Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

So, this discussion is a bit off track, I'm not sure if there's a thread about signals. But since it came through my youtube feed, I thought this was worth posting.

Now keep in mind, when I was speaking with the traffic signal engineers at ATAC, I wasn't asking for this, or anything remotely like this. I literally asked them to consider doing what Ottawa, a peer city, in the same province, under the same regulations, and probably using the same signal equipment is doing. Nothing crazy, nothing unusual, that's how little they care to change.

On the other hand, there's this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X34cVZg3TMA where the Ontario Traffic Man describes the phases at a standard Dutch intersection (T-intersection for cars, full intersection for buses). It's a bit much. Very complicated, but amazingly efficient, safe and effective. Low wait times for all users, protected phases for all users, priority phases for buses. We could have all this. This is a fully car supportive place. Cars are not banned here, restricted here, or anything.

Still, it's amazing to see how well this infrastructure works.

[dtkvictim]

Always good when Ontario Traffic Man uploads. His video on red light clearance timing is one of my favourite videos, and a great introduction for people who usually aren't interested in this stuff.

[ac3r]

This one is extremely good too: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9SxHNgeia60

[Acitta]

Waterloo Regional Police Locate a Bicycle "Chop Shop" at a Kitchener Residence near King & Green.

[Square]

Waterloo Regional Police Locate a Bicycle "Chop Shop" at a Kitchener Residence near King & Green.

Let me guess and say the old church at that corner?  Last week on my walk, I saw like 10 people there with all these fancy bikes.

[Acitta]

Waterloo Regional Police Partner with 529 Garage to Assist in Lost or Stolen Bicycle Recovery Efforts

Waterloo Regional Police Partner with 529 Garage to Assist in Lost or Stolen Bicycle Recovery Efforts
Posted on: Tuesday August 5
Location: Waterloo Region
The Waterloo Regional Police Service is proud to partner with 529 Garage in an effort to help recover and return lost or stolen bicycles to their rightful owners.

529 Garage, a free bicycle registration program, encourages Waterloo Region residents to register their bicycles at project529.com by uploading key details such as the bicycles serial number, photos, and ownership information. If a registered bicycle is ever stolen, owners can log in to their 529 Garage account to report it and trigger a community-wide alert. This alert notifies other users in the area to be on the lookout, increasing the chances of recovery.

“Between 2019 and 2024, over 5,400 bikes were reported stolen in Waterloo Region, with only 432 successfully recovered,” said Mark Crowell, Chief of Police. “By partnering with 529 Garage, we’re adding another valuable tool to our efforts - one that empowers the community, supports our officers, and increases the chances of recovering stolen bicycles.”

In addition to submitting a report to WRPS, registering a bike with 529 Garage provides law enforcement with essential details to aid in recovery. Police officers also have access to 529 Garage’s system, allowing them to match found or seized bikes with their rightful owners.

529 Garage also maintains a public database of found bicycles, which users can monitor for potential matches. If a match is found, the owner can reach out to the person who submitted the tip to begin the recovery process.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service will be attending the Hydrocut Trail in Kitchener on August 7, 2025, to launch 529 Garage.

For more information or to register your bike, visit project529.com.

[Bob_McBob]

Everyone knows stolen bicycles go straight to one of the local chop shops to have the serial number removed and be painted and parted out. WRPS doesn't give a shit about them, and I doubt they were involved in many of those 432 recoveries. I've seen many cases where people knew exactly where their bikes were and WRPS refused to assist. I doubt this service is going to change that.

[dtkvictim]

Everyone knows stolen bicycles go straight to one of the local chop shops to have the serial number removed and be painted and parted out. WRPS doesn't give a shit about them, and I doubt they were involved in many of those 432 recoveries. I've seen many cases where people knew exactly where their bikes were and WRPS refused to assist. I doubt this service is going to change that.

I'm sure the police will come into possession of a handful of bikes each year that are registered and can be return through this, so it's better than nothing at least.

But you're right that if any effort beyond that is needed, they are useless. I know multiple people who have found their stolen goods, including bikes, and the police will 1) not assist, and 2) tell you not to try and get it back. In at least some of the cases the people I know have had success by showing up with a group and intimidating the people in possession of the stolen goods (not usually the original thief) into handing it over.

[Acitta]

Everyone knows stolen bicycles go straight to one of the local chop shops to have the serial number removed and be painted and parted out. WRPS doesn't give a shit about them, and I doubt they were involved in many of those 432 recoveries. I've seen many cases where people knew exactly where their bikes were and WRPS refused to assist. I doubt this service is going to change that.

My former housemate had a scooter-style ebike stolen and found it for sale on Facebook Marketplace. The cops told him they would check it out when they get around to it. He then got a couple of friends to go with him and convinced the seller (who was not the one who stole it) that it might be better for his health if he gave it back.  Anyhow, I have had my bikes registered with 529 Garage for years. I had to go to Guelph to find a bike shop selling the stickers because the Guelph police got on to this years ago.

[Bob_McBob]

The lack of public education about crossrides is becoming very concerning. Municipalities are using them more and more for cycling infrastructure, but most drivers don't seem to be aware they even exist. The City of Waterloo has some information buried in its cycling page, but I can't find anything on Kitchener, Cambridge, or the region's sites. And ontario.ca literally has one search result, from a 2018 MTO report. I am constantly seeing people in local Facebook groups complaining about cyclists not dismounting for clearly marked crossrides. I just watched a video of a child on a bike colliding with the side of a car that pulled out in front of them in a crossride, and everyone thinks they were riding on the sidewalk, when it's incredibly obvious they were in a crossride.

