation practitioner working in academia, consulting or advocacy: The Practitioner Survey Link <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.surve…>* Please see more information regarding the survey below. Thank you so much for your time and if you have any questions, please contact me. Regards, Ronauq Sabharwal ------------------------------ *RONAUQ SABHARWAL, *MEngCEM Traffic Analyst / Transportation – Traffic Engineering *T* 905-695-1005 ext. 5744 *F* 905-695-0525 500–5935 Airport Road, Mississauga, ON L4V 1W5 CANADA <http://www.cima.ca/> ------------------------------ Do you really need to print this email? Let's protect the environment! CONFIDENTIALITY WARNING This e-mail is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and delete it in its entirety.

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Fwd: SafeSpeedsWPG: We're on the gram and we're having a Town Hall!
by Dave Elmore 19 Nov '19

19 Nov '19

Please see the information below on a town hall planned for December 5th hosted by SafeSpeedsWPG and the Wolseley Residents Association. Thanks Dave o _ ( \ _ (X)\ /(X) Hi everyone! Please note, SafeSpeedsWPG and the Wolseley Residents Association are hosting a Town Hall with Green Action Centre on December 5th, 7 - 8:30pm at Old Grace Housing Co-op on Arlington Ave. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join the conversation about what safe residential speeds can do for people and communities. We hope you'll attend and bring friends and family. As well, SafeSpeedsWPG is now on Instagram! Please follow us @safespeedswpg if you're on this platform and let others know. For Instagram content, we are asking people to share their stories with us: "what does a safe residential speed limit in your community mean to you?" Please email me your stories with a photo or two and we will share your stories on our page. As well, please send friends and family to *www.safespeedswpg.com <http://www.safespeedswpg.com> *- there, they can click on "Share your story" for instructions on how to share their experiences and photos on our Instagram page. Hope to see you at our Town Hall and have a great holiday season!

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Micromobility guidance from other cities (bikeshares, e-scooters)
by Beth McKechnie 19 Nov '19

19 Nov '19

Hi everyone, Micromobility was a hot topic at the APBP conference in Portland this past August. They defined it as: bikeshare (docked or dockless) and e-scooters. Here is a summary of what we heard during panel presentations and on a tour. Speakers noted that e-scooters are still very new, joking about their lengthy experience being 1.5 years. For the short version, simply read the Top 10 insights and Top needs below. Or keep reading for lessons learned from a variety of cities along with comments from vendors of bikeshares and e-scooters. And if you're visual, there's a video link at the end. cheers, Beth * * * * * *Top 10 insights on bikeshares and e-scooters* APBP Conference (Portland, OR) Aug 25-28, 2019 1. Bike lanes / paths / quiet streets preferred infra for e-scooter users 2. E-bikes the best bet for bikesharing 3. E-scooters considered the most financially viable opportunity for vendors 4. Incorrect parking and illegal sidewalk riding main complaints about e-scooters (along with speed) 5. Data sharing by vendors essential 6. Surcharges (or discounts) important to incentivize behaviour of both vendors and users 7. Low income programs and lowered barriers to access important (eg. PayNearMe, text-to-unload, distribution outside downtown)* 8. E-scooter collisions more frequent with first time users - intro training program helps 9. Staff time is significant to set up, permit vendors, and administer program 10. Ask for more from vendors (public ROW is valuable) ** Recommended to require this data breakout from vendors* * * * * * *Top needs for e-scooter introduction:* 1. Staff time 2. Regulation 3. Procurement framework (permitting vendors) 4. Fees to incentivize vendor and user behaviour 5. Set up data reporting standards 6. Continue to build out bikeway network (encourages ridership & safety) 7. Know that parking will be an issue 8. Work closely with other departments and regional partners, e.g. parks dept, universities Note: APBP is working on a micromobility policy statement that will include key factors for success and recommendations. * * * * * *Spokane* - They market it as "WheelShare <https://my.spokanecity.org/projects/wheelshare/>" (covering e-bikes and e-scooters) - Use one vendor only (Lime) - more of a partnership - Post-pilot settled on 100 e-bikes and 1200 e-scooters - Get 3.7 rides/day e-scooters and 1.5/day e-bikes (2019 to date) - #1 complaint - riding on downtown sidewalks (illegal but residents don't believe or know that). About 50% of users ride on dntn sidewalk (34% e-scooters and 16% e-bikes). - Also an issue with scooter parking blocking peds - Scoot Spokane First Ride program for new scooter users - Data from Lime helps them identify where there is demand/need for infrastructure *Minneapolis* - Branded as Nice Ride <https://www.niceridemn.com/> - 3100 bikes (combination docked and dockless, and now e-bikes) - Now looking to replace all of their pedal bikes with e-bikes - Scooters are not allowed on sidewalks anywhere - Helmet recommended but not required - Bike network pretty good and also used for scooters - Piloting scooter parking (painted stencil) within buffer zones of dntn bike lane grid - Scooters proving popular; only had 1 serious user injury to date (not life altering) - Vendor permits require distribution with 40% dntn and 30% in areas of concentrated poverty (i.e. less than $46K/yr) - Offer a reduced fare program - 35% of scooter users are new (i.e. they are not cyclists) - Avg trip length is 1.3 miles *Seattle* - Launched dockless bikeshare pilot in July 2017: - permitted private vendors - regulated operations - collected fees and data - wanted no cost to the city - Jump & Lime now operating in Seattle (Lyft permitted but haven't launched) - Looking to launch e-scooters in 2020 - Will permit up to 20,000 bikes but only 5-7K deployed at present - Want more e-bikes but they're more expensive and harder for vendors to provide - Offer low income programs and lowered barriers to access - Jump uses Uber gift card with text-to-unload; Lime uses PayNearMe <https://home.paynearme.com/> (7-11s) with text-to-unload - Data collection lesson learned - now wish they'd also required vendors to provide breakout of low income % usage - Partner with Outdoors for All Foundation <https://outdoorsforall.org/about-us/who-we-are/> (adaptive bikes, like Freedom Concepts <https://www.freedomconcepts.com/> does in MB) to allow more people to experience bikesharing - Bike parking - added ~150 new bike corrals in 2019 near transit and areas without bike parking (can be used for both bikeshare and personal bikes) - Logged almost 900,000 rides this year - Ongoing fleet audits & infractions: - Bikeshare parking - - 2% ADA violations - 10-20% obstruction hazards - 25-30% improperly parked - Bikeshare maintenance - - 1.5% safety maintenance issues - 4.8% not in good working order *Portland* - Now in their second pilot <https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/77294> for e-scooter sharing - Not branded; 6 vendors operating in Portland - Lime, Bird, Spin, Razor (seated scooters), Shared, Bolt - Require data sharing and ensure the privacy of sensitive location data - Report from first pilot <https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/709719> found: - 71% used e-scooters for transportation - 34% replaced driving and ride-hailing with scooter trips - 44% of users new to the bike lane - Positive response from 62% of Portlanders - Users prefer low-speed streets and bike lanes - Scooter program also popular with people of colour and low income - After first pilot, found that people wanted more access to scooters in more parts of the city as well as seated scooters - Complaints mostly around incorrect scooter parking and illegal sidewalk riding - Portland Tribune article (August 27, 2019) reported results for first 6 months of 2nd e-scooter pilot: - 253,690 trips logged during the first 10 weeks of program - 307,456 total miles logged by users - 46 emergency room trips linked to e-scooter crashes (source: Multnomah County Health Dept) - 16 reports of e-scooter collisions - 903 complaints sent to e-scooter vendors by the public regarding bad behaviour - 371 emails sent by the public to PBOT - 340 total fines and warnings issued by PBOT staff for illegal parking or riding on sidewalks - Vendor permits require deployment in areas outside dntn - Think scooters likely worth it even if it's eating a bit into bikeshare usage - If Portland decides to continue with e-scooters after the 2nd pilot, they may consider partnering with 1 vendor; if the results are still not clear they might continue with multiple vendors - *Additional learnings from Micromobility mobile conference tour:* - E-scooter users prefer using bike network to other streets - Avg trip length = ~0.6 mile - Scooters not allowed on park greenways along river (most popular/desirable route); lesson learned - talk to your parks dept in planning stages - Low income pass with debit/cash options available for both bikeshare and e-scooters but little uptake for e-scooters (difficult to access) - PBOT doesn't require speed cap on e-scooters (some cities cap anywhere from 5-15 mph) - Vendors are asked to incentive users to return scooters to a designated zone - PBOT provides surcharge discount to place scooters in neighbourhoods with less demand (e.g. 20 cent surcharge in Dntn Portland but 5 cents in East Portland) - Biketown <https://www.biketownpdx.com/> - have 5 motorized (e-assist) trikes to rebalance distribution of bikeshare; also have 2 big transit vans - trikes used to get the bikes to one station for van to pick up a bunch at once - Emissions tracking - this year PBOT is requiring reporting of VMT for redistribution (vans); also analyzing the life cycle of e-scooters to ensure there is an environmental ROI - E-bikes are a game changer (e.g. distance boundaries) but more challenging to rebalance as they're even heavier - Injuries - most scooter users who get injured do so on their first ride (but usually continue to ride) - State law requires helmets on scooters but not for bikes - Surcharges / fees charged to vendors and users goes to support program administration (but not enough to fund infra) - *Comments from other tour participants:* - Don't use Skip (battery explosions) - E-scooters hard on knees & back due to user's joints absorbing the shock; Lime coming out with front shocks <https://techau.com.au/lime-scooter-v3-adds-2-8-colour-display-bigger-wheels…> - Kelowna got around provincial legislation by passing a municipal by-law allowing e-scooters on specific multi-use pathways <https://infotel.ca/newsitem/kelownas-experiment-with-e-scooters-a-major-sum…> *San Francisco* - Offer both dockless bikeshare and e-scooters - 12-month pilot ends Oct 14, 2019 - 2 permittees - Skip and Scoot - Key metrics for pilot project: - Use (# trips & availability) - Safety and accessibility (collisions, lock-to, user education) - Equity and engagement (demographics, programming) - Number complaints / citations - Pilot found 42% of all trips replace auto trips - Lessons learned from pilot - - Ask for more from vendors (public ROW is valuable) - Even though vendors are responsible, the city is accountable (takes flack because it's public ROW) - 2/3 of scooters were stolen in the first few weeks of availability - Don't underestimate staff time needed (e.g. even once you've developed the permit requirements, scoring applications incredibly time intensive) *General notes from vendor presentations (Lime, Spin, Jump)* - Geofencing used to help enforce city regulations on use (e.g. scooters are not allowed on park greenways in Portland) - Micromobility helpful not only for first/last mile but also in areas not well served by transit - Vendors are interested in cities where there is good bike infra as it's critical for success (influences decision to come and to stay) - Also important is the city's attitude, i.e. openness to collaborate and interest in helping ensure viability - Lime rep noted that a low performing scooter market still does better than a high performing e-bike market (scooters are the real route for vendor viability) - 1/3 of Lime riders report an income $50K or less; Lime Access provides 50% discount to qualified individuals along with cash & non-smartphone options; also provide multilingual safety and rider education materials and hire from under-resourced communities. - Spin bought out by Ford last year - Jump Bicycles started out as Social Bicycles (Sobi) but then bought by Uber; now have both bikes and scooters - Jump's data shows only a 13% overlap between bike and scooter users, reinforcing experience elsewhere - Future - looking at kiosks where users can swap out batteries themselves * * * * * *APBP Portland: **Going Macro with Micromobility (panel video) * www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc13hqk7OeA This panel will explore the evolving landscape of micromobility and its integration into cities. Panelists from large and mid-size cities will discuss their experiences and approaches in working with private micromobility providers and adapting programs and facilities to new users and rules of the road. Micromobility providers will shed light on the factors involved in success and profitability, and their experiences as private companies operating in the public realm. Moderated discussions and audience questions will go deeper into the dynamics between public and private entities in the transportation realm, and challenge us to envision the streetscape of the future (including winners and losers in the race for mode share). 0:00 - Melissa May White, AICP, SSFM International, Inc. 1:54 - Rae-Leigh Stark, Toole Design 13:20 - Brandon Blankenagel, City of Spokane 20:34 - Alexander Kado, City of Minneapolis 29:25 - Joel Miller, Seattle Department of Transportation 39:18 - Briana Orr, Portland Bureau of Transportation 51:13 - Jamie Parks, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 1:01:22 - City Panel Q&A 1:11:53 - Gabriel Scheer, Lime 1:22:45 - Kay Cheng, Spin 1:33:54 - Anne Brask, Jump 1:41:46 - Provider Panel Q&A 1:52:55 - William Henderson, RideReport 2:04:04 - Combined Panel Q&A Recorded at the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals conference in Portland, OR, August 28, 2019.

