- AT-Network - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

3 part series on cycling in Denmark
by Dave Elmore 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

A bit of a long read but interesting none the less. http://grist.org/cities/an-american-in-denmark-close-encounters-with-europea n-bicycle-culture/ An American in Denmark: Close encounters with European bicycle culture The first thing that struck me, climbing the steps from the train station into the city of Copenhagen on a recent Wednesday morning, was the great abundance of bicycles. The street outside the train station had been converted into a chaotic, open-air bicycle parking lot, with bikes stacked on double-decker racks. Bikes lined every sidewalk, stood two- and three-deep against the old stucco and brick facades, and leaned against every lamp and signpost. The second thing that very nearly struck me was someone riding a bike. I was crossing a square en route to my hotel, lugging my bags, when I heard, behind me, the jolly "jing, jing!" of a bike bell. Back home in Seattle, bike bells are quaint - a pleasant way to give fellow bikers and pedestrians a gentle "heads up - coming through." Not so much in Copenhagen. As the cyclist swerved around me he muttered something about a "bike track." A second bell rang behind me and I realized, suddenly, that I was walking in a bike path that cut through the square. I shuffled as quickly as I could out of the way, realizing that here, a bike bell should be taken as seriously as a car horn. Such was my introduction to Danish bike culture. I was in Copenhagen for four days with a group of travel bloggers, the trip paid for by Denmark's tourism bureau <http://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/tourist-frontpage> , which is trying to promote Copenhagen as a destination for bike tourism. (I generally avoid such junkets. They make me feel dirty. But this one seemed too good to pass up, and with a little arm-twisting, my editor consented to let me go.) I wasn't the first bleary-eyed American to nearly get mowed down by a bicyclist upon arriving in one of Europe's bike capitals. Pete Jordan describes a similar experience in the opening chapter of his book, In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist <http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780061995200-5?&PID=25450> . Nor was I the first American to be blown away, befuddled, or generally wowed by the number of people who ride bikes in these cities. Jordan (you may know him as Dishwasher Pete <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishwasher_Pete> ) reveals that we Yanks have been ogling European bike culture (and the toned legs of European bicyclists) for 100 years or more. But there's no shame in that. The ogling is good here! In a jetlag-induced haze, I spent my first day in Copenhagen wandering the streets, swilling espresso at sidewalk cafes, and checking out the bikes and the people who rode them. I learned a few things in the process. For starters, the bikes: When I think of European bikes, my mind immediately leaps to the Tour de France, which happened to be in progress when I was in Copenhagen - think $10,000 carbon fiber, pedal-powered crotch rockets. But there were no racing bikes here. Instead, the urban peloton lolled along on (mostly) black cruiser bikes decked out with wind-catching fenders over the wheels, plus jaunty wicker or metal baskets up front, utilitarian racks in the back. And while the streets were remarkably free of car traffic (turns out that most of Denmark was on holiday at the time) there was the constant, tinny squeak of a thousand rusty bike chains. I'm not talking about a little russet stain on just a few chains; almost without exception, these chains were absolutely encrusted with rust. Later in the week, when I pointed this out to Mikael Colville-Andersen, the man behind the Copenhagenize <http://www.copenhagenize.com/> and Cycle Chic <http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/> blogs, he just laughed. "It's a vacuum cleaner," he said of a bike. The implication: A bike is a tool, something that does the job of getting you from one place to the next - not something to pamper and obsess over. Of course, there's another reason that locals allow their bikes to fall into such disrepair: Copenhageners are a trustworthy lot, the guidebooks will tell you - except when it comes to bikes. A shiny, well-tuned ride is apt to become a target for thieves. And if your bike is likely to be ripped off at some point anyway, there's no sense in babying it. (Dishwasher Pete describes Amsterdam's stolen bike economy in great detail in his book, which, if you care at all about bikes, or just want a unique window into European history, is well worth the read.) A wild menagerie of utility bikes also thread through this old city. The most common variation is a three-wheeled cycle with a large box up front - Copenhageners call them Christiania bikes, as many of them are made in Christiania, the city's hippie quarter, where squatters took over an old army barracks in 1971 and never left. These bikes are used to haul all manner of cargo, from flowers to dogs to people. A Christania bike can accommodate a couple of kids - I saw four of them packed into one - and it isn't uncommon to see an adult folded into the bucket, enjoying a ride across town. There are a few high-tech variations on the cargo bike. Colville-Andersen let me take his Danish-designed Bullitt for a test drive later in the week. He also gave me a ride across town in the bucket. But for the most part, when it comes to bikes in Copenhagen, it's function over fashion. (For those of you who love a little bike porn, though, we've put together a slideshow <http://grist.org/slideshow/precious-cargo-these-bikes-carry-just-about-anyt hing-pianos-included/> of images from Colville-Andersen's latest book, Cargo Bike Nation.) Which brings me to the bicyclists - and back to the ogling. Copenhagen's bike riders range from toddlers just finding their legs (wheels?) on pedal-less starter bikes (I didn't see a single tricycle or set of training wheels) to elderly men and women who navigate the city center right along with the city's youthful masses. A great many of the bikers on these streets, though, are tall, blond, and beautiful. I found the homogeneity to be a little disconcerting - since, in my mind, a city's health is measured in large part by its racial diversity. But if there's one place one would expect to find an overwhelming preponderance of Northern Europeans, it's in, well, right ... (Of course, lest you think that race and general tolerance of others is not an issue here, I would call your attention to a certain cartoonist <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E3D6153EF931A25751C0A960 9C8B63> .) Almost none of the people riding bicycles in Copenhagen had gone out of their way to "dress for biking." Few wore helmets (more on that later), and of the thousands of cyclists I saw in the city, I could count on one hand those who were wearing Spandex. (Ten bucks says they were Americans.) The men rocked jeans or business attire, and many of the women wore skirts - long, short, and almost non-existent. When my wife wondered, via email, what the secret was to riding in a skirt without revealing your delicates to all the world, I put the question to our tour guide, a young Copenhagener named Christina who now lives in New York City. Again, I got laughed at. "Remember," she said, "we're Scandinavian." Translation: Just hike up your skirt and ride, girl! Just as remarkable as the people riding the bikes were the things they did while riding: They talked on cellphones, smoked cigarettes (Copenhageners smoke like chimneys - "but we still live until we're 85, because the biking cancels it out," one local told me), sang, held hands, gesticulated with both hands while cruising along, top speed, talking to a friend on a neighboring bike. And I didn't see a single one of them wipe out. As Colville-Andersen suggested, bicycles sit at the heart of urban living in Copenhagen. These people were as comfortable on their bikes as we are in our cars in the states. But, as I learned later, it hasn't always been that way. As an American on my first visit to Copenhagen a few weeks back, I was whopperjawed <http://grist.org/cities/an-american-in-denmark-close-encounters-with-europe