[creative]

The concept of cross rides is great but I particularly don’t like them. They are quite random on the Iron Horse and Spur Line trails. I can not always remember if crossing is a cross ride or not. A lot of them have blind spots where I cannot see if a car is coming or not. I almost always slow down and almost stop at all crossrides to be on the safe side. I hesitate before I am sure that drivers coming in both direction have seen me and are slowing down. I also don’t like how they are signed to stop for pedestrians and not pedestrians and cyclists, unless I’m missing something. Trying to educate drivers to newer concepts, when they can’t follow other long existing rule, is probably futile. Defensive driver, defensive cyclist and defensive pedestrian here.

[Bob_McBob]

The concept of cross rides is great but I particularly don’t like them. They are quite random on the Iron Horse and Spur Line trails. I can not always remember if crossing is a cross ride or not. A lot of them have blind spots where I cannot see if a car is coming or not. I almost always slow down and almost stop at all crossrides to be on the safe side. I hesitate before I am sure that drivers coming in both direction have seen me and are slowing down. I also don’t like how they are signed to stop for pedestrians and not pedestrians and cyclists, unless I’m missing something. Trying to educate drivers to newer concepts, when they can’t follow other long existing rule, is probably futile. Defensive driver, defensive cyclist and defensive pedestrian here.

Case in point: You're talking about pedestrian crossovers, not crossrides. Crossrides are the elephant foot crossings you see along MUTs at parking lot entrances and intersections. They often have extra painted markings for cyclists, and some intersections even have cyclist-specific signals. Cyclists have the right of way and don't have to dismount to cross them.

https://www.durham.ca/en/living-here/crossrides.aspx

Also, you're technically supposed to dismount at pedestrian crossovers, though few cyclists do along the IHT. IHT crossings are inconsistent because the region refuses to allow pedestrian crossovers on regional roads. Current provincial law doesn't allow a crossride to be installed alongside a pedestrian crossover, but the City of Kitchener left extra space to install them if that ever changes.

[bravado]

I’m just gonna put this out there: I’m a pretty consistent cyclist and I genuinely don’t know or care what a crossride is.

I’m going to use crossings in the way that makes sense to me and I’m definitely not going to dismount and walk to follow a law that puts me at risk so it can keep total liabilities down.

Real jurisdictions don’t waste time with this arguing about paint, they just build it right the first time and with dignity built-in for everyone using the public space.

When it comes to drivers and pedestrians, they never have to choose between following the law or being safe… only cyclists need to be engineering and legal experts just to go to the store.

[dtkvictim]

I'm in favour of crossrides, but I think the current implementations are often unsafe (even worse than many of our pedestrians crossings already are). They really need to be combined with protected turn signals. Although that doesn't excuse being ignorant of their existence entirely, which seems to be the case for many who haven't stepped foot on a sidewalk/MUT since MUTs and crossrides came into existence.



I've noticed on a lot of regional roads that trails on the left side of a road have a dangerous interaction with left turning vehicles where the cyclist is coming at a relatively high speed from behind a vehicle waiting to turn. Regional roads often being 2-3 lanes wide means that 1) a vehicle waiting to turn has a lot more to pay attention to in the oncoming lanes, and 2) it's very unlikely to see an approaching bicycle in your left side mirror unlike with a right turn where the trail should be in your mirror. Obviously a shoulder check should be done, but in some of the large regional intersections it might not be obvious that there is a crossride on the far side of your left turn which affects what sort of traffic motorists are checking for.



When I'm biking in this situation I usually just slow down on my approach and miss the light on purpose, so that I can cross from a fresh signal when I have through traffic to protect me and left turners have had time to see me waiting. But I wish I didn't need to do that.

Case in point: You're talking about pedestrian crossovers, not crossrides. Crossrides are the elephant foot crossings you see along MUTs at parking lot entrances and intersections. They often have extra painted markings for cyclists, and some intersections even have cyclist-specific signals. Cyclists have the right of way and don't have to dismount to cross them.

I've learned that a lot of people (both motorists and pedestrians) don't know the difference between a yellow (warning) and white (regulatory) pedestrian sign, so we have an uphill battle here.

Actually while looking for a picture of the yellow pedestrian sign that I was going to embed here I came across this situation from Timmins: https://www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ontario/...ty-police/

Not only did CTV use a yellow sign for the article, when I believe it should be a white regulatory "stop for pedestrians" sign, the City of Timmins AND the police both made facebook posts about it using the yellow warning sign. Now I wonder what they actually installed... But I can't find a photo of it. 

[Bob_McBob]

I've learned that a lot of people (both motorists and pedestrians) don't know the difference between a yellow (warning) and white (regulatory) pedestrian sign, so we have an uphill battle here.

A lot of drivers don't know the difference between a crosswalk and a pedestrian crossover, but the Ontario government provides enough information about them that drivers reasonably should know how to behave at them. Crossrides might as well not exist at the city, regional, and provincial levels, but there are hundreds of them on trails all over Waterloo Region. There's no ontario.ca page about cycling I can link to that explains crossrides, and they aren't covered in the HTA or driver's handbook. I don't expect people to slog through several pages of OTM Book 18 to understand what they are. I follow local driving groups on Facebook and constantly have to explain what a crossride is while people jeer at cyclists riding across them for "breaking the law". Many people simply won't accept that they exist because of the lack of information from official sources.