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Looks like St. Catharines is about to lose a set of bike lanes because the lanes are being blamed for causing heavy traffic jams. The message here? It is ok if cyclists and others going car-free are inconvenienced, let’s just not upset those in cars.
Sigh…
[Update: the weekend paper had more on this issue.]
As residents of St. Catharines know, a fire struck Liberty! Bicycles this past summer. The word is starting to spread that they will reopen in a new location downtown. This is excellent news — I’m going to start saving up for a new Electra bike to celebrate the occasion!
From the Liberty! Bicycles website: ” To carry us into the future, Liberty! Bicycles has purchased a 15000 sq ft facility in Downtown St. Catharines. Being true to our roots, we decided on a Downtown location although there was substantial pressure to move the business into either Megaland, or Boxville. Unfortunately, those non-Downtown options offered nothing in the way of style. For us, the decision was obvious. So, over the course of the next few months we will start the transformation of an old urban warehouse into what we hope will be the coolest bike shop this side of NYC. We will implement our plans phase by phase creating what we hope will become the centre of bike culture in Niagara. As we move forward, we will provide updates right here. Wish us luck! In the meantime, drop by our temp-shop if you need your bike repaired. We have 2010 catalogues and information about Cannondale, Specialized, Kona and Electra bicycles on hand.”
The recent announcement that there will be new sidewalks put in various locations around the city is surely good news for anyone concerned with car-free issues in the region. A big thank to the City of St. Catharines for this!
Another “trouble spot” that always worries me is along St. David’s road leading up to the Brock campus. I frequently see students walking along the shoulder of the highway, going back and forth from Thorold (where a lot of students live) to the campus. There have been many people expressing their concerns about this over the years, and I’ve heard various rumblings that this location might be a candidate for bike lanes and/or sidewalks. I do hope these rumours prove to be true before an unthinkable tragedy happens!
As we celebrate car-free day I can’t help being saddened by this news coming out of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Another cyclist killed in a car-bicycle accident, and this is especially tragic since the Niagara Regional Police have not yet been able to identify this man.
Cycle safely my friends.
The idea of getting a regional transit for Niagara up and running is in the news again. I sincerely hope that this can be achieved. I’m heartened by the Mayor of Port Colborne’s assertion that transit is “a No.1 priority.”
The paper today also had this piece on “Sharrows” — love it! This reminder to share the road is especially timely as it falls on the heels of this awful story of yet another car-cyclist collision. This one has left me feeling especially rattled, since it is in my neck of the woods and it was on a route I often ride.
The good folks over at GCAST (The Garden City Alliance for Sustainable Transportation) are urging Niagara Residents to participate in “Car Free Day” on Sept. 22nd.
For more details, see this article from the St. Catharines Standard.
The Great Car-Free Experiment continues and I’m happy to report that things are going well. Of course it is easier because I am attempting to get around in pleasant summer weather and I am on a summer timetable. I have, however, decided to take this experiment into September. I’ve been walking, biking, busing and car-pooling my way through August, and I want to see how long I can keep it up. I just cancelled my fall parking permit, so I guess that means I’m committed to this project.
The City of St. Catharines just announced another set of bike lanes, so this is certainly good news on the car-free front. The biggest challenge I’ve had with cycling around this region, however, is the lack of bike racks. I’ve been really surprised to discover just how hard it is to find a bike rack at retail centres. So far this has been the single biggest deterrent to getting around by bicycle. Today, for instance, I had to go to the grocery store — I could have easily biked, but I opted for the bus because I wasn’t sure if I’d find a place to lock up my bike in front of the grocery store. I thought I’d encounter more difficulties with the traffic, but that hasn’t been an issue as the drivers in this neighbourhood have been quite courteous. But bike racks? I didn’t anticipate this to be a problem. Come on people — there are all sorts of bike rack options out there, let’s work to make this region a little more bike-friendly!
Oh, and while I’m at it — how about making this dream of a regional transit a reality? I was chatting with a friend about going to see some plays this fall and I realized that it is easier for me to get to downtown Toronto (a distance of about 107km) to take in some theatre than it is for me to get into the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake (a distance of about 20km). What the heck?!
It has been a beautiful summer day in Niagara! (and, as this article discusses, it is about freakin’ time!) This evening was one of the first nights we have been able to sit out and enjoy the weather and the garden.
As we were sitting out on the back patio, enjoying a drink and the summer evening, the most bizarre, yet lovely, thing happened. We saw a pair of hands emerge over the back fence, and then we watched as the disembodied hands lowered a bag down into our yard via a rope. We just sat in stunned silence as we watched the bag being lowered, but finally Laurie got up and went over to speak through the fence to the person dropping off the bag. Turns out it was the neighbour (who we’ve never met) sharing his garden bounty with us. Apparently he used to leave little bags of garden goodness on the fence for the previous owner of the house.
I love this neighbourhood!
From the St. Catharines Standard this week:
GO on Track: Exceeds Expectations in Niagara
[Update: there is also this good news about the GO Bus service starting in a few weeks.]
It is day #3 of the Great Car-Free Experiment, and things are going rather well so far. Yesterday was quite uneventful on the transportation front. I worked from home most of the day, but did ride my bike over to my local fruit stand for some peaches, corn and blueberries. I also stopped in at the Avondale for a litre of milk. It was a short, straight-forward ride (literally! There is only one turn I have to make!) and it was a nice day for a bike ride. If all days were like this it would be easy to go car-free.
Today I had to go a little further afield. I had to make my way from my neighbourhood to the vet’s office to pick up a refill of Jenny-cat’s medicine. There is a bus that goes from the end of my block to a stop directly in front of the vet clinic and I’ve taken it several times. However, since the Great Car-Free Experiment is, well, an experiment, I thought I’d try something new. It is another lovely day in Niagara, so I decided to hop on my trusty bike and see how rideable this route is.
Rideability Report
Route: Port Dalhousie to 4th Avenue Shopping District (Ridley Heights Plaza) via Martindale Road
Distance: 5.8km one way
The Good: Several parts of this route have bike lanes and/or wide shoulders. In general, drivers were courteous and it was a pleasant ride. Several pedestrians and other cyclists waved, smiled and said hello. I even found a service station with an air pump en route so that I could top up the air levels in my bike tires.
The Bad: While I didn’t appreciate nearly being sideswiped by a water delivery truck (grrr!), the bigger source of aggravation was the fact that there are no bike racks at the Ridley Heights Plaza. Not only that, but I couldn’t find anything suitable to lock my bike to!! It turned out to be no big deal as I just wheeled my bike right into the vet clinic, but it seems to me that putting a few small bike racks in retail centres should just be a no-brainer. [Update: see this great piece from Slate Magazine on bike parking]
The Bizarre: At the very end of my ride, when I was back on residential streets in my own neighbourhood, a sports car going in the opposite direction slowed down and the young man driving the car pointed at me through his open window and then yelled something that sounded like “pockets on a squirrel.” I’m sure that wasn’t it and I’m equally sure that he and his friends thought that whatever he yelled was hilarious as they cracked up and sped off down the road. Weird.
