Metro Vancouver wants bulging gas tax fund to aid cycling

By Jeff Nagel - Surrey North Delta Leader

More than $280 million in federal gas tax that is supposed to flow to TransLink is sitting unused and Metro Vancouver politicians now want some of it to go to building bike lanes.

Since 2005, Ottawa has handed back to TransLink at least half of the 10 cents a litre of gas tax it collects within the Metro region and the money has helped finance hundreds of new and replacement buses and SkyTrain cars.

But TransLink is only allowed to spend the resulting fund on certain types of projects – mainly vehicles – and with its capital spending constrained, the transferred federal gas tax money is stacking up faster than it can be spent.

An extra $122 million will flow in this year, lifting the total to more than $400 million.

"We want to be able to spend that money reducing our carbon footprints with cycling infrastructure around the region," Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan said.

But the federal government two years ago removed bike-related projects as an allowed use of the gas tax transfers.

Metro's regional planning committee voted Friday to urge area cities to lobby Ottawa to reinstate that use.

"It's more consistent with the green agenda for the gas tax dollars," Corrigan said.

TransLink strategic planning and public affairs vice-president Bob Paddon said it was unfortunate the federal government disallowed cycling spending.

But he rejected suggestions the gas tax money will go to waste, noting it is carried over each year and TransLink has more eligible spending in the works.

This year TransLink is applying to use $123 million from the fund to replace hundreds of older buses, community shuttles and HandyDarts over the next three years.

The federal gas tax transfer is separate from the 17 cents a litre in tax that TransLink directly levies on each litre of fuel sold in Metro Vancouver.

TransLink's currently proposed three-year base plan would pare back the amount of money going to cycling upgrades around the region.

Biking to School

Pretty good showing of cyclists Friday, October 5 at Yennadon Elementary School. Just a regular school day, but the Fall weather has been spectacular for biking! Way to go kids... and parents!!

To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets

ONE spectacular Sunday in Paris last month, I decided to skip museums and shopping to partake of something even more captivating for an environment reporter: Vélib, arguably the most successful bike-sharing program in the world. In their short lives, Europe’s bike-sharing systems have delivered myriad benefits, notably reducing traffic and its carbon emissions. A number of American cities — including New York, where a bike-sharing program is to open next year — want to replicate that success.

So I bought a day pass online for about $2, entered my login information at one of the hundreds of docking stations that are scattered every few blocks around the city and selected one of Vélib’s nearly 20,000 stodgy gray bikes, with their basic gears, upright handlebars and practical baskets.

Then I did something extraordinary, something I’ve not done in a quarter-century of regular bike riding in the United States: I rode off without a helmet.

New York Times story

Ride to Cranberry Festival Fort Langley, Oct. 6

Haven't bought your cranberries yet for Thanksgiving? Well, why don't you join us for possibly our last Discovery Bike Ride of the year, to the Cranberry Festival in Fort Langley, on Sat. Oct. 6. This is the second year we're doing this ride.

We'll meet up at Memorial Peace Park at 10:00 am. For those who live closer to the Golden Ears Bridge, we'll have two pick-up points:

• at 10:20 at Ridge Meadows College on Thorne Ave.
• at 10:40 at the roundabout to the bridge on the Pitt Meadows side, at the end of the Airport Parkway

The festival lasts from 10 am to 4 pm. 

Note that our rides are "unguided". This means that you're welcome to meet us at the suggested times and to ride along with us, but you do so at your own risk. We choose quiet routes where possible. If you need some guidance on the way back, feel free to tag along with any of us (make sure you make arrangements before we split up at the festival). I'll try to remember to bring along some new free Translink bike maps for those who don't have one yet.

In case we cancel the ride due to rain, it'll be posted on our blog rmcyclist.info on Friday Oct. 5 by 8 pm. 

Hope to see you on Oct. 6!

Culture, or community by design?

Here's a good article on the Energy Bulletin of the Post Carbon Institute about what creates community in the city of Montreal. The Bixi bikes and the cycling network are part of it!


Montreal: City of Bikes
by Sven Eberlein
Last year I visited Montreal to attend the Ecocity World Summit, a biannual gathering of visionaries from around the globe committed to creating cities where people live in mutually enriching relationship with each other and with the Earth. Looking at cities as living breathing organisms, with all their residents — human and non-human — forming an intricate web of interdependence, the very idea of an ecocity is rooted in a sharing principle, where citizens understand not only the physical value of making the most of our natural resources, but the cultural, spiritual, ecological, and ultimately, economic value inherent in building networks and communities.
Read more...

