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New technology hits Vancouver streets: parking meters, countdown lights

March 25th, 2011 · 34 Comments

After years where Vancouver seemed to be behind other cities I visited, where you could pay for your street parking with a credit card while locally you still had to dig out coins (what’s that?), the city started to catch up a couple of years ago by implementing a cellphone-pay parking system. Ooh, modern.

In the last few months, I’ve noticed several new technology gadgets on the streets. Along Granville, thanks to some kind of new gizmo attached to the top of the meters, you can now stick in a credit card to pay. I saw for the first time this week that the city appears to be getting its first Seattle-type parking meters, where instead of individual meters for each spot, there’s just a ticket machine on the sidewalk where you buy your parking and then stick the ticket in your car.

And I’m seeing an increasing number of streetlights that now have a countdown function on them, letting everyone know exactly how many seconds until the light turns. Very helpful, especially for those intersections that are pedestrian- or cyclist-controlled and people crossing, including the car drivers, have always had to guess how much time they had left to sprint across because there’s no traffic light for them. (Only a traffic light for the stopped cars on the main street, plus a flashing pedestrian signal that prompted many people to make a dash across the intersection at the last minute.)

I’m sure this is going to prevent some accidents. As I mentioned in the story I wrote last year about pedestrian accidents, San Francisco experimented with a number of ways to try to reduce pedestrian-car collisions and found this was one of the best.

I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Creek’er

    Don’t think there are technologies to make Vancouver pedestrians less douchy. Even when the clock is down to zero, they will amble across the street as slowly as possible; luxuriating in their narcissism and delight in breaking teh traffic laws.

  • Bill

    Pedestrians are not supposed to start crossing if the hand is flashing. The only thing a countdown will accomplish is encourage pedestrians to cross if they think they can beat the clock. Net effect is to make it even more difficult for drivers to make a turn at busy intersections with more pedestrians crossing late.

  • Frances Bula

    @Actually, it’s been my experience that it’s the cars that are the biggest problem as the pedestrian-controlled intersections. They see the cars stopped on either side and they decide to make a run for it, not realizing the light is about to turn green in one nanosecond. I’ve seen so many near-accidents that way. As for pedestrians — well, the problem is, the hand starts flashing long long before the light turns. So the whole system trains pedestrians to start crossing even when the hand is flashing, because it’s too annoying to stand there, realizing that you could easily have made it across the street in the time between the start of the hand-flash and when the light actually changes.

  • Ron

    Yeah, remember that the hand would be timed for the lowest common demoninator – i.e. the elderly – so a younger person could easily make it across after the hand goes up. Unless you actually see the change from walk to hand, you can’t judge the stage in the cycle.

  • Everyman

    @ Frances Bula 3
    Even worse are the drivers who, upon seeing the cars stopped on each side, bomb right through the intersection without even stopping, honking at any pedestrian crossing their path.

    Problem is, the cars don’t have the right of way in such situations, there is no light giving it to them. Instead they are governed by the stop signs those sides streets have. If pedestrians are crossing on all four sides, its tough luck for the motorist.

  • Morry

    “Pedestrians are not supposed to start crossing if the hand is flashing”

    have you ever tried to turn a corner in chinatown… pedestrians lights are totally meaningless …. you could be stuck there for hours. I once had pizza delivered to me while i waited for a chance to turn.

  • Bill

    @Frances 3

    It’s not the pedestrian controlled intersections that cause the problems for drivers – its the busy intersections downtown. If pedestrians cross on the flashing hand, often it is impossible for more than one car to make a turn before the traffic flow changes.

  • KSK

    @Everyman

    If you are a pedestrian and you are crossing against a red light (ie: at pedestrian controlled lights) you are in the wrong – period. Yes, cars crossing the intersection should stop at the stop signs and check the light status and then proceed. If I’m driving (or riding my bike) I should not have to miss my chance to cross while someone is crossing illegally against the red light.

  • Chris B

    I like these meters for two reasons:

    As cities are strapped for cash, they create situations where it is harder to freeload on parking, hence more revenue.

