Infrastructure

Ramping up the Ramps

April 4, 2012 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 6 minutes Ottawa City council gets input from several advisory groups (soon to be abandoned apparently) on specific issues. One of those groups is called the Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee aka RCAC. RCAC has 9 members at large and 3 representatives from the cycling community, amongst others the Ottawa Bicycle Club and Citizens for Safe Cycling. This is a valuable channel for citizens to stay in touch with decision makers. The City of Ottawa’s website says the following about RCAC: The mandate of the Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee is to provide advice and guidance to Ottawa City Council and its [Read more…]

bus shelter Rijssen

Rain Sensor for Dutch Cyclists – “Braille” for the Viennese Pedestrian

January 4, 2012 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 2

Reading Time: 2 minutes No more seeking shelter in this bus stop for this Dutch family when rain threatens. Picture: Urban Commuter Ottawa Dutch city of Groningen councillor Karin Dekker activated the first rain sensor in the city with the highest bike modal share in the world. The sensor measures rain and snow. If precipitation is measured, the traffic light cycle changes, so that cyclists get green lights more often. If the test is successful, more bicycle friendly traffic lights will follow in 2012. The rain sensor is already implemented in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant. When it is raining ánd the temperature is [Read more…]

Bikeway image by Dennis Leung - Ottawa Citizen

Whoosh!

December 30, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 5 minutes You probably read already that Ottawa city staff is designing a bike way through the city. Some will argue that it is yet another example of a waste of tax payer’s money (as if $220,000,000 for the Queensway isn’t), but the reality is, that it will be a long term gain. The idea behind a bike way is to create a safe corridor for cyclists from one end of town to the other end. It will feed commuters into the down town as well as encouraging more people to take their bike to get across town for errands. Or to get around their own [Read more…]

Rethinking Sparks Street: 7 Necessary Changes to Bring Back the Spark

December 21, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 6 minutes I used to walk more or less the same loop during my lunch time hour and Sparks Street was mostly included. But since the Laurier bike Lane is in place, I have changed my route and abandoned Sparks. Laurier is livelier, and with the bike lane in place, there is not only more to see in terms of cyclists, there are also some nice restaurants. The Persian Express has become a hang out for meetings for me as they offer nice food for a relatively low price (all you can eat buffet) and they have a three season terrace. Presse Café [Read more…]

Halifax Revisited

October 12, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 6 minutes She is young, she is bright and she is an entrepreneur. Twenty four year old Sarah Craig decided to forego a government career in CO2 calculations (who can blame her?) and decided to start a bike rental shop on the board walk in Halifax. Really, how many people, fresh from university start a bike shop? I decided to visit Sarah on a crisp Friday afternoon. The place is not bigger than roughly a 150 ft2 but rents out 15 Townies, with helmets (mandatory for everyone in Nova Scotia). Sarah also has a collection of T-shirts, bells, claxons, magazines and alcohol [Read more…]

A Bow to Calgary

September 17, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 6 minutes Last week I spent four days in Calgary. In terms of layout, there are many similarities with Ottawa: our Ottawa River (albeit a tad bigger) is Calgary’s Bow River, the Elbow River meandering from the south is our Rideau River. Ottawa has the Queensway, Calgary has its railway tracks running through down town. (I once spent a few days in the Fairmont Palliser and the rail cars barrelling right underneath the window kept me awake half the night). Calgary has a car free Stephen St, Ottawa has car free Sparks St. There is a big difference between the two streets [Read more…]

Opening Laurier Bike Lane in style

July 10, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 4 minutes Approximately 150 people gathered on the hot Sunday afternoon of July 10th, 2011 to witness the opening of the Laurier Bike Lane, which runs through downtown Ottawa. This bike lane is the first one of its kind in downtown Ottawa, to accomodate cylists who are not yet comfortable sharing the road with the hectic downtown traffic. City staff and cycling advocates have been successfully joining forces over the last two years to establish the long awaited down town cycling improvement. The lane came out under budget and ahead of schedule so that it could be enjoyed in the summer. The City’s bike lane [Read more…]

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The Mystery of the Scenic Orange Road Barrel

May 15, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 2 minutes We’re obsessed with safety. We make big orange road barrels to mark an upcoming danger to make sure no accidents happen. However, if someone calls in for a large dangerous pothole, you’d think road crews just go to Tim Hortons, have a smoke, stare to the pothole and eventually fill the hole. No such thing: the city or the NCC sends out the truck with orange paint, steel plates and/or orange road barrels visits the site to mark the appropriate spot as dangerous. About three weeks ago, in the last week of April, someone went out to put a road [Read more…]

NCC study on winter pathway usage

May 11, 2011 Hans on the Bike - Ottawa, Canada 0

Reading Time: 2 minutes The NCC commissoned a study on the usage of their pathways in wintertime. Although some claim that the winters in Ottawa are ‘cold and dark’ the numbers might stun you. Here are some results: Close to four in ten (36%) Canada’s Capital Region residents aged 16 and older (some 196,000 individuals) have used a recreational pathway during the winter months. An additional two in ten residents (21%, some 114,000 individuals) say there are winter activities they would do on the pathways if they were better maintained. Winter pathway users tend to be younger, and have higher incomes than do non-users [Read more…]