March 2012 - AT-Network - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

Bicycle Facilities Design Course for Engineers - May 27 in Winnipeg!!! CITE 2012
by Anders Swanson 03 May '12

03 May '12

[Thanks to Bjorn Radstrom for passing this along - a very valuable training opportunity for engineers interested in designing for the bicycle - Anders]. “Bicycle Facilities Design Course” is being offered at the annual Canadian Institute of Transportation Engineers (CITE 2012) conference in Winnipeg. The workshop is on Sunday, May 27th from 08:30 to 16:30. There are details at: http://www.cite7.org/Winnipeg2012/WinnipegWorkshops.php. You can register for the workshop without registering for the rest of the conference.

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The Great Hike Kickoff 2012
by Beth McKechnie 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

------------------------------ *From:* Margaret Boyechko [mailto:margaret@mrta.mb.ca] *Sent:* Thursday, March 29, 2012 2:12 PM ***Subject:* The Great Hike Kickoff 2012**** ** ** Check out the attached and come join us on April 12, 2012 – it’s a fun thing!! No registration required – hope to see you there.**** ** ** Margaret Boyechko**** Administration Assistant/Bookkeeper**** ****Manitoba**** Recreational Trails Association**** 1007 Century Street**** ****Winnipeg**, **MB** **R3H 0W4******** 204-633-9879**** 204-945-1365 (fax)**** www.mrta.mb.ca**** *"In every walk with nature one receives ***** *far more than he seeks."* - John Muir****

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Kickstarter -Walk Your City: Guerrilla Wayfinding
by Shoni Litinsky 30 Mar '12

30 Mar '12

This video has been getting a lot of attention over the past few days. The Walk Your City project is trying to raise money to build an opensource Guerrilla Wayfinding website that will allow people to print off walkability wayfinding signs. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cityfabric/walk-your-city An interesting watch and inspiration as a creative idea to raise funding and the profile of active travel needs. S

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WFP: Rubber could fix sidewalks, put bounce in our steps (Mar.27'12)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Mar '12

29 Mar '12

Rubber could fix sidewalks, put bounce in our steps By: Benjamin Gillies http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/rubber-could-fix-sidewalk… Winnipeggers were eager to get out of the house to take advantage of the nicer weather in recent weeks, only to find the freezing and thawing -- and the presence of pushy tree roots -- caused many sidewalks to fracture and shift over the winter, making them not only a nuisance to replace, but also a potential danger. Almost exclusively, concrete and asphalt have traditionally been used for sidewalk construction in North America. Yet, neither is particularly well-suited to the task. Both materials are brittle, prone to cracking when trees grow beneath them and vulnerable to weather damage. Their lack of porosity deprives the soil of groundwater and increases runoff problems. In the early 2000s, entrepreneurs in the United States sought to better meet pedestrian needs by finding a type of pavement less likely to break. Searching for a malleable material, they ground up discarded tires and designed resilient rubber panels that are harder than a running track but softer than concrete or asphalt. This solution proved extremely effective. Not only did the rubber bend to accommodate tree growth, but when roots became too unruly, the individual panels could be removed, the path re-graded, roots trimmed and the same panels re-laid. In fact, city workers discovered roots actually grew more slowly beneath rubber as water could seep through the seams between the panels, reducing the need for roots to spread in search of sustenance. It was also realized that once installed, the ease with which the panel sidewalk could be disassembled and reassembled made it faster and less expensive for utility companies to complete any maintenance or other underground work than having to dig up or drill into concrete slabs. Best of all, the alternative material was good for its users, as walking or running on a rubber, shock-absorbing surface is easier on one's joints and more forgiving when someone falls. Cities using the rubber sidewalks often experienced a reduction in liability claims from pedestrians tripping, as broken and uneven concrete sidewalks were no longer a hazard. Recognizing these benefits, in the past decade rubber walkways have been put down in nearly 100 American municipalities. Canadian cities, however, have been slower to explore their potential. A handful, including Kelowna, Vancouver and Calgary have launched pilot projects. Yet, with Canada's extreme temperatures, a material less susceptible to weather damage may be even more advantageous here than it is down south. After all, the annual freezing and thawing process can force the replacement of concrete walks in as few as three years. Tests have shown rubber stands up well against excessive heat and cold, and the panels are estimated to last up to two decades without cracking. Additionally, where installed, the panels remain undamaged by snow-clearing equipment and have been designed so as not to be slippery in winter. This means that while they're about a third more expensive than concrete initially, over the long run they are very likely the most cost-effective and safest option. It is often said Winnipeg has only two seasons: winter and construction. To curb the disturbance and costs of this second season, the city should do what it can to find building materials that withstand our climate without frequent replacement. To that end, rubber-panel sidewalks seem a highly promising alternative for future development. With rubber proving itself so favourable elsewhere, the municipal government ought to consider launching its own pilot project to see if it could be a good fit here. The result could be fewer injuries and fewer scarce funds devoted to maintenance. Like the new sidewalks themselves, that is bound to put a little spring in anyone's step. *Benjamin Gillies is a political economy graduate from the University of Manitoba, where he focused on urban development and energy policy.*

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Copenhagen Economics: Cars are a Net Loss, Bikes a Benefit
by Shoni Litinsky 29 Mar '12

29 Mar '12

>From the Sustainable Cities Collective<http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/pmlydon/38206/copenhagen-economics-c…> : A study commissioned in 2010 by Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard, Mayor of Copenhagen found that *driving cars offers up a $0.20 net loss for each mile driven*. But the major form of transportation in this city of 1.2 million is not the car, but the bicycle. This leads us to what is perhaps the more amazing fact from this study…* bicycles offer a $0.35 net benefit to the economy per mile ridden*. *Math Note: 1 DKK = 18 cents (2010 currency rates) | 1.61km = 1mi* Other neat facts about Copenhagen from this study: - *Sixty-Eight Percent* - An astounding 68% of residents bicycle at least once a week - *Most Popular Commute Choice* - Citywide, 35% of residents bicycle to and from work/school, more than any other transportation method - *Sorry Cars, You’re Outnumbered* – When taking trips of under 6 miles, bicyclists outnumber cars 3 to 1 - *Rain, Sleet, or Snow* – Most commuters cycle year-round, even with an average low of 28-degrees Fahrenheit during snowy winter months and 2.5 inches of rain during summer months - *Kids Rule* – A full 98% of children in the city own a bicycle See full study here<http://www.kk.dk/sitecore/content/Subsites/CityOfCopenhagen/SubsiteFrontpag…> -- *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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Why bicyclists are better customers than drivers for local business
by Beth McKechnie 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

