- AT-Network - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

Cyclists and Pedestrians Can End Up Spending More Each Month Than Drivers
by Dave Elmore 14 Dec '12

14 Dec '12

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/12/cyclists-and-pedestrians-ca n-end-spending-more-each-month-drivers/4066/ Cyclists and Pedestrians Can End Up Spending More Each Month Than Drivers Kelly Clifton <http://kellyjclifton.com/> has heard this stereotype a number of times: "Cyclists are just a bunch of kids who don't have any money," says the professor of civil and environmental engineering at Portland State University. "They ride their bikes to a coffee shop, they sit there for four hours with their Macintoshes, they're not really spending any money." If you're a shopkeeper with such suspicions, you're probably not on board with any plan that would cut down on parking right outside your door. Cyclists are the ones with time to kill; drivers are the ones with money. This perception is problematic in a place like Portland, where the bike-friendly city government is now looking to extend the reach of bike infrastructure - and the appeal of bikes themselves - to newer riders and neighbourhoods farther afield from the urban core. "As we move out beyond those areas into more auto-oriented areas," Clifton says, "we start to see businesses say, 'Hey, wait a minute. You're taking away on-street parking to put in bike lanes, you're taking away the one parking spot in front of my store to put in a bike corral. I don't see many bikers around here. So what does this mean for me?" Until now there hasn't been much empirical evidence to allay such concerns. Clifton and several colleagues have attempted to fill that research gap in a project for the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium <http://www.otrec.us/> (read a PDF of the draft report here <http://kellyjclifton.com/Research/EconImpactsofBicycling/OTRECReport-ConsBe havTravelChoices_Nov2012.pdf> ). They surveyed 1,884 people walking out of area convenience stores, restaurants and bars, and another 19,653 who'd just done their supermarket shopping. Some of the results are unsurprising: Drivers still make up a plurality of customers to all of these businesses. And, with greater trunk capacity, they far outspend people who travel to the grocery store by foot, bike or transit. But for all of the other business types examined, bikers actually out-consumed drivers over the course of a month. True, they often spent less per visit. But cyclists and pedestrians in particular made more frequent trips (by their own estimation) to these restaurants, bars and convenience stores, and those receipts added up. This finding is logical: It's a lot easier to make an impulse pizza stop if you're passing by an aromatic restaurant on foot or bike instead of in a passing car at 35 miles an hour. Such frequent visits are part of the walkable culture. Compare European communities - where it's common to hit the bakery, butcher and fish market on the way home from work - to U.S. communities where the weekly drive to Walmart's supermarket requires an hour of dedicated planning. "It's not just a phenomenon born of the need to carry things," Clifton says. Walkable (and bikeable) communities by definition facilitate a more frequent interaction between patrons and businesses. This means these bikers and pedestrians are also more regular customers. "That also says something about marketing," Clifton says, "about customer loyalty, about neighborhood-based businesses." The study examined 89 businesses across the region, 11 of them grocery stores. At the bars, convenience stores and restaurants (all high-turnover sit-down pizza and Mexican spots), researchers snagged consumers on their way out between June and early October of last year. They gave them a 5-to-10 minute tablet questionnaire about their demographics and travel behavior, how they'd traveled that day, what they'd spent, and how often they estimated they visited the business each month. The researchers coordinated with a local grocery store chain to survey customers there during a single week this April. Their findings are neatly summarized in these three graphs. This first one shows how much consumers spent on average per trip, by transportation mode: Here, people estimated how many trips they took per month: And this is the total estimate of consumer spending per month: There are obviously some other factors at play here. Families with cars are less likely to eat out than single young professionals on a bike. And we'd all prefer that drivers run up smaller bar tabs than pedestrians. Clifton also raises another possibility (although this particular study can't verify it): "Does Portland have a green dividend?" she asks, citing a concept coined by economist Joe Cortright <http://www.ceosforcities.org/city-dividends/green/special-reports/portland/ > . Cars are costly. And Portland's green infrastructure means many people don't have to foot that expense. "Do we then have more money in our pockets," Clifton asks, "to spend on other things?" As Portland begins to make tougher decisions about bike infrastructure, this is an intriguing point. The "young and fearless," as Clifton calls them, are already biking there. These are the riders who will happily dodge cars and thunderstorms without much dedicated infrastructure. Now the city needs to coax what Clifton calls the "interested but concerned." These are the people who will require a higher level of accommodation - separated bike lanes, actual bike parking - and therefore some tougher conversations about what that might mean for scarce resources and roadway (and for the drivers who might be impacted by reallocating them). "If only we had asked these questions when we invested in the automobile," Clifton says. "On the one hand, we're asking the right questions. But we're also holding non-motorized modes up to a different standard than we have held the automobile."

