I just solved the whole BRT/LRT issue

NEITHER!

continue building the current corridor. But it becomes a freeway instead.

no stops from start to end. fix the entry way somehow so that cars can easily enter and exit.

Our current streets see 10K less cars every morning and night at rush hour...(or whatever number it is 10K sounds pretty reasonable) the current streets become less used so a lane from pembina can be reserved at all times for bikes and buses only.

its freakin win win win win win win

Alternative idea: put a roof over the corridor and heat it, and provide many bicycles that can be picked up or dropped of at any exit year round. It takes about 20 min now to leisurely bike along the construction from Jubilee to QE on bike paths, so if this was an express climatized bike lane should take about 7 min. Would save millions and be healthier too.

actually... not sure the roof is needed properly cleaning when it snows.. just storage for the bikes at each end.. and they are already incorporating rather large shelters at each place. Anything above -15 is perfectly fine weather for most people to bike in.

I don't know...I like et's idea.
Long-term wise...it would reduce costs...because there would not be required the snow clearing component. At $80/hour for snow-clearing...that can add up to quite a bit of maintenance.

It would also reduce maintenance on the roadway...and help keep debris, and sun from damaging the pavement.

A lower-grade of pavement would be required too as there would not be as much weight on it.

I don't know about heating it though...perhaps just a glass/plexiglass roof and some walls/windbreaks along the sides to keep the debris & snow & weather out.

Could even "sell" sections along the route for advertising the way they've been doing with the transit buses.

2 miles of roof is perhaps expensive as well? Do people who bike want to bike indoors?

not saying its not a good idea, I just dont see the merits of the rood and such.

also... Winnipeg needs Freeways. One from the south to the city centre would be a fantastic start.

roofing wouldn't be too expensive...it could easily be covered by adjusting the pavement thickness being used for the buses...and the removal of required bus stops along the route.

even putting up walls with entry/exit points along the way would be inexpensive.

true enough, still not sure it would be used enough to have the impact on traffic volumes that a dedicated freeway would.

I'm a nice-weather biker,, and if it was somewhat enclosed (e.g. plexiglass) would make it more difficult to take away bikes. I think if there were plenty of bikes at each exit (100s, 1000s?) there would be lots of people using them, probably more fun than being squished into a streetcar too.

Maybe the car thieves would turn to stealing bikes? maybe if totally enclosed we could anesthetize them and capture them and throw their sorry asses in jail.

Could happen...

Deank wrote:also... Winnipeg needs Freeways. One from the south to the city centre would be a fantastic start.

Agreed 100%. We need some proper freeways before entertaining BRT/LRT and bicycle paths.

The current "bus" cooridor is going to make a fantastic freeway into downtown.

I seriously considering running for mayor on that platform

You guys are sure hard to please. They ARE expanding Cheef Pegwiss. Just think, in 2050 they'll complete the inner loop. Won't you be eating crow then naysayers!

grumpy old man wrote:You guys are sure hard to please. They ARE expanding Cheef Pegwiss. Just think, in 2050 they'll complete the inner loop. Won't you be eating crow then naysayers!

Ya and by then you will have to go fishing in the Gulf of Mexico if you want to find some fuel for you vehicle.

eViL tRoLl wrote:

grumpy old man wrote:You guys are sure hard to please. They ARE expanding Cheef Pegwiss. Just think, in 2050 they'll complete the inner loop. Won't you be eating crow then naysayers!

Ya and by then you will have to go fishing in the Gulf of Mexico if you want to find some fuel for you vehicle.

You still expect the ICE to be the main power source for personal vehicles by 2050? It should be long gone by then replaced most likely by electric and hydrogen powered vehicles. As oil supplies dry up and prices start going through the roof we will have no other choice. ICE's may go extinct but personal transportation isn't going anywhere. Petroleum products will be used only in applications where there is not other alternative (aircraft, ships, large trucks, agriculture etc.). Eventually even those applications will require some other power source (ie. algal fuels).

Let's start buiding freeways now for the clean personal transport of tomorrow

hear hear!