Why Bicyclists Are Better Customers Than Drivers for Local Business by Tanya Snyder <http://dc.streetsblog.org/author/tanya-snyder/> Friday, March 23, 2012 http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/03/23/why-bicyclists-are-better-customers-th… <http://dc.streetsblog.org/author/tanya-snyder/> Do local and state officials tune out when you try to talk to them about bicycling? Are they unconvinced by arguments about public health, transportation options, or clean air? Do business leaders send you packing when you suggest building new bike lanes and bike parking, fearing that the loss of car parking will keep customers away? Then show them the money. Bikes can mean big business, and businesses are beginning to realize it. At a Bike Summit panel Wednesday on the economic boost cycling can provide cities, speakers highlighted another strong message cyclists can bring to politicians when making their case for investment in bike/ped facilities. Far and away, the biggest reason business owners resist the addition of bike infrastructure is that they’re afraid it will limit parking. Once they realize they can get 12 bike parking spaces for each car spot, sometimes they begin to change their tune. Even better, they begin to discover that cyclists can be their best customers. “We tend to shop closer to home and shop more often,” said April Economides, a consultant who helped the city of Long Beach, California build bicycle-friendly business districts<http://www.bikelongbeach.org/Planning/Read.aspx?ArticleId=20>. Rather than jumping in the minivan and heading to the suburbs to go to the big shopping malls, cyclists patronize the businesses in our neighborhoods. Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster understands the value of bikes: “I see parts of the city on my bike that I would never even notice if I was just driving,” he said. “It’s a way for me personally to get closer to the city.” That closeness has a dollars-and-cents value. Cyclists travel at what Portland Bike Coordinator Roger Geller calls a “human-scale speed” that allows them to “stop and buy something.” Besides, Economides said, if you’re car-free you’ve got an extra $6,000 jangling around in your pocket that you otherwise would have spent on gas and car maintenance (actually, $8,776 if you believe AAA<http://newsroom.aaa.com/2011/04/cost-of-owning-and-operating-vehicle-in-u-s…>). According to researchers with Intelligent Communities, a program of the National Building Museum, only 16 percent of household car expenses stay within the local economy<http://www.govtech.com/e-government/IBM-City-Forward-Launched.html> . The four bicycle-friendly business districts Economides helped develop in Long Beach provide a model of how to encourage cycling without adding infrastructure. Local businesses see bike access as a boon for local shopping and dining. They have an informal merchant bike-share program, so the business owners themselves can enjoy the benefits of biking around town. The program created the nation’s largest citywide bike discount program <http://www.bikelongbeach.org/Events/Read.aspx?ArticleId=48>, where customers get better prices if they arrive by bike. The program also brought the districts community bike rides, free bike repairs, bike valets at local events, and even free bike portraits, where you can get your picture taken with your bike (see left). The programs have brought a flood of new customers into participating stores. Two of the four districts didn’t even have a lot of good bike infrastructure to begin with – but there’s more demand for it now, even from businesses that used to be bike-averse. Long Beach got a stimulus grant to create the districts, and the term of the grant expired just last week. But Economides said participating merchants are now so jazzed about cycling that they’ll carry on the work. And it’s a diverse group of businesses: Organizers reached out to Spanish- and Khmer-speaking merchants in the area and got their full participation. They also left paper flyers and postcards on people’s doorsteps, since not everyone is wired. “Open Streets,” or ciclovias – events where streets are closed to motorized traffic and become the domain of bicyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders, rollerbladers, jugglers, dog-walkers – are another way to bring money to local businesses. Washington University in St. Louis was able to quantify the economic benefit <http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/23216.aspx> of Open Streets programs: 73 percent of Open Streets participants spent money at a restaurant or store on the route, and 68 percent became aware of a restaurant or store that was new to them. Business Improvement Districts are another good place to seek support for pro-bike policies, said Andy Hanshaw of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. Local shopping and dining is what they’re all about, and they might be happy to sponsor community bike rides and new bike parking. After all, in downtowns turning car lanes over to people can be a great moneymaker. Its most stunning success, perhaps, has been Times Square, “the ultimate end vision of how to pedestrianize the most pedestrian-heavy place in America,” according to Mike Lydon of the Street Plans Collaborative. According to a recent study commissioned by the local BID, Times Square helps generate more than one-tenth of the city’s economic activity<http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/times-square-lights-up-citys-e…>– on less than one percent of its land. >From park(ing) day<http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/09/16/parking-day-once-again-sweeps-the-glo…>, where people create ephemeral parks in parallel parking spaces, to parklets that make those tiny parks more permanent, to pop-up cafés<http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/08/12/dot-unveils-new-pop-up-cafe-in-financ…>, adding outdoor public space draws people and adds life to the street. Those spaces also often become de facto additional seating for nearby establishments, giving them more capacity for free. “Bicycling, just like walking, helps make a Main Street more vibrant,” said Economides. “It adds more eyes and ears to the street, so it makes it safer. So think about a mom pushing a stroller. She’s going to want to walk down a block that has more people walking and bicycling; she’ll feel safer. And you do want to attract women and moms. We’re a pretty important shopping base.” Rory Robinson of the National Park Service found many other examples<http://www.miamivalleytrails.org/benefits.htm>of bicycling spurring economic revitalization, like the opening of the Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville, Colorado, which led to a 19 percent increase in sales tax revenues, helping the city recover from a mine closure in 1999. The 45-mile long Washington & Old Dominion Trail in the D.C. suburbs brings an estimated $7 million into the northern Virginia economy, nearly a quarter of that from out-of-towners. And downtown Dunedin, Florida was suffering a 35 percent storefront vacancy rate until an abandoned CSX railroad track became the Pinellas Trail. Storefront occupancy is now 100 percent, Robinson found. “Business is booming.” And the economic benefit of bicycling for communities doesn’t end with cyclists’ expensive cappuccinos and impulse buys. Properties near bike paths increase in value 11 percent, said Economides. Realtors and homebuilders consistently find that access and proximity to walking and biking facilities, especially greenways, makes homes easier to sell. A reporter for the Indianapolis Star said it best<http://saveourtrails.ca/money/property_values.htm>in 2003: “It may not have sand and crashing waves, but the Monon Trail is the equivalent of beachfront property in the Indianapolis area.” Add to that the fact that bike lane construction creates about twice as many jobs<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/01/07/combat-joblessness-stripe-a-bike-lane/>as road-building for the same amount of money, and you’ve got yourself a great economic argument to take to local leaders and politicians when you ask them to support walking and biking – even (or especially) in tough economic times. Tanya Snyder <http://dc.streetsblog.org/author/tanya-snyder/> became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica and public radio. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.

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WFP: Osborne Bridge construction resumes Friday (Mar.28'12)
by Beth McKechnie 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

Osborne Bridge construction resumes Friday THE end of winter means it's time for Winnipeg's other season -- road construction, which begins in earnest Friday with the resumption of the Osborne Bridge rehabilitation. The $17.2-million project, which involves the resurfacing and widening of Osborne Street from Broadway to River Avenue, began last year with work on the east side of the bridge over the Assiniboine River. Work on the west side of the bridge will begin on Friday, reducing traffic to three lanes, the public works department announced in a statement. One lane will be for northbound traffic, a second for southbound and a third will alternate, depending on the time. The city employed this system last year. The pedestrian underpass on the north side of the Assiniboine River will remain open as long as river levels are low enough. As of Tuesday, the level was 7.3 feet at the James Avenue pumping station, or 1.2 feet below the Assiniboine Riverwalk. If river levels rise, the city urges pedestrians and dismounted cyclists to exercise caution when they cross the street. The city hopes to complete construction by September and reopen two lanes of traffic in each direction while crews erect a barrier in the middle of the bridge to separate traffic. The entire project is expected to be finished in October, with three southbound lanes, two northbound lanes and both a bike lane and sidewalk in each direction.