    They allow more parking, as we do not need standardized spots for the largest vehicles. I think they increase available parking by about 10%

  • david hadaway

    What I dream of is (a) less traffic lights (b) properly co-ordinated to create a steady traffic flow. From what I’ve seen in Europe we are decades behind the times in traffic management for which there must be a significant cost in congestion, pollution and safety.

    And now it’s time for me go out and drive along Broadway!

  • Bobbie Bees

    I think intersections would work much better if we just prevented left and right hand turns. It’s the turns that seem to cause problems.
    On street parking also reduces the number of lanes for cars to travel in, so I say that we should also look at eliminating all on street parking.

    These are the things that I would do in order to help traffic flow through the city much better.

  • Jason

    Bobbie bees…if you can’t turn left or right doesn’t that mean you can only drive straight? Or are you suggesting round abouts? I have talking heads “road to nowhere” going through my head right now.

  • Sean

    One of my pet peeves as a pedestrian is JUST missing the cutoff for a pedestrian-activated light. Most of the pedestrian lights show “walk” for about 5 seconds followed by “don’t walk”. The problem is that if you get to the button 1 second after the light turns green you have to wait for the entire light cycle before you get a walk light.

    IMHO if you’re 1 second late you should still get 4 seconds of “walk” rather than having to wait for the next cycle.

    Another pet peeve is the lack of any indication of whether the pedestrian button has been pushed. You arrive at an intersection and someone is standing there next to the button looking for all the world like they’re waiting to cross the street – and when the time comes you discover they never pushed the button. This, coupled with the “no grace period” issue described above means you’re stuck waiting for the next light cycle or chancing an illegal dash across the street.

    All of the newer pedestrian buttons have lights in them – instead of just a brief flash AS you push the button, why not have them flash continuously until the “Walk” light comes on? That would let everyone know instantly that the button’s been pressed.

  • Don Buchanan

    Hi Frances,

    I wanted to correct a common driver misconception that you mention in your posting as Everyman has already noted.

    “Very helpful, especially for those intersections that are pedestrian- or cyclist-controlled and people crossing, including the car drivers, have always had to guess how much time they had left to sprint across because there’s no traffic light for them.”

    All vehicle drivers crossing the main street from the side street are required by law to stop at the STOP sign AT ALL TIMES! It doesn’t matter if the walk signal is going, and traffic on the main arterial is stopped at the red traffic light. Every time a vehicle driver crosses the main arterial, they should be doing so AFTER coming to a FULL STOP. A vehicle should never be in a position to “sprint” across.

    Unfortunately the vast majority of vehicles don’t follow the law, creating a very dangerous situation for pedestrians. A pedestrian walking along the arterial and crossing the side street should be able to cross the side street at all times, knowing that all vehicles will be coming to a full stop at the stop sign as is required by law. Unfortunately this is not the case and it creates a very dangerous situation for any pedestrian who assumes for an instant that the vehicle will actually follow the law!

  • Westender1

    Thank you Don for reminding folks of the need for cars to stop at stop signs at these intersections. It’s also important for pedestrians on the arterial to understand that they DON’T have to stop and wait for the (vehicle) signal to turn to green. Doing so creates a new set of challenges for cars trying to turn at these intersections (as well as delaying pedestrians unnecessarily), and just contributes to the confusion. As an aside, I wish the City would stop installing these unsafe “hybrid” intersections” and just install a four-way traffic signal instead.

  • Creek’er

    “As for pedestrians — well, the problem is, the hand starts flashing long long before the light turns.”

    True, but the hand starts flashing to allow cars to turn right. The problem is, with pedestrians completely ignoring the flashing hand, it is almost impossible for a car to make a right turn.

    More grating is the smug arrogance of pedestrians who amble slowly across when the hand is flashing; impeding vehicles from making the turn. When walking across with the hand flashing, I hurry across cause I know I don’t have the right of way and am potentially holding up traffic. Really simple common courtesy.

    I think we need to send some Vancouver pedestrians on a public service exchange program to London. Then they will learn that if you amble slowly across the street, the cars will literally run you over.

  • Bobbie Bees

    Jason, yeah round abouts would only slow things down, so yeah, under my plans, intersections would only be straight through. No left turns or right turns allowed.

