patc

Ottawa is infamous for its discontinuous streets. None of this "West" and "East" business for us, oh no, we just interrupt a street and pick it up again later with the same name. Well today I was going down apart of O'Connor I hadn't used before, and found that I couldn't get to the next block of from where I was. One lane turning right to Highway 417 westbound, one lane turning left to Highway 417 eastbound. Oh, wait a minute, there is a bike box between those lane! Yup, and a traffic signal marked "bikes only" with a green arrow pointing straight ahead. Saved me a big detour.

That was on the way to a meeting. On the way back I hit construction on Pretoria Bridge. One lane closed, the remaining lane narrow. There was a nice big sign, "Narrow Lane, Do Not Pass Bicycles." Thank you city hall.

I love this city.

jumpr

I've heard Calgary is also a great place to live and to bike. It was rated the most livable city in the world recently. I'm not sure how livable the winters are.

Roody

That's nice, pat. It must be nice to live in a civilized country.

But what's a bike box? Do only female bikes have them?

patc

A bike box is basically a mini bike lane that exists at an intersection only, to give cyclists a place to wait at the light. Its often combined with bike-only traffic signals. In the case I mentioned, where would you wait for the bikes-only green light to go through? There is a left-turning lane and a right-turning lane, there is no lane for through traffic. So you add a bike box between the two turn lanes.

There may be other uses for bike boxes, but that's the one I'm familiar with.

jumpr

We've got a few of those here in Ann Arbor (the bike lane tends to split the turn lanes as they approach an intersection), but no bike-specific signals. I'd like to see one of those sometime.

Brad M

This is good news. I'm thinking of moving to Ottawa.

Erick L

Made a small trip to Ottawa this summer. Actually, mostly Gatineau park. It was great! I'm definitely going back to spend more time in both park and city. Besides, I want a custom Bertrand touring frame.

never

It's awesome here in Calgary. And the winters aren't too bad...better than when I was in the middle of the prairies. Plus with the Chinooks, we can have a 20degC day in the middle of winter fairly regularly.

I also saw on the City of Calgary website that Calgary has the most extensive urban pathway/bikeway network in North America...link

Boudicca

Every time I go to Ottawa in the summer and watch the bikes along the green, leafy Rideau Canal I wish I had brought my bike. Every time I go to Ottawa in the winter I just wish I was a million miles away.

smurfy

I've heard that Ottawa is the second coldest national capitol city in the world. How long do your winters last and are they brutally cold? Is there alot of bike riding and commuting going on? I'll bet it is beautiful there!

I've always wanted to visit Canada but it hasn't worked out yet. And not just across the border from Detroit where I used to live. (Sigh) maybe someday.

patc

Next time you're here in the summer, there is a bike rental place downtown.
Ottawa Rent-a-Bike They also sell off part of their fleet each fall, a good place to pick up a used bike. You can also try biking along the Ottawa River - the pathway goes along the base of Parliament Hill, once known as "Lover's Walk" that pathway has been in use since confederation.

patc

Our winter can get pretty cold, but even though I despise the cold its really not that bad. Many cyclists take the months of Nov-Mar off, but you'll see plenty of cyclists year round. I was only out a few times during the winter last year, but I plan to bike through the winter this year.

The Weather Network has data on Ottawa weather, the first chart shows normal max. and min. temperatures, as you can see its not that bad. The worst part of winter in Ottawa is the tendency for rapid and extreme weather changes: for example we often get a week of rain in January, but that can easily be followed by a day at -25C with a windchill of -30C. Our snow removal isn't bad. Under the proposed Ottawa Cycling plan designated bike routes would have a higher priority for plowing.

Roody

If the Republicans win the next election. . . .

Boudicca

I believe it is the third coldest now, ever since Kazakhstan moved its capital from cold Almaty to VERY COLD Astana. Number 1 is still Ulan Bator in Mongolia.

rajman

Calgary DOES have a very nice recreational bicycle pathway network, AND it is relatively easy to get around the 'gridded' core. But as someone living with calgary attempting to use a bike as my sole means of transportation, I would say that Calgary is terrible for cycling.

Recreational cycling, sure, but there is a reason why a significant fraction, if not the vast majority of cycle commuters in Calgary DRIVE to the bike path, and then ride the rest of the way in. If calgary was really that good as a cycling city, people would drive INSTEAD of cycling, instead of driving TO cycle.

Just my $0.02.

P.S. So far I have only taken the bus 1.5 times to work (I bought a winter bike - hard to carry a bike on a bike!!). The late fall has been pretty good for cycling.

never

I think a lot of it is that the city is spread out so if you live on the outskirts, it can be a fairly long ride to the downtown core. My commute is 20km one way from the far NW to downtown. I personally wish it was further but a couple of other people I work with, who live near me, drive to a lot along the path because they think it is too far to ride all of the way. I think a lot of other people feel the same way as they do.

From where I live, I have many different options to get to work. If I take one route, I can ride on the same pathway along the Bow all the way from Stoney Trail right to downtown (at 10th ST), and the total time off of the path (i.e., on a street) would only be a few minutes. But I usually don't go that way because it's much quicker along the roads. If I want to ride the trail bike, I can make it almost all the way to work without riding on any pavement! I love the options I have for commuting to work! Maybe my location is a lot better than other people's?

I don't have a problem getting around the city, but I don't mind using the major roads, even during busy times...just ride assertively and aggressively. And if there aren't paths available, there is usually a good selection of low traffic streets to use.

skyrider

hey This is my first post. Hey Smurfy I live on the other side of the Detroit river Windsor ont. As kids we use to ride over the bridge and go to Tiger stadium or hang out at the arena and listen to concerts from the outside. I think it not so much as the cold of the Canadian winter but the WIND, its just nasty.