{"id":2513,"date":"2011-06-10T18:34:08","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T22:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2012-03-27T09:48:01","modified_gmt":"2012-03-27T13:48:01","slug":"the-affordances-of-bike-lanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/2011\/06\/the-affordances-of-bike-lanes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Affordances of Bike Lanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a followup to my post earlier this week about how dangerous cycling is in Toronto<\/a>, I decided to take my camera with me on my daily commute. Over two days, I managed to take snaps of the many wonderful uses of bike lanes – it turns out these are incredibly versatile strips of land. Which means the city would be crazy not to maintain them properly, right? Eh? Oh:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, anyway. Here’s my ABC of the many wonderful uses of bike lanes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: <\/span>A<\/span><\/span>mbulances<\/span>, in case of accidents:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Bi-modal parking<\/span>, because sidewalks just aren’t big enough:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for:\u00a0Council vans<\/span>, because there’s nowhere to park the fleet:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Deliveries<\/span>, so every store should have one:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Excavating<\/span>, to save us digging up car lanes:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Free parking<\/span>, just right for a quick bit of shopping:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Going around<\/span>, because we like the scenic route:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Hydro vans<\/span>, because mobile workshops are cool:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Idiots<\/span>, who swim against the flow:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Junk piles<\/span>, because trash is expensive to haul:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Kerb repairs<\/span>, a safety margin for the crew:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Lorries<\/span>, although Canadians call them trucks:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Manhole covers<\/span>, spaced carefully across the lane:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for:\u00a0“No stopping” signs<\/span>, though nobody knows they’re there:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: On-kerb parking<\/span>, which the police just happen to ignore:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Patching practice<\/span>, because road crews have to learn:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Quantities of dirt<\/span>, which are just too big for elsewhere:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Rails. Streetcar rails<\/span>. You never know when you’ll need them:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Spillovers<\/span>, because building sites are so small:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Timber piles<\/span> – look how much will fit:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Unexpected doors<\/span>, that open in your face:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Very large scoops<\/span>, just waiting to make more holes:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Washrooms<\/span>, because even cyclists need to pee:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: TaXis<\/span>, they’re out there cruising for fares:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Yellow diggers<\/span>, and yes, that’s the second one today:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bike lanes are for: Zooming along<\/span>, on the few occasions they’re clear:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: All photos were taken by me, this week, on my commute to work, except for the taxi, as the one I was trying to snap drove away too quick (see: Taxi photo credit<\/a>). Click the photos for bigger versions on Flickr.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a followup to my post earlier this week about how dangerous cycling is in Toronto, I decided to take my camera with me on my daily commute. Over two days, I managed to take snaps of the many wonderful uses of bike lanes – it turns out these are incredibly versatile strips of land. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,19],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2546,"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.easterbrook.ca\/steve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}