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Free webinar: Traffic Safety and Its Relationship to Vision Zero (Dec 3)
by Beth McKechnie 19 Nov '19

19 Nov '19

Free Webinar: December 3 at 3:00 pm EDT Traffic Safety and Its Relationship to Vision Zero Register here <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001SDjc5cW1Fq9pJIwVXKTD75KK6wTp7TEB6sPvj-efsUXh…> There is growing interest in “traffic safety culture” (TSC) as a key factor to manage and sustain safe roadway transportation systems, especially as more jurisdictions adopt targets of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries. However, the theory, terminology, and methods involved in addressing TSC come from human and social science disciplines that are not always familiar to traffic safety agencies (e.g., departments of transportation, driver’s licensing, motor vehicle records, etc.). The lack of shared language and understanding about TSC limits the ability of agencies to explore this topic and engage new stakeholders. Additionally, the variation in the interpretation and implementation of TSC strategies has resulted in a lack of consensus about best practices. Communication tools that develop shared language and understanding about TSC and its relationship to vision zero goals are needed. This webinar will summarize the TSC Primer and its supporting toolkit that have been developed to address this need as part of a multi-state pooled fund project. Learn More About Pooled Fund Program <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001SDjc5cW1Fq9pJIwVXKTD75KK6wTp7TEB6sPvj-efsUXh…> Speakers Sue Sillick, Montana Department of Transportation Nic Ward, Center for Health and Safety Culture

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AT Webinar: Aging in Place - Designing Communities to Support Mobility (Nov 20, 2-3pm)
by Beth McKechnie 14 Nov '19

14 Nov '19

Please join Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg for a group viewing of the monthly APBP webinar in the EcoCentre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/uncategorized/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-o…> boardroom. This will be followed by discussion for those who wish to stay. * * * * * Aging in Place: Designing Communities to Support Mobility Wed, Nov 20th at 2:00 pm One of the greatest challenges for maintaining the health and independence of our aging population is designing communities that provide accessible connections to support the changing mobility needs of our elders. Designing communities with the senior in mind can provide improved opportunities for healthy transportation while preserving independence and dignity for people who wish to age in place. What’s more, communities that work for our eldest populations benefit users of all abilities. Presenters: - Carol Kachadoorian, Toole Design - Katie White, The Ohio State University College of Social Work - Madeline Brozen, UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

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Creative ped safety videos
by Beth McKechnie 13 Nov '19

13 Nov '19

Couple of very cool ads created by the Société de l’Assurance Automobile du Québec on pedestrian safety. You don't need to speak French to get the message! https://pricetags.ca/2019/10/30/driving-carefully-in-quebecthe-viral-videos… -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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TAC Resource: Integrating Health and Transportation in Canada (Nov 2019)
by Beth McKechnie 13 Nov '19

13 Nov '19

*Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share...* *Integrating Health and Transportation in Canada * https://www.tac-atc.ca/en/publications/ptm-ihtc-e Traditionally, transportation systems have been designed for motorized vehicles to move people, goods and services efficiently. Excluding more active and sustainable modes of travel from these systems in meaningful ways has often influenced Canadians to use motorized vehicles. The design of transportation systems and land use can help achieve public health goals such as increased physical activity, reduced chronic diseases, and reduced exposure to air and noise pollution. Good health can be facilitated or negatively impacted by transportation policies, plans, analyses, funding levels, and infrastructure design decisions – all of which impact the relative safety, efficiency, costs, and overall desirability and relative utility across modes of travel. As a result, the potential health consequences of transportation decisions and land use actions are a growing part of the fields’ lexicons. *Integrating Health and Transportation in Canada*: - Provides a review of literature and best practices on the topic; - Describes input provided by practitioners about knowledge and resources needed; - Describes the methodology used to develop recommendations for improvement; and - Provides, for each recommendation, resources related to the champions, preliminary actions and challenges identified.

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Driver’s licence fees to fund AT in PEI
by Beth McKechnie 13 Nov '19

13 Nov '19

Driver’s licence fees return to fund climate change projects, says P.E.I. government https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/canada/drivers-license-fees-return-to-f… CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I —Driver’s licence fees will be reinstated in 2020 to pay for a $5 million active transportation fund for P.E.I., said the province on Tuesday. As of Jan. 1, 2020, the driver’s licence fee rebate for Islanders will end. The free driver's licences were introduced by the previous Liberal government in the months leading up to the last provincial election. The free licences were funded with revenue from a modest federally mandated tax on carbon. Registration fees will also increase for regular vehicles, however electric vehicles and hybrids will continue to receive registration fee discounts. The new $5 million active transportation fund will build new walking and bike paths, widen paved shoulders and better connect existing walking and cycling trails to improve and grow our active transportation network. "I know some Islanders will be disappointed when they don't get a free drivers licence. But I am determined to address climate challenges head on," Transportation Minister Steven Myers told the legislature on Tuesday. Under the new fund, a list of priority investments across the province will be compiled through public and partner feedback this winter, said Myers. Priority projects will begin during the 2020 construction season. Green transportation critic Stephen Howard welcomed the announcement. "It's encouraging to hear that the government is going to be taking some actual action on climate targets with the funds that are supposed to be dedicated towards greenhouse gas emissions," Howard said. Howard further suggested the new funding should go toward improving cycling paths on the Hillsborough Bridge. Liberal MLA Robert Henderson suggested the changes would increase fees paid by Islanders. "I haven't seen any platform that said they were going to increase taxes and fees on Islanders. Now they're looking like they're going to do that," Henderson said. "I don't think our party was too consulted or collaborated on (with) this particular announcement." The licences will be renewed for a five year term. Twitter.com/stu_neatby

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CBC: Calgary grows downtown cycle track network by 1.5 kilometres
by Beth McKechnie 12 Nov '19

12 Nov '19

Nice to see Calgary continuing to build on the success of their downtown protected bike lane grid: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cycle-track-calgary-1.5352572 -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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Event Recap: Parking And The City ft. Dr. Donald Shoup
by Heather McKie 07 Nov '19

07 Nov '19

In October 2019, Green Action Centre partnered with the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ to bring Dr. Donald Shoup <http://www.shoupdogg.com/> to Winnipeg for *Parking And The City*. This two-day event had the goal of bringing planners, developers, parking managers, city councilors, stakeholders and citizens together to hear from one of the world’s leading experts in parking. Those in attendance had the opportunity to learn, debate and envision how changes to our management of parking could transform our cities. Read the full event recap *HERE <https://greenactioncentre.ca/healthy-travel/recap-parking-and-the-city/>*, which includes a video recording and presentation slides. -- *Heather McKie* Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 204-925-3777 ext. 107 | 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB *Green Action Centre is your green living hub* Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/>. Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/GreenActionCentre/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/greenactionctr> | Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/greenactioncentre/> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/green-action-centre/> <https://www.gomanitoba.ca/Public/Home.aspx> ᐧ

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Integrated Transport and Health Impacts Model (ITHIM): Invitation to Research Seminar - November 13, 2019
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 07 Nov '19