an-bicycle-culture/> by the bicycle traffic on the "bike tracks" that swallow up a lane on each side of many city streets there. Particularly mind-blowing was the cavalcade of bicyclists that charged across a certain bridge just a few hundred feet from my hotel - a bridge that, I later learned from city officials, probably sees more bike traffic than any other in the world. Queen Louise's Bridge (Dronning Louises Bro to the Danes) carries over 40,000 bicycles each day. For perspective, that's more than twice as many people as bike to school or work each day in the entire city of Portland, Ore., which is roughly the same size as Copenhagen. Standing on Queen Louise's Bridge at rush hour, you watch the crush of bike-riding humanity riding past. The riders queue up at the stoplights at either end of the bridge, and woe be to the pedestrian (or driver, for that matter) who gets in their way when that thing turns green. It's such a spectacle that, since the city widened the bike tracks and sidewalks about five years ago, the bridge has become a popular hangout and people-watching spot for young Copenhageners. Some have taken to calling it the "hipster bridge." More than a third of the residents of the Copenhagen metro area - 36 percent, by the city's count - bike to school or work each day. That blows away any city in the U.S.: In Portland, top among U.S. cities, only 6 percent of commuters go by bike. And a whopping 75 percent of Copenhagen cyclists ride year-round, despite the fact that the weather in this city, which is at roughly the same latitude as Juneau, Alaska, was described by almost every local I spoke to as flat-out "shitty" (imagine Seattle, only darker in winter). Copenhageners are proud of their biking habits. "It's like brushing your teeth - it's something everyone does," says Marie Brøndom Bay, a representative of the city's bicycling division. But those numbers have been hard-won. And to Brøndom Bay and other city officials charged with minimizing car traffic and air pollution, and promoting public health, even a third of the populace on bikes is not nearly enough. As in most European cities, cycling was bigger in Copenhagen 100 years ago. The Danish capital hosted the first world road racing championship in 1921. And bikes flourished here during the first and second world wars. But like in other cities on the continent, car culture revved up in the 1960s and swept aside bike usage. By 1970, only about 10 percent of road users were bicyclists. Bikes saw something of a resurgence during oil shortages in the 1970s, when Copenhagen instigated car-free Sundays (Hello Ciclovía <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciclovia> !), and riding rose through the 1980, '90s, and early aughts. But the numbers of bikers never returned to anything close to pre-1960s levels. FietsberaadThe number of cyclists riding into Copenhagen during morning peak rush hour, 1950-2005. In recent years, city officials have fought hard just to hold ridership levels steady, and of late, they've had a hard time convincing more residents to ride. One local transportation policy wonk wonders if Copenhagen has hit a "glass ceiling" with cycling. It's a problem: The city council has pledged to make the city CO2 neutral by 2025, and that will require more people to bike. City planners have set out to get fully half of the citizenry to cycle by 2015 - a goal that will require an additional 55,000 people to ride rather than drive. (Encouraging cycling is also a part of official Danish health policy: The city estimates that biking already saves about $300 million annually in health costs.) But numbers have been slow to tick up, despite some remarkably innovative programs designed to boost bicycling - programs that one transportation official describes as "the carrot, the whip, and the tambourine." When officials talk about the carrot, they mainly mean better bike infrastructure. The most obvious part of this is the ubiquitous cycle tracks. Unlike most of the bike lanes in the states, Copenhagen's bike tracks are separated from car traffic by at least a curb, and in many places by a row of parked cars. The city boasts more than 225 miles of cycle tracks, and in recent years has spent considerable resources maintaining and upgrading them. In my experience, cycle tracks were often in better shape than the streets. To encourage more people on the outskirts of the city proper to ride, Copenhagen began construction on a web of "cycle superhighways" connecting outlying areas to the city center. The first one was completed last summer <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/world/europe/in-denmark-pedaling-to-work- on-a-superhighway.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0> , and connects the city with the suburb of Albertslund. I took a dreamy ride on it one afternoon: Lined with greenery and wide enough for four cyclists riding abreast, it wound through a local university campus and over bike-only bridges spanning busy roads. Where it paralleled roads with cars, it was separated from the traffic by both a curb and a line of parking spaces. Biking here was stress-free - quite a contrast to my route to work in Seattle, which one international bike expert recently called "death-defying <http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021268792_bicyclingpucherxml.html> ." Other carrots include what transportation planners call the "green wave" - traffic lights timed to match the speed of cyclists and thus minimizing waits at red lights. The city also offers tax incentives for residents who commute by bike, and for employers who provide services such as bike parking and showers. There are phone apps for route-finding and reporting trouble spots. And it's easy to mix and match biking with other modes of transport: You can bring your bike on the train at no charge, and taxis are required to have bike racks. The biggest whip that drives people away from cars and onto bikes is probably the sky-high cost of gasoline - a gallon of gas cost about $8.50 when I visited in July. Of course, the 180-percent tax <http://www.copenhagenize.com/2012/10/danish-180-tax-on-cars-is-rather.html> that the Danish government levies on car purchases hurts plenty, too. (Denmark has pledged to wean itself from fossil fuels <http://denmark.dk/en/green-living/strategies-and-policies/independent-from- fossil-fuels-by-2050/> completely by 2050.) But the city has its own whips, first among them being the steady whittling away of car parking in the city center, combined with an increase in the cost of remaining parking spots. Narrowing or eliminating car lanes to make room for more bike tracks - a trend that seems to make Brøndom Bay especially proud - adds further disincentive for drivers. So does turning streets into bike parking lots outside of train stations. And the tambourines? On Queen Louise's Bridge, the city has installed a bike counter that ticks off the number of cyclists that have passed each day, giving riders a sense that they're part of a movement, not just lost in the crowd. At many intersections, the city has installed footrests for cyclists waiting at red lights emblazoned with friendly messages <http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/01/holding-on-to-cyclists-in-copenhagen.h tml> like, "Hi, cyclist! Rest your foot here ... and thank you for cycling in the city." But the most innovative of all is the "bike butler" program: brightly clad city workers who tidy up the bike parking areas, and will even do minor repairs while the owners of said bikes are away. It's a remarkable collection of policies and incentives - but it's unlikely to be enough to get 50 percent of residents cycle commuting by 2015. Officials are already downplaying those numbers, in fact. The goal, you see, was predicated on another big whip: The government planned to put a "congestion ring <http://cphpost.dk/news/local/congestion-charge-%E2%80%9Cnot-perfect%E2%80%9 D-%E2%80%93-its-coming-anyway> " around the city center, like London's <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge> , and charge drivers to bring cars into the city. But that was scrapped <http://cphpost.dk/news/politics/congestion-charge-proposal-ends-rubbish-bin > last year in the face of opposition from suburban mayors and residents who learned that they would likely not get the major reductions in train and bus fares into