[Admiral Beez]

We laugh but the Wellesley bike lanes often have piles of horse poop blocking the entire lane. Not a joke once you have to clean that off your wheels..

Time for the return of the Gong farmer.

The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894

By the late 1800s, large cities all around the world were drowning in horse manure. The London Times predicted in 1894 that in 50 years time, every street in London would be buried under nine feet of manure.

www.historic-uk.com

 

[afransen]

Discussion of the problem of bike theft to bike usage/mode share, and want can be done about it.

TL;DW:
-Bike theft is a big social problem
-Police have very little they can do about bike theft as a crime
-Online platforms don't have a good way of preventing bike theft
-What is needed is holistic approach to preventing bike theft:
--Register bikes at point of sale
--stickers indicating they are registered
--appropriate location of bike racks
-Bureaucracy gets in the way of rolling out these measures


To me, every bike (frame) should have a VIN. That VIN should automatically get registered to the owner at point of sale (by law), and bike shops, pawn brokers and online platforms should have to record these VINs when selling and check against the registry for reports of theft. Ideally this is rolled out internationally like car VINs to dissuade exports of stolen bikes.

 

[DirectionNorth]

Discussion of the problem of bike theft to bike usage/mode share, and want can be done about it.

TL;DW:
-Bike theft is a big social problem
-Police have very little they can do about bike theft as a crime
-Online platforms don't have a good way of preventing bike theft
-What is needed is holistic approach to preventing bike theft:
--Register bikes at point of sale
--stickers indicating they are registered
--appropriate location of bike racks
-Bureaucracy gets in the way of rolling out these measures


To me, every bike (frame) should have a VIN. That VIN should automatically get registered to the owner at point of sale (by law), and bike shops, pawn brokers and online platforms should have to record these VINs when selling and check against the registry for reports of theft. Ideally this is rolled out internationally like car VINs to dissuade exports of stolen bikes.

Bicycles are:

1. Not as expensive as cars
2. Not used as often as cars
3. Rarely used for "essential" purposes
4. Those who do use them for "essential" purposes are seen as "less important" than car owners.

Unfortunately, I don't think such a anti-bike-theft system will ever occur.

 

[Undead]

Not to mention we don't need more bureaucrats dreaming up and enforcing more regulations. At least not for something minor like a bike.

 

[afransen]

Bicycles are:

1. Not as expensive as cars
2. Not used as often as cars
3. Rarely used for "essential" purposes
4. Those who do use them for "essential" purposes are seen as "less important" than car owners.

Unfortunately, I don't think such a anti-bike-theft system will ever occur.

So do we stop prosecuting theft under $5k? The cop being interviewed in that piece mentioned reduction in theft worth millions of $, in one city.

Frequency of use is in part a function of how vulnerable bikes are to theft. Other countries don't have the same kind of problem with bike theft. Toronto has gangs of homeless people operating bicycle chop shops in public parks, and there is nothing police can do about it! Having a registry would give police the ability to, on the spot, see if the person in possession of a bike is the owner and confiscate it if it is not. That would make theft less appealing.

This is going to become a bigger problem as ebikes gain in popularity. Ebikes can cost as much as many of the older cars on the road today.

Not to mention that a registry system could be very inexpensive.

 

[TossYourJacket]

So do we stop prosecuting theft under $5k? The cop being interviewed in that piece mentioned reduction in theft worth millions of $, in one city.

Frequency of use is in part a function of how vulnerable bikes are to theft. Other countries don't have the same kind of problem with bike theft. Toronto has gangs of homeless people operating bicycle chop shops in public parks, and there is nothing police can do about it! Having a registry would give police the ability to, on the spot, see if the person in possession of a bike is the owner and confiscate it if it is not. That would make theft less appealing.

This is going to become a bigger problem as ebikes gain in popularity. Ebikes can cost as much as many of the older cars on the road today.

Not to mention that a registry system could be very inexpensive.

This would require our government(s) to actually care. Which they sadly do not.

 

[H4F33Z]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1390703461357035521

Is it sad, that no notice was even provided by the city? It was only because I randomly checked the project's website that I found out about the update status and consultation. Also the bike lanes are crap. Painted bike lanes in 2021?? They building this road like suburban roads in america.

More information

 

[W. K. Lis]

3.3m wide traffic lanes are w-i-d-e, and only encourage speeders going way over the speed limit. Wider lanes (over 3.3~3.4m), the predominant practice of Toronto regions, are associated with 33% higher impact speed rates and higher crash rates.

 

[TossYourJacket]

It's like this city wants cyclists to die, they just make no effort at all. You'd have thought all the concrete curbs they installed last year would have been the end of painted lanes but lol no.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It's like this city wants cyclists to die, they just make no effort at all. You'd have thought all the concrete curbs they installed last year would have been the end of painted lanes but lol no.

With the sewer grates in the bicycle lane. Which will eventually create potholes and problems for cyclists.

 

[TossYourJacket]

With the sewer grates in the bicycle lane. Which will eventually create potholes and problems for cyclists.

Council truly makes the lowest effort possible and then declares themselves the heroes of the world.

 

[salsa]

Also the bike lanes are crap. Painted bike lanes in 2021?? They building this road like suburban roads in america.

The original EA was completed in 2004 and updated in 2015, so I'm not surprised that the retrograde design standards are still stuck in the past. However we can leave some feedback and let them know that this is not acceptable.

 

[Northern Light]

It's like this city wants cyclists to die, they just make no effort at all. You'd have thought all the concrete curbs they installed last year would have been the end of painted lanes but lol no.

While I agree that the design in its current form is inadequate; and should be made better (by physical separation)..........the above is just a bit much.

Its worth noting, from the project page, that the bike lanes have been widened from the original design:

****

Note about the above, what's actually being built, according to the slide deck is 1.6M, plus a buffer.

****

I'm not so fussed about the 3.3M lanes which are only those that serve buses...............

But here's where a lot of space is going....NEW centre turn lanes:

It would be a political fight to remove the ones that are already there.

But I think its entirely reasonable to demand no additional centre turn lanes, unless and except there are adequately wide, protected bike lanes, AND nice sized boulevards with trees, and sidewalks.

Even then, I'd rather see a smaller cross-section.

The centre-turn lanes are inconsistent with Vision Zero.

 

[DirectionNorth]

So do we stop prosecuting theft under $5k? The cop being interviewed in that piece mentioned reduction in theft worth millions of $, in one city.

Frequency of use is in part a function of how vulnerable bikes are to theft. Other countries don't have the same kind of problem with bike theft. Toronto has gangs of homeless people operating bicycle chop shops in public parks, and there is nothing police can do about it! Having a registry would give police the ability to, on the spot, see if the person in possession of a bike is the owner and confiscate it if it is not. That would make theft less appealing.

This is going to become a bigger problem as ebikes gain in popularity. Ebikes can cost as much as many of the older cars on the road today.

Not to mention that a registry system could be very inexpensive.

I hope this happens. But the government doesn't care.

 

[allengeorge]

My guess is that the lanes don’t have barriers for the same reason they added center turn lanes: access to driveways.

That said, I do agree with @Northern Light - adding center turn lanes is ridiculous. It makes the street wider, more inhospitable and makes it worse for cyclists (now someone could be turning into you from two lanes away).