Everything Bicycles | Winnipeg

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by CoryB

You also raise a good point - how are cyclists supposed to make a right turn when travelling south on Garry.

Or left when travelling north.

Originally Posted by CoryB

Another one I have seen coming up recently is adding bike lanes to Portage Ave between downtown and Polo Park. Makes perfect sense except the City has been sinking significant money into St Matthews to service that same perceived need from the cycling community. If the cyclists want/need to be in Portage Ave it doesn't matter how great the cycling infrastructure you are building about 1 KM north is. One of the issues I have heard about St Matthews is that it ends at Maryland, slightly short of downtown.

...

Want to know about the needs of pedestrians near Portage and Main? Go talk to people walking on the street.

The think with Portage is that stretch actually has very few curb cuts (aside from streets) compared to west of Polo. Aside from needing to have some sort of treatment at bus shelters, you could pretty much turn the giant garbage cans to be parallel with the street, move some parking signs, and you already have room for a bike lane on the sidewalk lol.

...

And yeah, lots of these bike lane designs, and especially signage, seems like it was designed by someone used to making things for vehicles and applied all the same logic and signage to bike lanes without ever actually trying them to see if it makes sense.

Originally Posted by joshlemer

People in this thread commenting that there are no East/West connections to Garry may be forgetting about Graham (admittedly, only between the Bay and Main), the St. Marry dedicated bike lane, the connection to Notre Dame which has 2-way connection up to adelaide, as well as bannatyne/mcdermot which take you to HSC. Not to mention, connection to Assiniboine itself, which can take you all the way from St. Boniface <-> Forks <-> Wolseley <-> Polo <-> etc.

Try riding a bike on Graham, especially at rush hour. The fact it says cyclists on the sign is ridiculous, it's more dangerous than most other streets as it's one narrow lane each way filled with busses. Sure St. Mary has painted bike lane (dedicated is a stretch) but it doesn't start til Fort, is very narrow and easy to get doored, hasn't been repainted, and currently is over 50% closed due to multiple construction projects. Some will be 3+ years. Oh and what good is a westbound one without an eastbound one? And the Exchange ones you mention service the Exchange, not Downtown. Lol @ Notre Dame.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by buzzg

The think with Portage is that stretch actually has very few curb cuts (aside from streets) compared to west of Polo. Aside from needing to have some sort of treatment at bus shelters, you could pretty much turn the giant garbage cans to be parallel with the street, move some parking signs, and you already have room for a bike lane on the sidewalk lol.

You are absolutely correct there. This next part isn't to bash you but to try and show the thinking that is involved.

"We should shrink the sidewalk and make dedicated bike lanes on Portage Ave."

"We should put a rapid transit down the median of Portage Ave with sidewalks and push the traffic lanes out the curbs a little."

"We should let taxis and ride shares use the diamond lanes on Portage Ave."

"Portage Ave really needs more dedicated left turn lanes to limit backlog."

"Hey don't forget about us pedestrians."

"Don't make those reconfigured lanes too narrow as we need to keep it open as a commercial truck route."

--

A good plans needs to take all those often competing needs into consideration and make a single compressive plan on how the best utilize the existing space in the right of way.

While not an expert on this my thinking is make the median a fair bit wider then elevate the rapid transit line similar to the SkyTrain in Vancouver so there is no cross traffic. The posts for the elevated rapid transit would be Y shaped. The posts for the platforms could be positioned in a way to maximum the opportunity for left turn lanes at the highest demand points.

With (rapid) transit concerns addressed you could make a protected bike lane go straight taking space from the existing sidewalk and maybe slight reductions in the lane widths.

For the needs of ride sharing/taxis it would be worth considering expanding it be a simple HOV lane instead of the current for-hire limitation. Then permit for hire vehicles to also use the lane with only a driver.

All that considered we might be able to shrink Portage from 3 general purpose lanes + a diamond lane in each direction to 2 general purpose lanes, a HOV lane and a transit line in each direction. Challenge is it needs bigger picture thinking and Winnipeg continues to get lost in the details looking at each project in isolation.

[buzzg]

Totally agree with the holistic approach being needed. Two initial disagreements with your points IMO would be that I think we should actually be reducing the amount of left turn points on Portage (maybe only at controlled intersections) so we don’t have all these wide open half intersections and people blocking traffic or making dangerous turns - many cities don’t allow lefts at all on major routes, and many are illegal there during rush hour anyway.

Other is that I think it’s ridiculous that we allow taxis/rideshare in transit lanes now, and don’t think we should ever. I can maybe see an HOV lane work where they could go, but those are really only effective on high speed or limited access roads (Bishop, Lag, etc) where you can actually go a bit faster and aren’t stopping for lights all the time. Even right now you only see the odd taxi using diamond lanes on places like the Norwood bridge to quickly skirt around a bit of traffic. They rarely use them in downtown or other busy areas because the busses stop so much. So really all they end up doing is clogging up traffic at bus stops if they happen to get stuck. This pilot failed and it annoys me the city decided to keep allowing it.

[CoryB]

Oh I definitely agree with both of those. The amount of crossing on Portage Ave and left turn opportunities in the Wosely area is far too high. It should be exclusive at controlled intersections. It is also somewhat surprising there is a light at Banning but it is one of the few cross streets with a light that is right turn only onto Portage Ave. Seemingly because the city cheaply put in a half signal instead of the full signal it should have been but that could be remedied on the overhaul.

I also agree that the current diamond lane system is a hot mess. Expecting taxis/ridershare/buses and bikes to share the same road space isn't working and has never worked. Notice in my idealized remodel those three are split into their own spaces?