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UPDATE: TOPIC CHANGE! (Presentation on The New Pedestrian Control Guide) Fwd: ITE Manitoba monthly lunch Presentation on Thursday, December 13th
by Anders Swanson 12 Dec '12

12 Dec '12

[ Hi folks, quick note: the topic for this lunch and learn had a last minute change, and now may not be quite as relevant to active transportation (although I imagine the lunch would still be tasty.) The Pedestrian Control Guide topic has been deferred to 2013. - Anders] Hi everyone,**** ** ** The topic of the December ITE Manitoba monthly lunch meeting has changed. *Dr. Jeannette Montufar* will still be presenting, but the new topic will be *CITE National Initiatives*. The presentation on The New Pedestrian Control Guide will likely be done sometime in 2013. Sorry for the sudden change! The information at www.itemanitoba.ca has been updated.**** ** ** We would also like to remind everyone that the ITE Manitoba Executive elections will take place at the December meeting. The details of the meeting are:**** ** ** Date: Thursday, December 13th**** Time: 12 noon**** Location: The Round Table (800 Pembina Highway)**** ** ** We still hope to see everyone come out next Thursday!**** ** ** *Björn Rådström,** **BSc**(CE), P. Eng.***** ITE Manitoba Secretary**** ** ** ** ** ** ** Hello everyone,**** **** It is finally here, the first ITE Manitoba monthly lunch presentation will be on Thursday, December 13th! As usual, it will take place at 12 noon at The Round Table at 800 Pembina Highway. Our presenter this month is *Dr. Jeannette Montufar, P. Eng.*, of the University of Manitoba. Dr. Montufar’s presentation is on *The New Pedestrian Control Guide*.**** **** Dr. Montufar is a professional engineer registered in Manitoba and Alberta, and Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Manitoba. She is also Principal of Montufar Group, a transportation consulting firm specializing in road safety and freight transportation. Dr. Montufar has done extensive work in the U.S. and Canada on projects dealing with road safety, freight transportation, the application of advanced technologies to commercial vehicle operations, truck size and weight policy, goods movement in urban areas, traffic information systems, and the automation of data collection systems. She has worked for the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio; the Texas Transportation Institute in College Station, Texas; and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan.**** **** The cost for the presentation and lunch is $20 for members and guests, and $15 for students. This notice can also be found at www.itemanitoba.ca. We hope to see you all there next week!**** **** *Björn Rådström,** **BSc**(CE), P. Eng.***** ITE Manitoba Secretary****

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PUB orders MPI to improve cycling safety
by Charles Feaver 11 Dec '12