I like sam katz idea of bike freeways! Simply painting a picture of a bike is an incredible way to get unemployed artists off welfare.
There are 11 people who bicycle to work in the winter, so it makes sense to spend $43,000,000 on them!
Quick way to get from downtown to the U.of M is the 1st objective of whatever they are building and I say simply re-think the expense and tell the students to "stuff it"! 10 minutes saving, when all that has to be done is time the damn lights so the busses can move along without idling at red lights.
One more step would be to repair the roads so the bus could travel a little faster without "shaking all over!", as Burton Cummings would say!

aircraft are already converting to alternate fuel sources, including agfuels.

If you've been looking in the Sun recently, they've had a few days tracking a solar plane that's been flying now for quite some time (world record).

As technology reduces energy demands to provide power...alternate sources such as solar power become viable alternatives.

My wife has had an electric bike now for over a year...we probably put about 1k km on it the 1st year, and it's wonderful. In a city environment like Winnipeg...it's actually a reasonable and viable alternative transportation option. I've ridden it from downtown to west k, transcona, and even out to the perimeter by the race track.

It won't take much to develop other vehicles using similar technologies for transportation in the near future...and costs keep coming down as more people are looking for those options.

we need bus stop cuts in many places ( noteably route 90, portage ave, pembina and main street ) .. ie the bus should not be stopping and tieing up vehicle and cycle riders.

Deank wrote:we need bus stop cuts in many places ( noteably route 90, portage ave, pembina and main street ) .. ie the bus should not be stopping and tieing up vehicle and cycle riders.

That's why they created the Diamond Lanes (on Main & Portage)...instead of pushing the buses off the road, they pushed the traffic away from the buses...which may, in fact, be better...because if there were cutouts for buses...do you REALLY think people will be letting them get back into traffic? Bus schedules would be delayed because of buses waiting to get into the cuts or out of them.

Plus the wear & tear on the buses maneuvering the extra turns would increase the maintenance costs on them. (trust me...on large vehicles...those little turns and maneuvers add up quick into the steering linkages...ESPECIALLY when having to make most of those turns while stopped or at slow speeds.

the cyclist have a b1tch of a time dealing with the buses who park/stop in the diamond lanes but yeah diamond lanes can be useful but in many areas not available since its only two lanes to begin with. route 90 needs to be fixed... properly... soon.

Traffic FLOW is paramount. If you are blocking traffic the the frick out of the way. If drivers will not allow buses back in traffic fine the bejesus outta them. We gotta keep MOVIN'.

Deank wrote:the cyclist have a b1tch of a time dealing with the buses who park/stop in the diamond lanes but yeah diamond lanes can be useful but in many areas not available since its only two lanes to begin with. route 90 needs to be fixed... properly... soon.

how often have you ridden those diamond lanes with buses?

they really aren't that bad...for a patient cyclist.

99% of the time, you can tell if a bus is going to move or is parked so you can go around it. if it's going to go...then tap the brakes and let it pull out...otherwise...go around it and it might catch up eventually.

The only problem i've had is a bus who i was CLEARLY ahead of...and he leapfrogged me and nearly took my front tire off...twice.
The first time I figured he misjudged the length of his bus...the 2nd time (from the quick swerve over) I could tell it was deliberate. So i pulled up beside him and told him if he cuts me off again, he might as well park his bus because he won't be moving it till his boss comes to take him out of the seat.

He stayed behind me the rest of the run down Portage.

The only time the buses & bikes DO have problems, are when those diamond lanes allow other vehicles in them (or they become parking lanes), cause then there's obstacles for both of them to move around.

yeah the leapfrogging is the problem, but more for the cyclist because he/she has to "dart" out into regular traffic to go around the bus and then yes the bus riding his ass or cutting back hard in front of him.

I have ridden the bus enough to be able to witness these events several hundred times and its something that needs fixing.

those diamond lanes are actually wide enough that most cyclists do NOT have to ride into traffic to go around the bus when it's stopped for loading/unloading.

The only times i see bikes jumping over into traffic are when the bus stops crooked/angled, or when it's stopped at a red light...at which time the cyclist should NOT be passing the bus anyway.