Active transportation priorities for Oak Bay

On Monday, November 19th (2012) the Active Transportation Advisory Committee (http://oakbay.ca/municipal-hall/committees/active-transportation-advisory-committee) recommended four priority active transportation projects to Oak Bay Municipal Council.  The priority projects are consistent with recommendations from previous seminal reports -  the CRD Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan (2011), the Active Transportation Strategy Report completed for Oak Bay in 2011, and the Accessibility Committee Report on Oak Bay Ave. They are entirely consistent with the Complete Streets Policy adopted by Oak Bay Council earlier this year.

All four projects meet the following criteria established by the Committee: 

• Can take advantage of external funding
• Maximum impact
• Support regional priorities
• Urgent and feasible

The four projects - two that we considered strategic in the sense that they are large and require additional expertise and funding and two that we saw as operational in that they can be done with the existing resources and expertise are listed here:

Operational
Haultain East-West Connector
UVIC/Lansdowne North South Pathway

Strategic
Oak Bay Ave
Oak Bay High School Redevlopment

The full presentation that we made to Council can be found at this link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6mb3qm1mYxkbEhLUVhLRFNjWXM/edit

Members of the Active Transportation Advisory Committee were gratified by the overwhelming support Council demonstrated in their unanimous vote in support of the recommended priorities. Moreover, they followed up with five key motions directing staff to report back on feasibility/cost for all four projects. Oak Bay is off to a promising start! 

A tale of two cities - Portland and Victoria

Two recent experiences again brought to mind why we ought to be putting more effort into building up our cycling infrastructure.

I recently completed Cycle Oregon, a week-long 787 km organized bike ride through rural Oregon. The registration for the ride took place in February and sold out within 30 minutes: 2,200 cyclists from far and near—Oregon, Alaska,  New York, Texas, North Carolina, Hawaii, B.C., Ontario, Japan, and Germany, to name but a few. This was a Baby Boom generation group—average age was 55—healthy, fit, and with both time and resources. They are interested in travelling to places with cycling infrastructure and routes.

One conversation during Cycle Oregon brought to my attention why the Capital Region needs to do more in terms of the kind of cycling experience it offers for residents and visitors alike. A couple from Portland visited Victoria in August 2011, with their 9-year-old daughter. They left their car in Port Angeles and rode their bikes over on the ferry. They were very disappointed with their experience here; they found the route from the ferry through James Bay and along Dallas Road to be very busy and, with no designated bike lane, too much for their daughter, who was not used to having to navigate in heavy traffic. Compared with their experience of biking in Portland, they found Victoria seriously wanting. They will not be back anytime soon and it is unlikely that they will recommend Victoria as a cycling destination to others.

By contrast, an acquaintance just back from Portland was struck by how accommodating the city is to cyclists and commuters, starting with the airport where there is a designated area complete with tools so that people travelling with bicycles can reassemble them before leaving the airport. The train from the airport to downtown Portland has hooks so that riders with bicycles can hang them up in the train. (In a week of commuting within the city, including to and from a conference venue that was an hour away, this person only spent $10.)

Bike rack in Portland train

Once in Portland, the city abounds with evidence of a cycling culture. Some examples:

• Cycle tracks: These bike lanes are physically separated from motor vehicle lanes by concrete barriers or curbs, which apparently help increase bicycle ridership 18% to 20%, especially among women and children.
• Bike lanes: Painted lanes on streets.
• Sharrows: "Sharing arrows"—street markings show an outline of a bicycle and two arrows pointing forward, indicating that bicycles and cars both have full use of the lane.
• Bicycle boulevards: Also called "neighborhood greenways", these residential streets are marked for both bikes and cars and have a speed limit of 20 mph.

There are many more examples too, such as an extensive cycling pathway network, but suffice to say that my acquaintance is planning to return to Portland next summer, with her bike. That is in stark contrast to the family from Portland who does not have Victoria on their list of places to return to anytime soon.

