I saw these installed on the Arbutus Greenway today. This doesn’t look in any form wheelchair, stroller, one wheel, skate board or bike friendly to me at all.

Is there any practical reason to build those barriers to justify making life harder for above mentioned groups?

  • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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    2211 months ago

    More speed bumps on a bike path/pedestrian path than on roads? Whoever did this absolutely hates non-motorized transportation.

    I’d remove them myself if I lived there.

    OP, get in touch with your Active Transportation Advisory Committee and see if they are even aware of this. I’m sure they wouldn’t have agreed to it.

    • Otter
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      911 months ago

      Yea I get wanting some users to slow down, but this must be annoying or impossible for wheelchair users and people with strollers. Bad implementation regardless

    • @Springtime@lemmy.caOP
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      11 months ago

      Thank you!

      I’ve sent them an email to inquire about the purpose of these speedbumps and why there are so many of them.

      This really seems to be ridiculous.

      • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        I’m sure they’ll come back with “to slow down people on e-bikes and e-scooters”, but those things are so anti-everyone else that they really shouldn’t be there. EDIT: The speed bumps, not e-bikes and e-scooters!

        If you don’t get answers or the answer is silly, try to get in contact with the Accessibility Advisory Committee.

    • @SurpriseCandid8978@lemmy.ca
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      411 months ago

      Since I use that path , I agree with the speed bumps ppl rip it hard on that and it does make it hairy for walkers, etc

      I’ve never seen wheelchairs there before. There is a 3% incline there. So I wouldn’t expect many to use it anyways because of that

  • Victor Villas
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    11 months ago

    Hey OP, turns out HUB already made some questions, and the answer is even weirder than one would imagine: https://mastodon.social/@anthonyfloyd/111774518967683022

    These speed bumps were installed on the section of the greenway between 7th and 8th Ave, by the Broadway Subway team. That section of the greenway is officially closed to people on bikes, although the signage communicating that has been quite poor. Apparently the Project received complaints about cycling on that stretch.

    HUB reached out to the Project team when we were notified about the installation of the speedbumps for clarification. The clarifications were:

    1. This section is indeed closed to people on bikes. People on bikes should detour to Yew or Cypress St
    2. This section is not closed to pedestrians
    3. Better signage will be installed

    We pointed out how odd this was, as well as calling out the speedbumps as being problematic for ppl w/ mobility devices/challenges.

    At any rate, this is a stretch of the greenway that goes nowhere because the greenway between 8th and B/Way is completely closed. 8th Ave itself is being used as a truck route for the project, so having fewer people around there in general (whether or on bike or not) makes sense from a construction safety perspective.

    In the end, I think we’d prefer that the closure was better indicated (gated? fenced?) the detour better signed, and that any measures were equitable for all people.

    The intention is for it to be inaccessible. The Broadway Project considers that stretch closed for construction purposes. I don’t understand why they consider it closed for people on bikes but not pedestrians.

    I do think that they hoped that people on bikes just wouldn’t ride there because it goes nowhere, so they didn’t put much effort into visible “closing” it. That seems to reflect a misunderstanding of human nature. /shrug

    So in the end this is overall lazy thinking from the Subway Project team, pending a better resolution.

    • @baconisaveg@lemmy.ca
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      211 months ago

      That section of the greenway is officially closed to people on bikes … the Project received complaints about cycling on that stretch.

      Sounds about right.

  • chiisanaA
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    11 months ago

    Doesn’t the diamond shape mean HOV lane, or am I super confused?

    Edit: per ICBC (pdf warning), the diamond marking means reserved lane and additional symbols will dictate what the lane is reserved for. Cool!

      • chiisanaA
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        311 months ago

        For cars or not is merely a recommendation as demonstrated by Richmond drivers.

        ^/s ^if ^it ^wasn’t ^obvious

        • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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          211 months ago

          Oh, ffs. What the hell is wrong with drivers?

          I’m in Ontario and witnessed the same. The driver said “they didn’t know where they’re going”, I was like, “well, I’m sure it’s not supposed to be the pedestrian trail!”.

  • @awwwyissss@lemm.ee
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    611 months ago

    If fast bikers slowed down near groups and warned on approach this wouldn’t be necessary.

    I get that it’s frustrating to have pedestrians sharing one of the only good places you can get exercise, but endangering people isn’t the answer.

    • @baconisaveg@lemmy.ca
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      411 months ago

      I used to live across from a school in Edmonton. It was a 30kph stretch for about 600m, and the road narrowed from ~14.5m to ~11m, with cars parked on both sides of the road. Do you think cars slowed down? Of course not. And any mention of it on Reddit was an instant swarm of down votes from entitled people.

      Cyclists are no different, a few bad apples spoil the entire barrel.

      • @awwwyissss@lemm.ee
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        111 months ago

        Yeah. Cars and their infrastructure are wildly inefficient and dangerous, not only because they bring out the worst in people. At least bikes can’t kill as easily and cyclists are more connected to their surroundings, but yeah there are dangerous people on bikes that ruin it for everyone else.

        Blows my mind when I see cyclists flying past pedestrians. Like… even if they’re a sociopath who doesn’t care they’re making people very uncomfortable, that kid makes a sudden move to the left as they pass and they’ll spend years in prison for manslaughter.

  • Victor Villas
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    511 months ago

    Vancouver hates skateboards, they’ll never be accounted for in any decision-making.

    Why spend money on placing separations between the lanes if you can use those same dollars in a car-brain compatible way

      • ֆᎮ⊰◜◟⋎◞◝⊱ֆᎮ
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        811 months ago

        Yes I know, it’s speed bumps for anyone not a pedestrian. It’s there to stop people on bikes, skateboards, etc from going fast through that area.

  • @survivalmachine@beehaw.org
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    311 months ago

    I have zero experience with one wheels or wheelchairs, but these would not even pose a minor inconvenience on my bike, skateboard, or pushing a stroller.

    As for why they’re there, do people often try to use large motorized vehicles on those paths, like cars, quads, or golf carts? Maybe this is trying to deter that.

  • Butterbee (She/Her)
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    311 months ago

    I’m at a complete loss for words. In a time where we should be making active modes of transport as easy, fast, convenient as possible they do this? I see there is a yield sign up ahead and I assume this is to stop cyclists from approaching too quickly but EVEN THEN why is it like 100m long and why are there six consecutive speedbumps when one at most would be more than enough to slow a cyclist down before the intersection?

    Wild Unfounded Conjecture: A distracted NIMBY in a 3 tonne SUV almost flattened a cyclist and went to city hall meetings to complain about how dangerous cyclists are.

    • @corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      111 months ago

      one at most would be more than enough

      Given budgetary constraints, the fact there are 6 is how I know 5 wouldn’t cut it.