public transport

What to do With the Double Bass on the LRT?

February 19, 2018 Hansonthebike 4

Reading Time: 3 minutes City staff last week recommended that no bicycle should be allowed on the new LRT during the peak transit hours. The rush hour has been defined as 6-9 am and 3-6 pm. I find that a pretty broad definition of rush hour. It boils down to 50% of the time people travel to and from work (6-6). Yes the public service is at the bus stop at 3 pm sharp, but I doubt that the trains are so packed at 3 pm that you can’t fit 2-4 bikes in a train. I also don’t believe the trains are packed to [Read more…]

Approaching a non signalised intersection

Ottawa Commute Census Data Show Growth in Cycling Commute

December 12, 2017 Hansonthebike 4

Reading Time: 6 minutes Recently, Statistics Canada released commuter data for 2016. Over the last 20 years, commuter trips grew considerably. That is not a surprise as the population grew, from 29.6 million in 1996 via 32.5 million in 2006 to 36.3 million in 2016. Yes, that is 7 million people extra in 20 years. This growth is about the equivalent of the entire population of Bulgaria. In other words, in twenty years we took in the equivalent of the population of an entire European country. And they move around. But how did Ottawa fare in the ‘journey to work’ census? I put some [Read more…]

Car blocking side walk dresses at Summit

Transportation Equity Summit – Ottawa

September 20, 2017 Hansonthebike 3

Reading Time: 2 minutes This Friday, September 22, I am speaking about cycling advocacy at City Hall. Not to the mayor, not to Transportation Committee but at the Transportation Equity Summit put on by the Healthy Transportation Coalition and Envirocentre. The summit starts at 8 am with beverages and snacks and lasts until around 3:30 pm with a number of speakers from Ottawa and two speakers from Portland and Toronto. The entrance is $30 but if you can’t afford it, there are special arrangements possible. Affordable and Accessible Transportation for All One of the issues is that residents with a low income might need [Read more…]

Tim doesn't just plan parking, he was also a freelance cartoonist.

So… will anyone actually buy a unit without a parking space?

April 25, 2017 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 2 minutes Over the last year or so Karen and I talked on and off about how we want to live when we are reaching our 70’s. Do we still want to live in the inner suburbs in a house with a garden and be car dependent at times? Do we want to move into a condo closer to LRT and use shared bike and car systems? When you are not adding much to your income anymore at that age, a car is probably the worst to own with its cost of at least $7000 annually. Does everyone need parking? We’d probably [Read more…]

bike share Vancouver

The Battle of the Bike Share Behemoths

March 9, 2017 Hansonthebike 4

Reading Time: 2 minutes Bike share might be slow in taking off in in Ottawa, but in other parts of the world it is serious business. There is currently a bit of showdown happening in China between the two main bike share behemoths in the bike share world: Ofo and Mobike. Ofo The two largest Chinese bike share companies are looking to expand. Ofo just announced it will start a bike share system with 500 bikes in Cambridge, UK. In February 2017, Ofo raised no less than 450 million USD. It is also working on the introduction of bike shares in Silicon Valley and Singapore. [Read more…]