Same street, 2 municipalities, different intersection experiences

One priority for the Active Transportation Advisory Committee is addressing the gap in cycling routes between (north) Oak Bay and Victoria by creating an east-west bikeway that connects with the greenway priority route on Haultain Road in the City of Victoria. Two issues need to be addressed to make this corridor a reality: lack of signage and crossing safety. 

Here are three examples of intersections that cyclists travelling west from Oak Bay towards Victoria on Haultain Street, experience. This is the corridor that cyclists would potentially use to access Royal Jubilee Hospital, St. Patrick's Elementary School, Victoria High School, downtown Victoria, and the Galloping Good Regional trail.
  
Crossing #1: Haultain Road at Foul Bay, with a pedestrian activated warning beacon. 

Crossing #1: Haultain Road at Foul Bay, no warning system or enhanced treatment for cyclists
.

Crossing #2: Haultain Road at Richmond, no signal or warning beacons but traffic calming barrier causes motorists to slow down considerably making the crossing for cyclists and pedestrians safer. 

Crossing #3: Haultain Road at Shelbourne Street, signalized intersection with bicycle loop detectors and pedestrian push buttons. 

The CRD Draft Working Paper No. 3 - Bicycle Strategy Report (2002)http://www.crd.bc.ca/reports/regionalplanning_/generalreports_/transportation_/cycling_/archivebackgroundinf_/3bicyclestrategy/3bicyclestrategy.pdf identifies the crossing at Haultain and Foul Bay Road as one of several key intersections that needs improvement. It is easy to see why.

Perception vs Reality: how to make cycling safer

Much has been made of figuring out what motivates people to ride a bike and to use a bike as a means of transportation. Studies conducted by UBC researchers identified the top 10 reasons for choosing not to ride.  Apart from weather (snow, rain) or street conditions (icy, wet, debris on the road), cycling can be encouraged or discouraged by the presence (or lack thereof) of route design and urban infrastructure. In other words, good cycling facilities are important, including good signage and biking networks. 

Environmental factors important to cyclists are cycling infrastructure and road connectivity. 
Cyclists perceive major streets with shared lanes and no parked cars as having the greatest risk. I am not surprised. Recently, while attending the BC Summer Games, I decided to go for a bike ride. Having scoped out the area in which we were staying, I saw that there was a bike lane. Unfortunately, it was part of a very busy major roadway. While someone in the engineering department may have seen that as an obvious route, to me it screamed "unpleasant, noisy, and hazardous". I chose a different route that was more residential and visually pleasing. 

Not surprisingly, cyclists perceive residential streets as far less risky. In fact, one UBC study noted one of the top three preferred routes for riders is residential streets that are part of a designated bike route and have traffic calming routes.  Are these just perceptions or are there real benefits? The study shows that perception and reality are "aligned"—i.e. such streets are indeed safer for cyclists. No wonder then that cyclists will go out of their way to use designated bicycle routes, so long as they are well marked in terms of signage and pavement markings and have bike activated signals. (See link.)

ATAC has drawn up a list of  potential priorities to take to Oak Bay Municipal Council in the fall. On my list is improved cycling networks and pathways—signage and access. Of particular interest is addressing the gap in east/west cycling routes between (north) Oak Bay and Victoria by creating an east-west bikeway that connects Willows Beach, Estevan Village and Haultain Road with the greenway priority route on Haultain Road in the City of Victoria. Two issues exist: lack of signage for this route and crossing safety at the intersection of Haultain & Foul Bay Roads due to lack of a controlled access option for cyclists. These are both issues that we hope to bring to Council's attention. 

Triggering lights in Oak Bay

It does not seem to be widely known by motorists or cyclists that cyclists can trigger lights intersections or that many intersections are set up with this equipment. These triggers (called inductive loop detectors) are designed to set off an advanced left turn light or simply a green light. Sometimes they don't work because of a malfunction, but most often they don't work because the cyclist has no idea where to position his or her bike in order to activate the trigger. 


