CKNW is reporting
http://www.cknw.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=1231842
” City crews back-off installing bike lane signals prematurely
…The work was stopped when the city received a call from the Executive Director of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association Charles Gauthier who wasn’t impressed.
“It confirms that decisions are made in advance you really can’t change things,” Gauthier said.
A public hearing was held last month but Dobrovolny insists no decisions have been made…..”

But as a cyclist I want to run on the same
surface as the gas guzzlers so I want a lane on the eastbound Georgia viaduct too.
There are a lot of crazy cyclists out there and riding in both directions at full-tilt in a narrow single lane with high barriers on both sides can be a dangerous place on the predominantly westbound Dunsmuir.

As it is the parking at the Shore Club, St. Regis, weddings and funerals at Holy Rosary, and the blind drivers coming up from the Eaton’s [who?] centre underground parking make the left hand side very dangerous too, as the cars going slow or stopped narrow the amount of westbound lanes by their blocking presence.
If cars switch to the centre lanes, no one gives way for them, so they add to the congestion.

With the conversion to dedicated bike lanes, taxi drivers won’t be able to use the bike lane in front of the Timmy’s on Dunsmuir at Seymour as a taxi stand anymore.

Aside from the need for an eastbound bike route, taxis parking in the bike lane is one of the main reasons we need to put curbs or plants between bikes and cars.

At least the translink highway coaches to white rock no longer get staged on the bike lane by tim hortons.

Support the Bloedel and Children’s Farmyard for three years and still have change (substitute any worthwhile cause of your own choice) or impose another half assed experiment in traffic and social engineering without any meaningful input from affected communities.

No contest.

I like how this person assumes “worsening of transportation infrastructure.”

Worse for who? You?

As far as estimating the impact on traffic, that is pretty much impossible. The models that used way overestimated the congestion on Burrard so it is not surprising that they are not trying here. The problem is that the models don’t take into account people altering their travel patterns or mode.

The same way Jivkov, Ceausesco, Honecker and other commies loved to visit (for input) their bigger counterparts in China and North Coreea during their doomed reign, our Bhuoy in Vancouver, visited his affiliated friends in New York, not long ago. Apparently for no good reason but of course… on taxpayers dime. Well not exactly for no good reason, few days later the Vision dominated council fronted by their Chief Bicyclist announced they have found $25 million for bike lane improvements (also known as mass movement restrictions or limited and harder access when combined with no parking allowed or parking fee hikes). Suprisingly how they could not found a few hundred thousands to save Bloedel and the Children’s Farm. Pricks. Anyway, the monies were hidden under the new carpeting on the third floor for all this time! Someone should ask the New Yorkers how is that bike lane experiment working for their commute on
Brooklyn-Queens Express (BQE)? But don’t ask them in person, send them an Email or you could end up being kicked in the head. And guess what’s on the front page of 24 Hours today. The knelled mayor holding a puzzling device in his hand, next to a car with the words Electric Car painted on the door. Wow! The bullshit thickens! Now we prepare for the Electric! Hold me so I don’t fal on my back please. Can someone please remind me how long ago one other bunch of future corrupt politicians were pushing a disabled bus down a hill? Yes, that Ballard Fuel Cells powered bus with “Science Fiction technology” in it was not moving? Not even a foot? 15- 20 years ago? Glen Clark anyone? NDP, Vision, Bullshit, NDP, Vision, Bullshit. Sounds like a chorus to me. I should ask someone to come up with a tune, a song maybe a cellphone ring.

@ Higgins: Are you aware that we are facing a global liquid fuels crisis? The 2005 Hirsch report written for the US Dept of Energy indicates that the cost of any good or service that depends on oil for its production or transportation is going to become more expensive as production peaks and then starts to decline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirsch_report). The US Joint Forces Command is predicting a serious global production shortage sometime between 2012 and 2015 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/11/peak-oil-production-supply). This means that getting around by gas powered vehicles is going to get a lot more expensive. Enter a market for electric and other fuel sipping vehicles. Enter a lot more people thinking biking, walking and transit are suddenly not such bad modes of transport. Enter a recent report by the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouseCoopers warning investors away from properties that involve long commutes or where buying a quart of milk requires a 15 minute drive. These changes are driven by the price of oil, not some utopian dream. Building a safe bike network is necessary to keep people moving affordably around the city and a way to take pressure off the already stretched transit system.

I am out using the Dunsmuir Viaduct protected bike lane every workday and it has been an incredible improvement over the Pender Street painted bike lane. It has shaved five minutes off of my commute each day, reducing a twenty minute ride to fifteen, and the grades are much more condusive to maintaining speed, as are the lack of traffic lights from Main Street to Beatty.

The painted bike lanes on Pender are constantly intruded upon by stopped taxis, cars, and delivery trucks, plus the shared bus and bike lanes just do not work out for either party. As a cyclist I slow down the buses, the buses slow down the cyclists when they stop for passengers, and both modes are slowed by vehicles turning right or stopping in the curb lane.