the city that they'd been promised. Still, city officials hold to the official goal, even if it looks increasingly unrealistic. Ultimately, Brøndom Bay explains, the challenge is one of building a bike culture that gets people to change their habits without sacrificing their current lifestyle. For the über-stylish Danes, that might require a reordering of morning priorities: "You need good, close bike infrastructure - and you also need to bring your mascara to work." During my short trip to Denmark last month, I spent a good amount of time on a heavy, black cruiser bike rented from my hotel, exploring the city of Copenhagen and surrounds in search of lessons in bike culture, infrastructure, and policy that I could bring back home to the states. Some of my most productive time, however, was spent out of the saddle sitting at sidewalk cafés, talking to designers, planners, and policy wonks. Also, I spent loads of time drinking copious amounts of beer and/or coffee, and watching the beautiful people pedal by - most of them on "granny bikes" like mine. I spent an entire afternoon at one café with Mikael Colville-Andersen, the CEO of Copenhagenize Design Co <http://www.copenhagenize.com/> . Colville-Andersen makes a living as a provocateur and a preacher, spreading the gospel of biking to cities around the world. He makes a strong case that we should take our streets back from the traffic engineers, and instead design them with people in mind <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX8zZdLw7cs> . He also says Americans need to take bicycling back from the bike tribes - the hipsters, speedsters, and bike messengers - and make them as ordinary as the black granny bikes on Copenhagen's streets. "Subcultures are actually a hindrance to building cycling," Colville-Andersen said. "From an American perspective, I think you need to get the subcultures to shut up." I spent an hour on another afternoon drinking gypsy-brewed beer with Kasey Klimes, an urban data specialist with Gehl Architects <http://www.gehlarchitects.com/> , the firm that New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg hired to help make his city more bike friendly. Klimes did a study on Queen Louise's Bridge, one of Copenhagen's main bike thoroughfares. After the city doubled the width of the bike tracks on the bridge and made other improvements, bike traffic increased by a third. Car traffic, meanwhile, dropped by half. Forty percent of those drivers found other routes, Klimes found, but 10 percent "just disappeared." Apparently they decided that riding the bus or biking was a better option. And in fact, when asked why they bike rather than drive, the great majority of Copenhageners respond that it's simply the quickest, most convenient way to get around. Health and economic concerns are factors, too. Protecting the environment? Hardly a blip on their radar: (Copenhagen city officials have worked hard to make biking easy. For details on their methods, which one planner described as "the carrot, the whip, and the tambourine," check out part 2 <http://grist.org/cities/spin-cycle-copenhagens-rise-fall-and-rise-again-to- cycling-supremacy/> in this series.) On my last day in Copenhagen, I spent a few hours at yet another sidewalk café, talking with two fellow Americans who are working to get more people riding bicycles back home - and have some significant cash to throw at the problem, thanks to the enlightened self-interest of companies that make and sell bikes. Zach Vanderkooy is the international programs officer for Bikes Belong <http://www.bikesbelong.org/> , a Boulder, Colo.-based nonprofit that gets its funding from U.S. bicycle manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. Randy Neufeld is director of the SRAM Cycling Fund <http://www.sramcyclingfund.org/index.html> , a philanthropic arm of the company that makes Rock Shox and other bike components. Their main focus these days? Make American streets look more like the ones in Copenhagen. Vanderkooy and Neufeld believe that there's a large chunk of the American public that is poised and ready to bike. They cited work by Roger Geller, the bicycle coordinator for the city of Portland, Ore., who argues that fully 60 percent of the city's population is curious about biking, but they don't do it. Why? "It's dangerous." Here's a chart breaking breaking Portland's populace into the bikers, the non-bikers, and the yet-to-be convinced. If you want the thinking behind all this, Geller has written a whole report on the subject <http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/44597?a=237507> [PDF]. The key to moving people from the yellow "interested but concerned" zone to the green "enthused & confident" zone? Get rid of the fear factor, Vanderkooy and Neufeld said. That is, create a cityscape where they feel safe riding a bike. Traffic calming devices, neighborhood greenways, and bike trails all help, Neufeld said. "But the missing tool in the U.S. is protected bike lanes." By "protected," he meant bike lanes that are separated from car traffic by more than a flimsy white line. Here's how they do it in Copenhagen: They've put a line of car parking spaces - and an occasional tree - between the cyclists and the cars. It may seem like a small thing, but it makes an incredible difference. Rather than riding in constant fear of being clipped or flattened by a passing motorist, you're free to tootle along, cigarette in one hand, cellphone in the other. (OK, don't do that - but the Danes do.) Cities from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., have installed protected or separated bike lanes in the past few years. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has vowed to install 100 miles of them during his four-year term. And Vanderkooy and Neufeld are hoping to make it spread further. Vanderkooy's group, with funding from the SHRAM Cycling Fund, is sponsoring the Green Lane Project <http://greenlaneproject.org/> , a campaign that works with a half-dozen U.S. cities at a time to create protected bike lanes. This is all fine and good, but I had to ask: Is biking in U.S. cities just a fad, fueled by a young generation that can't afford cars? Neufeld, a veteran bicycle activist who founded Chicago's Active Transportation Alliance, doesn't think so. He pointed to "megatrends" like a disinterest in driving among millennials <http://grist.org/transportation/2011-12-27-driving-has-lost-its-cool-for-yo ung-americans/> , the decline in overall driving miles even as the recession has lifted <http://grist.org/news/youngs-kill-car-culture/> , and the rising price of gasoline. Those trends are unlikely to turn around any time soon, he said. "None of this smacks as 'fad' to me." Instead, Neufeld thinks that we're seeing an unprecedented opportunity to change American transportation culture for the better. "This is the big one," he said. "There's never been change at this pace. Bicycling has never been this popular." And for U.S. cities that have embraced bicycling in recent years, it's not really about bikes, Vanderkooy said. "It's about attracting young people and talent to your city. It's about better economic performance, economic health, and public safety. Mayors have begun to embrace biking as purely a rational act, to make their cities competitive." With that, Neufeld looked at his watch, his eyes lighting up like a kid who woke up on Christmas morning and found a shiny new bike under the tree: "You guys want to go watch rush hour on the bridge?" He was talking about Queen Louise's Bridge, of course, that shining, squeaking emblem of Copenhagen's rebirth as a bicycling city. And watch we did, joining the throngs of locals lining the railings. I woke up at 3:30 the next morning, still discombobulated by the time change, and decided to go for a run. The sky was starting to get light as I ran past Queen Louise's Bridge, and the crazy Copenhageners were still at it. Clusters of young people lined the sidewalks, cheering bicyclists as they pedaled past. One group had a portable sound system - in the front of a cargo bike, of course - and was throwing an impromptu dance party. Couples sat on the railing, looking east, waiting for the sunrise. As the sun crested the skyline, a cheer went up, and the people on the bridge slowly collected their things, mounted their bikes, and started home. And so did I - I had an airplane to catch.