07 Nov '19

The ITHIM tool calculates the change in fine particulate air pollution from vehicle exhaust, physical activity from walking and cycling, and injuries from traffic collisions that result from a change in transportation from vehicles to walking and biking to assess the overall benefit in health as well as the costs from changes in air pollution, physical activity, and traffic injuries. Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDAsInVy…>. [CARB_header] ________________________________ Join CARB for the Upcoming Research Seminar on November 13, 2019 Open Source Integrated Transport and Health Impacts Model (ITHIM) ________________________________ Every year, more than 30,000 Californians die prematurely from traffic injuries and chronic diseases linked to physical inactivity and air pollution. The transportation system in California impacts our health in both positive and negative ways. It enables us to access goods and services, jobs, and opportunities, however, car-centric transportation is associated with long and sedentary commuting, noise, air pollution, urban sprawl, community severance, and traffic injuries. Active travel for transportation can improve public health by offering opportunities for physical activity through walking and cycling and decrease the production of air pollution. Low levels of physical activity contribute to the premature deaths of Californians each year and raise the risks and costs of major chronic diseases. According to the California Household Survey and the US Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, about 20% of Californians indicate low to no physical activity.The transportation sector also accounts for about 40% of directly emitted greenhouse gases annually in California. These gases lead to warming air temperatures, which favor the formation of health harming smog. Replacing short trips taken by cars with walking, cycling, and transit represents a double win: improving health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. ITHIM which stands for Integrated Transport and Health Impacts Model (ITHIM) is a tool that can calculate the health benefits, harms, and cost savings of active transportation. The California version of the ITHIM planning tool answers the question of "How much health benefit we can expect by changing our mode of transportation from cars to active transportation such as walking and biking?" The ITHIM tool calculates the change in fine particulate air pollution from vehicle exhaust, physical activity from walking and cycling, and injuries from traffic collisions that result from a change in transportation from vehicles to walking and biking to assess the overall benefit in health as well as the costs from changes in air pollution, physical activity, and traffic injuries. DATE: November 13, 2019 TIME: 10:00 a.m. LOCATION: California Environmental Protection Agency California Air Resources Board | Sierra Hearing Room 1001 I Street Sacramento, California 95814 Webcast<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVy…> ________________________________ Speaker Biography Neil Maizlish, Ph.D., M.P.H.,is an epidemiologist with over 30 years of experience in research methods, statistics, and health informatics in government, academia, unions, and health care organizations. He currently is a Visiting Researcher at the University of California, Davis, where he models the health co-benefits of active transport as a greenhouse gas mitigation strategy. He is also a senior Research Scientist at the Public Health Institute, focusing on the development of healthy community indicators. CLEARING CALIFORNIA SKIES FOR 50 YEARS CARB is the lead agency for California's fight against climate change, and oversees all air pollution control efforts in the state to attain and maintain health-based air quality standards. Learn more at www.arb.ca.gov<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVy…>.<abe/templates/189475/www.arb.ca.gov> Stay connected with California Air Resources Board [Social Media icons]<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDMsInVy…> Manage Subscriptions<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDQsInVy…> | Unsubscribe All<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDUsInF1…> | Help<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDYsInVy…> ________________________________ This email was sent to terry.zdan(a)gov.mb.ca<mailto:terry.zdan@gov.mb.ca> using GovDelivery Communications Cloud, on behalf of: California Air Resources Board * 1001 "I" Street * Sacramento, CA * 95814 [GovDelivery logo]<https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDcsInVy…>

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"School Streets" Pilot in Toronto: Webinar, Thursday November 21
by Sean Carlson 06 Nov '19

06 Nov '19

The School Streets concept - car-free areas in front of schools during arrival and dismissal times that have been used in the UK and other European countries - is being piloted in Canada (Toronto) for the first time. Ontario Active School Travel is hosting a webinar on planning and implementing School Streets, which could be valuable for many AT network members! *Sean Carlson* (he/him/his) Active and Safe Routes to School Program, Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 204-925-3777 ext. 103 | 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB *Green Action Centre is your green living hub* Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/>. Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/GreenActionCentre/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/greenactionctr> | Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/greenactioncentre/> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/green-action-centre/> ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Ontario Active School Travel <info(a)ontarioactiveschooltravel.ca> Date: Tue, Nov 5, 2019 at 4:31 PM Subject: Register for School Streets Webinar To: Sean Carlson <sean(a)greenactioncentre.ca> Thursday, 21 November 2019 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM (EST) View this email in your browser <https://mailchi.mp/ontarioactiveschooltravel.ca/ontario-active-school-trave…> A program of Green Communities Canada *5 November 2019 * School Streets Webinar *Register for School Streets Webinar* <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> *Thursday, 21 November 2019 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM (EST)* Ontario Active School Travel <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> and 8 80 Cities <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> present a webinar on *School Streets*, a successful program from the U.K. that has been proven to improve safety, reduce air pollution, and encourage more active transportation. School Streets are appearing in cities across the UK and Europe, where communities take part in creating car-free zones in front of schools at peak drop-off and pick-up times. Hackney Borough Council is a municipality that has pioneered the installation of School Street zones in the City of London, U.K. with 4 permanent zones established to date, and 3 more pilots underway in 2019. Building on the lessons learnt in Hackney, 8 80 Cities teamed up with Keele Street Public School, Toronto District School Board and EcoKids to host the first School Streets pilot project in Canada <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> this October. *Learn about how to plan and implement a School Street * This webinar will discuss the motivations behind the School Streets movement, and identify what makes a good candidate for a successful School Street pilot. Our presenters will share their experiences of planning and implementing School Streets and highlight resources available to support these initiatives: - *Tyler Linton - Sustainable Transport and Engagement Group Manager, London Borough of Hackney (U.K)* - *Amanda O’Rourke - Executive Director, 8-80 Cities* - *Candice Leung - Project Coordinator, 8-80 Cities* *REGISTER NOW* <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> Ontario Active School Travel is a program of Green Communities Canada with funding from the Government of Ontario. <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4ed2453…> *Copyright © 2019 Green Communities Canada, All rights reserved.* You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive information on Ontario Active School Travel and/or you subscribed to Canada Walks News. *Our mailing address is:* Green Communities Canada 416 Chambers St, 2nd Floor Peterborough, Ontario K9H 3V1 Canada Add us to your address book <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/vcard?u=4ed2453d5f9f5…> Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/profile?u=4ed2453d5f9…> or unsubscribe from this list <https://ontarioactiveschooltravel.us4.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=4ed2453…> . [image: Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp] <http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&utm…> ᐧ

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Pedestrian Safety and Traffic-Speed Management Resource
by Beth McKechnie 05 Nov '19

05 Nov '19

Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share! [image: http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=cover_nchrp_syn_535] [image: http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=viewthispdf] <https://www.nap.edu/login.php?action=guest&record_id=25618> [image: http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=sponsorbeta] <http://www.trb.org/main/blurbs/179827.aspx> [image: http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=buythisbook] <https://www.mytrb.org/Store/Product.aspx?ID=10368> Pedestrian Safety Relative to Traffic-Speed Management SYH535 10368 http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_535.pdf 179827 *Pedestrian Safety Relative to Traffic-Speed Management * Measures that are effective at reducing speed, such as speed humps and mini traffic circles, are sometimes used in low-speed areas such as school zones. But they are often not recommended or allowed (via local policy) on the higher-speed streets typically associated with the highest injury severity for pedestrians. For those higher-speed streets, redesigning them to communicate lower speed, such as through a roadway-reconfiguration effort, can effectively accomplish the goal of lowering speed. In the absence of street redesign, however, another effective current solution is enforcement, and particularly automated speed enforcement (ASE) that frees police to focus on other issues and that is free from implicit or explicit bias. It is important to carefully consider community context when selecting locations to employ ASE, to avoid disproportionately burdening any historically disadvantaged communities that surround the typically high-speed streets that need to be addressed. The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's *NCHRP Synthesis 535: Pedestrian Safety Relative to Traffic-Speed Management* aims to document what is known about strategies and countermeasures to address pedestrian safety via traffic-speed management in urban environments. For example, the City of San Francisco regularly uses curb extensions as traffic-calming devices on its streets. However, the political and land use context of each city heavily influences the types of treatments that are considered feasible for each city. Thus, the City of Los Angeles has had to find alternatives to both ASE and road diets, the latter of which have been the subject of intense public backlash in some cases. These realities—that speed management can be fraught with difficulty—have spurred creative thinking about how to work within contextual confines, resulting in some particularly noteworthy and promising practices. For example, the City of Nashville anticipated potential backlash against speed-management efforts and thus chose to work with advocacy groups to identify areas of the city desiring walkability improvements. By installing walkability improvements in those areas first, city leaders created instant wins that could be used as leverage for future projects. The authors of the synthesis found there may be a need for greater clarity about the speed-limit-setting process, as well as for greater collaboration between local and state agencies when state roads run through urban areas. In particular, it may be worth exploring whether there is a need for a framework that will foster collaboration between local and state staff on safety initiatives such as achieving flexibility in roadway design, changing laws or regulations that govern speed-limit setting, and finding a balance between local safety needs and regional mobility needs. Such a framework may support both local and state agencies attempting to address safety issues and reach larger goals as articulated through movements like Vision Zero. Project: Project Information <https://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4392> DOI: 10.17226/25618 <https://dx.doi.org/10.17226/25618> Project Number: 20-05/Topic 49-08 E-Newsletter Type: Recently Released TRB Publications <http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs.aspx?fields=ENewsletterType%7CRecently%20Rel…> TRB Publication Type: NCHRP Synthesis Report <http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs.aspx?fields=PublicationType%7CNCHRP%20Synthe…> *H**A**P**P**Y* *T**R**A**I**L**S * Terry Zdan BA MEDes Policy and Legislation Unit | Manitoba Infrastructure 1520 215 Garry Street Winnipeg MB R3C 3P3 *C 204 227 3724* E Terry.Zdan(a)gov.mb.ca [image: winnipeg-jets-logo-new] *"...Resilience is the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events..."* þ Think green, read on screen | Soyez écolo, lisez à l'écran

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FYI : Rapid Transit Reports Winter Cyclist Traffic on Active Transportation Networks
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 01 Nov '19

01 Nov '19

FYI - See Report # 15 http://clkapps.winnipeg.ca/DMIS/ViewDoc.asp?DocId=18504&SectionId=&InitUrl= HAPPY TRAILS Terry Zdan BA MEDes

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WFP: City tests school-zone beacons donated by businessman (Oct24'19)
by Beth McKechnie 24 Oct '19