In light of the success of the Burrard Street Bridge bike lane and the absence of the traffic chaos predicted by its opponents I think that there is little credibility to concerns about traffic jams due to bike lanes.

The entirely valid concerns about right turns on Dunsmuir will be addressed with signals as they have been addressed in nearly every city in Northern Europe and, most recently, New York. If New York can do it surely we can.

I think people would be a lot more open to bike lanes that are fully separated from traffic if they tried biking in regular traffic. The painted lines don’t do anything to protect bikers and make bike-travel very unrelialistic for most riders. If you go to many parts of the 10th street bikeway you’ll see tons of bikes zipping past most times of day, but when you get downtown bikes get shoved to the side. Sure, Burrard and Dunsmuir allow bikers to get to downtown, but once they’re there there’s no more safe lanes.

I don’t agree that there will be traffic chaos, though it may take a bit to get used to. I’m also glad it’s been pointed out that the city can’t legally use the money from the capital budget to pay for operation expenditures.

And let’s forget all this crap about social engineering: this is about providing more reasonable transportation choices to vancouver residents and keeping people safe. Social engineering is when you put concrete over everything and make it impossible to get anywhere safely without a car.

Thanks Chris although I doubt this will be the last time it needs explaining.

@Chris and Richard

Last year I had the experience of Aaron Jasper explaining to me the difference between different city budgets as if I were a dimwit. Of course I understand these things perfectly well as I’m sure does Higgins.

The point I made to Jasper was that from the point of view of taxpayers such as myself there is only one budget, the one we personally make setting aside some of our money for the city to spend. We expect this to be done wisely and responsibly.

You may think that it is. I don’t.

Chris, maybe I should be the one apologising – for comparing you to AJ!

In fact the Bloedel is a very relevant case in this type of discussion, an irreplaceable capital asset
threatened with closure at short notice for the sake of a comparatively small current shortfall. Not the kind of thing that inspires confidence.

Wow! It never fails. A small posse forms immediately after a dissenting comment is posted on this blog. Herd mentality? I think so. Listen you…comrades, when owing/ using a car you pay a road tax for having the privilege to use that road, you register you car and pay mucho dinero in insurance to ICBC in BC to legally drive around and compensate Meggs for not knowing how to bike on a city street. Having a bycicle? You pay ZERO $ for road improvements, no $$ in insurance or registration, the only protection you really have is your arrogance on the road when you cross on Red and then use the crosswalk just before you climb on the sidewalk. Of course helmet is in most cases optional. So, to recap for the amount you contribute to the Road Maintenance Purse you get 25$ million spread over God knows how many years. Those bike lanes will definetly make the Greens happy. And of course it will keep the construction industry happy, now that they got USELESS WORK at UNION RATES and if a Green ever tries to use those lanes then they will throw a celebratory street party. To Richard, Chris B, Tessa…and other self appointed gurus of Capital & Operating Budgets I have this to say…my first MSc is in Economics, you pompous …you. A Government is always “in the money” what you need is honest accounting and honest civic agenda instead of the political one pushed on the City halls. VISION could have found the money to save Bloedel and the Farm in Hollyhock second if they wanted to. They rather bailed out Millenium and their friends from VANOC…put some bread and butter on Rennie’s breakfast table. Oops, look who I’m talking to!

@ Higgins (again)

I didn’t see your answer to my question above. How do you figure increasing fuel costs might affect demand for non-automobile transport infrastructure over the coming years?

One more if I may. Why the communist references? Last thing I heard Bloomberg is the 8th richest person in the US, owner of a financial news network and a fiscal conservative. From what I’ve read he was involved in the development of a clean tech industry precinct in NYC and understands how cities can address problems like rising energy prices and climate change through their built form (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=181284). Not to mention how to build a healthier, more pedestrian friendly and safer city… the same stuff that the current and past councils have worked on. So, once again, I still don’t understand how a trip to New York to talk resilient city building qualifies as communist. Perhaps you’ll enlighten us.

Oh Higgins.. you poor thing. I am so very sorry we hurt your feelings. I thought you were cut out for the rough and tumble of debate. After all, comparing Gregor Robertson (who wants to build a bike lane) to Nikolai Ceauscescu (who killed thousands, created concentration camps, used slave labour etc.) is a rather strong position.

Sorry, I will leave you and your “dissenting opinion” alone. You need to be left in peace.

