Thread by @LdnOntBikeCafe

I'm at the Cycling Advisory Committee meeting at City Hall. It's public, and the agenda is posted below. Meeting started at 4PM, will run until ~6:30.
pub-london.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?I…

Alright, time for monthly update. We had an enormously long CAC meeting, and it was incredibly important. Tonight we made #LdnOnt's first Climate Emergency recommendations, based on sound science, and existing City policies. Long thread ahead 🧵 2/n

First, I'm totally drained, and holding a sleeping baby, so please forgive any typographical errors or interruptions in story flow... I'll get this done before midnight, probably. 3/n

If midnight isn't your timeline, the most important thing tonigh was the Cycling Master Plan Review. Check out agenda report 4.2 (linked in original tweet) or view the slide deck here: docs.google.com/presentation/d… 4/n

Also on agenda were staff updates on misc cycling projects, a useful (but technical) review of bicycle parking requirements in zoning code, an update on the city's brand new bike count website, a discussion on residential speed limits, and an update from sport & rec subcte. 5/n

Start w/ misc bike updates. We didn't get info in advance from staff, so I'm going a bit from memory. 1-org chart showing bikes embedded into way too many City depts - need an Active Transport dept to center mobility staff, need sport cycling separate, perhaps in tourism? 6/n

2 - bike share! maybe coming spring 2020 to downtown/soho/oev/wortley/blackfriars/old north. western not included; city can't install docks on their property. still in consult phase, nothing concrete. expect an update this winter. 7/n

2.1 - bike share! @london_chrisp asked good q about infrastructure. we have no infrastructure, where will bikesharers ride? Also unclear from staff *why* we are doing bike share, what problem does it solve? I know the answer, would be nice to hear articulated by proponents 8/n

@london_chrisp 3 - The City also has a new bike map. It was subcontracted to Fanshawe students, and subsequently looks like a student project. The City wouldn't skip hiring a professional cartographer on any other official maps, so why cheap out on this one? 9/n

@london_chrisp 3 - Want to look? Really? OK here's the link. It has five different colour categories for unprotected infrastructure, and makes the City appear far more bikeable than it is. Bright red high contrast route? Just signed, no infrastructure. 10/n london.ca/residents/Road…

@london_chrisp 3 - Perhaps the worst illustrated is our best infrastructure. The Thames Valley Parkway runs basically end to end E-W, and is considered one route by the community. Nobody thinks of the west side of the flood wall at Harris Park as TVP, do they? 11/n

@london_chrisp 3 - And finally, that huge TVP extension and bridge over the CN tracks that nobody can find after they get to Pottersburg dog park? Yeah, not on the map as continuous route. Why??? 12/n

@london_chrisp 3 - Our map shows what's connected, and AAA. Use it for people from out of town, please! Also, psst, scan the QR code and it layers nicely on your phone. londonbicyclecafe.com/map

@london_chrisp 4 - Next we took a deep dive into zoning bylaws for bike parking. While there were some cringe worthy moments about parking minimums, I feel much more equipped to evaluate the planning applications we receive to review. 14/n

@london_chrisp 5 - Transportation shared their brand new open data website for bike counters (published today). TVP data not included, unfortunately. data.eco-counter.com/ParcPublic/?id… 15/n

@london_chrisp 5 - Quick, someone in #LdnOntBike do something cool with the data like @yycbike_count! 16/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count 6 - Discussion about 30 km/h residential speed limits. Our committee wasn't consulted (perhaps previous one was), and given the staff report goes against best cycling infrastructure practices AND the City's Vision Zero policy, we wanted some answers. 17/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count 6 - Staff's response can be boiled down to: they recommended 40 km/h because of mythical speed differential between bad actors and compliant street users. They admitted they could design streets for 30, but won't for unknown reasons. Why @Love30ca? 👇 18/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca 6 - Essentially this is an admission of failure. Staff, paraphrased: "We can't set speed limits to safe speeds because people will break posted limit, and we're unwilling to design better streets or use enforcement to generate compliance." utter @VisionZeroCA failure. 19./n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA 6 - Since council already voted down 30 km/h in residential neighbouroods, we can't procedurally make that recommendation again until next year. So, CAC submitted a motion to Civic Works asking for a timeline to get to 30 km/h. Well done @JamiesonRoberts and @london_chrisp 20/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts 7 - We discussed bike parking rec's for quantity and quality at a new rental property in Old North. 21/n (and we're still not half done... )

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts 8 - Quick update from Sport and Rec committee, anticipate lots of good things happening there. Would be really fun to see some high profile races here in town. 22/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts 9 - Now onto the good stuff. But first, a quick change, feed, and storytime. #LdnOntBike Cycling Master Plan Review. 🚲
Presentation: docs.google.com/presentation/d…
Report: pub-london.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash…