11 Dec '12

This fall, Bike to the Future collaborated with the Manitoba Cycling Association to make its first ever presentation to the Public Utilities Board identifying concerns that MPI fails to teach motorists how to drive safely near cyclists, both in their Driver Education booklet and in their public advertising. The PUB picked up on several points we emphasized in their Order [http://www.pub.gov.mb.ca/pdf/mpi07/157-12.pdf .]. 1. Section 10.0: "It is therefore recommended that: 3. MPI review and act upon the recommendations put forward by the presenters from Bike to the Future and the Manitoba Cycling Association with respect to road safety and messaging to motorists regarding cyclists." 2. Section 11: "It is therefore ordered that: A Road Safety Research Technical Conference take place to discuss Road Safety matters, involving interveners and community partners, to be held on or before March 31, 2013." ... that the PUB expects MPI "would seek to involve scientist and experts from North America on road safety issues such as . roadway bicycle safety, and the role of other road safety investments" and will include in the conference interveners and community partners, among others. Further, "The Board anticipates that at the next GRA [General Rate Application] proceeding, MPI will come forward with new road safety initiatives, including with respect to . bicyclists ., in addition to its ongoing initiatives relative to unsafe speed, impaired driving and seatbelt usage. 3. The PUB noted the Corporation's goal, as stated in its Strategic Plan, that it will become a community leader and act as a central repository to facilitate the sharing of data amongst stakeholders for research and making informed decisions, and to take a more active role in road safety research. This responds to Bike to the Future's request for more and better data relating to cycling safety. The Road Safety Technical Conference could have a huge impact on cycling and safety if it brings in experts from cities that have successfully increased cycling traffic, and develops a consensus among leaders of government departments and police forces on how to manage circulation in order to increase the safety of cyclists.

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Pro Walk Pro Bike link to videos and presentations
by Beth McKechnie 11 Dec '12

11 Dec '12

The bi-annual *Pro Walk Pro Bike* is the premier conference for everything walking- and cycling-related in North America. Even if you weren't able to attend the 2012 conference in Long Beach, CA (alas, I am among that group), you can check out videos of keynote presenters and powerpoints from breakout sessions here: http://www.pps.org/pwpb2012/presentations/ I haven't watched it yet but the rousing keynote by Mark Gorton that closed the conference was apparently quite popular: video - http://www.pps.org/we-are-the-majority-the-cars-dont-vote/ presentation - http://rethinktheauto.org/national-presentation/ Note that the next PWPB conference<http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pittsburgh-to-…>takes place Sept 8-12, 2014, a little closer to home -- Pittsburgh. cheers, Beth

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Cycling Health and Safety - An overview of research
by Beth McKechnie 11 Dec '12

11 Dec '12

Cycling Health and Safety An overview of cycling health and safety research Prepared By: *Chris Cavacuiti BA, MD, CCFP, MHSc, ASAM* Staff Physician, St. Michael's Hopsital, Department of Family and Community Medicine Toronto, Ontario Introduction In my cycling-related research work with Share the Road and the St. Michael’s Dept. of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, I’ve been truly impressed with the breadth and quality of the studies that have been published on this topic. As anyone who has an interest in cycling health and safety research will tell you, there are some incredibly smart and dedicated researchers out there who have made this topic their life’s work. When I speak to other cycling researchers and advocates, one of the biggest challenges they tell me that they face is finding and organizing the wealth of data that is already out there. I am often approached by journalists, researchers and advocates who are looking for more information on a particular area of cycling research, but there was usually nowhere I could send them for quick and easy access to the information they wanted. These experiences made me realize that what I and many others needed was a well-organized, well cited and text-searchable overview of key cycling research that would contain many of the most important facts, figures and findings in this field. I approached Eleanor McMahon at Share the Road with this idea and asked her if Share the Road would be interested in helping to organize this overview and host it on their website. Share the Road thought this was a great idea and kindly agreed to help. So in the summer of 2012, Share the Road and I hired a very bright and capable young summer student (Matthew Cheah), to help us put together this overview. I’d like to personally thank Eleanor McMahon and Matthew Cheah for all their work in helping make this overview a reality. I’d also like to thank Cary Moretti for his IT input and support with this project (…and for putting up with me talking about this project on more than a few of our long rides together!) One final word - we’ve made every effort to keep the statistics and wording in this overview as close to the original documents as possible and to correctly cite each and every fact, figure and quotation we’ve included. However, this document is no replacement for reading the original articles and we’d encourage those who are using this overview to cross-reference our statistics with the original documents. Believe us - they are well worth the read! Happy searching! http://www.sharetheroad.ca/files/Cycling_Safety_Overview___2012_12_05.pdf

