Month: April 2013

Ontario Bike Strategy Update

April 18, 2013 Hansonthebike 1

Reading Time: 2 minutes Here is a brief update on Ontario’s draft bicycle policy survey. I am told that the Ministry of Transportation received tremendous interest. There were close to 1000 submissions, over 90% of which are from individuals. The tone is generally very supportive of the fact that the Ministry is taking the issue seriously for the first time in 20 years – putting out a strategy and consulting. Initial estimates have the suggestions split fairly evenly between infrastructure, legislative changes and education. As Premier Wynne has lived in the Netherlands and raved about cycling with her kids there and Transport Minister Glenn Murray apparently cycled across [Read more…]

Of a Woonerf, Too Many Signs and Complete Streets

April 15, 2013 Hansonthebike 19

Reading Time: 6 minutes A world without signs? We have one woonerf in Ottawa: part of Cambridge is designated as a woonerf. An ‘erf’ is a somewhat old fashioned Dutch word for the area around the farm house, where chickens roam, the dog guards and the cow explores. ‘Woon’ comes from the verb ‘wonen’, Dutch for ‘to live in a place’. Woon-erf more or less literally translates to “living yard”. Here in Canada, we’d like to translate it with ‘complete streets’ sometimes, but typically a woonerf has few curbs; traffic calming measures are taken to the extreme with planters, coloured pavers, bike racks and [Read more…]

Entering Ottawa

Bixi Bikes are a Great Asset for Canada’s National Capital Region

April 8, 2013 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 4 minutes Two years ago, I suggested to a manager at the Westin in Ottawa that they should embrace cycling tourism more, being located right on the canal with its pathways, a World Heritage Site no less. He paused and then asked “But Hans, who arrives on a bike with three suitcases?‘” I had to explain to him that his guests might want to go for a bike ride after a dull day in a congress or perhaps stay longer if they knew about the many local bike routes. Meanwhile, the Minto on Laurier and Lyon has dozens of bikes out for [Read more…]