24 Oct '19

*City tests school-zone beacons donated by businessman* * Amber markers await green light * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/flashing-amber-stuck-at-red-awaitin… BUSINESSMAN Chuck Lewis is hoping to begin installing flashing amber lights, which he wants to buy for city school zones, before Christmas. Lewis said he provided one of the beacons, which is undergoing a two-stage testing process, to the city earlier this month. “They’re the same beacons that have been installed all across Toronto, so I can’t see there being any problems because I’m sure Toronto tested them, too, before they installed them,” Lewis said. Lewis, general manager of Expert Electric, has offered to purchase and install solar-powered flashing amber lights for all reduced-speed school zones in the city. A civic spokeswoman said there are 225 schools that have reduced-speed zones. Each light costs around $3,500, with two lights per zone — one for each traffic direction on an adjacent street. The minimum cost of the initiative would be $1.575 million. Some schools have more than one adjacent reduced-speed street, adding more lights and higher costs to the equation. Surprisingly, for a gift with such a large price tag, the city has acted cautiously. Lewis approached the city with the idea four years ago but was rejected by officials, who claimed the province wouldn’t allow him to do it. Coun. Kevin Klein heard about Lewis’s original offer shortly after taking office following the 2018 election, and in early July, raised it at the Assiniboia community committee. The committee endorsed it and recommended the offer to the property and development committee, which deals with offers of gifts to the city. The committee also supported the offer and instructed the administration to investigate. The administration prepared a report for the committee’s Sept. 4 meeting endorsing the offer and said a formal legal agreement would be drafted and brought back to the committee. What the public service didn’t tell the committee, however, was that the public works department wanted the lights tested before an agreement would be drafted and signed. Lewis said testing the lights before the city agreed to accept the offer made sense. “There’s no point in me giving them several hundred beacons only to learn they won’t stand up to our conditions, but I don’t see how they won’t.” Lewis said he was surprised to learn that even with the committee’s direction in September, civic officials were hesitant to buy the one light needed for testing. “They said they didn’t want me to provide a light that they might possibly wreck during the testing phase, but they said no one at city hall was willing to sign off on the purchase of the one light they needed for the test,” Lewis said. “Can you believe it? It only cost about $3,500 to buy, but no one was willing to approve the purchase. I said, ‘What the heck, I’ll buy it.’ I’m going to buy them all, anyway.” Once approved, the lights will be installed on the same posts that the reduced-speed signs are posted on. They’ll be programmed to flash only during the time stipulated in the bylaw and posted on the signs: 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, from September to June. Coun. Brian Mayes, chairman of the property and development committee, said councillors will get an update on the initiative at a meeting on Monday. Lewis said the city set up the beacon at one of its works yards two weeks ago for a month-long testing period, adding that will be followed by a second month-long test in a school zone. David Patman, the city’s manager of transportation, told the committee at its Sept. 4 meeting the testing is necessary to ensure it meets regulatory standards and so the city is not exposed to any future liabilities. Lewis is convinced the testing is only a formality. “They said after one month, if it passes all their tests, it will be put at a school for a month. Then after that, it’s a go,” he said. “They seemed happy with it the last time I talked to them about it. There were no concerns.” aldo.santin(a)freepress.mb.ca

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How do you measure mobility?
by Beth McKechnie 23 Oct '19

23 Oct '19

Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share of this new (U.S.) tool: *New modes of transportation are popping up in cities and towns across the world. Innovations include transportation network companies like Lyft, Uber, and Via, and more recently dockless bikes and scooters, all of which have shaken up transportation sector.* *These new technologies are likely to have dramatic impacts on the way people move – but how do we assess this impact? These new technologies provide additional choices, but which improves overall mobility? While walk or bike scores that exist in some cities are useful, they don’t look at the whole mobility picture or consider future technologies like connected cars and automated vehicles. How do we assess the energy impacts of these technologies? Evaluate their affordability? Or weigh their tradeoffs and overall impact across various dimensions? * Full story: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/how-do-you-measure-mobility -- Beth McKechnie (she/her) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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WFP Analysis: Shared streets create vibrancy (Oct21'19)
by Beth McKechnie 21 Oct '19

21 Oct '19

*Shared streets create vibrancy * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/shared-streets-create-vi… WHEN it comes to moving around our cities, Canadians live in a world of rules — green lights, yellow lights, red lights, speed limits, crosswalks, countdowns, no parking, no stopping, no riding on the sidewalk. All these rules are intended to order pedestrians, drivers and cyclists into individual corridors where each can move with blind obedience to lights and signs. They are designed to keep vehicles moving quickly, and naturally prioritize traffic flow for the largest, fastest and most dangerous road users. Sometimes a street has a different purpose, a different story to tell. Some streets are more importantly a great place than a great connector. To be this, they must be designed first as somewhere to linger, not to move quickly through. A street can be the social and economic heart of its community. Those with a strong sense of place can entice people to the sidewalks and public spaces, key to making urban neighbourhoods attractive places to live, work, shop and socialize. But when vehicle speed is prioritized, these streets feel less safe and become less attractive to sit near, live on or walk along. And as they attract fewer people, the businesses falter, the appeal to new residents decreases and the neighbourhood begins to decline. About 30 years ago, a Dutch traffic engineer named Hans Monderman looked at the design of low-traffic streets and considered ways to prioritize all users equally, to make streets safe, vibrant and attractive places for people. His radical solution was to get rid of the rules completely, calling the idea a “shared street.” Imagine sitting on a bench, enjoying a coffee, and the street in front of you looks more like a public plaza than a road. There are no curbs, and no sidewalks. Spaces are defined with trees, planters, benches and outdoor cafés. The paving pattern on the road surface appears as a single, beautiful piece of public art where parents pushing strollers, people riding bikes and even drivers in slow-moving cars mix seamlessly in a choreographed kaleidoscope of movement. It sounds like a utopian fantasy that would in reality lead to carnage in the streets, like a scene from a Mad Max movie, but shared streets exist around the world. They are counterintuitive and initially almost always met with skepticism, but they often work. In the absence of signage, lights and defined areas for each road user, people rely on social interaction to define their space. Instead of robotically following traffic signals, the natural uncertainty of the environment causes drivers to instinctively slow down (typically to 10 km/h) and become more engaged with other road users. People stop looking at signs and begin looking at each other. A pedestrian makes eye contact with a driver — a nod to go ahead, a wave, and they each proceed. When done successfully, the street becomes a place where everyone is equal, creating a safe and welcoming environment that can transform the character of an entire neighbourhood. Now imagine you are watching this scene in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. Coun. Vivian Santos is hoping this will become reality, recently bringing forward a motion which proposes a pilot project for a shared-streets concept on Bannatyne Avenue and Albert and Arthur streets, adjacent to Old Market Square. The motion was approved to proceed by a public works committee. The idea came out of recent debate about the challenges of incorporating loading zones that are being displaced by bike lanes required to protect cyclists from higher-speed vehicle traffic. The shared-streets concept maintains vehicle access, allowing loading to occur for local businesses, and eliminates the need for bike lanes because of the inherent safety of reduced traffic speeds. The proposal has these pragmatic roots, but it represents a much greater opportunity to introduce a new level of vibrancy to the Exchange District, helping to make it the destination and livable neighbourhood that it has the potential to be. Cities across the world are embracing the idea of shared streets. Most began with similar pilot projects to familiarize people with the idea, and the concept is almost always embraced and expanded. Montreal has now implemented more than seven kilometres of shared and pedestrian streets, and offers financial grants to neighbourhoods wanting to create them across the city. Halifax recently transformed two major downtown routes into shared streets, with great success, creating more people-focused spaces that support the vitality of downtown. The notoriously car-centric city of Auckland, New Zealand, has used the shared-streets idea to transform its city centre into a vibrant, pedestrian- focused neighbourhood. A program was developed in 2011 to implement the strategy, and today seven downtown streets are shared space. The results have been overwhelmingly successful, increasing pedestrian volumes by 54 per cent and consumer spending by 47 per cent, and three-quarters of all property owners claim it has added value to their businesses. The number of vehicles has fallen by 25 per cent, far fewer collisions have occurred and about 80 per cent of people surveyed say they feel safer in the area. Winnipeggers are traditionally resistant to change, but the proposal to implement a shared streets pilot project in the Exchange District is an exciting opportunity to look at how we move through our city in a new way. Back-in diagonal parking was introduced a few years ago, to high levels of public skepticism, but after a pilot program, it has become a successful norm. The physical character of the Exchange is similar to popular shared-street precedents in other cities, and represents an opportunity to create a new type of public space that makes streets safer while supporting businesses and residents. It is a progressive step forward in the goal of redefining our downtown as a vibrant and prosperous place for people. *Brent Bellamy is creative director at Number Ten Architectural Group.*

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WFP: WPS official grilled on pedestrian safety (Oct15'19)
by Beth McKechnie 15 Oct '19