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts Back. With tea. That wasn't bad for time. Now let's talk about data and details. 24/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts Last month the CAC struck a Working Group to review the Cycling Master Plan (CMP). Five of us did the review work, and presented it to the broader committee today. The reason for the review is two policy documents passed since CMP: 1) climate emergency, and 2) Vision Zero. 25/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts Here's the timeline & rationale. Because we have declared a Climate Emergency, we have the awareness of the problem we face, and recognize our own role in solving it. We also have some powerful tools to solve the problem. Hint: they have two wheels, and are definitely bikes.
26/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts The @CityofLdnOnt keeps a fantastic GHG inventory. This work would be impossible without it. The simple story is that transportation is responsible for most of our GHG emissions. 70% personal vehicles, 30% freight. 27/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt We also have a Transportation Master Plan - which calls for 60% of traffic to be automobiles, 20% transit, 5% bikes, 10% walking, and 5% other by 2030. Compared to status quo, it's better. But is it enough? We did some mathematical modeling to find out. 28/m

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt Our model calculated what the carbon footprint from the TMP if London grows in population by ~20% or 40% by 2030.
Drumroll...
Scenario A (~20% growth): -4% total emissions
Scenario B (~40% growth): +10% ... uh oh.
29/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt We exceed our *total* GHG budget in both scenarios (our budget for a 1.5C world is ~1925 kt CO2e), by 45% & 55% respectively. This means that a) transportation is where our short term emissions gains need to come from, and b) our current plan will fail to achieve those cuts. 30/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt But wait, what about electric vehicles? Nuh uh. Even with 100% EV adoption, we fail to meet our targets. Why? EV's take far more energy to manufacture, so they're only about *50%* as damaging as gasoline cars, not 100% as commonly assumed. 31/n iea.org/publications/r…

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt So what's a City to do? Electric cars won't save us, and electrifying cars doesn't change that they take up too much space, are parked 97% of the time (also taking space), and make streets dangerous for people walking and cycling. 32/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt The answer, of course, is mode shift. Changing modal splits from automobile-dominant, to automobile-lite *solves the problem*. Without electrification, ~20% of trips can be made by car and have us hit all our targets. 33/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt Adding the IEA's predicted electrification (~25% by 2030) on top of changing mode splits offers some different pathways. We recommended one of the simplest, most reasonable pathways to GHG targets for further study:
25% - auto
35% - transit
25% - bike
10% - walk
5% - other
34/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt Considering this proposed change in mode splits for 2030, there are large financial gains for being first to act. We calculated if we act earlier than other cities, we stand to greatly benefit up to $75M/year in carbon dividends by 2030. Infrastructure pays for itself. 35/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt The math above answers the question "what should our 2030 mode splits be?", and raises the question: "how do we achieve those mode splits?" Since we are cycling advisory (and transit has its own group) we only addressed bikes: Build safe streets, for all ages and abilities. 36/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt The @CityofLdnOnt adopted @VisionZeroCA as policy in 2017, which @KostelecPlan elegantly describes as: "To err is human. To forgive, design. When humans fail, the transportation system should not. That’s Vision Zero boiled down to its most basic concept." 37/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt Thank you, @colvilleandersn for the (very) timely updated hazard avoidance chart for urban cycling.