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WFP: Get children moving, new guideline urge (Mar.28'12)
by Beth McKechnie 28 Mar '12

28 Mar '12

Get children moving, new guidelines urge No screen time at all for kids under two By: Helen Branswell TORONTO -- Little children should be moving more and sitting less, according to new recommendations that are being billed as the first Canadian guidelines for physical activity and sedentary behaviour for children four and younger. Kids younger than two shouldn't spend any time in front of a screen -- be it a TV, a computer or a tablet -- the guidelines say. And for children aged two to four, screen time should be limited to less than an hour a day. "There's no redeeming feature of screen time under the age of two," says Mark Tremblay, who chaired the committee that drew up the guidelines and is lead author of two scientific papers that analyzed about 40 published studies to come up with the two sets of guidelines. "Don't use screens as hypnotic elements to entertain them, to just pass time. It's not advantageous for the healthy growth and development of a child to do that." Tremblay is also director of the Healthy Active Living Obesity research group at the Children's Hospital for Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa. The guidelines were crafted by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology and ParticipAction, with help from Tremblay's group. The guidelines suggest children under one should be allowed to partake in active play several times daily -- including things like tummy time, reaching and grasping and crawling. For kids aged one to four, parents should aim for three hours of activity a day. The activity can be any kind, Tremblay says, and doesn't have to be rigorous. Walking, crawling, playing -- anything but sitting. By age five, children should be spending at least an hour a day in energetic play -- activities like hopping, skipping and bike riding. These bars may seem low. Many people have the notion little kids are always on the go. But in fact, that isn't the case, says Kelly Murumets, president and CEO of ParticipAction. When allowed to play outside, children do become very active, Murumets says. But when they are indoors, particularly if there is a TV or computer screen around, that's another matter. "I don't know what it is, I'm sure there's some physiological explanation for this, but they become transfixed by the screen. And they will sit and be sedentary for much longer than you would expect toddlers' DNA would allow," she says. The professional organization representing Canadian pediatricians is adding its support for the guidelines. The Canadian Pediatric Society is issuing its own guidance, which mirrors the recommendations on the amount of activity children should get daily. The society's guidelines also call on doctors to counsel families on the importance of encouraging children to be active and advise them on how to achieve that end. Over the last quarter-century, the obesity rate has nearly tripled among children and youth, the pediatrics society notes in its statement. As many as 26 per cent of kids between two and 17 years are now overweight or obese, and that number jumps to 41 per cent among First Nations children. "We're starting to see kids with health and obesity problems before they even start school," says Dr. Claire LeBlanc, chair of the society's committee on healthy active living and sports medicine. "Parents and caregivers need to incorporate age-appropriate physical activity into their children's day as young as possible." Tremblay says studies that monitor and evaluate what young children do find they are actually far more sedentary than most people would think. He says frequent activity contributes to bone, motor skill and cognitive development and protects against the harms associated with excessive sedentary behaviour. -- The Canadian Press

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Free workshop - Traffic and Health: Implementing Interventions to Mitigate Impacts
by Olivier.Bellefleur＠inspq.qc.ca 27 Mar '12

27 Mar '12

Please share this message. Our apologies for cross-posting. Dear colleagues, The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) invites you to a free one-day preconference workshop featuring renowned speakers Dan Burden, co-founder of the NGO Walkable Communities, and Catherine Berthod, engineer and urban planner for the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec. The workshop Motorized traffic and health: interventions to mitigate its impacts will take place at the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) annual conference, June 11, 2012, in Edmonton. It will focus on three interventions aiming at creating healthier built environments: · Traffic calming on urban, residential streets; · Road diets on suburban roads to allocate space for active transport infrastractures; · Redesign of main commercial streets of small communities also being used as regional transit roads. Click here to learn more: http://www.ncchpp.ca/176/presentations.ccnpps?id_article=740 Visit the CPHA 2012 Conference site at: http://www.cpha.ca/en/conferences/conf2012/registration.aspx. For questions or feedback, please contact Olivier Bellefleur at: olivier.bellefleur(a)inspq.qc.ca. _______________________________________ S.V.P. faites circuler dans vos réseaux. Nos excuses pour les envois multiples. Bonjour, Le Centre de collaboration nationale sur les politiques publiques et la santé (CCNPPS) vous invite à un atelier gratuit d’une journée en compagnie des conférenciers de renoms que sont Dan Burden, cofondateur de l’ONG Walkable Communities, et Catherine Berthod, ingénieure et urbaniste au Ministère des Transports du Québec. L’atelier Circulation motorisée et santé : des interventions pour mitiger ses impacts aura lieu lors de la prochaine Conférence annuelle de l’Association canadienne de santé publique (ACSP), le 11 juin 2012 à Edmonton. Il portera sur trois interventions visant à créer des environnements bâtis plus favorables à la santé : · Apaisement de la circulation sur les rues résidentielles en milieu urbain; · Régimes routiers permettant de redistribuer l’espace des voies suburbaines au profit d’infrastructures dédiées aux transports actifs; · Réaménagement des rues commerciales principales des petites agglomérations qui servent aussi de voies de transit régionales. Pour plus d’information : http://www.ccnpps.ca/188/Presentations.ccnpps?id_article=741 Pour visiter le site de la Conférence annuelle de l’ACSP : http://www.cpha.ca/fr/conferences/conf2012.aspx. Pour toute question, veuillez contacter Olivier Bellefleur à : olivier.bellefleur(a)inspq.qc.ca Olivier Bellefleur Agent de recherche / Research officer Centre de collaboration nationale sur les politiques publiques et la santé (CCNPPS) / National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) 190, boulevard Crémazie Est Montréal (Québec) H2P 1E2 Téléphone: 514-864-1600, poste 3635 Télécopieur: 514-864-5180 Web: www.ccnpps.ca / www.ncchpp.ca

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Wed, March 28th Webinars - Maintenance Programs & Empowering Women to Bicycle
by Beth McKechnie 27 Mar '12