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(Presentation on The New Pedestrian Control Guide) Fwd: ITE Manitoba monthly lunch Presentation on Thursday, December 13th
by Anders Swanson 06 Dec '12

06 Dec '12

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Hello everyone, It is finally here, the first ITE Manitoba monthly lunch presentation will be on Thursday, December 13th! As usual, it will take place at 12 noon at The Round Table at 800 Pembina Highway. Our presenter this month is Dr. Jeannette Montufar, P. Eng., of the University of Manitoba. Dr. Montufar’s presentation is on The New Pedestrian Control Guide. Dr. Montufar is a professional engineer registered in Manitoba and Alberta, and Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Manitoba. She is also Principal of Montufar Group, a transportation consulting firm specializing in road safety and freight transportation. Dr. Montufar has done extensive work in the U.S. and Canada on projects dealing with road safety, freight transportation, the application of advanced technologies to commercial vehicle operations, truck size and weight policy, goods movement in urban areas, traffic information systems, and the automation of data collection systems. She has worked for the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio; the Texas Transportation Institute in College Station, Texas; and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The cost for the presentation and lunch is $20 for members and guests, and $15 for students. This notice can also be found at www.itemanitoba.ca< http://www.itemanitoba.ca>. We hope to see you all there next week! Björn Rådström, BSc(CE), P. Eng. ITE Manitoba Secretary

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RFP - City of Winnipeg Cycling and Walking Master Plan NOW OUT
by Anders Swanson 05 Dec '12

05 Dec '12

Of interest to all planning/engineering/consulting firms with expertise in cycling/walking facilities: http://www.winnipeg.ca/MatMgt/FolderContents.asp?FOLDER_ NAME=891-2012&YEAR=2012

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Bicycling Infrastructure: Don't Let the Perfect Become the Enemy of the Good
by Dave Elmore 05 Dec '12

05 Dec '12

http://www.chicagonow.com/easy-as-riding-a-bike/2012/12/perfect-become-the-e nemy-of-the-good/ Bicycling Infrastructure: Don't Let the Perfect Become the Enemy of the Good By Brent Cohrs, Monday at 10:19 am When it comes to safe and efficient bicycling infrastructure, few nations can rival the Netherlands. It really seems that the Dutch have thought of everything. As this video shows, a transportation system that gives equal consideration to those choosing to travel under their own power by bike and purposely addresses the differences of speed and mass between bicycles and motor vehicles can result in a win-win for all road users. We need only look at the number of fatalities to see the proof. The Netherlands experiences 1.1 deaths per 100 million kilometers traveled versus the US average of 5.8 for the same distance. I pointed out in last week <http://www.chicagonow.com/easy-as-riding-a-bike/2012/11/wearing-a-bike-helm et/> 's post about helmet usage that the remarkable aspect of Dutch bicycling being five times safer is that their number of trips taken by bike is also twenty-seven times greater than ours. Success like this heartens bicycle advocates who truly believe in the Field of Dreams approach; "if you build it, they will come." In a perfect world - or more precisely a perfect United States - citizens would come together and demand a transportation system that accommodates all users equally. Whichever mode an individual chose for him or herself - personal vehicle, mass transit, bicycle, or own two feet - would be equally safe by design. There would still be trade-offs and sacrifices among choices, but personal safety wouldn't be one of them. As we cycling advocates talk amongst ourselves and admire the Dutch (and the Danes), we're all painfully aware that they didn't become ultra bike-friendly overnight. Political will for major changes began in the 1970s when the nation became fed up with the number of children killed by automobiles, the leveling of historic buildings to create parking spaces, growing traffic congestion, and worsening smog. They vowed to nip their problem in the bud and today have a much different flower to show for their efforts. We're not so lucky in the US. Our love affair with the car grew unabated through two oil shortages and volatile swings in gasoline pricing over the past 40 years. Vehicles didn't shrink in size like they did in Europe, they grew larger! Mass transit has had to fight tooth and nail for federal transportation funding. Bicycling and pedestrian advocates have only held a seat at the table for the past decade and we're still sitting on folding chairs. As much as we bicycling advocates would like to achieve the perfect, we'll be lucky if we can attain the "good enough". Not that we won't keep striving and pushing the general public toward that tipping point when not riding a bike will be viewed as more hazardous to one's health than riding a bike. We just need to stay patient, remain persistent, and continue to win little battles, savoring our victories and inspiring our troops. But we also have to be realistic. We need to acknowledge that right now and for the foreseeable future, we have an incomplete infrastructure. Too few protected bike lanes. Too many lanes that end abruptly or deliver us to unsafe intersections. Too much inconsistency with sharrows <http://gridchicago.com/2012/cdot-fast-to-build-new-bikeways-but-needs-to-re ctify-existing-ones/> , bike lanes, and cycle tracks. Lanes that put us in the door zone or subject us to the hazard of the right-hook. We all know the system's shortfalls. In the meantime, we still need to ride the streets we have and stay safe doing so. The best thing we Illinois cyclists have going for us is Public Act 095-0231 <http://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=095-0231> or as I like to refer to it, the Three-Foot Law. In this 2008 transportation act, motorists must give a minimum of three feet of clearance when passing a bicycle traveling in the same direction. We are not only required to stay as far to the right as is practicable, but as is safe. This means that we may pass other cyclists on the left, move left to avoid potholes, ride clear of the door zone, cross to the left turn lane, and move to the left of the right turn lane at intersections. This is the law and these are our rights. While we wait for the good to become the perfect through the efforts of our advocacy groups, we can all learn to adjust our riding to the incomplete infrastructure we have in place right now.

