7th Street "cycle track"

[clem24]

The lights are now functional on the 7th St. Cycle Track. Anyone been on it? I was on there yesterday, and this piece of work is absolutely ridiculous. No one asked for this; why did they build it?!?

First, the turns from 4th Ave are only allowed on green. I come out of McDougall lot. This will hold up traffic BIG TIME as cars on 4th Ave can't turn onto 7th St. until it is green. To compound matters, cars on 7th St. who want to make a left onto 5th Ave NEED TO WAIT FOR AN ADVANCE GREEN!! That's right, they can't even turn when the light is green.

Second, on 7th St. and 6th Ave, there is NO THROUGH LANE during non-peak hours. Traffic going straight through is held up if there are 2 cars turning side by side onto 6th Ave (and waiting for pedestrians to cross) and there are cars parked on the left side curb.

Last, the no parking rules - we know how much Calgarians love to abide by them. There are always cars parked there when they shouldn't be.

Anyways I assume this is another one of Druh's bright ideas.

[Disoblige]

Waiting for the first car and bike accident rush hour today.

[ga16i]

Originally posted by clem24

Anyways I assume this is another one of Druh's bright ideas.

Same here. When I saw her go by on the Calgary Stampede Parade, I was yelling like a mad man to her that we needed more bike lanes. Hey, if we're going to keep adding stupid bike lanes whether we want it or not, then may as well keep them in her ward away from me. She did acknowledge and generally seemed pleased Hopefully she keeps busy with that and by the time she's done, we would've moved on to some other technology and I won't ever have to endure bike lanes.

[rx7_turbo2]

The City's implementation of bike lanes city wide is absurd at best. This is just one more example. I've said it before I'll say it again, there appears to be a clear agenda from Council to make driving in this city as frustrating as possible. It's a complete joke.

This thread will go another half dozen posts before all the idiots I have on my ignore list chime in with some dumb ass reason these lanes are necessary.

[woodywoodford]

I wish I had a screen grab from Sundays Top Gear - "Motorists- Thank you for letting me use your roads"

[whiskas]

What is with the complaining about Druh? This cycle track isn't even in her ward.

I support the concept of the cycle track, but the way they've done it is just poorly designed. They are way too wide, they didn't make enough effort to separate bike and vehicle control signals and signs, and it isn't clear in some places who has to yield to who. The intersection at 5th ave and 7th street is a mess. I saw drivers sitting at lights clearly confused whether they can go or not.

I wish the city looked at places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam before designing it. Even to a foreigner like me, it was very clear over there how traffic flows, whether you're on a bike or in a car.

I urge people, rather than write to your alderman or whoever complaining about getting rid of this, use this opportunity to complain about how it was done and hopefully change the standards and policies that dictate how these things will be designed in the future so that they don't interfere as much with vehicle traffic.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[FraserB]

Insurance and registration for bikes should be brought in to accompany these lanes. If you are going to have bike and vehicle traffic interacting, there needs to be responsibility on both sides. It’s not that hard to do, we already have registries, just say that if you are over the age where you are not permitted to ride on the sidewalks, you must have a plate on the bike and must carry minimum insurance.

Currently there is nothing to protect motorists from damage cause by cyclists; if they want the same (and more) rights than a driver, then they should play by the same rules. On Friday I was on Elbow about 4:30 and some dumb lady in the right lane was weaving back and forth becuase she was texting with a giant line of cars behind her. Blaring the horn and yelling at her to get off her phone only get her to give me a dumb look and pull her phone back out to chek anothe rmessage. If she ran into my truck and damaged it, guess who has to pay?

Also, implementing these changes overnight and on a Tuesday is a terrible way to do it.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by FraserB
Insurance and registration for bikes should be brought in to accompany these lanes. If you are going to have bike and vehicle traffic interacting, there needs to be responsibility on both sides. It’s not that hard to do, we already have registries, just say that if you are over the age where you are not permitted to ride on the sidewalks, you must have a plate on the bike and must carry minimum insurance.

