An occasional update on items from the Velo-city.
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A LACK OF INTERVENTION
The Vancouver Sun conducted an informal social experiment to see what people would do when encountering a bike thief. Out of the six experiments, these are the selected few that received a response.
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NOUS SOMMES NO. 1
“Montreal is North America’s premiere bicycle city and comes in at No. 8.,” Copenhagenize writes. “The city has had a bicycle infrastructure since the mid-’80s, which should embarrass other cities on that continent, and the rebirth of bicycle culture is noticeable across the city.
The Bicycle-Friendly Cities 2011 index, compiled by urban-planning Danish consulting firm Copenhagenize that specializes in cycling issues, noted that even the survey producers were surprised cities like Montreal, Rio de Janeiro and New York were among the top 20. The firm looked at 80 major cities around the world.
Ken Ohrn: “Surprisingly, Vancouver does not make the top 20, placing behind San Francisco and New York City and completely off the list. The rating criteria are listed on their web site, and make interesting speculative reading.”
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BICYCLE-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
From, where else, Portland (with special relevance to businesses on Hornby and Dunsmuir in Vancouver):
… as businesses awaken to the purchasing power of cyclists, “bicycle-supported developments” are also beginning to appear around town, Mr. Geller said. These are residential and commercial projects built near popular bikeways and outfitted with cycling-related services and amenities.
“The change is coming from the private sector,” Mr. Geller said. “Cyclists are a great potential market for businesses that want people traveling at human-scale speed and will stop and buy something.”
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FROM OUR VELO-FLANEUR:
Yesterday as I rode around Stanley Park following my First Rule of Seawall Knowledge: the seawall on a sunny Sunday is an opportunity to practice manners, not speed. Since I was on my road bike, had little patience for all the tourists, I was on the roadway.
Scene: mom, dad, teenage daughter astride their bikes in a pedestrian crosswalk ready to cross the road. Traffic comes to a halt the instant they enter the crosswalk.
Dad, in a clearly American accent: “Hey, look at that! They stopped for us!!”
Me: “Welcome to Canada!”
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I think Vancouver lost out in the list for two reasons: it doesn’t have a bike share program, whereas Montreal does, and the authors measure “perception of safety” by the proportion of cyclists who wear helmets, and since we have mandatory helmet laws that definately skews things (even though I personally feel very safe on a bike, I wear a helmet even for short trips because I don’t want a ticket). On all the other categories, I expect Vancouver did very well, and so in some ways I feel the ranking system makes it difficult for Vancouver for those reasons.
Well, may we speculate why Portland, OR was not on list?
Love to see the rating for the criteria per city. But then human beings do the rating…I forgot. 🙂
When did the rater (or was it a rating team) visit Vancouver?
Vancouver is quite different now cycling-wise compared to even a few yrs. ago. Many of us pride ourselves we know other cities well. Honest, one has to live in these cities to truly understand cycling infrastructure.
I just returned from visiting family and friends inToronto where I lived for 25 yrs., with latter as a cyclist for nearly last 13 yrs.
It continues to floor me how little West Coast Canadian publications, blogs on Canadian cycling even comment on cycling infrastructure in Toronto…because unless you’ve lived there for an extended time, it’s an academic exercise when reading about cycling there in Spacing Toronto, I bike TO, etc. LIttle YouTube or vimeo video clips help abit.
Re: The Bike thief.
I don’t think it’s a fair experiment. Who in their right mind would step in when some guy is carrying a giant pair of bolt cutters? He could smack you in the head with them. At best you could call the police, but isn’t as if they’re going to respond in time to do anything about it and it’ll probably be a waste of your time dealing with the administrative bs that surrounds that process.