On the HOV side, yes limited access roads work better for that but they also work great for getting out of congestion a little bit which is the bigger problem with peak times in Winnipeg. Sure it only shaves a few minutes off the commute time but if it is enough to encourage some of those single occupant vehicles to convert to multiple occupant vehicles it helps with the overall volume of motorized vehicle traffic which is what Winnipeg needs to tame. And please don't get me started on why people driving $100K Teslas with one person in them should be allowed the the HOV/Diamond lane...

[eman]

The City of Winnipeg Bicycle auction starts today, but it's late getting up. As of 3:30pm I can't see any pictures loading. Bids start at $5 and I believe the max is $600. With 700 bikes, they better load photos soon. Sight unseen bids will be low. Anybody know whats going on?

[eman]

Originally Posted by eman

The City of Winnipeg Bicycle auction starts today, but it's late getting up. As of 3:30pm I can't see any pictures loading. Bids start at $5 and I believe the max is $600. With 700 bikes, they better load photos soon. Sight unseen bids will be low. Anybody know whats going on?

By 6pm the full auction seems to be working with most pictures up. I am winning 4 bikes, but I don't expect to win at that price. It closes until June 30, Always someone driving the price up. They are used and abused and some good brand bikes could have serious defects.

[CoryB]

Clearly people bidding in the bike auction do not understand how to take part in online auctions. I thought it was common knowledge you put it on your watch list and come back around the end time and start bidding it up. That some bikes are already into the $300 range with 5 days left in the auction is pure insanity.

[eman]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Clearly people bidding in the bike auction do not understand how to take part in online auctions. I thought it was common knowledge you put it on your watch list and come back around the end time and start bidding it up. That some bikes are already into the $300 range with 5 days left in the auction is pure insanity.

It's hard to tell the size of the bikes.

One bike I bid first $5,, and within 2 hours I tapped out at $155 and today its 460. Google says its $1599 new. Might actually be worth putting in the max bid 600. Even $600 bikes are bidding into 200 already. And you don't know how old they are.

What if the real owner sees their bike online, can they claim it?

[buzzg]

Speak of the devil, city started painting all of the areas affected by curb cuts on Garry bike lane green. Done from Portage to York. So I guess they can put the epoxy on asphalt, hopefully will see it return to Main soon.

One thing I still don't understand is why the city is doing full green coverage of the bike lane intersection crossings, as opposed to dashed lines like in almost every other city (similar to crosswalks). The parts that tires go over get worn out after a year. Is it just easier to do the whole thing vs. dashed lines?

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Clearly people bidding in the bike auction do not understand how to take part in online auctions. I thought it was common knowledge you put it on your watch list and come back around the end time and start bidding it up. That some bikes are already into the $300 range with 5 days left in the auction is pure insanity.

Seriously. Hey let's drive up the price right off the bat.

[eman]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Seriously. Hey let's drive up the price right off the bat.

One bike is already at $550 so, who ever bids 600 first gets it. That is the max right?

Three bikes I was interested in are over $380 now. One bike is still under a hundred, but now I think its too small.

[bomberjet]

I'm not a huge bike connoisseur, so am having a bit of trouble in determining what size the bikes are. Based on the palettes behind the bikes, some look a bit small. Anything decent is going to be 100 at least. Which isn't bad except for trying to judge the condition. Some look pretty rusty.

[3de14eec6a]

Originally Posted by eman

One bike is already at $550 so, who ever bids 600 first gets it. That is the max right?

Three bikes I was interested in are over $380 now. One bike is still under a hundred, but now I think its too small.

I saw one at 650, which might be the max because the bike is definitely worth 3000 new. And it looks in good condition, especially compared to many of them.

Doesn't seem to be the max, as i've found one for 675 as well. Maybe this max was just a rumour?

[3de14eec6a]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

I'm not a huge bike connoisseur, so am having a bit of trouble in determining what size the bikes are. Based on the palettes behind the bikes, some look a bit small. Anything decent is going to be 100 at least. Which isn't bad except for trying to judge the condition. Some look pretty rusty.

I have gone through a lot of bikes, and even I'm not sure with many of them. Sizing is way too important to not list in my opinion.

[joshlemer]

Should be interesting to users here

• Video Link

Really interesting to see winter cycling in a city not so different from Winnipeg in climate, size, density, with cycling rates at 22% (a whopping 11 times Winnipeg's!)

[buzzg]

It interesting. It's funny though because it's all obvious yet know one wants to listen/believe. Just as cycling has gone up in summer here as more cycling routes/lanes have been create – I'm sure winter cycling would go up if the infrastructure was properly built and maintained in winter.

I will say though, at least downtown – the city/BIZs have been doing a good job clearing bike lanes right after/during snows the last couple years. We just don't have a lot of them, and after a big snow often even if Garry lane gets cleared, it fills up again quickly cause there's so many damn parking entrances on it.

[zalf]

Originally Posted by joshlemer

Should be interesting to users here

Really interesting to see winter cycling in a city not so different from Winnipeg in climate, size, density, with cycling rates at 22% (a whopping 11 times Winnipeg's!)

I see someone else does a morning read-through of Hacker News!

I don't disagree with the central premise of the video, but I would like to say I was impressed by the number of bikes I have been seeing this winter. Lots on on the river trail, too.

[buzzg]

^Almost like if you build it (properly) they will come. The Forks finished extending the river trail north on the Red to Bannatyne today, should be officially opening this week. You can now bike on the river from Hugo docks to Bannatyne – even safer and faster commute than in summer!

[Peggerino]

Ya I've also noticed an increase in the number of bicyclists this winter. Maybe it also has to do with the general bike boom that happened over the summer?

[trueviking]

It was a pretty nice winter (until now). I'm a total softie who hates the cold and I rode my bike to work every day until January 15th. Usually I stop at the end of November, maybe very early December.