The Joy of Cycling in the Netherlands

To give you an impression of what cycling in the Netherlands is like, read this blog post from the U.K. blog As Easy as Riding a Bike, and look at the photos of "ordinary" Dutch cycling infrastructure.

The cost of bicycle vs. car infrastructure/transit/bridges

Often people claim that we can't afford to build bicycle infrastructure. This myth is busted in this Treehugger blog post by Zachara Shahan: 1 mile of a protected bike lane is 100x cheaper than 1 mile of roadway, with an article from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and a mindblowing chart from PeopleForBikes.

Spend on cycling close to home

Latest HUB column in Maple Ridge News:

Published: December 13, 2012
We’ve been warned multiple times in recent months that Canadian household spending is causing us to be ever deeper in debt. But would that warning have any effect on this year’s spending by Canadian families? According to a Bank of Montreal survey, holiday shoppers are planning to spend on average $674 on gifts this year, up from $583 last year. And the average Canadian is expected to spend more than $85 on booze in December, also according to a Bank of Montreal report. Canada is among the wealthiest countries in the world, so it’s probably not a surprise.

According to Statistics Canada, Canadian households spend on average about $11,000 on transportation.

About $10,000 of that is spent on private transportation: cars, vans and trucks, including their operating cost.

Read more...

MR/PM support for Velo Village resolution

Good news! The Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Bicycle Advisory Committee recommends Council to support a resolution from the Velo Village Conference on rural cycling (Salt Spring Island, 21-23 June, 2012) to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities for provincial funding for cycling infrastructure.

See announcement in Council this Week.

The text of the Velo Village resolution can be found here (page 13)

Birth of world-class cycling infastructure

Latest cycling column in the Maple Ridge News:

Published: April 13, 2012 9:00 AM

During an unexpected two-week visit to my birth country, the Netherlands, in March, I was once again drooling over the fantastic cycling infrastructure in my parents’ home town, Lelystad.

Read more...

And here are some pictures:

bike/pedestrian bridge in Lelystad

Bike path and one of the bike parking lots at Lelystad train station

car free shopping street in Lelystad

Presentation Richard Drdul on cycling advocacy/infrastructure on Jan. 26, 2012

Richard Drdul is an active transportation specialist with more than 25 years of transportation planning and design experience. He has worked with more than 30 municipalities and regional districts throughout Western Canada in all aspects of bicycle and pedestrian policy, planning, design and implementation. His relevant experience includes work on the first Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows joint Bikeways Plan in 1994.

This presentation was held in the Blaney Room at Maple Ridge City Hall, and was organized jointly by the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Bicycle Advisory Committee and the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Chapter of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, after representatives of the local VACC chapter had attended an excellent presentation by Mr. Drdul at an advocacy workshop for the local chapters in October 2011. The event was publicized community-wide, and it was very well attended with some 40 people in attendance, including Pitt Meadows City Councillor David Murray, the new Council liaison for the Bicycle Advisory committee, Ike de Boer of Pitt Meadows Engineering, the new Director of Engineering of Maple Ridge, David Pollock, as well as Ineke Boekhorst, Executive Director of the BIA.

Russ Carmichael, Director of Operations of the District of Maple Ridge as well as staff liaison for the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Bicycle Advisory Committee, and Ivan Chow, one of the co-chairs of the local chapter of the VACC, both gave a short introduction. Ivan Chow referred to the great things that are happening all over the world, now that more and more people are seeing the benefits of cycling for communities. As an example he mentioned the incredible progress that has been made in Vancouver in recent years. Russ Carmichael spoke about the work that was done in Summer 2011 by a group of about 20 dedicated cyclists to assess the existing bike route network in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, as well as to make suggestions for  potential new routes and connections. The results of this exercise will be used to prepare the new Bikeways Plan and map over the coming months.

Summary of presentation:

• The large amount of money we put in cycling infrastructure in the past few decades have not improved the % of ridership
• There are different segments of the cycling population. Their needs are very different. The infrastructure we have been building caters to less than 10% of the population
• The largest segment is the interested but concerned (60%). The biggest need for this group is the perception of safety. Painting a white line on the busy car lane would not convince them to ride that road. It has not worked and never will.
• To increase cycling we must build infrastructure which would cater to the 60%. Such infrastructure includes separated bike paths and traffic-calmed streets with low traffic volume  

From the presentation:

Between 1996 and 2006 about $100 million was spent in the region on cycling infrastructure. During that time the rates of cycling have increased in Vancouver/UBC (from 3.4% to 3.8%), but have remained pretty much the same everywhere else (1%).

24% of all bike routes in the region are in Surrey, but bike rates are not much higher than everywhere else in the “everywhere else” category.

Translink’s Cycling Strategy study has shown that in the past engineers and planners have focused on the “strong and fearless” (1% of total population) and the “enthused and confident crowd” (7%), while basically ignoring the needs of the largest segment, the “interested but concerned” (about 60%). The remaining 30% or so are in the “no way no how” category. The first two categories generally have no problem biking long distance, and are quite comfortable mixing with car traffic, while the interested and concerned group prefers separation from car traffic.