GETI Fest 2012 photos

GETI Fest 2012 was a lot of fun. According to estimates by the Haney Farmers Market, the number of visitors must have been close to 3000. Every year it gets bigger and better!

The purpose of GETI Fest is to raise awareness of the need to transition to a less fossil-fuel dependent economy, and cycling is one of the many ways for people to help themselves and their communities to do this. HUB is one of the many Action Groups of GETI, and as such we were involved in this 2nd annual GETI Fest.

At this year's GETI Fest, as a cycling advocacy group our HUB Committee was quite excited to join the Lougheed Area Girl Guides in celebrating the Day of the Girl. Women only comprise 25% of the cycling population in North America, and HUB would like to see more cycling infrastructure that will entice more women to start cycling for transportation. Women generally are more risk-averse than men, and feel more comfortable on separated facilities, away from car traffic.

We did another Cycle Recycle (free used bike give-away). 10 Bikes - some donated and some rescued from a sad fate of ending up as scrap metal at the Recycle Depot - got new owners. Some of the bikes that are dropped off at the Depot still have quite a bit of useful life left in them, and it makes one more aware of how wasteful our society has become. Dave and Barry taught some basic bike repair skills before the winners took home their bikes.

We also had a bike decorating station, and did a bike rodeo. I was quite happy about the numbers of bikes we saw. I didn't count them, but I think we probably had about 15 kids with their bicycles decorating their bikes and/or doing the rodeo. Next year we'll have even more!

We had an absolute hoot with the (non-fossil-fuel powered) People-in-Motion parade. A large group of kids on their bikes were at the head of the parade, following the District's electric truck. The kids were clearly in control, commandeering the driver of the truck, Director of Operations Russ Carmichael, to go "FASTER!! FASTER!!". He kindly obliged and sped up a little bit, but afterwards I heard that the poor Raging Grannies at the tail end of the parade were rather out of breath trying to keep up. Sorry, Grannies!

Here are some of the photos that we took:

practicing cycling skills, with the help of Girl Guide volunteers and some useful props

Slow Race

Lots of bikes in the People-in-Motion Parade!

HUB gave away 10 bicycles at our Cycle Recycle

HUB Bicycle Valet

MP Marc Dalton and Mayor Ernie Daykin performed the draw for the Cycle Recycle 

Click here for more photos.

GETI Fest 2012

We hope you'll join us for the 2nd annual GETI Fest, in Memorial Peace Park, on Sat. Sept. 22 (10 a.m. – 3 p.m.).

For those of you who don't know about GETI, it's an organization through which all individuals and groups in the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows (Golden Ears) area can work together in a co-ordinated fashion to create a resilient, vibrant, supportive and caring community. This is achieved through local Action Groups that help us meet our needs for food, energy, shelter, sustainable livelihoods and much more, while reducing our carbon footprint and our dependence on fossil fuels. Our local HUB Chapter is one of the many Action Groups of GETI.

Apart from the celebration at GETI Fest of GETI's achievements so far, our HUB Committee is especially excited this year to join the Lougheed Area Girl Guides in celebrating the Day of the Girl at GETI Fest. In order to overcome the many challenges that our world faces today, it’s important to recognize the important role girls and women can play in changing our world for the better. 

If you think cycling has nothing to do with women's emancipation, think again. In the late 19th and early 20th century, cycling has done a lot to give women more freedom and make them more independent. Here's a quote from women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906):"Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” 

Presently, only about 25% of cyclists in North America are female. The "cycling infrastructure" that has been built here since mid last century or so has consisted of at the most some white lines and bike symbols on our roads, and it obviously hasn't appealed very much to most women, who generally are not looking for the adrenaline rush that you feel when competing with cars for space on the road. Most women prefer a more peaceful experience, away from car traffic. In countries where cycling is perceived to be safer, such as in the Netherlands, the number of women who bike is much higher. In the Netherlands about 55% of cyclists are women. Many of them own a car, but choose to use their bikes, because it's an enjoyable, convenient, fun and healthy way to get around.

More separated and safer infrastructure in our neck of the woods will give today's Girl Guides and women of all ages the ability to make that choice as well.