Currently there is nothing to protect motorists from damage cause by cyclists; if they want the same (and more) rights than a driver, then they should play by the same rules. On Friday I was on Elbow about 4:30 and some dumb lady in the right lane was weaving back and forth becuase she was texting with a giant line of cars behind her. Blaring the horn and yelling at her to get off her phone only get her to give me a dumb look and pull her phone back out to chek anothe rmessage. If she ran into my truck and damaged it, guess who has to pay?

Also, implementing these changes overnight and on a Tuesday is a terrible way to do it.

I could not agree more. If The City is going to implement these types of lanes and force different vehicle interactions then mandating bicycle registration and insurance only makes sense. I'm not even suggesting mandating for ALL bicycles, just mandate it for bicycles used in the downtown core, and ones that use a specific set of the lanes leading to downtown. It's easy, logical, and would go a long way to improving the current animosity between motorists and cyclists. Despite how much sense it makes, just wait, and get ready to laugh, because it's only a matter of posts till the nonsense starts from the people that oppose such logical measures.

[Zhariak]

I was driving today, turned off 4th and turned left on a green light heading south. Just as I was about to turn, some dude on a bicycle came flying out and a red light. Fuck, if I was driving any slower, he would have t-boned me...

[schocker]

This sounds about as hilarious as I was figuring it would be. Whenever I leave mcdougal I turn left onto 7th so this sounds like it was well planned out from the beginning

[codetrap]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2
I could not agree more. If The City is going to implement these types of lanes and force different vehicle interactions then mandating bicycle registration and insurance only makes sense. I'm not even suggesting mandating for ALL bicycles, just mandate it for bicycles used in the downtown core, and ones that use a specific set of the lanes leading to downtown. It's easy, logical, and would go a long way to improving the current animosity between motorists and cyclists. Despite how much sense it makes, just wait, and get ready to laugh, because it's only a matter of posts till the nonsense starts from the people that oppose such logical measures.

I don't have to wait for the nonsense. You've already started posting it. Your idea is stupid. Primarily because it's unworkable, there's no way to implement it into the current registry database (contrary to what you might think) and there's absolutely no way to enforce it.

So, thanks for the laugh moron.

Edit: The irony is, I agree with you about the stupidity of the bike lanes. I think they should be abolished as they don't make sense. But, two stupids don't make a smrt.

[syscal]

My biggest annoyance in this city right now.

Why put a bike lane in my neighbourhood (Strathcona) if:
a) drivers ignore it - and police never check
b) cyclists ignore it and ride in the car lane
c) out of the 1% of Calgary population riding a bike, do we really need a lane?

Been a couple years now with that lane and I've seen probably 5 people use it and it's in front of my house.

I follow the rules and don't drive in the bike lane, and then nearly sideswipe every second car that doesn't when I'm turning right onto 69th. Cops here? Never...don't get me started on the playground zone here.

Enough of a sidetrack there - My thoughts are these.

If you are a cyclist and are seated and riding on the road. You are a vehicle. You don't get to play both sides of the fence. You don't get to ride your bike across the pedestrian crosswalk and then go back to being a vehicle when you're done. You don't get to ignore red lights because you're not in a car.

If you are a vehicle and ignore the laws of the road then you are going to be getting a great view of the underside of my truck and it will be YOUR FAULT.

I agree with registration and insurance, I've seen bike couriers swipe luxury cars with their pedals, hit pedestrians in crosswalks...etc...and no plate/no insurance means all bills just go to the person not at fault.

This topic angers me

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by syscal


I agree with registration and insurance, I've seen bike couriers swipe luxury cars with their pedals, hit pedestrians in crosswalks...etc...and no plate/no insurance means all bills just go to the person not at fault.

This topic angers me

Yup.