27 Mar '12

[Friendly reminder about tomorrow afternoon's webinars...] Green Action Centre and Bike to the Future invite you to join us on Wednesday, March 28th for a local viewing of two APBP webinars:* **"Empowering Women to Bicycle for Transportation"* and *"*Best Practices in Maintenance Programs*"*. Both take place at the EcoCentre (3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion. Come for one or both of the webinars. As always, RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then. cheers, Beth 925-3772 * * * * * Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) presents: Empowering Women to Bicycle for Transportation Wednesday, March 28th • 2:00 to 3:30 pm CST Take in APBP's annual Women Cycling webinar and learn what it will take to empower women to bicycle for transportation at the same level that men do. Visit APBP's Women Cycling Project <http://www.womencyclingproject.info/>website where you can read the final reports on the Women Cycling Survey, view the 2010 and 2011 webinars on the Women Cycling phenomenon, and enjoy the winning photos from the Women Cycling photo contest. Best Practices for Maintenance Programs Wednesday, March 28th • 3:30-4:30 pm CST Efficient and cost-effective maintenance of pedestrian facilities is an important safety measure. Attend this webinar to learn why maintenance programs are important, and how to make the case for maintenance at budget time; how to overcome the barriers to implementing a good maintenance program; and how to develop the elements of a program that includes both routine maintenance and responding to hazards. Best practices for inspection, replacement and snow removal will be discussed, as well as findings from recent research into pedestrian facility maintenance. The session will include a preview of the new FHWA publication, "A Guide for Maintaining Pedestrian Facilities for Enhanced Safety," due to be published by the end of 2012. The webinar will also include information related to maintenance of bicycle facilities. Presenters: Tom Huber, Senior Planner, Toole Design Group; Arthur Ross, Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, City of Madison, Wisconsin. -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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Rapid transit slowly arrives
by Beth McKechnie 26 Mar '12

26 Mar '12

Rapid transit slowly arrives Osborne Street Station a beacon in a system that could transform this city By: Brent Bellamy We waited 15 years for an NHL hockey team. Now we have one. We waited 36 years for an IKEA. Next Christmas we will have one. We waited 53 years for a modern rapid transit system. In two weeks we will have one. Well, sort of. After more than a dozen studies, countless advisory committees and an endless number of task forces, Winnipeg's first, three-kilometre-long rapid transit line will soon be running. This modest first step comes more than five decades after the now infamous 'Wilson Plan' first recommended the creation of a rapid transit system for Winnipeg. Since that time, we have overwhelmingly built our city with a focus on car-oriented development. Decades of low-density subdivisions leapfrogging each other towards the periphery have resulted in Winnipeg's urban area growing disproportionately to its population. Between 1974 and 2006, the city's population grew by only 15 per cent, while its area increased by more than 50 per cent. Winnipeggers engage in few topics of discussion with greater passion than they do the cost of gasoline, the pace of traffic and the physical condition of our streets, yet we continue to support the urban sprawl that compounds these issues. As our city expands outward, we drive farther, buy more gas, build more roads, navigate more traffic and emit more pollution. With a lower-density tax base, government budgets struggle to maintain basic services and infrastructure for an increasingly unsustainable city. A convenient and affordable public-transportation alternative can reduce the number of cars on the road, helping to alleviate many of the challenges that follow sprawling urban expansion. In Ottawa, a city with an extensive rapid transit system, almost 20 per cent of the population takes public transit to work, compared to only 12 per cent in Winnipeg. With more than 430,000 people in the city's workforce, that eight-percentage-point difference can have a significant impact on traffic volumes, parking requirements and their corresponding effects on the city and the environment. Rapid transit can also be used as an important catalyst to direct and influence the patterns of development in a city. As ridership increases, retail, commercial and residential growth is attracted to the pedestrian density generated at major nodes along the system. Urban planners can use this transit oriented development (TOD) as a tool to control sprawl by targeting areas for infill growth and neighbourhood densification with the strategic location of transit lines and stations. Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver have used this strategy with great success, realizing billions of dollars' worth of construction along their transit corridors. Winnipeg's humble first line has already attracted a vital TOD, with the Fort Rouge rail yards soon transforming from a brownfield site into a dense residential infill neighbourhood. Like many cities, we have spent considerable time and effort debating the relative merits of bus rapid transit (BRT) and light rail transit (LRT). The controversial decision to implement BRT was based largely on a significantly lower capital cost for construction, greater integration with on-street bus lines and lower per-capita operating costs. Proponents of LRT assert its quieter, more comfortable ride, higher passenger capacities and "sexy" urban image would attract greater levels of TOD, alleviate the public stigma of bus transit and be a 'big-city' amenity consistent with that of other Canadian municipalities. It has been shown in cities like Ottawa and Pittsburgh that a well-designed BRT system, with a dedicated corridor, distinctive transit stations, attractive branding and real-time schedule information can convey the image of quality and sense of permanence that attracts ridership and TOD, at a similar level to an LRT installation. The stunning Osborne Street Station, a crown jewel of the Winnipeg line, will be instrumental in alleviating much of the criticism of the BRT system. The station designers, GPP Architecture and Friesen Tokar Architects, overcame the significant technical challenges of creating a building perched on a bridge above a busy street, while maintaining an architectural elegance that promotes transit use and encourages the community to take ownership of the building as a cherished neighbourhood amenity. Transit-station design is often driven by the engineering requirements of passenger capacity and crowd dynamics, but Osborne Street Station also manages to successfully address qualitative issues of comfort, beauty and views. Its expressive roof structure references the machine esthetic of the great train stations of Europe, and its forest of arching round trusses evokes imagery of Winnipeg's great elm tree canopy, so familiar to the residents of Osborne Village. Sloping glass walls create an impression of volume and openness and address issues of safety by providing clear sightlines into and out of the station. Sunlight floods the space through a translucent polycarbonate roof, transforming at night into a beacon that glows brightly against the prairie sky. On April 8, Winnipeg will finally be introduced to rapid transit. The danger of such a modest first installation is Winnipeggers will judge its merits based on the performance of an incomplete system. A less than enthusiastic public response may stall momentum for further development. The Osborne Street Station, however, will be a compelling reminder of the sophistication and quality a completed system can offer Winnipeg if a commitment is made by our community and our government to continue its implementation until the full benefits of rapid transit are realized in our city. Brent Bellamy is senior design architect for Number Ten Architectural Group. Email him at: bbellamy(a)numberten.com http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/rapid-transit-slowly-arrives-1441…

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PCU Centre hosts active transportation conference
by Beth McKechnie 22 Mar '12

22 Mar '12

PCU Centre hosts active transportation conference By Robin Dudgeon http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3507800 Participants from across the province gathered at the PCU Centre, Wednesday, for the Provincially sponsored Gaining Ground: Connecting People and Knowledge conference on active transportation and recreation. Participants got to hear two keynote addresses: one from Lawrence D. Frank, professor and J. Armand Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation at the University of British Columbia and a second from Michael Arthur, Manager of Physical Activity at the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness. The former spoke on the health and climate change impacts of transportation and land use decisions while the latter spoke on the Nova Scotia experience with active transportation. There were also three sessions for the spectators to take part in: Spotlight in Manitoba where three Physical Activity Coalition of Manitoba (PACM) pilot communities – Thompson, St. Malo, and Morden - shared their experience with active transportation; Pecha Kucha gave six presentations on topics like building trails, making maps, school travel planning, and car-free events; finally, a panel discussed the Greater Strides: Taking Action on Active Transportation publication which contained recommendations to the Manitoba government from the Province’s Active Transportation Advisory Group. Coun. Irvine Ferris attended the conference and said he thought it was great that Portage could host the conference just as the City is working to extend the walking and biking paths in the city. For the full story see Thursday's edition of the Portage Daily Graphic.

