BikeCalgary

This Saturday, 9am-noon, the community associations of Cambrian Heights, Rosemont, and Triwood are holding a visioning session on the future of 14 St NW and Northmount Drive.  Students of the UofC Urban Studies program will compile the input into a report to be issued in April.  If you live in the area and ride your bike, perhaps you'll have an opinion on what could make the area around Northmount Dr and 14 St more bike friendly?  Please register ahead of time at calgarycommunities.com/events.php so the CFC can have an idea of numbers, but you're welcome to drop in as well.

A group of SAIT students is working on designing the perfect winter bike. Please take their survey! Many of us here on Bike Calgary of course already commute year-round, so answer their questions regarding "what prevents you from winter riding" as if they asked "what do you like least about winter riding", ok?

Hello Bike Calgary,

We are a team of mechanical engineering students at SAIT who want to solve the three season scandal for cycling in Calgary. Could you take a moment this week and fill in our survey so that we can get a solid idea of what the issues are surrounding year round cycling?

Follow this link: www.surveymonkey.com/s/C69WCCF

We will be tallying the results early next week so please let us know how you feel before then!

Thanks,

Kerry/Jeremy/Matthew/Kyle

The City's Transportation Department does an annual count of cars, buses, pedestrians, and bicycles entering and exiting the Central Business District. This "CBD cordon count" is used to track the mode share of commuters. Last October, it was reported that the downtown mode share of transit has reached 50%.

Bike Calgary has just obtained the 2011 CBD cordon count data from the City.  The 22-hour count of bikes entering and leaving the CBD has broken 10,000 for the first time, up 6% over last year's number, and up almost 15% over 2009.  During the morning peak hour (7:15-8:15 am) only, which the City uses to measure the transportation mode share, 1,182 bikes were counted entering the CBD, of a total of 57,618 people in cars, buses, on bikes and on foot.  This amounts to a cycling mode share of 2.05% (up from 1.86% last year). (Other modes: drivers 33.4%, passengers 6.7%, transit 49.3%, pedestrians 8.6%.) [more]

The Bike Share Feasibility Report discussed last week at the Standing Policy Committee (SPC) on Transportation and Transit will go before City Council on Monday, February 6. The motion before council asks the City to prepare a business model and funding strategy for a public bike share program by October this year, and at the same time to report on progress on the implementation of the Comprehensive Cycling Strategy. You can watch the informative discussion at committee here (first part starts at 1:15, second at 2:30)

Bike share is a good idea, and Council should try to make it happen sooner rather than later.  This means making sure that dedicated, safe cycling infrastructure is in place throughout the Centre City by the time a public bike share program is rolled out. There is no need to delay investigating a funding plan and business model, if Council also takes a clear stand with Administration that cycling infrastructure downtown is a priority. [more...]

The Good Life is holding a fundraiser at Broken City tomorrow night (Thursday, February 2). Bands, prizes, silent auction, good times, and you'll be helping out the Good Life community bike shop in its quest to find a new home.

Broken City is at 613 11 Ave SW. If you're on facebook, you can join the event invite.

The City is looking for input on a major section of Crowchild Trail - from 24 Ave NW in the north to Glenmore Trail in the south - from motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Crowchild is a major artery and, depending on the area, also a seriously difficult road to get across (17 Ave SW area is a good example). 

If you have a few minutes fill out the survey and let's make sure cyclists' concerns are included in the data.

www.calgarycitynews.com/2012/01/public-input-wanted-for-crowchild...

Standing Policy Committee on Transportation and Transit will be debating public bike share system tomorrow, Jan. 25

Jan. 24, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bike Calgary and the Bike Calgary Advocacy Committee are favourably disposed to the implementation of a public bike share (PBS) system in Calgary, provided that safe, functional and efficient Centre City bicycle infrastructure precedes the mobilization phase of the PBS system. "We support the recommendation to direct Administration to return by June 2012 with a business model and funding strategy for a PBS system with the understanding that staff or financial resources allocated to infrastructure, ongoing maintenance, and bicycle programs will not be diverted", says Bike Calgary president Brent Clark.

