walking

I Cycled with an Astronaut through Downtown Ottawa

July 8, 2018 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 5 minutes Update January 21, 2121: the GG resigned after allegations of creating a toxic work environment. Wednesday June 27, I got a phone call from the office of the Governor General of Canada.: if I would like to join GG Julie Payette on a short bike ride on Canada Day. The Governor General is the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II in countries that recognize the Queen as Head of State. Which Canada does. The role of the GG is ceremonial and they are appointed every four years; sometimes a fifth year is added. Astronaut Payette The current Governor General is [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…]

Brookfield MUP Update

October 11, 2017 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 5 minutes Last night I attended the open house for the bidirectional MUP on Brookfield in the Brookfield High school cafeteria. Some of my friends went to this 1962 school in the seventies and eighties and it was interesting for me to see this heritage school from the inside. Here are a few pics for the fun of it including the heritage bike rack I tweeted out earlier. Itsy bitsy teeny weenie very much preliminary The City of Ottawa plan was shown on one board. It is a very preliminary plan and the city is open to all suggestions. Sam Roberts collected [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…]

Canadensis Ottawa

A Visit to Canadensis at the Experimental Farm

September 15, 2017 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 4 minutes Between Hartwell’s Locks, the Fletcher Wildlife Garden and Prince of Wales is a small corner of land that is being used for Canadensis, a small botanical exhibit with several art installations themed around nature. Karen and I have been cycling past it dozens of times and recently we finally decided to park our bikes to check it out. (It’s free after all). We had noticed the banner from the road, but we were always on our way to something or someone. It is a true gem. Access is from the Experimental Farm pathway that leads off Prince of Wales towards [Read more…]

Dafne is an athlete from the Netherlands who holds the 200 meter world record sprint (photo Lee Jin-man/AP)

“Dafne Schippers” Bridge Ramp Built over a School

April 6, 2017 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 3 minutes Mark Wagenbuur wrote about it already a while ago when the bridge was being constructed, but now the new Dafne Schippers bridge in the Netherlands is officially in use. The bridge crosses the important Amsterdam-Rijn canal, connecting Amsterdam’s harbours with its hinterland in Europe. The canal is a considerable barrier and with a growing number of people living across the canal, this bridge was needed as part of the bike route from Leidsche Rijn (I loosely call it a suburb) to Utrecht Centre. The Amsterdam Rijn canal is a 72 km waterway and opened only in 1952. The part north [Read more…]

South Keys, Ottawa: the End of the Parking Lot?

May 7, 2015 Hansonthebike 3

Reading Time: 5 minutes   In my previous blog, I wrote about ‘Retrofitting Suburbia’, a 2009 book by Ellen Dunham – Jones and June Williamson. They describe how older suburban malls from around 50 years ago, when the car was still seen as the solution to many perceived problems, rather than the cause of many problems, can be successfully retrofitted into new town centres, including housing, entertainment, work spaces etc. 3000 parking spots A number of US mall owners have been rethinking the traditional model of the mall as we know it. They are interested in intensification; this naturally leaves less surface space for [Read more…]

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Seven fun mistakes in signs

April 20, 2015 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 3 minutes I am the last one who claims my English is great. It is not my mother tongue. Spell checkers help a lot, but I tend to mix in Dutch grammar sometimes. You will often see Dutch people confusing ‘learn’ and ‘teach’ or ‘borrow’ and lend’ as the Dutch use one word for it. Prepositions Prepositions are always a challenge. Is is ‘on’ or ‘at’? Where does it go in the sentence?  And it is ‘to mix in the ingredients’ and not ‘ to mix the ingredients in’. Why is is it big- bigger, but not handsome – handsomer? I still [Read more…]

O train MUP

O-Train Path, Where Art Thou?

April 1, 2014 Hansonthebike 1

Reading Time: 2 minutes The O-train multi use pathway (MUP)  is delayed. And that  is no April Fool’s joke. As you remember, the first stage was built and finished last summer and stops just south of the Queensway, at Young Street, where a narrow pedestrian bridge connects the two sides of Young. Ribbons were cut, photos were made, blogs were written. And then it became quiet. Winter came early and the path was inaccessible, other than for the odd urban skier, which I guess I could cover too as Urban Commuter now I come to think of it. From Young to Carling The second phase [Read more…]

Guest Post: Kelly Roche's impressions on Frankfurt and Wiesbaden Transportation

July 29, 2013 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 4 minutes Two years ago, I was interviewed by Ottawa Sun reporter Kelly Roche at the opening of the Laurier bike lane. At that time, the Ottawa Sun was fairly hostile towards cyclists,  (but not Kelly) complaining about the cost of bike infrastructure for ‘a handful of cyclists‘ (760,000 bike trips have been counted since the opening at the Metcalfe intersection counters alone). The total numbers are even higher as not everyone passes these particular counters. Not much of a wedge issue Over the last two years, The Ottawa Sun’s attitude appears to have changed. Of course, we know that newspapers like so [Read more…]