Category — Cycling

(UPDATE APRIL 19: Thanks to Keith Ippel of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition for pointing out that the number of cities with public bike share is now well over 200 , not the 80 I reported here.)

Creation of a public bike sharing system in Vancouver took a step closer Friday with the posting of a request for expressions of interest on the city’s web site.

Since the city began exploring the issue in earnest in 2009, the number of cities with public bike share systems has roughly quadrupled to more than 80. A whole host of problems and opportunities have been identified by the first generation of bike share programs, putting Vancouver in a position to create a world class system. Yes, helmets will be part of the mix.

Vancouver’s goal is to have the system up and running in 2012. The RFEOI describes the design work already done by a non-profit organization called Bike Share BC. The system could be delivered by another supplier, by BikeShare BC or a partnership, but the goal is to minimize risk and cost to the city.

In Montreal, meanwhile, the Bixi bike system launched its third season a few days ago with lower prices, more than 5,000 bicycles and over 400 bike stations.

Despite the controversies, New York’s aggressive expansion of bike lanes is winning the battle of public opinion. I suspect similar results will obtain here in Vancouver.

The Province has turned off the comments section this morning on its coverage of the weekend’s horrifying incident at Critical Mass in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which saw a car accelerate directly through a meandering crowd of cyclists.

It was just as well. Most of the comments I saw last night, before the shutdown, all sheltering under anonymity, were despicable. Some people apparently are elated at the sight and sound of cars hitting cyclists.

Incredibly, no one was killed as the driver plowed down the street with cyclists bouncing off his windshield, but 20 were injured, two seriously.

I saw Vancouver’s Critical Mass ride by Fir and Fourth on Friday, a cheery, chilly crowd with the mandatory police bicycle escort, doing no harm to anyone at all. They were much less numerous, for example, than the nostalgic Olympic flash mob that shut down Granville Street the next day.

But in the current fevered debate on the future of our cities, the idea that cycling might be a legitimate transportation choice seems to strike fear in the hearts of some, so much fear that they cheer on mindless violence. Maybe The Province should turn the comments back on, but insist that people sign their names. Then a real debate could begin.

The first round of Hornby bike lane statistics is in and the results give grounds for optimism: traffic travel times remain the same in the morning, are about 60 seconds longer in the afternoon, and bike trips are a solid 600 a day, even in miserable January weather.

The story in brief:.

• Based on preliminary findings, cyclists are using the separated bike lane on Hornby Street regularly;
• Usage is growing, and the latest mid-week average ridership was 600 bikes per day in January, with numbers expected to rise heading into the spring and summer;
• vehicle travel times along Hornby Street are unchanged on weekday mornings; and
• travel times have increased by one minute (from 5½ to 6½ minutes) on weekday afternoons . . . equivalent to one traffic signal cycle. 

The city has also installed new digital parkade signs at EasyPark lots at Pacific Centre and another at 900 West Cordova. The signs, connected to on site parking-space monitoring equipment, indicate how many parking spaces are currently available inside each parkade.