I don't read codetrap's posts but I'm guessing he suggested something along the lines of how the implementation of this would be impossible. Then he probably called me an idiot? Anyways as previously mentioned opposition to bicycle registration and insurance is lost on me. Either mandate reg/ins for cyclists that want to use these specific downtown bike lanes, and the other lanes that lead to the downtown core. Or scrap the whole bike lane bullshit all together.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by syscal


I agree with registration and insurance, I've seen bike couriers swipe luxury cars with their pedals, hit pedestrians in crosswalks...etc...and no plate/no insurance means all bills just go to the person not at fault.

This topic angers me

I agree with you. It sucks. And it shows that plates/registration/insurance don't work for bikes, as all bike couriers in calgary are supposed to have all that.

I agree with rx7_turbo2, that the bike lanes should be scrapped. They simply don't work well, and aren't worth the impact to regular traffic. Too bad he's such a childish douche-bag that he can't handle any actual debate. Like a toddler, he just wants what he wants, and now, then throws a temper tantrum when someone disagrees with his ignorance.

[phreezee]

I was stopped at a light with 6 cyclists, so people definitely are making use of it. I think these would be safer in winter but I wonder how snow clearing would work.

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2
The City's implementation of bike lanes city wide is absurd at best. This is just one more example. I've said it before I'll say it again, there appears to be a clear agenda from Council to make driving in this city as frustrating as possible. It's a complete joke.

It isn't really a hidden policy (the transportation pyramid, walking is at the top, driving is at the bottom). However it isn't necessarily a war against driving, it is merely promoting the more sustainable forms of transportation at the expense of driving (so the difference is just in the motives, rather than the result).

No city ever has or ever will solve traffic problems so they've decided to invest as little money into it as possible and focused on the areas where there can actually be an improvement.

It isn't just a Calgary thing. It is the way cities in general are moving.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by kertejud2
so they've decided to invest as little money into it as possible

I would argue that they could have invested less.

Again if your gonna implement these bike lanes in a half ass manor what's the point? What have you ultimately accomplished?

[core_upt]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2


I would argue that they could have invested less.

Again if your gonna implement these bike lanes in a half ass manor what's the point? What have you ultimately accomplished?

What would be a more complete roll-out? Build the entire cycle track network and then open it at once? There are already a bunch of motorists on here complaining about how confusing a small portion of the network is, let alone revealing the whole thing at once! Not to let cyclists off the hook, as they need considerably more education on how this cycle track works and where their responsibility for safe travels lies.

Either way, cycle tracks and increased bicycle networking is going to be the way that this city, and every other modernized city, is going. The more that cities accommodate cyclists, then the more people cycle. The more people cycle, the safer it becomes as drivers learn to be more aware of cyclists, and cyclists realize they don't need to "fight" for the road. All of this takes time, but this isn't anything that is going away, so get used to it and learn to deal with it.

[Maxt]

^ The City thinks that's true to, but its not. They are going about it the wrong way, they should be focused on improving public transit and ground coverage with light rail and in the mean time stop screwing around with the viable year round transportation system that sort of works in this city, and that's cars and roads.
I've been to my fair share of 'modern cities" that have done it right, and it involves a lot more public transit, done in a more logical pattern than Calgary has laid out its miserable LRT system. The bicycle has its place in complimenting that to, but its not a long distance hauler, we have a somewhat miserable climate, and many peoples physical abilities, work times, and work requirements do not give them the option of cycling, no matter what kind of airey fairy dream world city traffic planners are living in .. Bottom line is the bicycle really has a place in the suburbs perhaps to get people to the transit stops and stations , where the lower traffic volumes allow them to use the existing roads, and also the city has get its head out of its ass and get what other "modern" cities are doing and create shared pedestrian/cycle paths.
This fucked notion the City has that there are all these people that can suddenly be biking, is well, fucked.. They have no idea down in City hall what the people really do day to day for work outside of City of hall. The actions of the City , are really going 180 degrees against what the City should be doing...Thats what happens when you elect small minded out of touch activists instead of representatives.