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Close passing and edge hazard zones for cyclists (Gutierrez)
by Beth McKechnie 05 Dec '12

05 Dec '12

Hello everyone, The link below takes you to a series of slides that clearly articulate the space required for cyclists on the road. Thanks to Bob Kurylko for forwarding. Please note that it was identified as "a work still in progress by Dan Gutierrez." In my mind, Dan's diagrams and explanations perfectly capture why so many people are too scared to cycle in traffic. Being trapped riding in the edge hazard combined with the close pass zone creates a scary and dangerous situation that current standards for bicycle facilities don't address adequately. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-Gu4I2V0ZScbTR0MHhoZHh2RzQ<https://docs.google.com/a/greenactioncentre.ca/file/d/0B-Gu4I2V0ZScbTR0MHho…> cheers, Beth

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FW: AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities [ including Bicycle Transportation Networks]
by Zdan, Terry (MIT) 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

FYI In my opinion much better than the Canadian TAC document “...1.1. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVE The objective of this project was to prepare a comprehensive update to the 1999 AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities. The Guide is recognized and accepted throughout the United States as the national guideline for bicycle facility planning and design. It has evolved over time - the 1981 edition of the Guide was 31 pages long and had only four pages of guidance on designing on‐road bicycle facilities. By the time the 1999 edition was published, the Guide had more than doubled in length, with considerably more information on planning, on‐road bicycle facility design, shared use path design, and operations and maintenance. Usage of the Guide has grown rapidly as nationwide spending on bicycle facilities has increased. Each successive federal transportation bill since ISTEA in 1991 has increased funding for bikeway construction in the U.S. Despite its popularity and utility, however, the 1999 edition of the Guide lacks important information, and does not reflect significant research findings of the past decade. Additionally, parts of the Guide need to incorporate changes from updated national references such as the "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices" (MUTCD) and the AASHTO "Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets," (AASHTO "Green Book"), among others. In 2004, the NCHRP Task 187 Report entitled "Updating the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities" conducted initial research, interviews, and a literature review to determine the recommended scope and content of the next edition of the Guide. That report made recommendations for numerous changes to the 1999 Guide. The new draft of the Guide incorporates these recommendations, along with new guidance and research, and practical experience gained through the design and construction of bikeways throughout the United States....” http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/docs/NCHRP_15-37_FR.pdf 204.488.8988

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