Tuesday, June 09, 2020

Tenth Avenue Freeze Out?



BikeRoute
UberAllesVille


Pretty soon, hopefully, I will once again be riding my bike from our home in the near eastern townships across the entirety of central Lotusland to get to my place of work way out on the western edge of the pointiest part of the grey plateau.

And when I do I will quite often use the 10th Avenue bike route, especially when I have to stop to pick-up or drop-off something in the bowels of the hospital industrial complex, as happens semi-regularly.

But, after reading Frances Bula's latest in the Globe I'm a little concerned:

...More than a third of people in the Vancouver region expect to drive more and use transit less postpandemic, while almost as many say they will cycle or walk more, a survey done for the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade has found...


Why concerned?

Because, before the long pause I had already started to notice that for bike routes that run close to and parallel to major arteries (as 10th Ave. does to Broadway and 12th) cars were already starting to choose the former over the latter during traffic-choked rush hour times.

And now, as we come out of the pause, if folks are going to eschew transit, as is likely sensible at rush hour, and a significant proportion of those folks are going to be jumping into their cars...

Oh boy.


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Earworm in the post header need scratching?....This!


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4 comments:

e.a.f. said...

Omg, that sax player. First thought it was the one who came to Vancouver in the mid 80s with Bob Seager. O.K. its Springsteen's band, loved it.

10th ave freeze out, nice. still love that sax player.

O.K. what I don't understand is why the city can't move the bike lane over one block from a main artery. that way vehicles and bikes can be separated. why isn't the city encouraging electric scooters. they could be in bike lanes or bike streets. Less traffic accidents, every one gets their own space and I'm sure more people would use their bikes if they felt safer, but that for many of us would require our own space and that space would be best on the street over from the main artery.

RossK said...

eaf--

Sorry if I wasn't clear. The bike paths are moved over a block or two on the non-downtown bike routes.

The issue is that cars are starting to use them because they have lights across major thoroughfares and, during rush hour, the traffic flow is better than the major routes.

RossK said...

Sax player is Clarence Clemons, 'The Big Man'...Unfortunately, Clarence passed away awhile back...Now his nephew, Jake Clemons, plays with them.


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e.a.f. said...

got it, but the city could just ban cars from those streets, is what I meant to write. No car, trucks, etc. unless you live on the street. easy.

sorry to hear about the sax player. he certainly was good. I'm not always that jazzed about sax players but every now and then you hear one and you think omg, When Joe Cocker and Stevie Rayvon came to the colsium back in the, well late 80s, early 90s, they had a sax player who was amazing. they had him up in the rafters playing and when he started you didn't know where he was. omg...............Once had the sibling with my back in our misspent youth, I thought they were going to run away with the sax player. oh, well we can relive the memories.