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Distinctive bike stolen at hospital
by Beth McKechnie 22 Mar '12

22 Mar '12

*Thought I'd share this in case anyone happens to spot this distinctive stolen bike...* One baby born, another stolen Thieves take dad's bike during visit to hospital By: Gabrielle Giroday Jacques Marcoux wants to know if anyone has seen his baby -- a beloved bike stolen while he was visiting his newborn daughter in the hospital. The 27-year-old new father was inside the St. Boniface Hospital spending time with little Amélie when an electric grinder was used to bust the U-Lock securing his bike. [image: It's not the first time this bike has been stolen.] It's not the first time this bike has been stolen. (SUBMITTED PHOTO) The bike went missing last Friday night or Saturday morning, only hours after Amélie was born. "If it wasn't for the fact that I was so kind of still on a high from having a kid, I'd be way more p - off and bothered," said Marcoux, who's had the bike for over a decade. "But it's kind of muted because I have this newborn, who's really awesome." The bike, a 2001 Devinci Podium purchased for $1,600, has an unusual history and has hit the headlines before. In 2007, a bike courier who saw two thieves with Marcoux's distinctive-looking bike on Main Street got it back after confronting the pair and returned it to him. Marcoux said the bike has mallet pedals and deep-dish aluminum rims. This time, Marcoux has offered a $150 reward to get the bike back. He said removing the bike would have taken some effort -- and the thief or thieves left something behind. "To my surprise, there was actually an extension cord running from the bike rack, across the entire front entrance lawn of the hospital," said Marcoux, who estimated more the cord was more than 20 metres long. "They actually abandoned the cord and took off with my bike." Marcoux said he's hopeful it will be returned after alerting the city's cycling community. "I'm actually somewhat optimistic that it's going to come up at some point," he said. gabrielle.giroday(a)freepress.mb.ca

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City starts street sweeping a month early due to warm weather
by Beth McKechnie 20 Mar '12

20 Mar '12

Good news for everyone getting out on their bikes... ** *From:* City-MediaInquiry *Sent:* Monday, March 19, 2012 2:46 PM *Subject:* City of Winnipeg News Release - City starts street sweeping a month early due to warm weather [image: Description: cid:image001.png@01CD05DE.9597E210]**** ** ** For Immediate Release**** Monday, March 19, 2012**** ** ** *City starts street sweeping a month early due to warm weather***** * Cleanup efforts focus on Downtown and regional streets ***** **** *Winnipeg, MB.* - Warmer than average temperatures have allowed the City of Winnipeg to get an early start on spring cleanup this year as crews focused street sweeping efforts Downtown on Sunday night and will continue tonight. Also, beginning Tuesday night, the street sweeping operation will be expanded to include all regional streets across the city including bridges and underpasses.**** **** It is expected this preliminary cleanup operation will use about 75 pieces of heavy equipment and will take about two weeks to complete. **** **** Once this initial round of sweeping on main routes has been completed, sweeping efforts will shift to the remaining streets, sidewalks, back lanes, parks, and boulevards which will get underway on a city-wide basis in mid-April, weather permitting. **** **** "We’ve never started street sweeping operations in March, but warm weather, a quick melt and dry conditions have allowed the City to start sweeping Downtown and on main routes about a month ahead of schedule," said Ken Boyd, Manager of Streets Maintenance. "This initial round of street sweeping will remove sand and other debris from main routes and will help to control dusty conditions.”**** **** During spring clean-up operations the City places temporary "no parking" signs to restrict on-street parking on some streets that are scheduled to be cleaned. When these signs are in place on a city street, motorists are urged to move their vehicles to alternative parking locations during the posted times. Vehicles parked in violation of the temporary parking ban may be ticketed and towed. **** Motorists and pedestrians are asked to use caution around heavy equipment which will be operating throughout the city over the coming weeks.**** ** ** - 30 -**** ** ** Media inquiries should be directed to the City of Winnipeg Media Inquiry Line at 204-986-6000 or via email at MediaInquiry(a)winnipeg.ca**** ** ** Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/cityofwinnipeg<http://www.facebook.com/cityofwinnipeg> **** ** ** Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/cityofwinnipeg<http://www.twitter.com/cityofwinnipeg> **** ** ** ** ** ** **

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Bicycle Valet Winnipeg: Program Coordinator - job posting
by Kevin Miller 15 Mar '12

15 Mar '12

Bicycle Valet Winnipeg: Program Coordinator - job posting About Bicycle Valet Winnipeg <http://www.bicyclevaletwinnipeg.ca/> Bicycle Valet Winnipeg is a project of <http://biketothefuture,org> Bike to the Future that offers a bicycle valet at events around Winnipeg. Bicycle Valet reduces traffic and parking congestion while encouraging Active Transportation in Winnipeg. Having a safe and free place to park their "wheels" will encourage people to choose an active lifestyle and increase the use of Winnipeg's growing Active Transportation infrastructure. About the position Bicycle Valet Winnipeg is looking for someone with an interest in business, a passion for active transportation, and a commitment to making Winnipeg a bike-friendly city. The Program Coordinator is the leader of Bicycle Valet Winnipeg and the primary point of contact for sponsors, event promoters, media volunteers, and the public. This position is responsible for all aspects of the business, including entering into sponsorship agreements, drafting grant applications, recruiting and coordinating volunteers for events, and ensuring materials are delivered, set-up, torn-down, and returned safely to storage. Compensation includes a base amount of $416.67 for 30 hours work per month, an office allowance of $125 per month, and incentives equal to 10% of successful sponsorships and grant applications. A flexible work schedule is required. Resumes and cover letters can be sent to <mailto:loren@biketothefuture.org> Loren Braul, Bike to the Future Co-Chair. Application Deadline: March 30, 2012 <http://biketothefuture.org/attachments/0000/1750/2012-03-15_bvw_program coordinator_contract.pdf> Bicycle Valet Winnipeg: Program Coordinator - contract __________________ Kevin Miller <mailto:kevin@biketothefuture.org> kevin(a)biketothefuture.org Bike to the Future, Secretary <http://biketothefuture.org/> biketothefuture.org

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Transit planners look to gondolas to put an end to urban gridlock (National Post)
by Beth McKechnie 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