Oh my, it feels like a house warming party in here. And everyone wants a piece of the host.All chatter, cigarette smoke and G&T’s. I see two bourbons sitting on the couch, one beer and saltshaker in the corner, one martini – dirty lost in translation, and one underage sipping from a can of pop. Drink up guys it’s on me. Noblesse oblige!
Chris B.
Hurt my feelings? Wow. I’m through my third napkin, wiping that tear away. Did you make this line up on your own, or someone helped you there? You speak of ceausesco from personal experience or from Wikipedia writeups? You have a lot of reading to do. Ceausesco was a very charismatic and likable individual…during his first years in power. The only eastern block leader to speak against the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 68; got to shake Juan Carlos and Nixon’s hands, and was seen with Queen Elizabeth doing the horse and carriage routine around Buckingham Palace. Then after he met Kim Il Sung (yes North Koreea) the paranoia took over. During his peak, his approval ratings according to his own Poll manipulators was approaching 98%, a bit more than gregor’s 78% LOL. This bunch of commies never asked for the public’s opinion. They always knew what was good for the plebes. They too had a shoemaker leading the country, a doctor heading the farm and a tractor driver buying securities on the Exchange. And down at the City Hall, well I dunno. Their numerous trials were done exactly like under Vision. See, the catch was,there were no trials to start with. Only BS. So Chris, come, sit, finish your bourbon.
Richard on Richards
60,000 people ride their bicycles per day. How on your Happy Planet did you come up with this number amigo? based on what? based on some silly extrapolation? You have no registration system, no user fee accounts. The fact that I have four bikes at home does not mean that there are four bikes on the road. Then, what’s the real age group biking and what is the average distance / per day that they are biking and for what purpose (work, pleasure, fitness…Richie do you have showers at your workplace or do you stink for the whole day? Ask around.) Huh, Huh? Do you have these numbers? How. Now, you enlighten me. Are you in some way involved with the new CCTV cops in the sky, following you around the downtown core and with nothing to do the whole day?Utilitarianism. Does this word means anything to you? Utilitarianism is often described by the phrase “the greatest good for the greatest number of people” What in fact you Vision people do here, in the clearest and the most visible way, is spending or projecting huge amounts of resources/ monies… for what? For a mere 3-6% of the total population. My grandma does not bike, you see, she’s too old for that, and my kids don’t bike either, they are too small, we have the obligatory car-seats to prove it. They all use either transit or…my god, the car. You say “Bike lanes, streets and other capital costs are typically paid for by property taxes” Correct. But each time you cross your beloved Burrard Bridge, Lion’s Gate, Cambie, Granville…you have to remember the word “tolls” I observe you already know the word “trolls” so you are almost there. It’s ‘trolls’ without the ‘r’…Harya doin’ Tessa? I do not recollect any pedestrian or cyclist ever to have been asked to pay for those. Without the car owner’s paid tolls you’d be swimming or paddling across these waters, wouldn’t you? About the point on licensing and registration. You have no argument there buddy! Why do you need registration and licensing? You cannot share a road with cars and NOT RESPECT the rules of the road, or even worse not knowing the rules, which is at the heart of the most accidents. That’s why the accidents happen. Of course, sure there are irresponsible drivers out there too. They are the scam, I agree. Now here is your Martini -dirty just the way you like it.
grounded (to what?)
Painting bike lanes, segregating traffic has nothing to do with transit. The% of the population biking to/ from A to B is going to still be insignificant in re. to the amount of $$ spent on pet projects like this. Bloomberg. OMG. That’s a laugh. I did not argue that he’s not one of the richest man in US, did I? He’s a capitalist at heart when it comes to grabbing cash. But when it comes to grabbing power he hangs in there with the most trademarked communist gusto. (And BTW stop kidding yourself, “communist” it’s simply a word used to describe a state of mind, it didn’t work out as a society, so lay down, chill!) If you do not care to acknowledge that, I’ll refresh your memory. Bloomie couldn’t get away with having a third term as mayor of NY, legally that is, so he managed to CHANGE the law in his favor, courtesy of his suck up councilors. And if you care to listen to the pathetic motive he is giving to his audience you’ll see why I inserted those commie hints in my previous posts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPhiZeWYfy4&feature=related
Listen carefully and then compare it with Solomon’s Hollyhock sermon on how he ‘who-has-the-money-to-spare-knows-what-is-good-for-us-for-the-planet-and-for-the-universe-in-general’. Bloomberg barely made in the third, considering the amount of monies spent for the reelection (cca 100 million). Why a billionaire like him wants to hang on to the mayoral office? That’s a question for the Critical Mass biking participants to answer to. But not the naked ones please. ‘grounded’ you get a bourbon too!
Bill Smolick
You must be the ‘beer and saltshaker’ guy in here so drink up or you’ll loose your ‘head’! Get it? Your beer head ha, ha. Who cares about coherence in here? It’s not like I’m discussing who stole Penny’s bicycle, gawd!
DistrictLot301
if you’re not tessa who left a nice suggestion like this on a previous post you must try to change your name to something that sounds better than a second hand car lot in Chilliwack, ok? Pop for you. With ice, I know.
To all of you, it’s been nice playing ping-pong with you in here. I’m asking you, what are you going to do in one and a half years when your Chief cyclist is going to get the boot he deserves and vision is going to be run out of town , and not necessarily by the NPA ? I heard that Simon Cowell’s in talks with the government of Uzbekistan. His upcoming Uzbekistan’s Got Talented Cyclists is looking for applicants. Don’t let this one get away folks. see ya. It’s been fun!

Pile on!