A painted symbol on the road lets cyclists know where to position their bikes, but without that, many would not know that this option exists. Some might simply venture out into the intersection without bothering to wait for the light to turn—an obviously unsafe and unwanted situation. 


In Oak Bay recently, a member of the Active Transportation Advisory Committee, set out to discover which intersection inductive loop detectors were working and which were not. He checked out eight intersections and found some worked and some did not. The results of his survey can be seen here. 


The survey results were presented to the municipal engineering department recently, which agreed that the intersections needed attention. Oak Bay staff are now painting bike symbols at all triggered intersections to indicate the correct place to position your bike. The Active Transportation Advisory Committee is pleased with the cooperation that took place on this item and invites all cyclists to watch for and test Oak Bay's newly painted intersections over the next few weeks and let us know how this the inductive loop detectors are working. 

a little cycling tourism please

Not long ago, while at an Oak Bay Council meeting, I heard the mayor comment—based on his observation some weeks earlier of a large group of bikes parked at Ottavio's—that we should give more thought to the economic benefits of cycle tourism.


This is a topic I have been curious about ever since I attended a conference that my husband helped to organize in Victoria last year. While there, I struck up a conversation with an attendee from Seattle; he had his bike with him and was planning to go for a ride the next day but didn't seem to know any good routes. Neither the conference organizers nor the hotel had thought to include cycling-related information in the registration packages. This is not a good sign for a region that considers itself to be Canada's cycling capital. 


So with both encounters in mind, I went looking for information. Turns out that the economic benefit of cycling is not a new concept, but it is certainly drawing more attention these days. 


One Cycle (an international cycling non-profit organization) says that cycle tourism received little attention in the past because vendors assumed that tourists with bikes were not wealthy enough to target; other service providers, such as transit operators, thought cyclists were a hassle. 


These perspectives have started to change with the retirement of the baby boom generation. They are for the most part healthy and/or looking for ways to stay healthy, and—guess what!—cycling, it turns out, is a big draw. According to a One Cycle study, cycling tourists have more money/higher incomes than most tourists. They are realizing that bikes are both good for their health, and a good way to explore the country


Another study, by Bike on Tours Consulting in Ontario, concluded that there are several things that help attract cyclists to an area, including the following:  

• bicycle-friendly streets and paths, wide enough for bicycles and other users
• access to scenic roads, natural areas, waterfront, cultural and historic attractions
• good restaurants
• accommodation with a hearty breakfast, either provided or nearby
• bicycle repair shops and other interesting stores
• adequate and secure bicycle parking
• theatre, music and arts festivals
• route maps and effective advertising

Oak Bay has the scenery, bike shops, restaurants, and interesting stores, but needs to make some focused efforts if it is to become a full-fledged biking destination. Can we do it? What else do we need? How do we engage Tourism Oak Bay in making this a priority?

I wanted a car; I got a bike

When I turned 16, I wanted a driver's licence and a car. What I got instead was a bike and a suggestion that I find a job. To the surprise of everyone, myself included, I actually rode that bike—admittedly not often, since my high school was 12 kilometres away. 


Sadly, regular physical activity has become increasingly difficult to achieve for adults and children alike. According to the World Health Organization, physical activity is now the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality (WHO, 2010). 


Governments, politicians, and health officials around the world are struggling to find ways to combat this trend. For example, in Melbourne Australia, 55.3% of young people walked to school or higher education in 1970, compared with 22.2% in 1994. Parents' fear about road safety is one of the contributing factors.  


Interestingly, when we moved to Oak Bay, our son decided that he wasn't ready to change schools. We gave him a bike and told him he had to get himself to school—we were not driving. The most dangerous part of his daily commute? Riding past the local school, which was clogged every morning with cars dropping off children. 


Active lifestyles can start at any age but it sure helps to start off young. I credit my parents active use of the word "no" ("we are not driving") to my walking and cycling habits today. 

Oak Bay adopts Complete Streets

Oak Bay Committee of the Whole was unanimous on June 18th in approving the Complete Streets policy put forward by the Active Transportation Advisory Committee. The policy now goes to Council for final approval. 