Over the top: Transit planners look to gondolas to put an end to urban gridlock Tristin Hopper<http://news.nationalpost.com/author/tristinhopper/> Mar 9, 2012 *For photos, see*: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/09/over-the-top-transit-planners-look-… Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre, the largest hospital in Alberta, suffers from what transit planners call a “last mile” problem. The city’s LRT line can get commuters within sight of the hospital at the University of Calgary, but the remaining two kilometres are a maddening jumble of freeways and suburbs. To close the gap, it is either a half-hour walk or a winding bus trip that stops at the hospital’s front curb. Annoying during the summer months, the trip is downright miserable in a minus 40 windchill. Toronto-based urban planner Steven Dale came last month to Calgary with a pitch: Why not simply leapfrog over the road network? While buses and trains slip and stall in the slush below, a cable-suspended gondola could soar above the congestion, depositing commuters into a receiving area built right into the hospital building. For years, gondolas have been dismissed as the purview of ski resorts and amusement parks. Yet, cleaner than buses, cheaper than subways and less intrusive than streetcars, modern gondolas are increasingly breaking out of their kitschy role and hitting drawing boards as the ideal way to close the gaps and relieve the bottlenecks of North American transit networks. “Just literally go right over top of it,” said Mr. Dale. In the early 1970s, a new housing development was nearing completion on New York City’s Roosevelt Island when planners realized it would still be a few years before a subway link to the island would be finished. In its place, New York transit planners proposed an unorthodox solution: Ship in a couple of trams from Europe and temporarily winch commuters to Manhattan on a cable strung over the East River. The island’s several thousand residents soon became enamoured with their temporary tram, however. In 1989, when local authorities came to tear it down, the citizenry blocked their way. “It’s safe, it’s smooth, it’s clean, it’s wheelchair accessible, it’s a great tourist attraction — we love it,” said Judith Berdy, president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. Forty years later, the iconic red tram remains one of only two transit gondolas in North America, the other being a $57-million aerial tram opened five years ago in Portland, Ore. “For some reason, people see gondolas as science fiction, it’s just way too much to swallow,” said Bryce Tupper, a Vancouver-based engineer specializing in gondola transit. Every day, thousands of Vancouverites get to work on computer-controlled elevated trains and Montrealers board rubber-tired metro cars to speed underneath the icy waters of the St. Lawrence River. But amazingly, to the average city planner, the humble gondola remains in the same realm as flying cars and Jetsons-style pneumatic tubes. “The vast majority of people have never contemplated using a gondola as public transit,” said Mr. Dale. Mr. Dale was a post-grad when his girlfriend invited him to spend a summer in her central Switzerland hometown. On a mountain hike one day, she suggested they cut the ascent time by boarding a gondola. Hesitatingly stepping aboard the “terrifying, rickety” Second World War-era gondola, Mr. Dale saw a truck cruising along a mountain service road directly below them. The mundane sight stirred the young urban planner. “I thought, ‘Oh, there’s no traffic 25 feet in the air,’” he said. ** Back home in Toronto, he began a secret file on transit gondolas and aerial trams. (A gondola features cabins suspended from a continuously circulating cable while an aerial tram consists of two counterbalanced cabins shuttling back and forth.) “I wasn’t telling anyone because I knew how ridiculous the idea was,” he said. Gondolas are high capacity, he found. A large, transit-ready gondola can carry 6,000 people per hour per direction (a standard measurement of transit capacity). By contrast, a Toronto streetcar at rush hour can only accommodate one-third that many. Most importantly, gondolas are a bargain. No tunnels, no tracks, no traffic congestion; all a gondola needs are a few towers, a power station and a length of cable. Direct comparisons are hard to make, said Mr. Dale, but generally a gondola is only a third to half the cost of a light-rail line. Two years ago, Mr. Dale’s company, Creative Urban Projects, went live with GondolaProject.com, which he describes as the first English-language website disseminating gondola-related information. “It’s no coincidence that in the last two years since we’ve been doing this website, virtually every major market, virtually every major market within Canada has already begun to explore the technology.” As part of planning for Canada’s bicentennial, Ottawa mulled the idea of a gondola connecting Parliament Hill with the Canadian Museum of Civilization across the Ottawa River in Hull, Que. In 2009, TransLink, Vancouver’s regional transit authority, commissioned a feasibility study for a gondola connecting the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby to the mountaintop campus of Simon Fraser University. Currently, the alternative is a steep, winding bus ride. “We burn a lot of diesel going up the mountain, and a lot of brake pads going down,” TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie told Postmedia in 2010. And if the rain falls too hard or the roads ice over (a four-times yearly occurrence), Translink suspends service, effectively trapping the student body. But boutique solutions are only the beginning for the gondola. Once commuters are comfortable with the idea of getting to work about 12 metres above street level, then cities can really get serious about pumping up their transit grids with airborne cables. Although the average North American has only seen the technology used to bridge a pair of distant landmarks, gondolas can go over rivers, underground, over mountains and through buildings. “There’s a system in Singapore where the intermediary station is on the eighth floor of a skyscraper,” said Mr. Dale. One plan imagined by Mr. Dale on Gondola Project.com involves a cheap, four-station gondola line used to relieve pressure on Bloor-Yonge, the packed intersection of Toronto’s two primary subway lines. The concept of a “Downtown Relief Line” has captivated Toronto subway riders for decades, but has never achieved a go-ahead. Gondolas could be a quick fix. Then, once the technology has “proved its worth,” said Mr. Dale, the Toronto Transit Commission could string additional lines to the city’s notoriously hard-to-reach Exhibition Place and Toronto Island Airport. In South America, multi-station gondola lines have already emerged as social tools to connect the continent’s hilly, crowded metropolises. In Rio de Janeiro last year, officials opened a six-station gondola line carrying passengers over the winding, dangerous streets of the city’s infamous favelas. In Medellin, Colombia, two full-length gondola lines have now been installed to bring people from the region’s marginalized neighbourhoods to the city’s business hub. The area “now has more dignity and the quality of life has improved. Before there was practically no hope; for me this is a miracle,” Luz Marina Giraldo, a community leader in the Comuna 13 slum, was quoted as saying in the Latin American Herald Tribune. Of course, South American cities do not have to navigate the same issues of privacy. Subways operate unseen and even an elevated train can be blocked out with some shrubbery, but gondolas give commuters a bird’s eye view of the patios and bedroom windows of the homeowners below. Privacy “might be one of the biggest limiting factors out there,” said Mr. Tupper, who worked on the Burnaby plan and the Peak 2 Peak, a $51-million, four-kilometre-long gondola running between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. In April 2007, four months after the grand opening of the Portland Aerial Tram, commuters noticed a large “F––– THE TRAM” banner tied to one of the rooftops below — homeowner Justin Auld’s crude protest against the carloads of people suddenly peering into his backyard. The banner was easier than giving the middle finger to the tram every time it passed, he told a local TV station. In June 1956, on the invitation of Walt Disney, Los Angeles’ Swiss Consul General journeyed to the recently opened Disneyland to inaugurate the park’s newest attraction: the Swiss-built Skyway, a $300,000 gondola line. A Disneyland staple until its dismantling in the 1990s, passengers would get aboard a two-seat steel “bucket” in Fantasyland, climb through the Matterhorn, pass over the submarine lagoon and disembark three and a half minutes later at a terminus in Tomorrowland. Just like the Disneyland monorail and the PeopleMover, Walt Disney imagined the Skyway as a taste of things to come. In an interview prior to the ride’s opening, the Disney founder described gondolas as “a transportation system of the future,” according to the 1995 book Disneyland: The Nickel Tour. Instead of inspiring a new generation of urban planners, however, all the Skyway did was spur legions of Disneyland imitators. Soon, the Skyway’s Swiss manufacturer was filling orders for marina, zoos and amusement parks all across the United States. In 2001, planners in Oakland, Calif., broached the idea of using a gondola to plug the city’s transit grid to a development taking shape across the harbour at an abandoned naval station. The proposal was greeted with eye-rolls. “At first I thought it was a complete nutty idea,” said Tony Bruzzone, a San Francisco-based transportation planner for planning firm ARUP, which would later work on the Portland Aerial Tram. “I thought ‘it’s an amusement park ride, it won’t stand up to real service.’” Looking closer, however, Mr. Bruzzone and others were soon won over, although the development was derailed by land-use concerns and the 2008 financial meltdown. “When you research it, there are definitely advantages,” said Mr. Bruzzone. Mr. Dale often fears that his clients see him as a real-life Lyle Lanley, the Music Man-esque character on The Simpsons who cons the people of Springfield into buying a monorail. Ironically, if gondolas are ever going to be criss-crossing the downtowns of Canada, Mr. Dale said he will need to frame the technology in terms that are as boring and utilitarian as possible; no more thrilling than buses, streetcars or subways. “It’s just another tool — we’re not gondola nuts,” he said. *National Post* *thopper(a)nationalpost.com*