15 Oct '19

*Councillors question whether increased traffic revenues sending message to drivers* * WPS official grilled on pedestrian safety * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/wps-official-grilled-on-pedestrian-… WHILE A Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) finance manager was bragging about a 22 per cent rise in traffic enforcement revenue, two councillors Friday grilled her over whether police work was making city streets any safer. Tara Holowka told the city’s finance committee that while revenue from photo enforcement was down 10 per cent in 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, revenue from traditional enforcement was up 22 per cent. “So, good news on that side,” she said, adding the number of tickets issued by traffic officers was running 46 per cent ahead of 2018. Councillors Shawn Nason and Markus Chambers both took her to task on the statement. Chambers said the number of pedestrian deaths so far this year is triple for all of last year. “Revenues are up, but I don’t know if it’s keeping the population any safer,” Chambers said. Nason asked how any of her figures was good news. “Are our drivers that bad that we’re catching more?” Nason asked. “Is that a measurement of police issuing more tickets or drivers not getting the message?” Chambers asked. Being a numbers person, Holowka answered the only way she could: “It’s good for revenue.” Manitoba Public Insurance said there have been nine pedestrians killed in vehicle collisions in Winnipeg to the end of September, compared to three for all of 2018. Shawna Curtin, the secretary of the Winnipeg Police Board, told the committee that safety and enforcement were separate issues. “I don’t think we can call ticket revenue a performance measure in terms of safety,” Curtin said. “It’s not good news, necessarily, when revenue goes up, but it is a good news story that people are being sanctioned for poor driving,” Curtin said. “It’s impossible to say if that makes us safer or not,” adding similar public discussions at police board meetings and at city hall are having an effect in the community. “People are paying attention if those sanctions do have some effect.” An administrative report to the committee examining revenue and expenses from all departments shows the city is projecting a year-end deficit of $6.9 million, with the WPS accounting for $1.1 million of that. The WPS’ projected year-end deficit is attributed to the decline in photo enforcement revenue. While the WPS Q2 data shows that revenue from traditional traffic enforcement is up 22 per cent compared to the same time frame in 2018, the actual dollar difference is $230,000; while the 10 per cent decline in photo enforcement revenue is almost twice that amount, $510,000. Nason said police and city officials should focus on school zones that have a high incident of speed violations, bringing in traffic officers to target the bad drivers. “Where are the school zones that kids are being put at risk? That is important community information that we should have readily available to us,” Nason said. Nason said he’s been frustrated in his efforts to get data on speeding violations in school zones in his Transcona ward. He said a request to the public works department for an accounting by individual school zone for 2018 cannot be provided to him until sometime in 2020. “Let’s look at where people aren’t paying attention and just put physical enforcement there on occasion to change behaviours,” Nason said following the meeting. aldo.santin(a)freepress.mb.ca

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WFP: Cyclist seeks driver who hit him (Oct10'19)
by Beth McKechnie 10 Oct '19

10 Oct '19

*Motorist fled, leaving man with broken arm, leg* * Cyclist seeks driver who hit him * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/badly-injured-cyclist-seeks-driver-… A CYCLIST who was hit from behind by a vehicle in a 90 km/h zone is searching for the motorist who sped away. Jordan Sylvestre was disoriented and in distress after he was knocked off his bicycle during his Tuesday morning commute. In thinking back to the frantic moments that followed, the 34-year-old cyclist remembers one thing for certain — “There were no brake lights,” which showed the driver didn’t slow down after hitting Sylvestre. At 6:12 a.m. on Tuesday, Sylvestre was biking southbound on Pipeline Road, just south of the Perimeter Highway, when he was struck by a vehicle that sped off toward the city. “I was blindsided at about 90 km/h, I should be dead,” he said during a phone interview from his home in West St. Paul on Wednesday. He survived the hit and run, but not without being severely injured. Sylvestre broke his leg and arm and suffered abrasions all over his body. Now, he and his family are searching for the motorist responsible. They only know the person was driving a silver Honda. Pieces of the car, including its right passenger mirror, were scattered on the side of the asphalt road after the incident. “If anybody has seen, in their neighbourhood or in a parkade or at work, a silver Honda that’s missing a passenger mirror, and potentially, likely other damage to the front or side, right corner, alert police,” he said. (Anyone can submit a tip to the Winnipeg Police Service at 204-986-6222 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.) A local police spokesperson said the incident took place outside of its jurisdiction, although Sylvestre said he filed a report with Winnipeg police. WPS did not respond to a followup request. RCMP did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday. Sylvestre has been commuting to his engineering job in the city from the rural municipality northwest of Winnipeg for about two years. He was wearing a helmet and headlamp and his bike was equipped with a back light. While he has always enjoyed the exercise, he said he might put his bike away after the traumatic incident. “I can only be as safe as the most unsafe driver out there, so I need to figure out, especially now with a young (daughter), whether I want to put myself in that position again,” he said. All collisions are preventable as far as the executive director of Bike Winnipeg is concerned. “I don’t think there’s any way you wouldn’t have seen him, unless you’re really oblivious and texting or something, which is also incredibly dangerous,” Mark Cohoe said. Cohoe said there’s a need for the city and province to recognize that suburban areas require infrastructure that protects all road users, including lower speed limits. “I don’t think I’d want to be passed at 90 km/h on that road,” he said. maggie.macintosh(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie

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WFP Analysis: Pedestrian scrambles would be street smart (Oct9'19)
by Beth McKechnie 09 Oct '19

09 Oct '19

*Pedestrian scrambles would be street smart * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/pedestrian-scrambles-wou… LIKE oil and water, vehicles and pedestrians don’t mix easily. Winnipeg has the death toll to prove it. To improve the chances that pedestrians and cyclists can get home safely, the city recently introduced several proactive measures. Another batch of changes is about to be devised, including the expected introduction of pedestrian scrambles, a measure for which the city’s public works department has high hopes. “We think this will have an effect on removing the conflict between pedestrians and motorists,” David Patman, manager of transportation, said during a recent committee meeting. In theory, pedestrian scrambles are a good concept. Signals stop all vehicular traffic simultaneously, and pedestrians and cyclists safely cross the intersection in every direction, including diagonally, at the same time. The scrambles are being considered by public works as part of something called the Road Safety Strategic Action Plan, a blueprint to make Winnipeg roads safer. The city advertised for consultants to help compose the plan and will award the contract on Oct. 29. The city is also considering cameras at more intersections, new flashing countdowns at crosswalks and protected left-turn lanes. These would add to a strategy of big and small changes already completed and obvious to everyone who drives regularly on Winnipeg roads. Small changes include signage warning drivers about high-risk intersections, more “walk” signals that count down the time before the signal turns to “don’t walk,” speed tables that grab the attention of drivers by raising the road surface about eight centimetres for a length of seven metres, and a building spree of 43 new stop signs and 27 new pedestrian crosswalks. Larger changes include expanded bike lanes, with Wolseley and West Broadway likely the next to get better cycling routes. Also, several years ago, 30 km/h speed limits were instituted at 230 school zones. The traffic planners at city hall are doing many things right. The problem is a small but hazardous number of Winnipeg drivers who are distracted, aggressive and feel the rules of the road don’t apply to them. Ten pedestrians have been killed in Winnipeg so far in 2019, which is more than triple the three pedestrians killed last year. And all urban cyclists tell horror stories of getting cut off, edged out or hit by vehicles whose drivers scoff at the notion that bicycles have just as much right to the road as motor vehicles. These dangerous drivers will likely get irate when they experience how scrambles negatively affect vehicle traffic. In scrambles, red lights for vehicles last longer so pedestrians and cyclists in all directions have time to get across. That means lineups of vehicles grow longer, particularly during rush hour. In New York, some scrambles have congested vehicular traffic to the point of gridlock. To anticipate how some drivers will react to scrambles, look at the public opposition when 30 km/h speed limits were instituted around schools several years ago. The purpose was to keep children safe; who could object to that? A small but vocal number of Winnipeg drivers, that’s who. Many publicly expressed vexation when ticketed for speeding through the school zones, even though slowing down would have added only about 10 seconds to their trips. Precedent shows some Winnipeg drivers don’t learn easily. Zipper merging is a good example. Advertising campaigns have tried to teach Winnipeg drivers that, when two or more lanes of traffic approach a bottleneck, drivers from each lane are supposed to take turns entering the gap, like a zipper. There’s lots of opportunity to practise these days on the many Winnipeg streets where lanes suddenly end because of construction. But many inconsiderate drivers defend their position in line by blocking others from entering ahead of them. When these same drivers encounter scrambles, some will get clench-jawed angry that their routes have been slowed considerably for the convenience of pedestrians and cyclists. It won’t do any good to tell these drivers they should commend, not condemn, their fellow Winnipeggers who walk and cycle to benefit the environment and their personal health. In Winnipeg, the car culture rules. People choose retail and recreational outings based on the availability of parking, fast-food restaurants find great success by serving diners in their vehicles and zoning bylaws let downtown be dominated by ugly parking lots. It’s not wrong to enjoy our vehicles. But it is wrong for drivers of vehicles to endanger the smart people whose transportation choices include a bicycle or sturdy walking shoes. The angry drivers will just have to live with it as pedestrians and cyclists are prioritized. Scrambles are one more way Winnipeg’s traffic scene is heading in the right direction. *Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.* carl.degurse(a)freepress.mb.ca

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AT Webinar: Estimating Demand for Biking and Walking, Oct 16th, 2-3pm
by Beth McKechnie 08 Oct '19

08 Oct '19

Please join Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg for a group viewing of the monthly APBP webinar in the EcoCentre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/uncategorized/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-o…> boardroom. This will be followed by discussion for those who wish to stay. Wed, October 16th, 2-3pm If We Build it, Will They Come? Estimating Demand for Biking and Walking It is an age-old question: How do we make the case for investing in bicycling and walking without solid evidence that the results will pay off? This webinar will explore traditional methods, as well as emerging practices for estimating demand and benefits of bicycling and walking. Presenters: - Summer Jawson, PE, Seattle Department of Transportation - Farnaz Sadeghpour, Ph.D., University of Calgary

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FYI New Zealand: Factors Affecting Cycling Levels of Service
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 08 Oct '19

08 Oct '19

[http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=viewthispdf]<https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/research/reports/660/660-Factors-…> [http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=sponsorbeta]<http://www.trb.org/main/blurbs/179712.aspx> [http://www.trb.org/Resource.ashx?sn=buythisbook]<https://www.mytrb.org/Store/Product.aspx?ID=> Factors Affecting Cycling Levels of Service https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/research/reports/660/660-Factors-… 179712 Factors Affecting Cycling Levels of Service New Zealand cyclists' perception of levels of service is explored in a report<https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/research/reports/660/660-Factors-…> from the New Zealand Transport Agency. The goal of this report is to provide a user-centered approach to assess existing and proposed facilities that would enable better-informed decisions about cycling levels of service to plan and design bicycle facilities in New Zealand. HAPPY TRAILS Terry Zdan BA MEDes

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FYI Why Don’t Women Cycle? A Case Study of Women’s Perceptions of Cycling in San Francisco
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 08 Oct '19

