Random Transportation Things from the Last Few Months

In the last few months I've come across a number of transportation things that are worth sharing, so read on for some very cool fixes for missing links, growing popularity of dockless bike share in BC, old transportation infrastructure being utilized for recreation, bike racks, and some Richmond bike facilities.

Lets start with missing links, the Mosquito Creek Marina in City of North Vancouver was quite a big missing link in the Spirit Trail, the new connection is a tunnel of sorts that drops down below the boat lift, allowing the Marina to continue to function normally.

Dockless bike share is growing in popularity, int he last month or so I've come across the system in Port Moody and Kelowna, I also saw an announcement for a similar system in Richmond. This system is much more flexible than the docked bike share systems like Vancouver's Mobi bike share.

While in Kelowna, If inally visited the Myra Canyon section of the Kettle Valley Railway. This former railway, is now Kelowna's number one tourist attraction and its not surprising with impressive views, interesting tunnels and trestles. The flat route also makes it easy for anyway to walk or cycle the route. The cut in the hillside is so narrow, it's hard to imagine trains running on it, but they certainly did. If we can do that a 100 years ago, a subway tunnel to UBC should be easy right?

I spent a little bit of time in Richmond City Centre. They have a variety of bike facility there, with a clear progression visible from initial raised bike lanes to better separated infrastructure being implemented today. There are more photos from Richmond in my flickr album.

One photo from Richmond highlights the issue with on-street bike lanes and bus stops. When a bus is stopped, cyclists then manoeuvre out into traffic, it's a conflict that can be resolved by routing the bike lane behind the bus stop as shown in the images of newer infrastructure above.

Bike Racks take all shapes and forms, here are a few...

Some bike rack locating advice... Bike racks protected from the weather are great, but not if there are also pigeons...

And if you're locking your bike, don't lock it up just by the front wheel, that is easily removed, and easily replace by the thief. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bike next to this one just after it was stolen with with a front wheel missing. Always lock your bike up by the frame and front wheel at a minimum.

Curb Bulges are good things, they reduce crossing distance, narrow the roadway and help slow down traffic. They can also brighten up some grey concrete and asphalt.

However, in one case brightening up a crossing had the opposite effect than intended, and this may be more of a transportation photo taking geek problem. After crossing the perpendicular crossing to this one below, which is stop controlled for drivers, I turned and was like oh... this ones different there's green paint and elephants feet, oh... this is a multi-use path... cool... and then as I stepped onto the roadway realized this is isn't a stop condition for vehicles unless the lights are activated. My attention was drawn to the crossing which made it look like I had priority when I didn't. I didn't even notice the lights higher up at first. Again, maybe less of a problem for the average person than someone that wanders around taking pictures of pavement markings...