Waterloo Region Connected

When we lived at the Kaufman Lofts, someone broke into our bike room and stole 50+ bikes.  Mine was one of the ones spared!  A $1250 Trek Y-5, which I'd had since I was a teenager; my first big purchase from my first after-school job!  Sentimental.

Then, we moved out and into a house.  A week after moving into our home, that bike was stolen out of our shed.  So I feel the pain.

(A week later, someone actually stole my block heater cord while my car was plugged in.)

Apart from the mass theft scenario, in general the best deterrent is the same as for the bear-in-the-woods strategy (don't worry about how fast the bear runs, just make sure you are with someone who runs slower than you do). In this case, if your bike does not look like an attractive target (doesn't look expensive/resellable, difficult to steal), the thief will generally move on to the next target.

Just remember: Bikes have serial numbers embedded below the Bottom Bracket (the thing through which your pedals connect to each other). Flip your bike over and write it down someplace... hell, post it on the forum (Hi there, I'm SA70838438). Bikes do get recovered, and the police will return yours to you if you've reported it stolen.

(( also, you can check your serial number against the federal database of stolen vehicles at the Canadian Police Information Centre: http://app.cpic-cipc.ca/English/searchformbikes.cfm ))

With the prevalence of smartphones and digital cameras it's easy to take a few pictures of your bike and keep them somewhere, including the serial numbers. Older bikes have them in other places on the frames sometimes.

The system only works if the bike is found again. One of our bikes was stolen over the summer and duly reported with the serial number. We've had nothing reported back to us yet.

Zeller Drive Bike Lane Implementation
http://www.kitchener.ca/en/Calendar/Down...92a69e5972

RECOMMENDATIONS:
That on-street bicycle lanes be installed on both sides of Zeller Drive from
Pebblecreek Drive to Wild Meadow Street and sharrows be installed on both sides
of Zeller Drive between Wild Meadow Street and Lackner Boulevard; and further,

That on-street parking be prohibited on the west side of Zeller Drive between Wild
Meadow Street and Pebblecreek Drive; and further,

That on-street parking be prohibited on the west side of Zeller Drive between
Lackner Boulevard and a point 90 metres north thereof; and further,

That the Uniform Traffic Bylaw be amended accordingly

(11-28-2016, 10:13 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: [ -> ]Zeller Drive Bike Lane Implementation
http://www.kitchener.ca/en/Calendar/Down...92a69e5972

RECOMMENDATIONS:
...
sharrows be installed on both sides
of Zeller Drive between Wild Meadow Street and Lackner Boulevard; and further,
...

Ahh, wonderful, more sharrows.  The war on cars is going well.

It seems that Zeller Dr is the overflow parking for the church.

They're basically installing the sharrows and bike lanes in the reversed locations. The sharrows are going on the end of Zeller closer to Lackner, where there will be more traffic. Meanwhile, the bike lanes are going into the interior of the neighbourhood, which will see much less through traffic. The bike lanes are at least arguably close to two schools, but don't actually connect all the way.

I'm assuming Google maps correct in this area and Zeller Dr has this weird discontinuity? Also, how there is both a Zeller Cres and Zeller Dr? Does these sort of things not confuse people?

(11-30-2016, 03:05 PM)curiouschair Wrote: [ -> ]I'm assuming Google maps correct in this area and Zeller Dr has this weird discontinuity? Also, how there is both a Zeller Cres and Zeller Dr? Does these sort of things not confuse people?

Not to mention, "Old Zeller"....

(11-30-2016, 03:05 PM)curiouschair Wrote: [ -> ]I'm assuming Google maps correct in this area and Zeller Dr has this weird discontinuity? Also, how there is both a Zeller Cres and Zeller Dr? Does these sort of things not confuse people?

I see somebody who has never travelled around Country Hills.

(12-01-2016, 02:44 PM)Chicopee Wrote: [ -> ][...] IMO, Old Zeller should remain the same name all the way to Fairway, but maybe my thinking is too logical.

That seems logical to me!

I wish they would experiment with the Copenhagen-style of bike line here in Waterloo Region. It has a number of advantages: being inside the parking lane (and also typically having a reasonable buffer between parked cars and the bike lane) reduces the risk of dooring, being inside of the parking lane and having a curb in other situations reduces the chances of vehicles parking in the bike lane, and being inside the parking lane provides separation from car traffic making the lane feel safer. I can see having a curb potentially making snow clearing more difficult, but even without a curb, positioning it so that street parking is to the left of the bike lane instead of to the right would still be an improvement in a lot of situations.

(12-03-2016, 08:36 AM)jamincan Wrote: [ -> ]I wish they would experiment with the Copenhagen-style of bike line here in Waterloo Region. It has a number of advantages: being inside the parking lane (and also typically having a reasonable buffer between parked cars and the bike lane) reduces the risk of dooring, being inside of the parking lane and having a curb in other situations reduces the chances of vehicles parking in the bike lane, and being inside the parking lane provides separation from car traffic making the lane feel safer. I can see having a curb potentially making snow clearing more difficult, but even without a curb, positioning it so that street parking is to the left of the bike lane instead of to the right would still be an improvement in a lot of situations.

I believe the King St. streetscape project includes bike lanes of this type.  Also, sans the car parking, portions of Manitou are also getting segregated lanes, and they are planned for several other roads in the region.  It seems we are starting to dabble with them, but they still could use work, we still need to more reliably make the right choice on bike lanes, and there is still zero provision for bikes at intersections.

There's a short stretch of Northfield that I was riding on today for the first time in years, between Davenport and University, it looked pretty recent. The design is the same as Blair Road with the occasional bollard and some paint but it was far smoother than the car lanes along there.  Turns out TriTag wrote about it last year so I guess that is why it's news to me. Traffic wasn't busy so going back into mixed traffic wasn't a problem but it could get tricky if it were busy. Still it's a nice connector