Richard commented that in all honesty he’s not exactly proud of some of the stuff he’s done in his earlier years of designing for bikes, when he was just doing what he had been taught to do and following design manuals. Some of the key points he has learned since then are that cyclists prefer infrastructure that separates them from car traffic, they like to make local neighbourhood trips, they want access to key destinations, they want safe and convenient parking, and they need guidance (signage).

He pointed out that 40 years ago, only 4% of trips in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, were made by bicycle. Now that percentage has grown to 40%, since planners and engineers started focusing on the 66% of the population in the early seventies.

He explained the difference between different types of “improvements” that are made for cyclists. Sharrows (a bicycle symbol with two chevrons), which Richard considers to be “not an attractive facility”, are supposed to indicate to drivers and cyclists that the road is to be shared, but the experience is that they do not entice more people to try out cycling. It’s an easy and cheap way to add more routes to the bicycle network, but it doesn’t necessarily get people to use them. The problem with bike lanes is that they are often not wide enough, and frequently end where cyclists need them most. Width and continuity are key things for bike lanes. He mentioned the use of buffered bike lanes, which give cyclists more distance between cars and themselves and help solve the “perceived threat” by cars. The problem with buffered bike lanes is that often cars will park on them. As examples of high quality infrastructure for cyclists he talked about separate pathways and cycle tracks. Cycle tracks have more separation than buffered lanes in the form of grade separation, parked cars, planter boxes or other things that provide more of a physical separation.

Traffic calming is of great benefit both to cyclists and pedestrians, and Richard showed slides of various types of speed humps, a road treatment that is presently not allowed on on public roads in Maple Ridge. Speed humps can be built in such a way that they don’t slow down cyclists, but they will discourage drivers from speeding. Even though emergency services often don’t like speed humps, they are being used in many municipalities, and there are definitely safety benefits to road users that have to be weighed. Another traffic calming measure that Richard favours is traffic circles, which are quite effective in slowing traffic.

At the end of the presentation there was opportunity for those in attendance to ask questions. Ineke Boekhorst expressed an interest in finding out what would be good locations for bike racks in the downtown shopping area and was hoping to get input from cyclists. A suggestion was made to use pathways to connect roads as shortcuts and to increase and improve routes for cyclists.

Slides used during the presentation can be viewed here.

Photos of cycling in Holland

My family and I recently made a trip to Holland to visit my folks. They live in Lelystad, a city in the Flevopolder, which is reclaimed land. Lelystad is only 45 years old. My family moved there in 1972, when there were probably about 5,000 inhabitants. Now the  population is about 80,000. After focussing on car traffic for several decades after the second World War, in the seventies governments at all levels in the Netherlands started to make cycling a priority. So in Lelystad cycling was an integral part of transportation planning right from the start. 4 Lane highways were built for cars only, with many cyclist/pedestrian bridges crossing these highways. Through the years some of the highways have disappeared, and the routes for cars have sometimes become less direct. A few traffic lights have been added here and there, quite a few roundabouts - I can't think of any stop signs in Lelystad, yield signs are actually more common - and Lelystad now has a railroad with frequent trains to Amsterdam. But the most impressive part of the transportation system is the bicycle network, much of it separated. Anyway, I won't bore you with all the details, but I thought I'd post some pictures of some of the cycling infrastructure and some of the rides we did. Come along for the ride:

These are pics I just took randomly around Lelystad.

We also did a bike route all around Lelystad, mapped and signed by the ANWB (the Dutch Automobile Association). Total distance about 40 km. Much of it on separated bike paths. Some of Lelystad's surroundings are not the most exciting: it's flat everywhere, endless agricultural fields, long straight roads. But it's great for biking, and the bike infrastructure is great! Here are the photos.

On another day we rented bikes from the Dutch Railways: "OV Fiets". If you have a membership (cost $21 per year if you don't have a Railway pass), you can rent 2 bikes per membership for 3 euros per bike per 24 hours. Great deal. We biked along the river IJssel between Kampen and Zwolle, a 32 km round trip, again an ANWB bike route. Click here to see the pictures.

There are many bike routes in Holland. There are hundreds of local/regional routes throughout the country, and also national routes. You can also put together your own route, using the "knooppuntennetwerk" (cycling node network), with signage throughout the country, and maps along the routes. The only problem: there's just too much to choose from!  

Federal election / MR-PM-Mission candidates on cycling

We asked all four candidates for the federal election in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows-Mission riding about about what their party's platform says about cycling and what they plan on doing to improve cycling infrastructure and promotion.

We will be adding their replies to this posting as they come in.

Here's the first reply, from the Green Party candidate, Peter Tam:

"The Green party and I will absolutely support a National cycling strategy. Quoting from our Platform in Transportation Policy

“Support pedestrian, cycle and car-sharing infrastructure in towns and cities”

We support the national cycling strategy per verbatim.