08 Oct '19

Why Don’t Women Cycle? A Case Study of Women’s Perceptions of Cycling in San Francisco<https://odlinks.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=bWFpbGluZ2lkPTM1NjEyM…> [http://apps.trb.org/images/enewsletter/blank.png]<https://odlinks.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=bWFpbGluZ2lkPTM1NjEyM…> Women’s perceptions about bicycling in San Francisco are explored in a report<%20https:/safetrec.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/whydontwomencycle_9.3_v2.pdf> from SafeTREC at the University of California at Berkeley. Actual safety and women’s perceptions of it may play significant roles in whether or not they choose to bicycle in urban areas. HAPPY TRAILS Terry Zdan BA MEDes

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20mph zones effective in reducing road casualties
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 07 Oct '19

07 Oct '19

UK researchers show 20mph zones effective in reducing road casualties<https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/10/20191007-20mph.html> 07 October 2019<https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/10/20191007-20mph.html> A review of published evidence by a team of researchers in the UK has found<https://www.qub.ac.uk/News/Allnews/QueensUniversityBelfastresearchersshow20…> 20mph zones to be effective in reducing the number and severity of traffic collisions and casualties. The research, published in the Journal of Transport and Health provides important evidence to support the implementation of 20mph speed zones across the UK and Europe. The research, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), is part of the largest and most comprehensive study to date into the effects of 20mph speed limits and speed zones to be undertaken in the UK. HAPPY TRAILS Terry Zdan BA MEDes

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WFP: Transit corridor well on track, under budget (Oct2'19)
by Beth McKechnie 02 Oct '19

02 Oct '19

*Transit corridor well on track, under budget * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/transit-corridor-well-on-track-unde… THE southwest transit corridor will be finished eight weeks ahead of schedule, with another $40-million reduction in cost. Councillors on the public works committee were told Tuesday the revised cost is now expected to be $420 million. It was originally set at $589 million. “We’re well under budget and well ahead of schedule,” said Dave Wardrop, the city’s chief transportation and utilities officer. Work on the corridor was scheduled to be substantially complete by the end of the year, and transit service, following several months of driver training, was to begin in April. Wardrop said the active transportation (pedestrian and cycling paths) along the corridor will be open later this month, but the city will not implement transit service until April, to coincide with the start of Transit’s spring bus schedule. Based on figures Wardrop provided to the committee, the city’s share of the project is expected to decline from the original $225 million to between $160 million and $165 million. The provincial share will match the city’s contribution. Wardrop said the federal government’s share of the project will be in the range of $90 million to $100 million. The project’s original cost was reduced by $120 million after the design and construction contract was awarded to the winning consortium, which developed the lower cost estimates. As a result of a motion from Coun. Janice Lukes and the Assiniboia community committee, the administration will be directed to produce an annual report measuring and assessing the value-for-money benefits of the new corridor. Lukes told the committee that the public needs to know the benefits promised with the corridor are actually being realized once it’s put into service. “We need to see data and information and reports... I want the public to see the positive impacts that this almost$500-million investment is making in the city of Winnipeg,” Lukes said. “If we’re going to go forward on more rapid transit corridors, we need to really have a clear understanding how this thing is working and the benefits it brings.” Lukes said the annual reports should clearly demonstrate how the corridor is meeting expectations in terms of ridership, reduced traffic congestion and improved transit service. Lukes also wants to see pedestrian and cycling path linkages to the corridor on a regular basis in future years. “If we don’t see amazing results from a $500-million infrastructure investment, how are we going to convince other people that we should be doing this elsewhere?” Ribbon cutting on the Jubilee/Pembina underpass was held on Sept. 27. Wardrop said all concrete pouring has been completed on the corridor and landscaping work is underway. Other project milestones reached in the project include: ● paint markings and signage on the corridor; ● painting and signage on the active transportation pathway along the corridor; ● and shelter installations at all seven stations. Most of the recent project savings are the result of unspent contingency funding, Wardrop said, but he added contingency dollars are being retained in the budget to deal with unexpected property acquisition costs and potential contractor disputes. aldo.santin(a)freepress.mb.ca

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WFP: Shared-street concept proposed for Exchange District pilot project (Oct2'19)
by Beth McKechnie 02 Oct '19

02 Oct '19

*Shared-street concept proposed for Exchange District pilot project * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/committee-backs-study-of-shared-str… COUN. Vivian Santos is proposing an experimental street concept for areas of the Exchange District, after the public works department narrowed a portion of a sidewalk along Main Street. Santos said she’s unhappy with the decision by the department to alter the sidewalk on the west side of Main at Bannatyne Avenue, and said the city needs to find an alternative way to accommodate vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. “I was very disappointed with the new loading zone on Main Street. I wanted to find a better solution for the Exchange District area,” Santos said at Tuesday’s public works committee meeting. The sidewalk was narrowed to construct a pedestrian drop-off at the northwest corner for students attending a private music and dance school, the City of Winnipeg administration said. Santos is proposing a “shared-street” concept for three areas of the Exchange, where vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists can safely travel. The changes she envisions through the pilot would include a reduced speed limit; allowing pedestrians to cross the street at any point, not just at controlled intersections; and raising the road bed to match the sidewalk, making it easier for pedestrians, including those with physical disabilities, to cross the street at any point. The locations for the trial would be on Albert Street, Arthur Street, and Bannatyne Avenue between Main and King streets. Much of the Exchange District is treated by pedestrians and motorists as a shared street already, she said. “We all know the Exchange District is a pedestrian-friendly area so I feel Winnipeggers (are) ready for this shift. That’s why I’m calling for a pilot project, just to do small steps,” Santos said. “Eliminating the traditional segregation of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists can create a shared and more vibrant streetscape.” The committee supported Santos’s proposal for the city to consult with area businesses and residents about the possibility of implementing the shared street concept on a pilot basis. The administration was directed to develop a cost estimate and conceptual design for the committee within six months. Similar configurations have been implemented in pedestrian-popular areas such as Banff, Alta., and Montreal, Santos said. “I have always been a big proponent of making our downtown and Exchange District more pedestrian and cyclist friendly,” she said. “I know that not every other city’s design concept can work in Winnipeg, but I believe this shared-streets concept is a very positive balance that the Exchange District desperately needs to accommodate vehicular traffic, cyclists and pedestrians.” aldo.santin(a)freepress.mb.ca Councillors disappointed with lack of consultation WINNIPEG city councillors renewed their concerns Tuesday over the public works department reducing the width of a portion of the sidewalk along Main Street without informing elected officials. Couns. Jeff Browaty and Vivian Santos said they were disappointed with the department’s decision to dig up the sidewalk on the west side of Main Street at Bannatyne Avenue to accommodate business operators who wanted a drop-off zone for deliveries and clients. “Main Street is one of those streets where there is a lot of pedestrian activity and we need that space,” Browaty said during the public works meeting, adding he doubted during the winter months there would be enough space left for people to walk when snow gets piled up. “It’s simply too narrow for a street like Main Street.” Browaty said wide sidewalks are specifically cited in civic policies as a way to encourage pedestrian activity. “Arbitrarily taking out a sidewalk… is a step backward that shouldn’t have been done bureaucratically,” he said. “It seems surprising that the department has the autonomy and authority to do this without having to consult with the area councillor or having some political direction.” Browaty later told reporters the work shouldn’t have been done without first consulting the ward councillor (Santos) and he didn’t understand the rationale (the building has a parking lot on the north side and there is parking allowed on the west) or how the department was able to pay for the project. “I’m kind of curious how this all came to be,” Browaty said. Santos told reporters she thought the work shouldn’t have been done, adding, however, she understood the department had the authority after council gave blanket approval to a downtown sidewalk enhancement program. “I’m not accepting it. I still feel it’s very disappointing what’s happened here and I wish public works had at least consulted with me,” she said. City officials acknowledged last month they had not advised or consulted with Santos on the project, and promised not to let that happen again. — Aldo Santin

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WFP Analysis: Narrowing sidewalk a step backward (Sep30'19)
by Beth McKechnie 30 Sep '19

30 Sep '19

*Narrowing sidewalk a step backward * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/narrowing-sidewalk-a-ste… ALMOST since the invention of the automobile, downtown Winnipeg has been shaped by cars. In 1931, right turns on red lights were introduced, diagonal parking was removed and one-way streets began to appear. In 1955, streetcars were discontinued and the elm trees that lined the once-residential streets were cut down to widen the roads. Housing was slowly bought up and turned into parking lots. Today, with more than 32,000 stalls, a staggering 40 per cent of downtown’s land area is dedicated to parking. This slow evolution of prioritizing cars over places for people transformed the character of downtown — its pedestrian barricades, wide roads and windswept parking lots left few places for people to linger and enjoy. We designed for cars and we got cars, lots of them. Our once bustling sidewalks today see the fewest pedestrians and are lined by the lowest number of retail storefronts of any major Canadian city. There is no longer a downtown shopping street, and even the Exchange District, with all its charm, has fewer storefronts and restaurants than similar areas in other cities. Over the past decade, however, this has slowly begun to change. Beginning with the construction of Waterfront Drive, we have started to use the design of our streets to bring people back. Sidewalks have been widened and improved, bike lanes have been installed and, after almost 90 years, diagonal parking has returned. There has been a great investment in public space, with new lighting, public art, trees, benching and other street furniture. Innovative government tax incentive programs that have in the past driven residential growth have helped make downtown a more attractive place for people are working. More people live downtown today than ever have, and the population of the Exchange District has gone to 2,500 from 250 in 15 years. Shops and restaurants have begun to follow. Recently, however, we took a small but important step backward, when a segment of the sidewalk on Main Street at Bannatyne Avenue was reduced by more than half to add a drop-off lane to a street that is already eight lanes wide. The resulting sidewalk, about two metres wide, is narrower than the city’s own standards for accessibility, even before factoring in snow accumulation and space for vehicle-door swings. The design was explained as a compromise to provide tenants of the adjacent building a new drop-off area, sometimes for children, after loading on Bannatyne Avenue was moved across the street to accommodate a new bike lane. If we look holistically at the overwhelming amount of adjacent area given to cars, it suggests there may have been opportunity to find the compromise within existing vehicle space. The building has two associated surface parking lots. One takes up a significant portion of Old Market Square, an important public place, and the other creates a permanent open space along Main Street and a driveway across its sidewalk. Main Street itself is eight lanes wide and has curb-lane parking and loading all the way down its length, including on the blocks directly on either side of the new drop-off area. It is unclear why that configuration was not pursued on this block. Bannatyne Avenue has parking and loading zones on the opposite side of the street, less convenient, but a possible compromise might have been for parents dropping off their children to get out of their cars and escort them the short distance to the building entrance. We have been making progress creating spaces that invite more pedestrians, but narrowing sidewalks works to repel them. It demonstrates the difficult challenge planners and engineers face, balancing the needs of cyclists, drivers and pedestrians, particularly in response to the demands of local, street-level business. Downtown Winnipeg is in a unique transition phase. There are so few street-level shops because downtown has been designed to prioritize drivers, making it an unattractive place to walk. This has resulted in too few pedestrians on the sidewalks to support businesses, which in turn requires increased space for cars to attract more drivers to help support the shops. It creates a challenging cycle: drive-up business may represent a smaller proportion of downtown storefront commerce, but removing even a few parking stalls can be enough to affect the viability of a shop or restaurant. This has put downtown shop owners in a difficult position, as they generally believe part of what they are selling is a unique urban experience that includes bike lanes and great pedestrian environments, but, in the short term, they need parking to survive. This becomes even more important with residential growth slowing because of the end of tax incentives and bike-lane implementation that has been slow to create a complete functioning network that will increase the number of cyclists to replace business lost by the removed parking spaces. It is generally recognized that to have prosperous storefronts and sidewalk-focused commerce in downtowns, the only viable long-term solution is to attract more pedestrians and grow the population so businesses are supported locally. This explains why the city has worked so hard to incentivize residential growth, redesign public space and add bike lanes — all initiatives that have proven in other cities to be very good for urban business in the long term. The current challenge is a difficult one. We have made strides toward the continuing goal of a downtown that attracts people to live, work and shop, but as we move forward, it is important to not take our eye off that goal and do what we can to avoid trading pedestrian space for car space, which reduces accessibility, degrades the pedestrian experience and is likely a step backward in downtown’s long-term evolution. *Brent Bellamy is creative director at Number Ten Architectural Group.*