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AT Webinar: Getting Better Data for Better Decisions, Wed, Aug 21, 2-3 pm, EcoCentre
by Beth McKechnie 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

Green Action Centre and Bike to the Future invite you to join us for a local viewing of the following APBP webinar at the EcoCentre (3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave). This will be followed by group discussion of local applications.* *Detailed description provided below. *Wed, August 21st | 2:00-3:00 p.m.* RSVPs are appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then! cheers, Beth (204) 925-3772 * * * * * ** Getting Better Data for Better Decisions: Improving Data Collections and Outcomes Collecting data is of critical importance, but what we do with data is often the key to making a difference. This webinar explores the current state of the practice of bicycle and pedestrian data collection, delivers an overview of research on automated counting technologies, and provides examples of using data to reveal unexpected patterns and connections in facility use. The session includes a preview of the findings of NCHRP 07-19, "Methods and Technologies for Collecting Pedestrian and Bicycle Volume Data,” and thought-provoking case studies from Arlington County, Virginia (a leader in the national effort to develop better methods for collecting and using bicycle and pedestrian counts to understand travel behavior) that highlight the use of data to calculate exposure data for safety projects, argue for speed reduction, negotiate for pedestrian-friendly development, and more. Gather colleagues, clients and decision makers to view this webinar and begin planning your new data collection program. *Presenters*: - Tony Hull, Toole Design Group - David Patton, Arlington County, Virginia - Frank Proulx, SafeTREC, Berkeley

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WFP: Winnipeg's soul got buried - Pedestrian-free iconic intersection cold, uninviting (Aug.14'13)
by Beth McKechnie 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