  • Bobbie Bees

    Creek’er.
    The flashing hand only means that new pedestrians are not supposed to enter the crosswalk.
    What I would like to know is where do car drivers keep coming up with this rubbish? Do you guys actually sit at home dreaming up your own Motor Vehicle Act? Are you working under the impression if you repeat a lie often enough that it will become truth?
    I have my class 5 and class 6. Never was it ever suggested in any driving instruction course that I took that the flashing hand meant that pedestrians had to scramble for their lives because the flashing hand means that drivers can turn right?

  • Sean

    @Creek’er #16

    “When walking across with the hand flashing, I hurry across cause I know I don’t have the right of way and am potentially holding up traffic. Really simple common courtesy.”

    The hand flashes to warn pedestrians not to step off the curb because they won’t have time to cross. But those pedestrians who are in mid-crossing still have the right of way and vehicular traffic must yield to them.

    I totally agree with your sentiment that it’s common courtesy to move smartly to avoid delaying traffic and I try to do this whenever I’m able. But there have been times when I’ve suffered some sort of injury when it’s not been possible to hurry. Just because someone has no obvious sign of distress doesn’t mean they’re able to sprint across the street.

  • Sean

    @Don Buchanan #12

    “A vehicle should never be in a position to “sprint” across. ”

    You’re absolutely right in that a vehicle must stop if it has a stop sign. But I’m pretty sure that Frances was referring to an intersection with 4-way traffic lights (and no stop signs) wherein the countdown walk signal gives you an indication of how much longer the green signal for vehicular traffic will last.

    Of course the countdown tells you the *minimum* time you have left, but at intersections with inductive loops in the pavement you often find that if there’s no waiting cross traffic the green light will stay green even after the walk countdown has expired. Those lights will often simply remain green until waiting cross traffic is detected by the inductive loop.

  • Richard

    In Seville in addition to countdown timers, pedestrian signals are animated. The pedestrian figure moves faster and faster as the time counts down and is running near the end of the phase. Seems really effective.

  • Michael Geller

    I would like us to consider changing the sequencing of the colours at traffic lights.

    At the moment they are green….then they turn green and orange, and then they turn red. At least they did the last time I checked.

    Once they are red, we can all start checking our email, or placing a call….waiting for the green light to come on…but unless you are paying attention to what’s happening with pedestrian lights, etc….you don’t really know when the red light is about to turn green….is there time to make another call or send one more email? (I know you are not supposed to touch your smart phone in your car, but let’s face it, most of us still do it.)

    But here’s my question. Why don’t the lights turn red and orange to give us a warning that they are about to turn greeen?

    This happens in other parts of the world. What’s the argument against doing it here?

  • Michael Geller

    Oh yes, to Bobby Bees…who doesn’t want any of us to make any turns…you would have liked my Aunt Doris….In the forty years she drove in Canada she never made a left turn….she found it too difficult….so she always turned right until eventually she got to where she needed to go!

  • Deacon Blue

    Three rights equals a left… unless you come upon a one way street going the “wrong” way.

    In Lyons I encountered a “hidden bollard” that popped up overnight to secure street space for an outdoor market, and block my exit out of the historic district. I led a four-car caravan that drove in reverse for two or three blocks whence we cold maneuver and exit out on the side streets.

  • Creek’er

    @Sean & Bobby:

    Of course one can’t begrudge a pedestrian in mid-crossing having the flashing hand go up. My comments are reserved for the (far too common in Vancouver) pedestrian who enters the intersection when the hand is flashing and proceeds to amble across as slowly as possible — every other road user be damned!

  • david hadaway

    @MG

    Apparently the human eye is very sensitive to double changes but relatively insensitive to single. That’s why the green / yellow / red change is necessary to stop traffic. Otherwise plenty of people would simply not notice, the way they often do when waiting for green but with obviously more serious results.

    Why we do not carry this logic through to a red / red – yellow / green go sequence as elsewhere I don’t know but given the amount of red running we see the delay may be a good thing. When I was living in England (and somewhat younger) an instant takeoff on green was a matter of pride, here it would be near suicidal!