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FYI Cities need to encourage cycling with 10 easy steps, report finds
by Zdan, Terry (MI) 26 Sep '19

26 Sep '19

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cycling-bikes-visionzero-climate-env… https://www.tcat.ca/resources/increasing-cycling-in-canada-a-guide-to-what-… https://www.tcat.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Increasing-Cycling-in-Canada… HAPPY TRAILS Terry Zdan BA MEDes Policy and Legislation Unit | Manitoba Infrastructure 1520 215 Garry Street Winnipeg MB R3C 3P3 C 204 227 3724 E Terry.Zdan(a)gov.mb.ca<mailto:Terry.Zdan@gov.mb.ca> [winnipeg-jets-logo-new] "...Resilience is the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events..." þ Think green, read on screen | Soyez écolo, lisez à l'écran

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WFP: Pedestrian deaths up in 2019, MPI warns (Sep25'19)
by Beth McKechnie 25 Sep '19

25 Sep '19

*Pedestrian deaths up in 2019, MPI warns* https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/mpi-issues-alert-as-annual-pedestri… MANITOBA Public Insurance is warning pedestrians and motorists alike to stay alert on the roads, as this year’s pedestrian fatality count approaches a record high. Manitoba has seen 12 pedestrian deaths on public roadways so far in 2019 — the same number as the annual average over the past five years, and the highest nine-month count in the past 20. “This isn’t about pointing the finger of blame, this is all about raising road-safety awareness so both (pedestrians and motorists) can use the road safely and get home safe,” MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said Tuesday. A total of 972 pedestrians were involved in incidents — 147 of which resulted in serious injuries, while 68 were fatal — in 2013-18. The record-high of 16 pedestrian fatalities during a single year occurred in 2007. Historical data indicates about half of all pedestrian deaths occur at intersections. One in 10 deaths take place either between intersections or when pedestrians are walking on roadways. Smiley said while MPI has observed bumps in statistics during January and February, when roads are covered in ice, and in July and August, when pedestrians are out and about in the warm weather, collisions involving pedestrians are a year-round concern. Last year, MPI launched “Save the 100,” a roadsafety campaign with the same premise as the Vision Zero strategy. “One fatality is far too many,” Smiley said. A road-safety strategy born in Sweden in the 1990s, Vision Zero seeks to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while simultaneously making a city safer and accessible for all residents and visitors to navigate. Similarly, Towards Zero (fatalities) is a traffic-safety approach that recognizes pedestrian deaths are preventable while driver error is unavoidable, so traffic infrastructure must be forgiving of that. The City of Winnipeg has adopted the latter and is seeking applications for a $275,000 contract to develop a five-years-and-beyond plan to assess road safety. Applications are due by Oct. 8. Meanwhile, next week, world-renowned traffic safety experts will be in Winnipeg for the second annual Mode Shift festival, five days of events centred around transportation, culture and health, to discuss how the city can mimic the successes seen in other parts of the world (such as Amsterdam). The Forks is hosting a Vision Zero panel discussion Oct. 1. “We need to undo some of the endemic issues we have with the built environment by investing heavily in things like traffic calming, upgraded crosswalks, changing laws around speed limits,” said Anders Swanson, program director at Mode Shift 2019, organized by the Winnipeg Trails Association. Swanson is in favour of a policy on the table at city hall to lower the standard residential speed limit in Winnipeg to 30 km/h from 50 km/h. “If we design a city that’s intended to move machines around as quickly as possible, we have a city that’s not worth living in,” he said. Smiley agreed, noting the chance of survival after being hit by a car going 50 km/h or less is much higher than otherwise. A future with zero annual fatalities, he said, must involve a number of partners, with municipalities and law enforcement at the forefront. More traffic circles, speed-reducing bumps and jaywalking tickets could improve safety, Smiley added. maggie.macintosh(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie

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Selective enforcement of rule-breaking on public roads & sidewalks
by Charles Feaver 24 Sep '19

24 Sep '19

An interesting point of view regarding Amsterdam scofflaw cyclists, relevant to enforcement for successfully implementing Vision Zero policy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XypDTdd4qr0 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XypDTdd4qr0&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1wReLh wF5X83Gv3-FUL4HwvI4W1XPibQIf6-gb7qkKxzYgl3U2A8fd5gw> &feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1wReLhwF5X83Gv3-FUL4HwvI4W1XPibQIf6-gb7qkKxzYgl3U2 A8fd5gw Having ridden in Amsterdam at dusk in rush hour, I can confirm that there is a lot of crazy rule-breaking going on, but nobody gets excited. Charles

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Mode Shift Video Release and Nuit Blanche
by Anders Swanson 24 Sep '19

24 Sep '19

Mode Shift just released a new short film for 2019 on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/WinnipegTrails/videos/484319538788135/?__xts__[0]=…> or Twitter <https://twitter.com/WinnipegTrails/status/1176512183229984768> or Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/p/B2zGGB0AtXd/>. Like Mode Shift Festival itself, the film is blend of sharing new ideas and taking action. So, it is a piece about things that have happened, things that should happen. This one touches on speed limits and a kid's right to street hockey, but also family, dance, fairness, the joy of experiencing the world under your own power no matter how you move ...or who you are and the urgency of building better cities. It is meant to be about perspectives on how we connect as people, and intends to people excited for the many events happening next week, - which is why I am sharing it with you. As an annual event, Mode Shift intends to release a new video like this each year, to capture some of the changes that have gone on in the time between events and to provoke conversation on the salient issue being discussed as a city so we can look back and see these moments in time and watch ourselves change. If you enjoy it, please share. And if you see a GIANT version of this projected on a building somewhere during Nuit Blanche <https://nuitblanchewinnipeg.ca/> this Saturday, come say hi to the team! Anders

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Children's independence & long term health
by Charles Feaver 24 Sep '19

24 Sep '19

Worth the read: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/article-our-societys -culture-of-fear-is-holding-back-childrens-fitness/ Our society's culture of fear is holding back children's fitness . Larouche is the lead author of one of the two new studies, which together make the case that fitness patterns established in childhood have lasting effects on adult health, and these patterns can be influenced by a wide variety of sometimes unexpected factors such as parental attitudes about traffic and morning temperatures. . . The biggest and most easily modifiable factor affecting how much the children moved was the amount of time they spent outdoors. "Studies comparing physical activity in indoor versus outdoor environments have consistently found that children are more active outdoors," Larouche says. "Other studies suggest that children may be more active if, as adults, we back off and let them play." There were also some more subtle indicators that, in some cases, varied by gender. Boys were less active if their parents reported driving to work, were worried about traffic or were worried about other people in their neighbourhood. Girls were more active as the morning temperature warmed, adding 77 steps a day for each additional degree Celsius. Active travel to school also played a role, but in general the children (who were between 8 and 12 years old) had low levels of independent mobility, as assessed by whether they were permitted to do six things on their own: travel to and from school, travel to other places within walking distance, cross main roads, go on local (non-school) buses and go out alone after dark. On average, the children in the study were permitted to do two of these things . Charles Feaver

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Safety in numbers vs bike infrastructure
by Beth McKechnie 19 Sep '19

19 Sep '19

Don't like reading studies? Check out this 3:25' video explaining the research and conclusions. (If only all research was summarized this way!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwYeNz1jCkM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR13u… *WHY CITIES WITH HIGH BIKING RATES ARE SAFER FOR ALL ROAD USERS* In a study published in the Journal of Transport & Health, which analyzed 13 years of data from 12 large US cities, researchers investigated over 17,000 fatalities and 77,000 severe injuries. (Why Cities with High Bicycling Rates are Safer for all Road Users: http://bit.ly/2KGADSS <https://pps.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2c803e70a8ad33c13a95a1ee6&id=…> ) Their results suggest that more bicyclists is not the reason these cities are safer for all road users. Better safety outcomes are instead associated with a greater prevalence of bike facilities--particularly protected and separated bike facilities--at the block group level and, more strongly so, across the overall city. Higher intersection density, which typically corresponds to more compact and lower-speed built environments, was strongly associated with better road safety outcomes for all road users. A companion video explains the paper and findings: http://bit.ly/2QqcWTw <https://pps.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2c803e70a8ad33c13a95a1ee6&id=…> -- Beth McKechnie (she/her/hers) *| *Green Action Centre <http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3777 x102 | Find us here <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your green living hub Support our work by becoming a member <http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/become-a-member/>. Donate at CanadaHelps.org <http://canadahelps.org/> <http://www.gomanitoba.ca>