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan Other winter cities have already built forgiving street systems, and as a result, people ride their bikes all year round. Copenhagen has ~40% mode share in January. It's ugly there, too. Dark. Cold. Rain. Snow. Sounds like #LdnOnt, but more bikes. 38/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan How do we get to ~25% bicycle mode share? By activating the Interested But Concerned. We know that in every city, there is a huge group of people who want to ride, but are (rightly) afraid of sharing the road with fast cars. With virtual certainty, #LdnOnt *not* an outlier. 39/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan How do we get IBC's to ride? By providing safe, connected on-street infrastructure. We sought guidance from @CityofVancouver's design guides, which are frankly, amazing. Simply written, well illustrated, expertly designed. 40/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver As a result of its expert planning and investment, Vancouver has doubled its bike mode share in recent years to ~8% of all trips, with well-served neighbourhoods approaching 20%. ps - it *sucks* to ride in Vancouver's rainy winter, which lasts from ~October-April. 41/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver OK, so that's great, we know what we need: 25% bike mode share. We know how to do it: AAA bike infrastructure. How are we doing as a City getting toward those targets? ... not great. Of the projects planned for the next 4 years, only 4% are AAA grade. 42/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver We even went a bit further and looked at other cities' bike plans. Turns out most of them are *much* better than ours at infrastructure design, evaluation metrics, and understanding potential ridership and demographics. 43/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver So what did we conclude?
vs Climate Emergency: insufficient GHG reductions
vs Vision Zero: inconsistent with safe systems
vs Other Cities: metrics, demographics, infrastructure and opportunities lacking.
44/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver While writing reports and doing some preliminary modeling are fine exercises, addressing climate disruption can't be done without action. Our city's CAC doesn't actually have any authority, all we can do is make recommendations to council. So we did. Seven rec's in total. 45/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver 1- evaluate GHG/climate emergency implications of transport and land use policies
2- overhaul cycling master plan to focus exclusively on AAA infrastructure
3- develop & fund an Active Transportation Strategy $50/person/year ~$20M/year
46/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver 4- Temporary minimum bike grid installed by 2021
5- Consult w/@VisionZeroCA on safe systems
6- Moratorium on all non-transit/bike related road widening
7- 30 km/h residential speed limit on all local/connector streets.
47/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver Each of these recommendations speaks to the urgency and scale of build-out required in a true emergency, which is what we're in. None of these will seem the least bit outrageous in 2030 looking back - they'll seem modest and we'll think "oh we were so quaint". 48/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver Perhaps most importantly, all of the recommendations are negative-cost, or at minimum cost neutral. The City has $75M/year budgeted for road widening over five years. $225M can build a safe and mostly complete bike grid for any city London's size. 49/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver From report: Reallocating half of the road widening budget would fund the entire city-wide cycling network’s capital cost by 2025, and leave the other half to improve transit, insulate buildings, or do literally anything else that would not exacerbate the climate emergency. 50/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver We clearly don't have a resources problem to solve the climate emergency, we have a prioritization problem. This much is clear from the data we generated in this report. 51/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver Finally as the presentation closed, the authors of the report each gave an impact statement about why they spent three weeks of sleepless nights working on a thankless volunteer project, researching, sourcing, writing, editing, sharing ideas 52/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver I read one of the other author's statement on his behalf since he couldn't make the meeting, and then totally broke down crying reading my own. Rosie and Caroline were in the gallery, and Rosie gave me a little chirp hello while I was talking, and that was too much for me. 👇53/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver The recommendations in our report all passed our committee unanimously, with one minor change (thanks @fallenight for the transit/bike widening wording). This means the report and its recommendations will go to City Council via Civic Works Committee. 54/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight Thank you so much to everyone who came to show your support tonight. I realize that the meeting went so long that many of you had to leave early, but you were noticed, and appreciated. Particularly when Doug had to move to the main table because the room was too full! 55/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight So where do we go from here? We have a clearly identified problem: getting our mode splits to climate-appropriate values, a pathway: AAA bike infrastructure across the city (plus transit), and a funding mechanism: road widening moratorium. But that's not enough. We need YOU. 56/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight As we've seen with the residential speed limits, and other council resolutions, data doesn't convince our current council. We need to show up. We'll have more on this in the next couple days, so flex your letter writing muscles, & stretch your gallery sitting muscles. 57/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight Most importantly right now is that we need to talk. Together. With each other. And have adult conversations about how to solve our big existential problem right now, which is the climate emergency. 58/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight When you share our slide deck/report, you're helping. When you talk to a friend about it, you're helping. When you show up to a @WATS_UWO or @CycleLdnont meeting (especially if it's your first time, you're helping. 59/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight @WATS_UWO @CycleLdnont When you write to your city councilor, you're helping. When you show up at Committee or Council Meetings (we'll post when the agenda is out), you're helping. 60/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight @WATS_UWO @CycleLdnont We've shown with cold hard data how London's climate transition is not only possible, but affordable. It will build a better city, where kids can bike to school safely, where people can be more mobile, & we can still choose to drive when we want to not because we *need to*. 61/n

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver @fallenight @WATS_UWO @CycleLdnont So I think this is where I say: "Thank you for coming to my TED talk." We're going to bed after another midnight snack, with more to come in the next couple days. There isn't any more time to waste, so let's get to work on the biggest problem we've ever had to solve.

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt @KostelecPlan @CityofVancouver Vancouver's "commuter" bike mode share is even higher, and doubled to 12% of all work trips. Simply outstanding.

https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1119398387655200770?s=20

@london_chrisp @yycbike_count @Love30ca @VisionZeroCA @JamiesonRoberts @CityofLdnOnt We take a shallow dive into this concept in our report, but broadly accepted European estimates of 50% reduction as a "reasonable estimate". Construction of a Tesla S battery takes ~17T CO2e, or equivalent to 3-5 years of gasoline car's tailpipe emissions.

Finally, a huge thank you to the working group who tirelessly and doggedly pursued data, wrote into the night, and made a beautiful, consumable document and presentation. Working group was: @ct_degroot, @rhbike, @JamiesonRoberts, and Ben Hill. Pleasure to work with all of you.

Cycling advisory committee members @london_chrisp, @fallenight, Ernie Raftis and @CraigLinton2 also contributed to discussion, although our chair Craig had to depart early due to a coaching commitment at the @forestcityvelo. Thanks all.