Winnipeg's soul got buried Pedestrian-free iconic intersection cold, uninviting By: Bartley Kives http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/winnipegs-soul-got-buried-219526071.… An eight-lane intersection, barred to the public by barricades under a 37-year deal to push pedestrians underground, cannot be considered a "great place" by anyone who loves cities. Great urban spaces are places where human beings congregate. Remove people from the streetscape and all you're left with is concrete and asphalt. That's why there's no shortage of subversive genius behind a bid to designate Portage and Main -- off limits to humans for decades -- the greatest street in the nation, as part of a Great Places in Canada contest run by the Canadian Institute of Planners. Back in the early days of the Bill Norrie administration, Portage and Main was barricaded as part of the deal to build the skyscraper now known as the Commodity Exchange Tower as well as Winnipeg Square, the underground pedestrian mall. Whoever nominated Portage and Main as a 'great place' must have a fantastic sense of humour -- or a knack for inspiring outrage It was 1979, and Winnipeg was starting to suffer severely from a peculiar form of urban psychosis -- a belief in the revitalizing powers of downtown megaprojects. A decade earlier, entire blocks of northeastern downtown were razed to make room for the Manitoba Centennial Centre and the Civic Centre complex. This upgraded Winnipeg's institutional infrastructure, but whittled away at downtown's pedestrian streetscape, as small-scale buildings were replaced by concrete plazas. Unconvinced this was a bad idea, Winnipeg grew addicted to the magical powers of the megaproject. So down went an entire block bounded by Main Street, Portage Avenue, Fort Street and Graham Avenue. In its place, we received a nice skyscraper, a weird underground mall and the roots of a weather-protected walkway system designed to vacuum away what remained of Portage and Main's remaining pedestrians. It's now been 34 years since the barricades went up. Entire generations have been raised knowing that getting across that intersection without heading underground involves defying the edict of Gandalf: "Thou Shalt Not Pass." Portage and Main is no longer a streetscape, at least in the conventional sense. It's simply a multi-lane intersection where traffic signals maximize the movement of motor-vehicle traffic. Sure, there remains an idea of "Portage and Main" as the theoretical centre of the city. But that's a purely abstract sort of place name, used in the same manner international reporters use the term "Moscow" to describe the political machine at the heart of Russia. The real Portage and Main is a cold and uninviting place. At the southwest corner, you face a wall of the Commodity Exchange Tower complex -- Scotiabank windowglass frosted over with a Winnipeg Jets banner. At the southeast corner stands the stately, 100-year-old Bank of Montreal building, whose front entrance is seldom used. At the northeast corner stands the Richardson Building, whose wide and slightly more inviting plaza is adorned with Tree Children, a sculpture by Leo Mol. The office tower now known as 201 Portage Ave. graces the northwest corner, offering only a glass facade toward the actual intersection. On a sunny Tuesday morning in August, only one person stood, sat or walked at any of these four corners. Whoever nominated Portage and Main as a "great place" must have a fantastic sense of humour -- or a knack for inspiring outrage. Shortly before departing office in 2004, former mayor Glen Murray launched a design contest in the hopes of reopening the intersection in some way. A resulting scheme received the nominal support of six out of seven Portage and Main property owners, but died on the vine in 2006. That's when current Mayor Sam Katz declined to endorse a plan to replace the barricades with movable bollards, which would have been opened on evenings and weekends. Under the terms of the original agreement, the intersection is slated to remain closed until 2016. Even if it reopens in 2017, pedestrians trained to treat it like a minefield will not suddenly find themselves attracted to the intersection. Genuine public spaces draw people to them. Portage and Main keeps them away. It would be lovely to live in Winnipeg where "Portage and Main" is an actual place along with an idea. Instead, the streetlights change like clockwork, ushering cars through a city centre that is quite literally without a soul. bartley.kives(a)freepress.mb.ca *Is it time for Winnipeggers to come up into the sunlight? Should Portage and Main be open to pedestrians? Join the conversation in the comments below. [ http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/winnipegs-soul-got-buried-219526071.… ] * *Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 14, 2013 B1*

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Vote now to reopen Portage & Main to pedestrians!
by Beth McKechnie 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

http://globalnews.ca/news/778573/pressure-building-to-reopen-portage-and-ma… Pressure building to reopen Portage and Main to pedestrians [image: Lorraine_personalities 220x260px]<http://globalnews.ca/author/lorraine-nickel/> By Lorraine Nickel <http://globalnews.ca/author/lorraine-nickel/> Reporter/Anchor WINNIPEG — Portage and Main is famous as Canada’s windiest corner and the heart of downtown Winnipeg but for 34 years, something’s been missing. “Portage and Main which was, it still probably is, the symbolic heart of the city has become a place for cars, not a place for people,” said Prof. Richard Milgrom, the head of the department of city planning at the University of Manitoba. For decades, people crossed Portage Avenue and Main Street freely. Then in 1979, the city signed a contract with area businesses that closed the intersection to pedestrians for 40 years and built the underground concourse. The contract expires in six years and key players are talking about plans to reopen the famous intersection to pedestrians. “85 per cent of our BIZ members would like to see Portage and Main reopened. Part of what makes downtown vibrant and excited is the ability for people just to walk around,” said Stefano Grande of the Downtown BIZ. Some city councillors are on board but say discussions haven’t started at city hall yet. “I like the idea of putting people on Portage and Main. You could do it on a gradual basis, like starting at six or on weekends,” said St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal. “I would love to have that happen somehow,” said River Heights Coun. John Orlikow. “I know there’s issues down below with some of the shopkeepers.” To take down the barricades, all the property owners on the famous corner must first agree. The Bank of Montreal and Creswin Properties (owners of the office tower at 201 Portage Ave.) want it opened. But the Richardson Centre “wants things to stay the same” and Artis REIT, the owner of the underground shops of Winnipeg Square, said “it’s premature to discuss the idea.” A lot has changed downtown since the 1970s, with the MTS Centre being built, several new condo and apartment developments going up and the Human Rights Museum slated to open next year. “The downtown in the last seven years has become a much more vibrant place,” said Jino Distasio, urban studies professor at the University of Winnipeg. But it’s not that simple, he admits. “There will be some growing pains. It’ll be some frustrated drivers who are going to have to wait on a corner that they’ve been able to speed through.” Former Mayor Glen Murray tried to open the intersection in 2002, asking architects to design a safe pedestrian crossing, but the 40-year agreement derailed those plans. “I’m disappointed it didn’t happen because I think it was critical for the city,” said Murray. “You can’t find a major city in the world anymore that has blocked off a street, never mind its main corner.” So will seeing people crossing Portage and Main remain a distant memory, or is there a new future for this famous intersection? “I think it has to happen if our downtown is going to become a vibrant place, an exciting place,” said Grande. http://globalnews.ca/news/778573/pressure-building-to-reopen-portage-and-ma…

