Calgary Releases Cycling Strategy

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Sexy legs...

Meanwhile, the great debate continues. I prefer to try and keep my commuting to the bike paths, but it would be great to have some real bike lanes on roads complete with decent signage and paint.

I would love to be able to take only bike paths to work. I would imagine most bikers would rather not contest with some of the horrifying drivers on our roads. I wish I had that luxury.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

Rode to work again this morning - about 10 km through Fish Creek. Lovely!

I think a lot of people will get hooked on this method of transport if we create more safe routes to the river pathways.

Door to door I am 8.4km on my commute.

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

I would love to be able to take only bike paths to work. I would imagine most bikers would rather not contest with some of the horrifying drivers on our roads. I wish I had that luxury.

My route is lucky in that most of it is on bike paths:

-12th avenue SE eastbound until I hit the Elbow river pathway at the McDonald bridge
-Take the bridge over to the Zoo and grab the bow river path eastbound
-Nosehill pathway north, across deerfoot at fox hollow
-north on 12th street northeast and across 32nd avenue to arrive

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by getbak

Has that changed recently?

I remember looking that up one time and I thought that bikes weren't allowed on pretty much any of "Trails" in Calgary (i.e. Macleod, Crowchild, Glenmore, Blackfoot, etc.). I'm sure I read that on the City's web site sometime within the last 5 years. I think the official rule was any roadway with a speed limit of 60km/h or greater, and the rule of thumb was any road with "Trail" in its name.

Also, Stephen Avenue seems like it would be the best place downtown to allow bicycles. They should just designate the road part of the street for bikes during the day, although, traveling North-South downtown seems to be a bigger problem on a bike than traveling East-West.

I have no idea. But I know I wouldn't ride my bike on many of those busier roads.

Last week I saw this cyclist riding about 10 km an hour on 16th ave near 19th st NW. I assume he was very drunk. Swerving around. No shirt. He was in the middle of the right hand lane taking his time. About a half hour later I was going back the other direction and so was he. I am not sure where he ended up. lol

[You Need a Thneed]

I remember one time where I was pulling a gooseneck trailer up 68th Street NE, in afternoon rush hour traffic. There is a cyclist ahead, and with a wide vehicle, it is hard to get around the cyclist safely without lane changing around them. Lane changing with a long vehicle in busy traffic when most traffic is going faster than you is also difficult. I do manage to get around the cyclist, but then I have to come to a stop at 16th Ave. Of course, the cyclist cuts past traffic up to the front of the line. When the light turns green, I start going again, and right when I'm crossing 16th ave is when I have to pass they cyclist again. At the pedestrian island in the median of 16th ave, the cyclist sort of swerves around it (he gave a little bit more room when there was no curb beside him), and very nearly into my trailer. For about half a second, I thought that cyclist was going to be toast.

I always keep this in mind when I'm cycling on the road. Don't make drivers pass you twice. I simply don't think the minimal time savings are worth the extra danger of having a whole bunch of cars passing you extra times. The first time, they'll give you more room, but when they start having to pass you second and third times, they will get lazy and start not giving you as much room, it's just human nature. I'd rather stay alive then save a few minutes. My experience both as a driver, and as a cyclist being terrified having cars pass me when the road conditions were less than optimal, leads me to want to minimize interactions between drivers and cyclists.

I'd love to see a specific bike lanes added to major streets. Having a bit of a shoulder would be great in some places too. Remove the worry for drivers passing cyclists.

[JustAnotherGuy]

I had to pass a cyclist twice yesterday while on Edmonton Trail. He paused for a moment and then went through the red light. Passing him twice was not a problem as far as I was concerned because there was plenty of room to pass him without me having to move into the other lane as I passed him.

[Lee of Red]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

.
• Slower traffic must give way to faster traffic when safe and practical.

So when you are stopped the bike is the faster vehicle so naturally you must give way to it.

It is allowed for vehicles to pass slower or stopped vehicles.

