On 10/8/2019 10:20 AM, Duane wrote:
On 08/10/2019 10:14 a.m., jbeattie wrote:
On Tuesday, October 8, 2019 at 6:48:12 AM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 10/7/2019 3:59 PM, John B. wrote:

snip

Lets be rational and say that in the U.S. there will
never be any real
change. Speed limits are not going to be lowered and no
significant
bicycle only paths are going to be built. Oh yes, there
will be lines
painted on roads and old, unused, railway right of ways
renamed
"Bicycle Path" but will over passes or tunnels at
intersections to
allow crossing the intersection on city streets without
worrying about
stop lights and folks turning be built as they are for
cars?

I guess we're spoiled in Silicon Valley, but we have
built, and are
building more, infrastructure with tunnels and
overpasses. The key is to
eliminate choke points and create connectivity where it
has been poor.
One key thing is to not have bicycle routes that are on
roads with
freeway entrances and exits.

A few weeks ago we had a City Council meeting where the
only agenda item
was whether or not to build a short trail along a creek,
opening the
gates, putting down hard-pack or asphalt, and adding some
fencing. I had
130 residents sign up to speak on this agenda item and
the meeting went
from 6:45 p.m. to 4:35 a.m.. The trail would be what we
believe would
be a safer pedestrian and bicycle route to some schools
and to our
library. We voted 5-0 to proceed. Those opposed to the
trail have houses
that back up to the creek and did not want people walking
and cycling
behind their houses. Their concerns about the loss of
privacy were
understandable, but it's public land and the water
district, who owns
the land, is encouraging more use of their land for trails.

We also are starting a community shuttle system trial
later this month.
This is a response to continued cuts in our county's
transit system
which has the lowest fare-recovery of any system in the
world, and is
operated as a social service rather than as a way to
support commuters
going from housing-rich areas to job-rich areas. The
shuttle will go
around the city as well as to specific locations in
neighboring cities
(medical centers and train stations). The shuttle is
subsidized, though
the subsidy per ride is much less than the subsidy that
the county
transit agency provides.

We are also putting in protected bike lanes, the first
one just opened.
There was basically a realization that the only way to
keep vehicles
from driving, parking, stopping, delivering, dropping
off/picking up,
etc. in bike lanes was to have a physical barrier, lines
and paint just
were not sufficient. Unfortunately, it took the death of
high school
student riding to school to spur the city to do
something. The latest
thing I saw was real estate agents putting their "Open
House" signs in
bike lanes. This was the final straw for me. I had my
City Manager
authorize overtime for our Code Enforcement department
and on one
Saturday they collected 62 illegally placed "Open House"
signs that were
blocking sidewalks, bike lanes, wheelchair ramps, etc..

I remember, years ago in Los Angeles there was an
attempt by the city
government to get a bond issue approved to built a public
transportation system and it was voted down two years in
a row. "What
for a public transportation system? Just take the car."

Los Angeles is all-in on expanding their transit system.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40490942/los-angeless-120-billion-bet-on-transit-innovation.


Transit is also the only possible solution to the housing
issue in
California. You're not going to convince most middle
class families to
live in rental housing forever, or to live in a high-rise
condo once
they have kids. You have to give them a way to commute
sufficiently fast
from areas with enough land for the type of housing they
are going to
live in.

Unfortunately, in Silicon Valley, we have no organization
that is
lobbying for cyclists. The "Silicon Valley Bicycle
Coalition" has been
co-opted by development and corporate interests and
lobbies for more
money for highway construction, especially the conversion
of HOV lanes
to "Express Lanes" where solo drivers can pay to use the
HOV lane. A
token amount of money was provided for bicycle
infrastructure and
transit in the last tax that was approved by voters.

Just a heads-up, don't put the sheltered facility and a
bus or shuttle stop together. My favorite unnecessary
hazard going to work is the sheltered bike lane where the
bus whips around me to the left, I go into the facility to
the right, the bus stops, and passengers launch into the
bike lane in front of me -- crossing the bike lane without
looking to get to the bus. At the stops where the bus
pulls to the curb, I at least have a chance of getting
around it. I frequently wonder what designers are thinking.

-- Jay Beattie.


I found my new least favorite idea for cycling facilities.
My son moved to a new place on the Plateau in Montreal and I
drove him to carry some stuff to the new place. So I park
in a slot in a long line of cars. This is a one way street
with parking on both sides. There is a two direction bike
lane on the outside of my passenger door with bike traffic
coming toward me. When I'm alone, the only way I can see
around the SUVs etc. in front of me would be to pull out
into the oncoming bikes. And there are a lot of bikes.

At least when they're by my door zone I can use my mirror to
look back and can see around the car in front. This is
ridiculous.


I just checked and it seems England has utterly run out of
bad ideas for kiddy paths:
http://wcc.crankfoot.xyz/facility-of.../March2019.htm

Hasn't been updated for 8 months. Maybe they can accept
your Canadian entry.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971