The first thing I would do is to eliminate the HST from the purchase of the bicycle and any accessories relating to the operation and maintenance of the bicycle. At the local district level, I would push for bike lock ups around downtown and shopping area. I will be working with VACC to create events to build awareness and promote cycling locally."

Reply #2, Craig Speirs, NDP:

"I have been an advocate for cycling infrastructure improvements for the past twelve years as part of my municipal work. I was the council liaison to the bike committee many years ago and was convinced of the wisdom of making room on our roads for this healthy form of transportation. When I was first elected cycling infrastructure was at best an afterthought when we planned our roads and now its front of mind for our engineers and planners. I like to think that I had some small influence in this increased awareness. There is much to do but at least its a start.

To me this is also about peak oil and how all communities need to transition out of car dependency. Oil isn't going to get cheaper anytime soon and senior governments need to encourage this transition through legislation and funding targeted to alternatives to the car.

I like your list of things the federal government could do as part of a National Cycling Strategy. I would love to make it one of my "to do" lists. The NDP supports cycling and I would certainly lobby to establish such a strategy if elected."

Reply #3: Mandeep Bhuller, Liberal Party:

"Cycling is an important part of Canadian culture, both for recreation and for transportation. The passion and commitment to cycling by its proponents is an inspiring example of what Canadians can accomplish when we work together.

The Liberal Transportation and Infrastructure plan, mentioned in our Policy Platform, will focus on sound investments that will reduce pollution and ease congestion in our cities. While Cycling is not specifically mentioned in the plan, I can assure you that as a Member of Parliament I will work to ensure that cycling takes its rightful and integral place in our Transportation and Infrastructure program."

If you would like to ask the candidates some questions, there will be an all-candidates debate on Wednesday, April 27, just a few days before the election. Time: 7 - 9 pm. Location: Whonnock Lake Centre, 27871 - 113th Ave. Candidates each will have 5 minutes for a speech, followed by question and answer.

For those who have time during the day, there's another one on Thursday, April 28, at 9:40 am. Location: Thomas Haney Secondary School, 23000 116 Ave.

Update May 1: At the all-candidates meeting on April 27, I had a chance to ask Randy Kamp for his input as to how he thinks he might be able to help cycling in our communities. He said that "I am not able to set policy", and "cycling is not the jurisdiction of the federal government". After the meeting I again asked him to submit his comments for our blog, but there has been no response so far, so I have not been able to find out from him whether or not he is willing to work on funding for cycling projects if he gets re-elected, as well as to set the wheels in motion to help develop a national cycling strategy in co-operation with the provincial governments, which are definitely things that the federal government would be able to commit to.

Support Provincial Investment in Cycling

Please pass this message on to your cycling friends.

The BCCC has sent the Provincial Government, Realizing the Benefits of Accelerated Investment in Cycling, a document recommending dramatically increased funding for cycling facilities, education, promotion and maintenance that would make cycling safer for people of all ages and abilities in communities across British Columbia.

Please send a message to Minister Bond at the address below indicating your support for the BCCC cycling investment recommendations, "Realizing the Benefits of Accelerated Investment in Cycling" and in particular the four year investment of $175 million dollars per year totalling $700 million to fund bicycle paths, separated bike lanes and other high quality cycling facilities in communities and on provincial roads throughout BC.

The recommendations are at:

http://bccc.bc.ca/Documents/BCCC-Cycling_Investment_Recommendations.pdf

The message can be as short or as long as you want. The most important thing is to let them know that investing in cycling is important.

Your message could include some or all of the following:

- The mention any of the other recommendations that are important to your or your community.

- What these recommendations and improved cycling would mean for you, your family and your community

- Specific cycling facilities you would like to see built

- Stories on what new cycling facilities have meant to you and your community

- Stories about impact of the lack of cycling facilities in your community

Hon. Shirley Bond

Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure

Province of British Columbia

shirley.bond.mla@leg.bc.ca

Please cc your MLA. You can find their email address at:

http://www.leg.bc.ca/mla/3-1-1.htm

As well, cc:

Gordon.Campbell.mla@leg.bc.ca, Colin.Hansen.mla@leg.bc.ca, margaret.macdiarmid.mla@leg.bc.ca, stephanie.cadieux.mla@leg.bc.ca, murray.coell.mla@leg.bc.ca,

Carole.James.MLA@leg.bc.ca, Robin.Austin.MLA@leg.bc.ca, Bruce.Ralston.MLA@leg.bc.ca, kathy.corrigan.mla@leg.bc.ca, Jagrup.Brar.MLA@leg.bc.ca, Jenny.Kwan.MLA@leg.bc.ca, Rob.Fleming.MLA@leg.bc.ca, lana.popham.mla@leg.bc.ca

This message is can also be found at:

http://bccyclingcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/01/support-provincial-investment-in.html

Thanks

Richard Campbell

Director

British Columbia Cycling Coalition

richard.austin.campbell@gmail.com

http://www.bccc.bc.ca

http://twitter.com/bccycle

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4175482969