Cyclists are entitled to safely pass stopped or slow moving cars like any other vehicle. Passing to the front of a queue of stopped traffic is perfectly safe and legal.

[calumniate]

Having lived in Montreal for a little, Calgary has a lot to learn in my opinion. What's great about Montreal are two things:

1. One way streets everywhere
2. Cars cannot turn right on a red

These two things combined make for a lot less chaos around crosswalks etc. As a pedestrian / cyclist you know that the car in the right lane is not even going to try creeping in and make a right turn. Because of these rules the pedestrians and cyclists are long gone before the light turns green.

In montreal I would bike practically anywhere on any street and feel reasonably safe. Living around 17th avenue I don't even try these days. To me you can dump as much as you want in infrastructure but the rules of the road here do not make it friendly for pedestrians and cyclists.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by Lee of Red

So when you are stopped the bike is the faster vehicle so naturally you must give way to it.

It is allowed for vehicles to pass slower or stopped vehicles.

Cyclists are entitled to safely pass stopped or slow moving cars like any other vehicle. Passing to the front of a queue of stopped traffic is perfectly safe and legal.

lol. Not giving up are you?

In my scenerio the cyclist then runs the red light or goes through the stop sign.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by Lee of Red

So when you are stopped the bike is the faster vehicle so naturally you must give way to it.

It is allowed for vehicles to pass slower or stopped vehicles.

Cyclists are entitled to safely pass stopped or slow moving cars like any other vehicle. Passing to the front of a queue of stopped traffic is perfectly safe and legal.

It is illegal to pass a vehicle in the same lane of travel. I originally said it was aillegal to pass on the right, but it is actually not that clear cut. It is dangerous to pass on the right but legality seems a little grey.

So, unless a cyclist has a completely open lane on the left to pass the line of traffic, then what you are saying is not correct.

BTW, I am an avid cyclist, and I have been known to pass on the right and I do make my way to the front of a line of stopped traffic by passing on the right, I am just saying it's not technically legal. Having said that, it's also technically not legal for cars to pass me when I'm riding down Fairmount drive as it doesn't have two driving lanes, despite being wide enough for two, but I don't complain about that and as I driver, I don't complain abut cyclists passing me while I'm waiting at a light.

[Lee of Red]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

lol. Not giving up are you?

In my scenerio the cyclist then runs the red light or goes through the stop sign.

I guess you would have a point if your point wasn't totally irrelevant

[Lee of Red]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

So, unless a cyclist has a completely open lane on the left to pass the line of traffic, then what you are saying is not correct.

I will stand corrected if wrong, but my understanding is that in Alberta the only limitations on passing another vehicle is when...

approaching vehicles are too close
a solid yellow line is on your side of the centre line outside of urban areas
a sign indicates a no-passing zone
you are in a school or playground zone while restricted speed limits are in effect
another vehicle is stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross at an unmarked or marked crosswalk

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by Lee of Red

I guess you would have a point if your point wasn't totally irrelevant

My instincts were correct when you first asked your question. You were just trying to start an argument. Shove off Little Red. Go be an ass on somebody elses post. Ignore on.

[Lee of Red]

Fair enough. You're entitled to behave however you see fit on the road, just trying to bring you round to the obvious error of your ways. I genuinely hope, not for your sake, that you don't end up harming anyone.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

Rode to work again this morning - about 10 km through Fish Creek. Lovely!

I think a lot of people will get hooked on this method of transport if we create more safe routes to the river pathways.

How long did that take you? I just google mapped my route and it would be 10 kms as well if I rode my bike.

[Slava]

^my guess would be about 1/2 hour at a nice leisurely pace?

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by Sliver

How long did that take you? I just google mapped my route and it would be 10 kms as well if I rode my bike.

I think most people do around 20-30 km/h with no problem. If you can't but stick to it - you soon will. When I first started commuting my average speed was around 18-20 km/h, now I sit around 27-30.