Complete streets are streets, trails, and multiple use paths that work for everybody from 8 to 98. 


Oak Bay now joins a number of other municipalities in the region—Saanich, Esquimalt, Victoria, Colwood, View Royal, and Langford, as well as hundreds of cities across Canada and the USA—in taking a progressive approach to active transportation planning. 


Here is the link to the presentation that the ATAC made to Council.

Secret Passageways of Oak Bay

Did you know there are a couple of dozen unmarked, mostly paved pathways throughout Oak Bay? These pathways link to destination areas such as Mt. Tolmie (3), Camosun College, UVic, the Uplands, beaches and neighbouring streets. 

Secrets of the city: Brighton passageway

Unlike the Oak Bay Trails map, which mainly suggests walking routes on typical streets, the Secret Passageways of Oak Bay are for walkers, cyclists, wheelchair users and other non-vehicular travelers looking for real trails and paths – ones that take you on rambles and shortcuts and provide additional views of our community. 

The passageways are located throughout Oak Bay—from the north Henderson area, the Uplands, Estevan area, around the Oak Bay High School and Rec Centres, and throughout south Oak Bay.   

But do they really need to be so secret? Some of these public accesses even look like private driveways. Do you support adding signage to mark these public passageways?

Know of any that we’ve missed? If you have photos of additional secret trails in Oak Bay, email activeoakbay@gmail.com and we’ll update the photo gallery.

- Lesley Ewing

Urban bushwhacking not required

There is more to our built environment than streets. There are also sidewalks and pathways—both highly important in the efforts to making our urban areas accessible and inclusive. (Vancouver comes to mind in their efforts to reduce barriers to walking as part of their overall strategy of creating alternate transportation options.)

Take a look at this view of Elgin Street in Oak Bay. Between the overgrown bushes and telephone poles, half the sidewalk is missing. Pedestrians and anyone pushing a stroller or using a walker or scooter would have a hard time here. Two people couldn't walk comfortably together; if one was pushing a stroller and the other wasn't, someone would have to step out into the street to pass through this area. 

Machete needed to walk on Elgin Street

Removing barriers that get in the way of people of all ages and mobility is not only important, it is part of making active transportation choices (such as walking) feel safe, convenient, and comfortable. Bushwhacking is not!

Is being active also economic?

The other day, I walked to the bank. On my return home, I decided to try a different route. I ended up going past a little neighbourhood store I hadn't previously seen. I had a lovely conversation with the owner, bought some food I hadn't been planning to buy, took his card, and sent a note around to friends in the area telling them about my find. 

So was my experience part of the economic benefits of active transportation? Have a look at the website for the Population Health Improvement Research Network based at the University of Ottawa. CHNET hosts free weekly fireside chats—aka "webinars". 

Coming up on July 6th is a discussion on the economic benefits of active transportation, described as an important part of the toolbox used to make communities healthy and liveable. 

By the way, part of encouraging active transportation is having a "complete streets" policy that says, in effect, that decisions regarding streets must be inclusive. That means inverting the pyramid and thinking about street usage first from the perspective of pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation.


Okay, here in Oak Bay, we may not be the first to think about this stuff. Turns out that most of the other municipalities in the region—such as Langford, View Royal, Esquimalt, and Saanich—already have a complete streets policy. But we may be able to catch up, if citizens make their voices heard. 

Complete Streets Policy Proposal: Public Feedback

Oak Bay Municipal Council recently considered a request from the Active Transportation Advisory Committee (ATAC) to consider adopting a Complete Streets Policy.  This proposal will be considered further at the June 18, 2012, Committee of the Whole meeting.

Please click on, download (as a PDF) and read the ATAC report to Council here, and submit input via email at obcouncil@oakbay.ca, or by dropping off a letter at the Municipal Hall, 2167 Oak Bay Avenue. Any correspondence received will be placed on the public agenda for the Committee of the Whole meeting when this subject is next considered.

Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64?