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France subsidizes e-bike purchase | California provides e-bike / bikeshare vouchers for car trade-in
by Beth McKechnie 19 Sep '19

19 Sep '19

*FRANCE SUBSIDIZES E-BIKE PURCHASE, US DOES NOT* Streetsblog reported that lawmakers in France announced last week e-bike owners in the greater Paris area may soon be able to get half the cost of their wheels--up to 500 Euros ($553)--paid for by the government as part of an effort to boost the eco-friendly vehicles. In the US, federal tax breaks that can knock up to $7,500 off the cost of a new electric vehicle have been available to car drivers for years, but those hoping to upgrade their old 10-speed to an e-bike have always had to pay cost. Presently, there isn't a hint of federal legislation that would provide tax relief for e-bikes, whose widespread adoption studies say could significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. http://bit.ly/2QhfTpb <https://pps.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2c803e70a8ad33c13a95a1ee6&id=…> *CA: TRADE IN CAR FOR E-BIKE OR BIKE SHARE VOUCHER* Electrek reported California's "Clean Cars 4 All" program has already helped many people trade in old, polluting gas cars for subsidies to buy electric cars or hybrid cars. A new bill recently signed into law now includes vouchers for electric bicycles and bike-sharing programs in the program. (SB-400 Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emissions: Mobility Options: http://bit.ly/2At6lg6 <https://pps.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2c803e70a8ad33c13a95a1ee6&id=…>) http://bit.ly/2AsoFGb <https://pps.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2c803e70a8ad33c13a95a1ee6&id=…>

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ModeShift Program Announcement
by Anders Swanson 17 Sep '19

17 Sep '19

Hello AT-Network, Check out the program-at-a-glance and new event details <https://modeshift.ca/events/>. We feel that it is rare, exciting, worthwhile and... ambitious event. *If you are willing to share on social media, it is much appreciated. * Share the program on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/WinnipegTrails/posts/2433602183389980?__xts__%5B0%…>, Twitter <https://twitter.com/WinnipegTrails/status/1173992349187366912> and Instagram <https://www.facebook.com/WinnipegTrails/posts/2433602183389980?__xts__%5B0%…>. Some recent highlights now confirmed: - SpaceMODE: an attempt to recreate the famous advocacy image showing the space taken up by 4 kinds of transportation, outside the CMHR. Sign up here - KidMODE: a new conference stream for you and youth at heart, including a contest being fanned out to schools in Winnipeg, teaching about traffic calming, street hockey and redesigning streets - A day long Street Party at IRCOM on Ellen with street furniture building, street food, painting, games, hockey, the Walktober launch, masterclasses and walkabouts on Wednesday October 3 - We have a number of new panelists joining on the topic of road safety technology, chronic disease prevention and vision zero including Karen Laberee Dr.Gillian Booth and Craig Milligan. - We are also very excited to welcome our own Dr.Gillian Booth, Janell Henry and more. Depending what you are into, the best may be yet to come. Stay tuned for more for more details about MovieMODE and DanceMODE... ....and a very special Vision Zero event at the Forks! You can register here. <https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/winnipeg-trails-association-17054822883> Hope to see you there! Anders ModeShift PS. Huge kudos to the many of you on this mailing list or part of our sponsor and organizing team who have helped make it happen. Really.

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WFP Editorial: For cyclists, permanent protection preferred route (Sep16'19)
by Beth McKechnie 16 Sep '19

16 Sep '19

*For cyclists, permanent protection preferred route * https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/for-cyclists-permanent… A recent City of Winnipeg report shows that when it comes to safe cycling infrastructure, half-measures don’t cut it. The report, which was sent to the city’s public works committee this week, says temporary plastic pylons separating the cycling lane along Pembina Highway from the other lanes of traffic were both expensive (part of a $21-million cycling-path initiative) and largely ineffective (they were flimsy and often driven over by motorists). Cycling lanes in other parts of the city employ similar pylons; the one on Sherbrook Street has a variety of rider-safety mechanisms, depending what block you’re cycling along. They include concrete curb-height barriers between the bike lane and motorist, the aforementioned pylons and nothing more than a line of paint. Trails Winnipeg executive director Anders Swanson and Bike Winnipeg executive director Mark Cohoe agree that the inconsistent nature of cycling lane infrastructure along Pembina Highway has been a disincentive to cyclists using it. This is a bit like being at a pedestrian crossing that sometimes lets you cross a busy thoroughfare but most of the time doesn’t let you cross at all. You’d quickly find another place to cross the street. So it is with safe, permanent bike lanes. The pylons have typically been removed in the winter, which meant the bike lane effectively became invisible. Non-cyclists may argue that nobody rides their bike in the winter (demonstrably not true, even in Winnipeg), but it becomes something of a chicken-or-egg question: if the lane intended to allow cyclists to ride safely isn’t reasonably clear of snow and visible to motorists, why would anyone on a bicycle risk using it in the winter? The simple reality that it’s easier to effectively clear snow from permanently protected bike lanes makes the argument for them stronger. Yes, a permanent cycling-lane barrier, even one not as wide as a sidewalk, takes up room on the road. However, the reason it’s there is safety. And although an adequate bike lane and a corresponding permanent barrier could remove an entire lane of vehicular traffic, the safety that is gained actually means less traffic headaches for motorists. First, it prevents motor-vehicle drivers from plowing over flimsy plastic barriers and risking a collision with a cyclist, while at the same time preventing cyclists from weaving out of their lane to avoid a puddle or a pothole. Second, on any Winnipeg street, consider how many cars passing by have more than one occupant. Given this city’s car-focused infrastructure and Winnipeggers’ seemingly unshakable attachment to their automobiles, the ratio is often one human to one vehicle. If a safe-cycling option convinced even a fraction of those motorists to trade four wheels and internal combustion for two wheels and pedal power, it would remove a lot of vehicles from rush hour. That would also hold true for increasing the number of year-round cyclists. The pesky Pembina pylons were installed before the city’s active transportation plan was introduced in 2014, so they were a stopgap measure at best. As the city moves forward with making its infrastructure work for everyone, permanent barriers that allow motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to navigate our streets safely is an option that should be built in.

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CTV News: City councillor wants better solution for sidewalk being narrowed in Exchange District (Sep15'19)
by Beth McKechnie 16 Sep '19

16 Sep '19

City councillor wants better solution for sidewalk being narrowed in Exchange District https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/city-councillor-wants-better-solution-for-sidew… The city councillor for Winnipeg’s Exchange District would like to see a better solution for a Main Street sidewalk being narrowed to make way for a loading zone. Vivian Santos, who represents the Point Douglas ward, said she learned about the construction on social media this week. “It didn't come across my desk,” Santos said a phone call with CTV News Sunday. The sidewalk in question, which appears to be shrinking to about half its size, is located on Main Street near the corner of Bannatyne Avenue. In an email to CTV News, the city said the new version of the sidewalk is about 2.2 metres wide and within acceptable accessibility standards for a downtown sidewalk. “The project was undertaken as a result of a unique situation identified through feedback received from 211 Bannatyne and its users to ensure a safe pick-up and drop-off location for families and children using the facility for music and dance lessons,” the city said. “Transportation planning in the downtown, given the limited space within the existing public right-of-way, is a matter of balancing the needs of all users including pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, and sometimes involves making compromises to achieve an acceptable solution for all users,” the city said. Located inside 211 Bannantyne Avenue is a dance school, restaurant and offices. Santos said the issue about a lack of space in the area stems back to 2018 when some on-street parking and loading zones were removed to create bike lanes. Santos said she is familiar with the area and believes other options could have been explored. She said she would like to meet with the public works department about the project. “Safety is always my concern,” Santos said. The city said the loading zone on Bannatyne was removed in June 2018 when construction started on the bike lane. It is anticipated the project will be completed by the end of October, the city said. *‘Backwards priority system’: Winnipeg Trails Association* Winnipeg Trails Association executive director Anders Swanson said the move to narrow the sidewalk is as a result of a ‘backwards priority system’. “I was really surprised in 2019, Winnipeg is taking away any space for pedestrians at all. We have a massive wide street, very fast moving cars,” said Swanson. “We’ve created a city where machines are more important than people walking around.” He said the association plans to raise the issue at the city’s next active transportation advisory committee meeting. “It means you can’t have bike parking, and it makes it more difficult for people two people to walk side by side,” said Swanson. “It should be designed for two people in wheelchairs going somewhere,” he said. *‘A practical issue’: The School of Contemporary Dancers* Faye Thomson is the co-director of The School of Contemporary Dancers, which moved into 211 Bannatyne in the early 2000s. She said until the bike lanes on Bannatyne were installed in 2018, people coming to the school used the loading zone on Bannatyne. When the drop-off disappeared, she said the school requested a meeting with the city, which was sympathetic to its concerns. “The solution has nothing to with us. We just have hundreds of kids who need to unload in a safe unloading zone,” said Thomson in a phone call with CTV News Sunday. She said over 100 students a day come to the school because there are rehearsals up to seven days a week, and some of the students are as young as two-years-old. CTV News asked Thomson about the city councillor for the area wanting a better solution. “I think our view is, we need a safe loading zone that’s on the side of the building. How they come to that is for their planning department to come up with.” Thomson said many of the students are supportive of bike lanes. “This is not a philosophical issue. It’s a practical issue,” Thomson said.

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Bikelash & how to reduce it
by Beth McKechnie 15 Sep '19

15 Sep '19

*Thanks to Terry Zdan for the share...* *Globe & Mail: Bike lanes could ease gridlock – so why do drivers hate them so much? * https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/mobility/article-the-bikelash-is-real… *Civic crowdfunding reduces the risk of 'bikelash'* http://theconversation.com/civic-crowdfunding-reduces-the-risk-of-bikelash-…

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