Originally Posted by Noizz (Post 6972696)

As if carpooling wasn't minimizing traffic, I carpool to work and they've already fucked me over last year with the "bus/cyclist only" lane on Hastings going to downtown. And for the 8 or so months that lane has been implemented, I've only seen a handful of cyclists using it to get to work. Whats the point of carpooling now? The HOV benefit is gone and you have to wait for your other party. Effff this shit

Originally Posted by Acuracura (Post 6972844)

I agree with jaretron. Living and working in the same community minimizes the commute, making it almost ridiculous not to bike even on rainy days. Just a note about North America and driving, North Americans have always been used to driving, and cities were built according to that. Comparing us to Tokyo or all those European cities (Paris, Amesterdam, Frankfurt, Zurich, etc.) isn't quite fair because those cities have been around a lot longer than Vancouver, Toronto, etc. They were originally walking/bicycling, got some cars and a ton of motorbikes, built a complicated system of underground trains, and still maintain that original walking/bicycling mentality. Those cities are older so they’ve had that much more time to build it properly, unlike Vancouver which is constantly experimenting with more car lanes, bike lanes, rapid transit, etc. If you’ve been to those places in Europe you’ll notice the cities are very dense, like how Vancouver is getting to be. Paris, for example, is extremely dense around the River Seine and has ‘suburbs’ around central area. Most people actually live in the center of Paris and either work there or out in those suburb areas. For those working centrally, they either walk, bike, or metro it. Those working outside of the center still bike or take transit to where they need to go. The metro is incredibly efficient and is very busy, but not white-gloved-pushers busy, during peak hours. This allows them to invest huge amounts into the city’s public transit as they can concentrate it all in the middle where it’s needed. Adversely, the GVRD has pods of people and not enough money to fund infrastructure to serve them all. You build a skytrain to Poco and it’ll be another decade before you can build one to Langley. In the mean time all those people and their cars commute daily to the center (Downtown Vancouver) and it creates major congestion, parking, and pollution problems. You’ll also notice those European cities build a lot of pedestrian only streets/bridges, bicycles outnumber and take the right of way over cars, and scooters/motorcycles squeeze in wherever they fit and park wherever they want. Not saying their system is better, but it doesn’t seem to suffer from the problems we’re having here. The difference is those solutions were built from the ground up, starting with the attitudes and expectations of the people living there.

Originally Posted by 7seven (Post 6973376)

These bike lanes are seriously starting to piss me off. Dunsmuir street is just a complete mess right now. There was already an existing bike lane on Dunsmuir, but now they expanded that bike lane, took away one vehicle lane and are putting up concrete dividers, such a waste of time and money, Dunsmuir was perfectly fine the way it was. Now when you get to Dunsmuir and Hornby, the 2 vehcile lanes, one turns into a right turn only lane coming up to Dunsmuir and Burrard and it is just absolute chaos with all the vehicles trying to merge over.

I think what pisses me off is that there was absolutely no consultation with local businesses and residents. I'm downtown everyday of the week and despite the claims by our hippie mayor and council, the # of cyclists downtown looks to be about the same as before all this bike lanes mess, hell most days the bike lanes only have a few cyclists, especially with Vancouver weather the way it is. I hate to say it, but all this bike lanes crap is making me more hostile to cyclist on the road and I know a number of people that feel the same way too.

Originally Posted by FiveDime (Post 6973502)

You only see few bicyclist because those cyclists are taking bike routes that are not on main roads! You would be suprised how many people ride bikes in the city if you were to get off your lazy ass and ride one. More people are riding bikes to get around now adays IN THE CITY because A) its fun B) its quick, so get used to it.

Biking in this city is great! I can get from my house on fraser to ubc in 25 minutes or to my work on burrard and pender in 15 minutes. Thats atleast 5 minutes faster than your car with traffic. I work in bental 5 and the bike room downstairs is filled with bikes regardless of the weather.



To the people that dont even live in vancouver and dont like the way things are going to fucking bad.

To the people who didnt vote in the last city election and are whining to fucking bad.

Originally Posted by 7seven (Post 6973392)

Oh and another problem with removing a vehicle lane for a bike lane on Dunsmuir, garbarge & delivery trucks use Dunsmuir daily to back into alleys off Dunsmuir to service the businesses and residents in that area, and when they do that, they essentially cut Dunsmuir down to 1 lane for a few minutes which just causes absolute chaos. If the city actually consulted with anyone, they would've known that.

Originally Posted by 7seven (Post 6973545)

First off its not a matter of me being lazy that I don't cycle. I'm in the gym 5 days a week minimum and also walk and at times blade around downtown Vancouver so I do see that there are cyclist. However I prefer driving because most the time I wear suits and usually travel to the studios in Burnaby and North Vancouver.

Secondly, my office is at Dunsmuir and Burrard, my office window looks directly straight down Dunsmuir Street from Burrard to the viaduct, so I see daily the amount of cyclist before and after bike lane expansion that used Dunsmuir. My point is that there was absolutely no need to expand the existing bike lane on Dunsmuir for the small scattering of cyclist that use that route. It has made traffic so much worse for everyone and has from what I witness on a daily basis, has made motorist more hostile and aggressive towards cyclists. Hell in the last hour, I've seen maybe 3 or 4 cyclist actually use Dunsmuir, I've seen a larger number of cyclist come down Hornby, Howe and Burrard.

Originally Posted by 7seven (Post 6973545)

First off its not a matter of me being lazy that I don't cycle. I'm in the gym 5 days a week minimum and also walk and at times blade around downtown Vancouver so I do see that there are cyclist. However I prefer driving because most the time I wear suits and usually travel to the studios in Burnaby and North Vancouver.

Secondly, my office is at Dunsmuir and Burrard, my office window looks directly straight down Dunsmuir Street from Burrard to the viaduct, so I see daily the amount of cyclist before and after bike lane expansion that used Dunsmuir. My point is that there was absolutely no need to expand the existing bike lane on Dunsmuir for the small scattering of cyclist that use that route. It has made traffic so much worse for everyone and has from what I witness on a daily basis, has made motorist more hostile and aggressive towards cyclists. Hell in the last hour, I've seen maybe 3 or 4 cyclist actually use Dunsmuir, I've seen a larger number of cyclist come down Hornby, Howe and Burrard.

Originally Posted by slammer111 (Post 6972651)

So if you don't like it, show up to the COV meetings and voice your opinion!

Gregor Robertson's vision is to have the "greenest city in the world by 2020" if I remember correctly. So yes, all of us in Vancouver consciously voted in a hippie. :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by Greenstoner (Post 6973173)

^ they dont wanna obey the "bike keep right, share the road" ..... and still riding in & out the traffic
it's god damn annoying

Originally Posted by chris walter (Post 6975099)

I learned about this new bike lane last night. I sat for 25 minutes on dunsmir and 3 bikes went by the entire time. 2 of those bikes were on the sidewalk on the oposite side from the bike lane. I think if bikes have their own lanes they should get ticketed for riding all over the road and disobeying every other single road rule.
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