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Bristol, UK introduces 20mph speed limit
by Beth McKechnie 09 Mar '12

09 Mar '12

[On the heels of America Walks releasing their two papers on slowing down speeds comes this article from the UK...] Bristol's residential roads to have blanket 20mph speed limit <http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/people/Bristol%20Evening%20Post/profile.html> Bristol Evening Post<http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/people/Bristol%20Evening%20Post/profile.html> Thursday, March 08, 2012 http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-s-residential-roads-blanket-20mph-sp… <http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-s-residential-roads-blanket-20mph-sp…> A BLANKET 20mph speed limit is set to be introduced on Bristol's residential roads. The city will be one of the first in the country to bring in the reduced limit on all but the busiest main roads. The £2million scheme, which is expected to be phased in over three years from the autumn, is aimed at making roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Bristol transport chief Tim Kent said: "Even a reduction in speed of 5mph can make the difference between life and death. "This is not about putting a police officer on every corner and making sure people drive at 19-and-a-half miles per hour. This is about improving the quality of people's lives by making roads safer for children to use, encouraging them to walk to school and for people of all ages to walk and cycle." The ruling Liberal Democrats are committed to a citywide 20mph speed limit and set aside £150,000 towards the project in this year's budget, despite the worst cuts in the council's history. Mr Kent, the cabinet councillor in charge of transport, said he was confident that a 20mph speed limit would mean that it would become the norm for people to drive more slowly. He said if people felt safer to walk or cycle, then it would help to relieve congestion and reduce carbon emissions because they would be using their cars less frequently. "We would obviously not introduce 20mph on the city's busiest roads but where there are borderline cases, we would want this considered by the Neighbourhood Partnerships," he said. The council is keen to go ahead with the new limit following positive results from two pilot 20mph zones in the east and south of the city. They covered a total of 500 roads and 30,000 homes and although they relied mostly on 20mph signs and no police enforcement or expensive traffic-calming measures, the council says there is evidence to show that drivers have been slowing down. A council monitoring report on the pilot schemes said: "The overall results show that 'signs only' 20mph has been accompanied by a small but important reduction in daytime vehicle speeds, an increase in walking and cycling counts, especially at weekends, a strengthening of public support for 20mph, maintenance of bus journey times and reliability, and no measurable impact on air quality or noise." It goes on to say that during the first 12-month period of the trial zones, the number of road casualties went down by five in Bristol East but actually went up by eight in Bristol South. The council's highway experts say it was too early to draw any conclusions about the impact on casualty figures. But according to national research, the chances of a pedestrian being killed in a road accident drop four-fold if they are hit by a vehicle travelling at 20mph, compared to one at 40mph. The report says: "As a general principle, the 20mph programme is a means of creating a culture where driving too fast in residential streets is seen as unacceptable. There is already strong evidence that speeding in residential streets is viewed as the number one antisocial behaviour." The feedback from residents shows that 89 per cent of them are in favour of a 20mph speed limit on residential streets, the report said. And more than two-thirds (70 per cent) of them are in a favour of a citywide ban. But the figure drops to just over half (56 per cent) for a 20mph limit on main roads. The report goes on to say that residents are frustrated about the level of speed enforcement on busy streets. It says: "This is encouraging as it reflects the enthusiasm among residents for lower speed limits on their streets but it is something that must be discussed with Avon and Somerset Police if we are to move forward with a citywide roll-out of a scheme that is fully supported by residents." National guidelines from the Department for Transport say that 20mph speed limits should be self-enforcing and there should be no expectation on the police to provide extra enforcement beyond their normal routines, unless specifically agreed. In South Gloucestershire, there are a handful of 20mph speed limits – mostly in areas close to schools – but the general view is to consider them only when they have been urged by residents who are prepared to monitor them. Over the past ten years 20mph zones were introduced in 16 areas but it is understood that these were brought in where traffic-calming measures were already in place. A citywide ban would mean that many main roads would be exempt because it would be impractical to enforce a 20mph speed restriction on the likes of the A4 Bath Road or the M32. Some busy roads such as West Street in Bedminster and Whiteladies Road are already so jammed with traffic at peak times that drivers could not travel at more than 20mph even if they wanted to. The Bristol South pilot scheme covers about 200 roads in Bedminster, Lawrence Hill, Southville and Windmill Hill, was introduced in May 2010 while the Bristol East scheme, which covers 300 roads in Ashley, Easton, Eastville, Lawrence Hill and St George West, was brought in five months later. Road safety charity Brake has been campaigning for 20mph zones to increase the chances of drivers being able to stop in time to avert accidents, and Portsmouth is believed to be the only other city in the country to have introduced a citywide 20mph speed limit.

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You're invited - Creative Commuting Ambassador Training
by Jessie Klassen 08 Mar '12

08 Mar '12

*Creative Commuting Ambassador Training * You are invited to a FREE, half-day interactive workshop on becoming a Creative Commuting Ambassador at your workplace! Get the tools and guidance to help improve commuter options on-site and support your coworkers to get the most out of their commutes. *Hands-on training and resources you'll get at the workshop:* - Training in bike route planning - Experience with all the latest Winnipeg Transit tools - An evaluation of your workplace's existing commuter options - A folder filled with tools and resources relevant to your workplace - Ideas for a simple project to apply these tools and resources right away *2 dates to choose from!* Tuesday, April 3rd, 8:45 am - 12:00 pm Thursday, April 19th, 12:45 pm - 4:00 pm * Workshop location*: EcoCentre boardroom (3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave) *Register today by contacting Beth McKechnie or Jessie Klassen at 925-3772 or beth(a)greenactioncentre.ca/ jessie(a)greenactioncentre.ca. *

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Barrel Shopping
by Anders Swanson 08 Mar '12

