living in ottawa

Bill 173: Amending the Highway Traffic Act for Cycling

March 18, 2014 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 6 minutes Did you ever read Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act? I have to admit I have never gone through it with a dust comb, but I do flip through it once in a while. One of the oddities I found is that you don’t have to have a rear light (as I read it). Currently, you need to have a reflector or a red light. Indeed, you don’t need to have a rear light. Bill 173 is repairing a number of issues that society had already more or less accepted. Flashing Rear Lights Bill 173 is going to change that light issue. Or [Read more…]

Can you Bike, Skate and Walk to Work on Winter Bike to Work day?

February 5, 2014 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 5 minutes Next week, February 14, 2014  is Winter Bike to Work Day. It is a day to celebrate winter cycling worldwide. Winter cycling is easier said than done as cycling in winter requires some preparation. If you haven’t biked in winter -and I mean serious winter, as in -20C to -30C (-4to -22F) sans wind chill, not those -2C Copenhagen ‘winters‘ extended autumns, you are likely thinking that winter cycling is a crazy thing to do. Not really. But you need a well equipped bike, a few extra layers of clothes and serious maintenance on your bike. It is not the [Read more…]

Barrhaven Bicycling

December 11, 2013 Hansonthebike 3

Reading Time: 5 minutes This winter, to beat the winter blues, I will post some sunny material that is still on the desk from earlier this year. Late August, we wanted to go for a shorter ride on a Sunday morning, but we didn’t feel like doing the closed loop along the Ottawa River once again, so after some staring on maps, we decided to go to Jan Harder territory. We packed out passports and cycled to Barrhaven. Barrhaven! When we were pondering buying a house in the late nineties, we took a look at Barrhaven, but we were nervous that the commute into [Read more…]

2013 Draft Ottawa Bicycle Plan in 1500 words

October 10, 2013 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 9 minutes I read through the draft Ottawa Bicycle Plan last night (update: I improved it a bit here and there on Thanksgiving, removing typos, adding headers and more insight in budgets). A document of nearly 150 pages that outlines the vision for the next 18 years. I think it is a very solid plan, perhaps one of the best I have read. It is clearly written by cyclists with lots of input from the public and Citizens for Safe Cycling, Ottawa’s bicycle advocacy group since 1984. It is all compassing, from infrastructure to education, from winter cycling to fall sweeping. From [Read more…]

No Image

Going Dutch? Ontario's Cycling Strategy Released!

August 30, 2013 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 8 minutes Summarised for you: The Ontario Cycling Strategy in 1000 words: How Ontario will look like in 20 years. This afternoon, August 30, 2013, the Ministry of Transportation released its first provincial cycling strategy in 20 years. This is a much better document than the first draft that was floated around at the beginning of the year. Over 1000 individuals reacted when this first draft document was open for public input, a number that is unheard of in Ontario, which shows the desire for change. From this input and the input of many professionals comes the Ontario Cycling Strategy. The document contains [Read more…]

Canada Day: Checking Out the Capital by Bike

July 2, 2013 Hansonthebike 5

Reading Time: 7 minutes We’re not big crowd fans. We’d rather be on our own on days like Canada Day, than be with 500,000 others in down town Ottawa. There is not much attraction in seeing people with flags wrapped around their shoulders and belting out “O Canada’ at any given moment, in pubs, in buses, walking along the road or sitting in parks. But it is a day off, the weather was nice and that makes for a good bike ride. To stick to the Canada Day theme, we thought we should cycle past about 20 national treasures in the Nation’s capital. We [Read more…]

Main Street Will Become a Complete Street and Here is Why

June 20, 2013 Hansonthebike 5

Reading Time: 8 minutes Update July 17, 2013: council passed the proposal for Main street with 18 in favour – 6 against (Moffatt, Blais, Hubley, Desroches, Deans, Harder: worries about traffic flow from suburbia to down town and timing of reconstruction). The City of Ottawa has active transportation high on the agenda. The highest priorities are pedestrians and cyclists. After active transportation comes public transportation. At the bottom of the pile is the car, the 3000 pound gorilla that has shaped Ottawa over the last 60-70 years or so. But the car’s hegemony over infrastructure is starting to show cracks. Rescue Bronson Ave has [Read more…]

No Image

Crowd Funding “Bike City, Great City” – Ottawa City Councillor Makes Documentary Movie

March 27, 2013 Hansonthebike 3

Reading Time: 2 minutes What does it take to create a great bike city? Better planning, better building and better education. Money and a willingness to invest it in cycling. Most of all, it requires politicians, planners, engineers and voters to believe it is both possible and worth the effort. If you think it’s worth the effort, please consider a donation to help produce Bike City, Great City, an informative, crowd-funded film that promotes the values of urban cycling. This independent documentary will show how any city that encourages cycling by making it easier and safer becomes a more vibrant, attractive and healthier city for everyone. David Chernushenko, Ottawa [Read more…]

Ontario’s “Je ne sais quoi” Draft Cycling Strategy – part 3

December 19, 2012 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 4 minutes Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18: Bicycle Facilities This is an item mentioned in the draft policy that I am really looking forward to. Book 18 is nearly ready;  it will be the reference for engineers and planners and designers for bike infrastructure design. Many new ideas will be implemented is the expectation. The book, with input of city staff of a number of Ontario cities, Ottawa being one of them, is delayed as it was supposed to be ready by the end of 2012. I learned that it has been quiet lately. Once many of the new concepts (new for [Read more…]

Ontario’s “Je ne sais quoi” Draft Cycling Strategy – part 2

December 17, 2012 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 6 minutes The Ontario Draft cycling strategy is not very clear. “Fluff”, is what a former City of Ottawa planner told me last week. I guess that is why they turn to the public. So your input is needed. In fact, I received an email from Toronto saying: “that this piece has already broken the threshold for most comments received on the EBR (Environmental Bill of Rights) and it’s only been up for a few days.”  Let’s zoom in into a number of issues, that are not overly hard to address. Increase bike modal share by proper design If you want to increase the [Read more…]