The Urban Country Goes to China

Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country (Great Wall of China – 2007)

The Urban Country is headed to China for the next three weeks to celebrate our marriage and whatnot. We are on a 13-hour direct flight from Toronto to Shanghai tomorrow and after 4 days in Shanghai we will head south to the beautiful island of Hainan.

While in Shanghai, I will experience the cycling culture in that city of 20+ million people to compare it to other cities where I have cycled in the past. Most recently I was in New York City testing out the new segregated bike lanes.

I am planning to test out the Shanghai bike sharing program as well as venture out to the Shanghai suburbs to ride along the segregated cycle tracks.

I also plan to ride the Shanghai Maglev magnetic train from the Shanghai airport to downtown. This fascinating train reaches speeds of more than 430 km/h, reaching downtown in as little as 7 minutes.

If there is anything else that you would like me to test out or any specific places you would like me to visit, feel free to leave a comment here and I will do my best to report back my findings.

Before I head to China – where this website is often censored - I will leave you with a thought about cycling:

Yvonne Bambrick – Executive Director of the Toronto Cyclists Union - made a comment recently in a televised debate on bike infrastructure. She said driving is a privilege, and cycling is a right.

This statement has resonated in my mind over the last couple of weeks. Cycling and walking are rights that we all have in our society. So why shouldn’t our society provide walking paths and cycling paths to help people feel and stay safe? Isn’t it our right to feel safe while walking or cycling around our city?

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Reasons NOT to Buy an iPad

After avoiding all the iPad hype since its release on April 3rd, I felt it necessary to at least comment on the latest iPad “app” (if you can even call it an app).

In an effort to find useful real-world applications for the all-new iPad, a company called Maya has developed an application to allow cyclists to communicate their signals by strapping a $500+ iPad to their back while riding a bike.

This application is completely impractical – the turn signal doesn’t trigger until you lean into your turn, and the “stop” signal doesn’t trigger until you “sit up” on the bike.

At least the designers of the application admit that this is a “silly example of having fun with an iPad”. Wired.com seemed to take this ridiculous contraption seriously in its article on April 16th which led to 30,000 video views on that day alone.

Maya refers to this usage of the iPad as an example of “precycling”, whereby you find a useful purpose for the device for when it becomes worthless - and because they claim the iPad will only be worth $50 in two years, this is an example of something the “worthless” iPad could do.

This illustrates one of the reasons I will probably never buy an Apple product – the notion that you need to buy the latest Apple product every year if you want to be cool. It reminds me of the automobile industry where they convince consumers that for some reason they need to purchase a new automobile every 2 years – it’s completely ludicrous to think you need a new car every two years.

Corporations have become so greedy (and smart), because they have convinced the masses that they need to perpetually consume their products every year or two if they want to “keep up with the Joneses”.

(At least Apple has Moore’s law as an excuse for perpetual consumption – the auto manufacturers only have greed and bankruptcy as excuses).

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Toronto Inches Forward At Record Speed

Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country

This week the beautiful spring weather brought along with it some relatively happy news for cycling advocates in slow-moving Toronto. BIXI bike sharing has being revived, and our first segregated bike lanes will operate on a pilot program this summer on University Avenue. But not everyone is happy about installing more bike lanes.

In February - along with iBikeTO.ca - we revealed that Toronto’s imminent BIXI bike sharing program had been been jeopardized. Disappointed by this news, we partnered up with other cycling advocates in the city – with leadership from the Toronto Cyclists Union - to urge citizens to put pressure on their local Councillors and revive the prospect of bike sharing in Toronto.

Our voices were heard, councillors felt the pressure, and City Hall staff pulled its magic strings to get BIXI back on the table to be implemented by May 2011 – one year later than its original planned launch date.

BIXI to launch in 2011 with 1,000 bicycles at 80 stations

The original BIXI plan called for 3,000 bikes and 300 stations to match Montreal’s original launch in May 2009. The new plan calls for only 1,000 bikes at 80 stations.

Although positive news, it is still somewhat disappointing because the most important criterion for bike sharing to succeed is convenience. If there aren’t enough bike stations conveniently located around the city, people won’t use them.

With only 1,000 bikes at 80 stations, the city needs to be very cautious not to cover too large a radius, which could result in less convenience for users to pick up a bike and efficiently return it close to their destination.

One of the reasons for Montreal’s success with its BIXI program is that it launched with 3,000 bicycles across a relatively small downtown radius. The success in Montreal saw its program expand within months to 5,000 bicycles at a total of 400 stations.

We can only hope that the Toronto program will see similar success and expand to improve the coverage area and convenience for its users.

Toronto to implement its first segregated bike lanes on University Ave.

The second positive headline to hit the streets on Tuesday was the news that Toronto will implement a pilot program from July to September whereby protected bicycle lanes will be installed on University Avenue from Richmond Street to Wellesley Street.

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Biking it My Way

Some time ago, my friend – the filmmaker and fellow cycling advocate - Mike Rubbo asked me if I would like to engage in international collaboration on two videos that highlight women cyclists who – in Mike’s words – choose different bikes for different hikes.

So I set out to find a woman who would fit the profile – somebody who wears the lycra racing gear (and a helmet) on weekends, but rides a stylish sit-up bicycle during the week (sans helmet).

Yvonne Bambrick – the Executive Director for the Toronto Cyclists Union – put me in touch with the passionate Toronto cyclist Briana Illingworth.

Briana is a fascinating person and was a perfect match because her love for cycling extends not only on her commute to work – but in her job itself.

Briana is a Transportation Policy and Planning Advisor for Metrolinx – the provincial organization setup to “champion, develop and implement an integrated transportation system [in the Greater Toronto area] that enhances prosperity, sustainability and quality of life”.

Briana’s focus is on Active Transportation and her vision is a community where people have the option to get around on bicycles without any special clothing or equipment.

I took footage of Briana on a weekend in her racing gear and on a weekday in her regular clothes without a helmet.

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Toronto Cycle Chic

Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country

Toronto saw some amazing weather this past long weekend, and Han and I didn’t waste any time in getting out on our bikes. We took our dog Mojo out to Cherry beach using our bike chariot on Friday, and we rode to Chinatown on Sunday for a tasty dim sum feast.

This isn’t out of the ordinary for myself, but it is an accomplishment for Han because she doesn’t normally feel very comfortable riding on the streets in Toronto alongside traffic. We managed to find some quiet side streets however, which made the ride more pleasant for her.

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to navigate across Toronto on side streets without being forced to take major detours – or ride the wrong way down one-way streets. Toronto was designed to keep automobile traffic away from residential streets (which is good) - but it unfortunately makes cycling on side-streets extremely inefficient since cyclists are generally bound to the same traffic restrictions as automobiles.

Cities that are more bicycle-friendly address this by providing contra-flow bike lanes on these one-way streets, or by building “bicycle boulevards” – streets that are designed to prevent automobiles from passing through, but provide direct cross-town routes for cyclists.

Cycle tracks on arterial roads would be even better – but as long as cyclists can be given safe, direct routes to where they need to go, that is all I can ask for.

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In spirit of the “Cycle Chic” movement – popularized by Mikael Colville-Andersen on his website “Copenhagen Cycle Chic” – I snapped a few photos of Han on her cruiser:

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