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Bike theft deterrents
by Dave Elmore 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Slamming+brakes+stolen+bikes/8781652/stor y.html Slamming the brakes on stolen bikes Some cities, and even the University of Saskatchewan's Campus Safety, have experimented with bait bikes, equipped with GPS to track down thieves. (AP file Photo) As bike thefts in Saskatoon skyrocket this summer, some cities across the world are taking a more creative approach to deter cycle thieves. According to Saskatoon police, reports of stolen bicycles jumped 80 per cent this year between June 1 and July 31, compared to the same time frame last year - to 149 from 83. Reported bike thefts during the same two-month period on the University of Saskatchewan campus also doubled - to 10 from five. City police are repeating the usual message, warning bicyclists to always lock up their bikes and make note of their ride's serial number. Fenced areas devoted solely to private bicycle parking can be found scattered throughout the city. Bike lockers can also be rented on the University of Saskatchewan grounds, and Campus Safety has experimented with bait bikes - rides equipped with GPS to track thefts - in the past. Cities around the world have used these same methods to deter bike thieves, but some aren't satisfied with the same old tricks. Researchers at Newcastle University in the U.K. recently targeted thief psychology with a simple poster, staring down potential stealers. The posters, each featuring a pair of watchful eyes and equipped with the warning, 'Cycle Thieves: We are watching you,' were placed around campus, and led to a 62 per cent reduction in bike thefts over two years in areas where posters could be found. "It's amazing that just a picture would have a bigger effect than a camera recording people," Melissa Bateson, an ethology professor at Newcastle University and one of the study's authors, told the Toronto Star in April. Police in Cambridge, Mass. instituted a similar strategy in one of the city's most frequently cycled areas. Two cardboard cut-outs of a Massachusetts transit police officer were placed in the bicycle cages at the Alewife Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway and bus station, where hundreds of people use the racks daily and bikes are frequently stolen. Police only saw one reported bike theft between July 5, when the cut-outs were placed in the cages, and Aug. 4, according to Deputy Chief Robert Lenehan. Last year, six bikes were stolen from the area over the same time period. "All you see is this imposing figure of a police officer," Lenehan told the StarPhoenix. He said the number of reported bike thefts also decreased by 56 per cent in the Alewife station over a oneyear period from July 2012 to July 2013 with the introduction of more patrol officers. He said there is no single best method to reduce bike thefts. "You can never arrest yourself out of a crime problem," Lenehan said. "There is no one magical way out of it. If the cut-out is deterring two or three bike thefts a month, or even two or three bike thefts each quarter, it's still part of the overall approach to try to drive down the crime." MBTA transit police were even able to stop a Craigslist bike thief a few years ago by following him online. The thief was snapping photos of bicycles locked up on the street and posting the photos to Craigslist, a popular classifieds website. When users on the site wanted to buy a bike, the man stole it. "You have to be aware. Every time you think you've locked the doors, you find out there is a window open somewhere," Lenehan said. Thanks Dave o _ ( \ _ (X)\ /(X)

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Flin Flon Reminder - Why not leave the car at home?
by Beth McKechnie 13 Aug '13

13 Aug '13

*From:* Reaney, Vicky (MLG) *Sent:* Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:06 PM ** ****

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Active Commuting Cuts Risk of Diabetes, High Blood Pressure
by Beth McKechnie 09 Aug '13

09 Aug '13

Ditch the Car: Active Commuting Cuts Risk of Diabetes, High Blood Pressure By Tamarra Kemsley<http://www.natureworldnews.com/reporters/tamarra-kemsley> http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/3387/20130808/ditch-car-active-comm… By forgoing the car and opting for a more active commute, a person can cut their risk of developing diabetes by as much as 40 percent, a new study [ http://www.ajpmonline.org/webfiles/images/journals/amepre/AMEPRE_3837-stamp…] published in the *American Journal of Preventative Medicine* shows. Led by researchers at Imperial College London and University College London, the report examines how 20,000 people throughout the UK traveled to work and compared this to a number of health indicators, many of which put a person at greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes. In doing so, they found that cycling, walking and using public transport were all associated with a lower risk of being overweight than driving or taking a taxi. Specifically, the data showed that 19 percent of working age adults who used private transportation -- such as cars, motorcycles or taxis -- to get to work were obese, compared to 15 percent of those who walked and 13 percent of those who cycled to work. Meanwhile, people who walked to work were also 17 percent less likely than people who drive to have high blood pressure. All told, cyclists were around half as likely to have diabetes as drivers. Based on these findings, the researchers argue that people can reduce their risk of serious health problems such as heart attacks as well as diabetes by simply avoiding the use of a car. "This study highlights that building physical activity into the daily routine by walking, cycling or using public transport to get to work is good for personal health," said Anthony Laverty, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London. Though, the researchers note, not everyone has the option to pursue these more active forms of commuting. Public transportation, they found, was used most in London, at 52 percent, compared with just 5 percent in Northern Ireland. "The variations between regions suggest that infrastructure and investment in public transport, walking and cycling can play a large role in encouraging healthy lives, and that encouraging people out of the car can be good for them as well as the environment," Laverty concluded.