  • Frances Bula

    @Richard. I love that idea of the pedestrian figure speeding up. I need that on my computer as I approach deadlines.

  • Creek’er

    “I love that idea of the pedestrian figure speeding up. I need that on my computer as I approach deadlines.”

    Heh 😉

  • pacpost

    @ Michael Geller

    “you would have liked my Aunt Doris….In the forty years she drove in Canada she never made a left turn”

    Smart woman, she saved herself a lot of time and money. UPS advises its drivers to do the same, saves the company over $200 million per year in gasoline costs alone (in 2007):

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7000908

  • Michael Geller

    PacPost…you really are a wealth of information! While on the subject, when we were planning UniverCity we wanted to really narrow down the road widths of streets like University Crescent, especially at intersections, in order to improve pedestrian safety. We also wanted to include a landscaped median along University High Street to visually ‘green’ the neighbourhood.

    It all looked very good until a Burnaby engineer quite rightly pointed out that larger trucks would not be able to make a right turn from High Street into University Crescent.

    Recognizing my disappointment, our civil engineer Declan Rooney of Hunter Laird piped in…”You’re right. However, there’s nothing to stop the same truck from making a left hand turn from High Street into University Crescent!”

    He was of course right (as long as it wasn’t a UPS truck) and today you can go up on the Mountain and see our beautifully landscaped High Street and the narrow ‘throat’ at the entry to University Crescent. And while it does get a bit tight in heavy snow falls, this was anticipated too.

    ps. Some of the pedestrian crosswalks are powered by photo-voltaics. We thought that if they can work on the top of Burnaby Mountain, they can work anywhere in the lower mainland. I’m sure Vancouver has these everywhere….right?

  • Adam O’Neill

    I really like those street parking ticket machines for the extra space they free up on sidewalks. I hadn’t even thought of the gain in parking room. Awesome.

  • walks-alot

    I’d like to see pedestrian controlled lights that are actually responsive to pedestrians. Ie. once you hit the crossing button, the flashing green changes to steady green to send a message to drivers – hey this light is about to turn – and to pedestrians – hey, you won’t have to wait too much longer, and then the cycle actually happens fairly quickly. Right now, there’s no change in the green light, so cars keep approaching the crossing at higher speeds (flashing green means go fast!). Also the pedestrian controlled/cycle crossing lights take FOREVER at times – what happened to putting pedestrians/cyclists first in road user priority?

    My final beef is with the intersection at 41st and Victoria – why on earth as a pedestrian do you still have to push a button to request a crossing at one of the city’s busiest intersections, where there is almost no second of the day where there is not someone waiting to cross? Ridiculous!

  • walks-alot

    Actually one more. In grad school I did some work on pedestrian crossing times and seniors average walking speeds. Lights are not at all timed for seniors comfortable average walking speeds. In fact, there are very few crossings in the city in which I can make it across before the hand starts flashing at me – and I’m reasonably fit, walk at a healthy clip, and only slightly less than middle -aged!

    And if I have my toddler in tow? Forget about getting anywhere near the other side before the hand starts flashing!

  • pacpost

    Mr. Geller, thank you. And thank you for the anecdote. I’m all for more green (bushes, trees, etc.) in the urban environment. Haven’t been up to SFU in a long time. Should head over, since I’ve heard the mountain bike trails are a good alternative to making the long trek over to the North Shore (plus, I can use skytrain).

    I’m glad to see the City of Vancouver continuing to improve pedestrian safety. They just narrowed the street where I live, at Willow and W. 16th. For those walking along the north side of W. 16th, the distance to cross Willow has been very much shortened. It also means that drivers on 16th have to slow down to enter Willow, rather than whipping in as they used to do.

    Lastly, I noticed that the CoV engineers put in a new type of water drainage feature, with a mixed grass and rock bed for water to run over before entering the sewage system.

    Haven’t seen PV powered pedestrian lights in Vancouver. Will keep my eye out for them. Makes economic sense, especially if the alternative is ripping up asphalt/laying down copper wire to attach the controls to the grid. Small details, but they add up.

    Cambie St. does have those solar powered garbage units. They compact the trash thrown in them, reducing the frequency of sending trucks round to empty them.