08 Mar '12

[Yes . . this article *is *related to active transportation. The author, Bruce Krentz, is the Regional Health Promotion Coordinator for the Burntwood Health Authority up in Thompson. This is also a scoop, not a forward: Bruce kindly gave permission to make this list its first official venue for publication (before it gets published elsewhere up north). Enjoy. - Anders] * * *Barrel Shopping* * * Brothers and Sisters I am sure you are wondering why I called you all here today. You are wondering what sort of demon I need to exorcise, wondering why in particular you were called to assist with the procedure. Wondering why now… why here…what did I do to deserve this? Let me make it all as clear as a chocolate shake. I thought it was crazy too. I knew I wasn’t the first. I knew I wasn’t the only; but that still didn’t make it a good idea. Even if ten other people had gone over the falls in a barrel and lived, was it really wise for me to go barrel shopping… I think not. But, never once having been accused of being smart, I headed out with my credit card in hand and visions of being number eleven. My barrel was a two wheeler, with only one speed, disc brakes, a mountain bike frame and pedals to get me there. My “peddly”, like me, is perched happily in the middle of the quality bell curve it is so far from the top of the line you couldn’t even see it from there but also a step up on Walmart’s deal of the week. In this case, Niagara Falls was four whole seasons of riding. Partly on a dare, partly wanting to walk the talk as a Health Promo guy and partly because I just didn’t know any better, I committed to a year of cycling to work. I need not remind you this little daily jaunt happens to be in the same pin hole on the map as the Ford Extreme Cold Weather Test Facility and the Global Aerospace Center for Icing and Environmental Research (*GLACIER*) . I started in September…how pleasant, cool fall mornings the leaves turning color. With some light gloves and a jacket that could break the wind (not a jacket that could break wind…now that would be something) life was grand. To make an extremely long story pretty short I am safely over the precipice out of the fast water and bobbing along in the run out of the falls, and life is still grand. Now it is August and almost time to bust that jacket back out with no reservations about another date with father winter. Back to my little sermon and the reason we are gathered here today. I won’t even begin to pretend that cycling 365 days a year is for everyone, but it could certainly be for more people. Committing to riding absolutely every day is for only a “special” few, and I almost made it. Four times I used a vehicle to get to work and none because of the weather. Sometimes, as they should, family commitments came before my personal madness. . Consider being the next one over the edge. From my experience, of the five work days each week finding three to comfortably saddle up would be easier than deciding what to have for lunch. As you map your decent, don’t feel like you have to throw away your car keys and shred you bus pass. Don’t hesitate to take the worst days or months off but push beyond the sunniest summer day. The whole winter is not -40 and in fact much of it isn’t even -20. Like doing anything on this spinning little ball of rock, if you want excuses they are never far away, hair, clothes, sweating, cold…they are all out there. None are insurmountable challenges but they don’t come quite as easy as firing up the SUV. I will concede that my serious lack of hair is generally not something I parade out on the front page but it did give me a bit of a leg up in this venture. Someone once said you can’t be mad while riding a bicycle. The stress relief, fresh air, exercise and the happy feeling of helping the environment, all make it worth-while. I know that sounds like some sort of hippy mantra but I didn’t start out looking for that stuff, it found me, so please pass me my tie-dyed t-shirt. For me, that bundle of joy outweighs the hassle of dressing for the seasons and looking like a geek in the eyes of the SUV’ers. My other pleasant discoveries included: - Studded tires, yes you heard me right studded bicycle tires. They make riding on the packed snow and ice feel like a day-off. - It is a commute not a race, you don’t run everywhere you go in a day, and you don’t have to pedal as hard as you can. This is big help with all the sweating concerns. - You don’t need as many warm or expensive specialized clothes as you think, a jacket and pants that break wind (I had to use that one once more) have served me just fine. Once you are moving even -40 is pleasant. O.K. maybe that is a little over the top but it makes for some good bragging to the in-law’s down south. - Snowboard helmet and goggles. I saw it with my own eyes Brothers and Sisters, the falls look pretty big from the top but once you are down at the bottom they aren’t so bad. Give it a try, buy a good helmet, find the right tie dyed duds and keep riding after the leaves are off of the trees. By: Bruce Krentz

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Resources: Why We're Stuck at High Speed and How Communities are Slowing Down
by Beth McKechnie 08 Mar '12

08 Mar '12

[Two excellent new resources from America Walks <http://americawalks.org/>that were just released yesterday...] We know that speed impacts safety and livability; but there are very few resources available to help local communities navigate the challenging process to reduce auto speeds in their neighborhoods. These two papers will provide support in helping communities reclaim their streets, allowing children, families and aging adults to walk safely. Find our press release here<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109476185779&s=8067&e=0011A7bH6Mt5N0TKZs3HANZ…>. - *Why We're Stuck at High Speed, and What We're Going to Do About It<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109476185779&s=8067&e=0011A7bH6Mt5N3n70Xnpr-6…> * - How Communities are Slowing Down<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109476185779&s=8067&e=0011A7bH6Mt5N1hy3BvD_L5…> Sincerely, Scott Bricker, Executive Director America Walks

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Two webinars Wed, March 28th - Maintenance Programs & Empowering Women to Bicycle
by Beth McKechnie 07 Mar '12

07 Mar '12

Green Action Centre and Bike to the Future invite you to join us on Wednesday, March 28th for a local viewing of two APBP webinars:* "*Best Practices in Maintenance Programs*" *and *"Empowering Women to Bicycle for Transportation"*. Both take place at the EcoCentre (3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion. Come for one or both of the webinars. Please note: The Maintenance Programs webinar was originally scheduled for March 21st but will be presented as a recording on March 28th instead. Come out to the PACM conference <http://pacm.ca/> on March 21st! As always, RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then. cheers, Beth 925-3772 * * * * * Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) presents: Best Practices for Maintenance Programs Wednesday, March 28th • 12:45 to 1:45 pm CST Efficient and cost-effective maintenance of pedestrian facilities is an important safety measure. Attend this webinar to learn why maintenance programs are important, and how to make the case for maintenance at budget time; how to overcome the barriers to implementing a good maintenance program; and how to develop the elements of a program that includes both routine maintenance and responding to hazards. Best practices for inspection, replacement and snow removal will be discussed, as well as findings from recent research into pedestrian facility maintenance. The session will include a preview of the new FHWA publication, "A Guide for Maintaining Pedestrian Facilities for Enhanced Safety," due to be published by the end of 2012. The webinar will also include information related to maintenance of bicycle facilities. Presenters: Tom Huber, Senior Planner, Toole Design Group; Arthur Ross, Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, City of Madison, Wisconsin. Empowering Women to Bicycle for Transportation Wednesday, March 28th • 2:00 to 3:30 pm CST Take in APBP's annual Women Cycling webinar and learn what it will take to empower women to bicycle for transportation at the same level that men do. Visit APBP's Women Cycling Project <http://www.womencyclingproject.info/>website where you can read the final reports on the Women Cycling Survey, view the 2010 and 2011 webinars on the Women Cycling phenomenon, and enjoy the winning photos from the Women Cycling photo contest.

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