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Summer Photo Contest (Please distribute widely)
by Shoni Litinsky 06 Aug '13

06 Aug '13

[image: Inline images 3] Summer is here and with it comes the fun of commuting outdoors! Peg City Car Co-op wants to see photos of your summer commute featuring themes of biking, walking, and busing. It's easy. Check out our Facebook page here <http://a.pgtb.me/7q2dNs> to enter the contest. Enter your photo and get your friends to vote for it. Photos with the most votes will win a MEC gift certificate each week! Enter as many photos as you like to win multiple prizes! Our grand prizes will be awarded to three lucky finalists including: 1. One years worth of Driving Credit with Peg City Car Co-op 2. One $500 Custom Bike from Natural Cycle 3. One Winnipeg Transit Half-Year Bus Pass Grand Prize winners will be chosen by our stellar Jury Panel that boast local artists, Josh Ruth (Art City), Natalie Baird, Lucas Pauls (The Distillery), and Shawna Dempsey. We can't wait to see your snapshots! Peg City Car Co-op -- Emma Bonnemaison *Marketing Coordinator * emma(a)pegcitycarcoop.ca +1.778.891.0337 <http://pegcitycarcoop.ca/> -- *Shoni Litinsky* | Active and Safe Routes to School Green Action Centre <http://greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Avenue* | *(204) 925-3773 Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/> Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>

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G&M: Vancouver's bike lanes have made it a city to watch (Aug2'13)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Aug '13

04 Aug '13

Vancouver’s bike lanes have made it a city to watch FRANCES BULA VANCOUVER — Special to The Globe and Mail Published Friday, Aug. 02 2013 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/why-vancouvers-bike-la… To many cities, building bike lanes isn’t about serving a small slice of the hipster set. It’s about showing that the city is planning for a different, more sustainable transportation future and serving an increasingly important demographic. City cycling is no fad, say municipal officials and cycling experts around the continent: It’s here to stay and should be embraced. “All of us, in every city around North America, because of demographic forces, are really seeing an increase in cycling,” says Andrew Stober, chief of staff for the mayor’s office on transportation in Philadelphia. “This is not a case of ‘Build it and they will come.’ We are seeing that we need to build something because they’re already here.’” As cities get more dense, more people are coming to the conclusion that a bicycle is often the most efficient and cheapest way to travel within the five-kilometre radius where they increasingly spend most of their time. And businesses, looking around the globe at where to locate, factor in the effort that cities are making to provide for their potential bike-riding employees. Philadelphia recently got shortlisted as a new location for a major brewery’s East Coast base because of its robust bike-route network. As a result, Mr. Stober and many other city officials say they are constantly scanning the horizon to see what other cities are doing. One of the places they always look: Vancouver. Vancouver doesn’t have the biggest cycling network. Montreal has far more concrete barrier-protected lanes; New York has more miles of bike routes overall. It doesn’t have the highest percentage of cycle trips (as opposed to walking, driving and taking transit). Copenhagen, with 40 per cent, and even Berlin, with 15 per cent of trips by bicycle, far outstrip Vancouver, which is currently closing in on 5 per cent. It doesn’t have a bike-share program yet, like other cities aggressively pushing cycling. But Vancouver was one of the first cities in North America to create a low-cost, low-impact network by creating bikeways along residential streets with relatively light traffic volumes – a system that Portland, Ore., copied. That system has helped push cycling trips in some parts of the city – Commercial Drive, Kitsilano – to the 12- to 15-per-cent range. “It really has led the way in North American in local-street bikeways,” says John Pucher, a Rutgers University urban planning professor and author of *City Cycling*. But in the last five years, the city has moved into a tougher phase: increasing barrier-separated lanes and other route improvements that visibly take space away from cars. It’s the kind of cycling infrastructure that Mr. Pucher and other researchers say is the safest and the type most likely to encourage regular people, especially women, to try cycling. Vancouver’s efforts have meant fights with residents, downtown businesses, and political opponents who accuse Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver councillors of catering to the city’s tiny minority of cyclists. This week, city council’s decision to approve a new section of bikeway alongside some of the city’s most expensive properties – and some of its most vehemently opposed residents – was watched carefully across the continent. “They’re one of the leaders,” says Laura Spanjian, sustainability director for the City of Houston, which has built 300 miles of bikeways recently and introduced a small but enthusiastically welcomed bike-share program this spring. “That huge controversy they had … it’s kind of fantastic for the country. It shows that even when there’s opposition, if you have strong leadership, you can move ahead and show the success later. It helps other cities when you have wins like this.” Vancouver is one of the models for smaller or more car-oriented cities that have decided unilaterally to create a cycling culture. Amsterdam and Copenhagen, the current superstars among cycling cities, are admired, but not always seen as examples that can be emulated. Amsterdam, where 57 per cent of all trips are done by bicycle, has had a strong cycling culture since the bicycle was invented. Its city governments over the years have mostly strengthened that. Copenhagen, which has reached the 40-per-cent mark for cycling trips, made more of a leap, but it had a long history of building separated bike lanes – called “cycle tracks” by the experts – in its central city. As well, like many European cities, its public spaces were never taken over by the car to the extent that North America’s were when cars began fighting for and winning dominance on the roads over pedestrians and streetcars in the 1920s and ’30s. But Vancouver, and other cities like New York, Chicago, Berlin, Seville, Barcelona, Montreal, and Portland that have had to fight to create a cycling culture, are the ones showing the way to cities anxious to transform transportation in their metropolises. Paris and London mayors may have embraced the bicycle, but they didn’t have the problems of New York – taxi drivers, truckers and rich people who fought against bike lanes. With the fierce Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan leading the way since 2007, New York has added nearly 350 miles of on-street bike lanes to its city, including 25 miles of protected lanes, for a total of about 850 miles. It has shut down some streets entirely for car-free days on occasion. But not without some serious skirmishing. Wealthy residents in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn sued over one section of proposed bike lane – a case the city won. Complaints were also in full flood for the bike-share system, introduced this spring, from worries that the docking stations were taking up too much sidewalk space to griping about the technical problems with the stations. But something is working. Statistics show the number of bike riders crossing into Manhattan during a average 12-hour period doubled from 16,000 to 32,000 between 2005 and 2012, a number that is likely to be up again once the 2013 numbers are counted. “New York City’s streets are now the safest they’ve been, with the last five years recording the fewest traffic fatalities since records were first kept in 1910,” adds Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Gastel. As Vancouverites were lining up pro and con to argue about the city’s new Seaside Greenway last week, a University of B.C. researcher pointed out that Vancouver – contrary to public opinion – has been rather timid in its push for separated bike lanes. “Since 2009, Vancouver has added six kilometres of separated bike lanes,” Kay Teschk says. “Seville has built 120 kilometres of separated bike lanes in the same five-year period.” Mr. Pucher, of Rutgers University, calls Seville the most dramatic example of a complete turnaround: Before the city started its cycling improvements, only about 0.5 per cent of all trips were made by bicycle. Now, about 6.5 per cent of trips are bike trips, about 85,000 a day. “Seville is the most interesting because it started with zero tradition of daily, utilitarian cycling,” Mr. Pucher says. That was in keeping with elsewhere in Spain, especially cities like Madrid, where a cyclist on a regular street is a rare sight. Some German cities, like Hamburg and Munich, have been good cycling cities for decades. Hamburg had separated bike lanes, complete with little traffic lights that showed green and red bicycles, back in the 1970s. Not Berlin. “Berlin has turned to it partially because of financial issues,” says Ralph Buehler, an urban affairs professor at Virginia Tech and co-author of *City Cycling*. The city was struggling economically after re-unification. “It found out that building bike infrastructure is much cheaper than highway interchanges or even subways.” Mr. Buehler says. Between 1990 and 2008, the number of cycling trips doubled, accounting by the end of that period for 13 per cent of all trips. The figure is now up to 15 per cent (and as high as 25 in some neighbourhoods), as cyclists now have access to about 620 kilometres of bike lanes. Cycling experts gripe about some aspects of the Berlin system – that it’s inconsistent, with riders sometimes in protected bike lanes, sometimes on the sidewalk, and sometimes on roads with arrows. The group Copenhagenize Design, which rates cities on the cycling facilities, also notes that Berlin is still doing contradictory things, like pouring money into projects for cars. *Related stories*: Bike route approved for Vancouver’s western beaches following passionate debate <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouver-to-get-bikew…> Vancouver’s bike lanes: Gordon Price on when to ignore the opposition <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouvers-bike-lanes-…>