The cycling advocates believe that through approval and funding of the Cycling Strategy, Council demonstrated its commitment to providing Calgarians with better access to sustainable transportation options so that the 59% of Calgarians who want to cycle more often have the opportunity to do so. According to Bike Calgary, approval by the Standing Policy Committee (SPC) on Transportation and Transit to investigate the operation and funding of a PBS program is a step further in this direction and reinforces Council's commitment to increase bicycle mode-share. The organization also states that a PBS system in Calgary would be a great complement to Calgary's expanding public transportation network and a convenient way for Calgary's "interested but concerned" population (identified in the Cycling Strategy) to take up cycling.

However, Clark stresses that well planned and constructed bicycle infrastructure, accompanied by a comprehensive education and promotion campaign, is the foundation for a safe and successful PBS program.  Clark says: "If limitations to financial or staff resources prevent such infrastructure and promotions from being in place prior to PBS mobilization, Bike Calgary recommends Council delay the PBS program until the conditions are right to ensure success."

As you may be aware, the Fall of 2011 was a busy one for members of the Bike Calgary Board of Directors and our associates on the Bike Calgary Advocacy Committee. Much activity focused on the City’s plan to develop a Centre City Cycle Network through engagement with the cycle community as per the following Council-approved amendment to the Cycle Strategy:

AS AMENDED, MOTION ARISING, Moved by Alderman G-C. Carra, Seconded by Alderman A. Chabot, that with respect to Report LPT2011-63, while broadly supportive of the Cycling Strategy, that Council direct the Administration to review Appendix A of Attachment 7 [Cycling Strategy] to determine, through engagement with the Cycle Community, an updated East-West and North-South separated Cycle Route Network through the Centre City, as part of the implementation plan for the [Cycling] Strategy.

Bike Calgary/Bike Calgary Advocacy Committee (Bike Calgary), along with the Calgary Pathways and Bikeways Advisory Council (CPAC) and Calgary tour de nuit Society (CtdnS), was requested, as a representative of the “cycling community”, to participate in the engagement process. In order to best represent the needs of the cycling community, Bike Calgary set up a survey on our website, asking for feedback on route choices, and conducted an engagement workshop, held in a Centre City location on October 11^th. Getting the word out was done by an intercept flyer distribution blitz at various points in the Centre City, explaining what was on the horizon, and by asking website visitors to share the posted information with their contacts. The results of the over 300 responses were analyzed and formed the basis of the subsequent workshop discussions. Details of the survey can be viewed at bikecalgary.org/centercity.

Bike Calgary then participated in two engagement workshops, held October 15^th and 29^th. In the course of those workshops, participants identified the criteria necessary for separated on-street cycle corridors, identified actual corridors meeting the criteria and devised a timeframe for study and implementation of cycle facilities within the corridors. The recommendations stemming from the workshops were formally reiterated by Bike Calgary and CPAC in two letters (see below), submitted to the City of Calgary in November and December, 2011. Following is a brief collation of the outcomes of the Centre City Workshops and the recommendations. (Click "read more" for the full report.)

Howdy Bike Friends!

If you enjoyed the Cyclepalooza festival last year, wanted to attend but couldn't, or simply want to contribute to the biggest bike festival in Calgary in 2012 - PLEASE COME TO THIS MEETING!

On a serious note, most of the individuals that were on the steering committee for the first festival have indicated that they cannot run the show this year so we are hoping a new crop of bike folks can step up to ensure the festival goes forward in 2012.

The objective of the first meeting is to -

• find people interested in being on the steering committee
• decide on dates for the event
• discussion of important to-do items

Please make the time to attend and lets make the 2012 Cyclepalooza Festival bigger and better than last year.

Date - Jan 30
Place - BikeBike 1501 17 ave SW
Time - 7pm

(If you're on facebook, you can rsvp here.)