HUB's share in the activities at GETI Fest:

 9:30 - 10:30 Cycle Recycle (free bike give-away) #1*
10:00 -  3:00 Artisan Fair / Action Groups / free bike parking / food
10:00 - 11:30 Bike decorating
11:00 - 12:00 Parade
12:30 -  1:30 Cycle Recycle #2*
12:00 -  2:00 Bike rodeo (we have only a few bikes available for those kids who don't have their own bike with them)

*Cycle Recycle #1: tickets to be entered by 10:00. Draw between 10:00 and 10:30;
Cycle Recycle #2: tickets to be entered by 1:00. Draw between 1:00 and 1:30

Events like GETI Fest can only happen with the help of many volunteers. If you would like to help out, please send me an e-mail (jchow23708@yahoo.ca).

Looking forward to seeing you at GETI Fest!

Photos Discover Historic Hammond ride

Thanks to Ian McLeod of Fraseropolis.com for guiding our ride today and sharing interesting facts about Hammond, and thanks to Leanne Koehn and James Rowley for the hospitality, the muffins and ice tea, and thank heavens we had a gorgeous sunny day! Here is Ian's blog post about the ride.

Ian gave us a bit of a history lesson today. It's hard to imagine now that the area just west of Memorial Peace Park once used to be pastures and orchards. The land owned by Japanese was seized from them during the 2nd World War. They were sent to the Kootenays, and few of them returned. They were never compensated. The building where the CEED Centre is now located used to be a Japanese school.

Start of the ride at the Blue Fountains at Memorial Peace Park

In Pitt Meadows, we rode the off-road multi-use path between Hammond and the Airport Parkway, and Ian, who was involved in the Golden Ears Bridge construction as public relations manager, told us that for this $1 billion project, this stretch of multi-use path was actually the most contentious of all the issues that they had to deal with. Residents whose houses this path backed onto were upset, claiming that cyclists would climb their fences and steal things out of their backyards. I know they've been complaining about flooding issues after the path was built, supposedly caused by the path, but I hope that they now see the benefits to the community as well and that most cyclists aren't such bad people after all.

While enjoying some delicious coffee at Stomping Grounds Coffee in Osprey Village in Pitt Meadows, Ian told us about the unusual government model of Barnston Island. Its 100 inhabitants are represented by a Director on the Metro Board and pay property taxes to the region, not to their own municipality. It's a great place to go for a bike ride. There's a free ferry from Surrey, from the bottom of 176 Street, and there's very little traffic on the road that goes around the island.

Great bike racks at Stomping Grounds Coffee were well used

Nice latte and great company at Stomping Grounds in Osprey Village!

We passed through the Katzie reserve. For cyclists the dirt road full of potholes is a convenient, but bumpy connection between Hammond and Osprey. The Katzie presently have only about 500 band members, and this is one of 5 reserves in the area that they own.

Wharf Street still has some industry, but it's obviously struggling. The Hammond Cedar Mill, once the biggest  employer in Maple Ridge, has downsized considerably.  There is no public access to the Fraser River in Hammond, and Hammond Neighbours would love to see some of the properties that are up for sale right along the waterfront to be turned into a park.

Riding through Hammond, we stopped at some of the older homes, like the original home of one of the Hammond brothers, who owned much of the land in the area and negotiated with the CPR to have a train station built in Hammond in 1883. Rail or boat was the only access to Hammond in the very early days. It would have been a very different kind of community back then. People would have walked or biked down to the store to buy what they needed. Most people of course worked locally at the Mill, or at the supporting local businesses.

Most of the older homes were built for mill workers. They're generally small homes and these days there's not much buyers' interest in them. Some have been remarkably well-kept though, and it's encouraging to see that there's a strong desire among the Hammond Neighbours to revive some community spirit and to fix up the whole area. It'll be interesting to see what's going to happen in the next few years in this area. It's got so much potential.

Tolmie Park in Hammond, named after a former BC premier

I thought the signs were kind of cute (it's a bit hard to read: "Hippies use side door" and "Beware: pickpockets and loose women"). This is an old telecommunications building beside the old Bank of Montreal

The old bank building, the first in Maple Ridge. 

Ice tea and muffins in Leanne and James' garden!

Leanne's home, built by her grandfather, and in the process of being restored and renovated. This is where Leanne's parents were Maple Ridge's recycling pioneers!

Another one of the older homes that makes this neighbourhood in Hammond so appealing.

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)

Car bike rack as repair stand

The wife says I really must spread the word about this glorious innovation - the use of the auto bike rack as a repair stand....