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WFP: A little love at the landfill - WRENCH sets out to salvage 900 discarded bikes (Aug.4'13)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Aug '13

04 Aug '13

A little love AT THE LANDFILL WRENCH sets out to salvage 900 discarded bikes By: Bill Redekop http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/a-little-love-at-the-landfill-218259… Pat Krawec once found a $5,000 Italian, handmade bicycle at the Brady Road Landfill, but that's not what drives his passion for repairing and salvaging discarded bikes. "It's just such a waste" said Krawec, executive director of the WRENCH (Winnipeg Repair, Education and Cycling Hub), a local group that is to bicycles what Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was to the 1970s. "We're Winnipeggers. We're thrifty. It's a moral outrage. There's still lots of life left in these bikes," said Krawec. WRENCH held its annual version of the push, pull and drag sale on Saturday but at no charge. Volunteers from Winnipeg's half-dozen community bike shops came by to save and strip parts from bicycles that wound up in the Brady Road Landfill. About 900 bikes were being picked over Saturday, including tricycles, kids bikes, 10-speeds, mountain bikes, trick bikes and even exercise bikes. "The amount of used bikes being thrown away is crazy, and it shows no sign of slowing down," said Krawec. The organization puts a positive spin into the old saying "throw a wrench" into something, which usually means bungling things up. Here, WRENCH fixes the situation. But WRENCH has a larger mission than to just repair bikes. It's more like bicycle maintenance as a "solution" to many of society's ills. Bikes are exercise, fresh air, environmentally friendly, and bicycling helps clear your head. Repairing bikes makes for sustainable cycling. The main component to the non-profit WRENCH is to educate the public to do its own bicycle maintenance. It runs programs for everyone from prison inmates to special-needs people to inner-city kids. WRENCH also runs Build-a-Bike programs for schools and community centres. "One reason the programs work so well is that by working on bicycles, you can get outside yourself. People learn to actually fix stuff," said Krawec. It receives donations from some heavy hitters including the Richardson Foundation and Winnipeg Foundation, and government grants from the Neighbourhoods Alive and waste-reduction programs. Volunteer-run community bike shops that WRENCH assists include The Big Dump, The Bike Dungeon and Bike Lab. "Most of these bikes just need a little love," said Robin Ellis, volunteer co-ordinator for WRENCH, surveying the tangle of bikes at the Brady Road Landfill. Bike culture is growing, said Ellis. For example, she plays in a bike polo league. "It's like hockey on bikes with mallets." It's played on indoor rinks, with a street hockey ball and mallets that are typically ski poles with PVC piping taped to the end. If a player puts a foot down, they have to retreat to an area and touch the boards. One might have predicted everyone at WRENCH pedals to work, as staff don't even own cars. "A lot of people who come to our shops depend on bikes for their transportation," Ellis said. More information is at wrench.ca. bill.redekop(a)freepress.mb.ca *Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 4, 2013 A4*

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