 This past week saw a celebration of the 45^th anniversary of the release of the Beatles seminal album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  The reminiscences took me back to suburban Toronto, where I grew up, and rushing to Sam the Record Man on Yonge Street to buy the album, for, I think $3.98. 

Now that age 64 isn’t that far off, the contrast between being 64 in 1967 and today couldn’t be more pronounced.  Today, people in their 60s are active walkers, cyclists, skiers, hikers, sailors, swimmers, canoers, kayakers—all activities that I doubt many of our grandparents lived long enough to enjoy.  And unlike our parents and grandparents’ generations, there are fewer smokers or heavy drinkers in our midst.

Physical exercise of any kind benefits the individual in many ways.  Even a walk on the rainiest, cool day can result in a feeling of well-being.  And what makes a walk or bike ride more pleasant than enjoying the neighbourhoods that have been designed with the walker or cyclist in mind—such as plenty of crosswalks and protection from busy vehicle traffic?

Growing up in my neighbourhood in the 1950s and 60s, every street had a grass verge of about 8 feet separating the sidewalk from the roadway.  It was a good design for  suburban streets.  More challenging are older neighbourhoods, designed without reference to the motor vehicle that had not yet achieved supreme dominance in society.  Often these sidewalks abut busy arterial roads, making it intimidating, noisy and unpleasant for the pedestrian.

Changing expectations of the community are also changing the way that forward-thinking transportation engineers view their raison d'être—from mainly moving vehicle traffic to ensuring that streets are places for everyone on foot, bicycle, pushing a baby pram, walker or wheelchair.

We want to ensure that there is room for the 64, 74, 84, 94 and 104 year-olds to enjoy our neighbourhoods and commercial hubs. Everyone benefits when our community spaces are inclusive, welcoming and accessible.

—Lesley Ewing

What if we could do better?

The common perception is that Oak Bay is great the way it is—and therefore has relatively little need for improvement. After all it is a comfortable community to live in, with beaches, parks, pathways, shops, schools and public spaces all within easy reach. Generally speaking, this perception is hard to argue against.

But what if we could improve? What if we could make it so that moving around, across, and through Oak Bay was possible for people of all ages—from eight to 80 years—and of all abilities? What if for example, it were possible to  walk, bike, or push a stroller, all the way from Oak Bay Ave. to UVic along pathways that did not require accessing busy streets? What if the new Oak Bay High School was a hub for north-south and east-west pathways that were wide enough to accommodate a stroller, walker, scooter, or bicycle + trailer? And, what if seniors were able to walk along sidewalks that were wide enough to allow a walker and a pedestrian to pass without one person having to step into the street (a reality in several spots along Foul Bay Road and Oak Bay Ave).

These are some of the ideas that the Active Transportation Advisory Committee has recommended to Oak Bay councillors; ways to make Oak Bay an even better place in which to live—for everyone.

Liveable cities

I recall reading an article several years ago that people living in urban centres tend to walk more than those living in newer urban areas because of the integration of residential and commercial spaces, meaning that residents can easily get to and from living, working, shopping, and recreating spaces without having to get in their car. Civic engagement and social and physical health are all enhanced by the mere act of moving about our urban environment by means other than a car. 


These days there is a strong international movement around the notion of making our built environments more liveable by creating a "city of short distances" where balanced transportation planning makes possible commuting via pedestrian networks, bicycle networks, traffic quietened streets and public transportation.


Oak Bay is blessed in already being a city of short distances. We have the "village" as well as small neighbourhood shopping/business areas that are integrated into neighbourhoods (think Estevan village, Casey's and Demi-Tasse in south Oak Bay, and Cadboro Bay Road shops). But, we can do better. 


That is why we now have the Active Transportation Advisory Committee - a group of 11 residents appointed by municipal council and mandated to provide advice and recommendations supporting active transportation options for our community.  


We look forward to lots of lively discussion around ideas and ways that Oak Bay can be made even better - through infrastructure improvements that will enable all residents regardless of age or mobility, to move easily through and across our municipality.