Ruofan ๐ŸšŽ
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bollardfan.bsky.social
Ruofan ๐ŸšŽ
@bollardfan.bsky.social
260 followers 340 following 220 posts
Transit planner in Vancouver, originally from Montreal. Posts mostly about road safety, bike stuff, housing and indie music. Opinions my own - he/him
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I was disappointed but not mad about the results until I read this two minutes ago, and now I'm mad
Pas surprenant mais comme mรชme dรฉcevant. ร‡a fait huit ans que Montrรฉal est en tรชte de l'Amรฉrique du Nord en matiรจre de transports actifs et de dรฉveloppement durable, mais c'est certain que la ville va maintenant reculer. La seule question, c'est si รงa sera un grand reculement ou non...
They say a good compromise makes nobody happy. That's why I suggest that we change the Pacific time zone year-round to be UTC -7:30

pros:
- whimsical
- makes for a great pub trivia factoid
- force the CBC to say "8:30 newfoundland and british columbia"

cons: don't worry about it
Yup, the path is here. It was closed for a few years because this whole area got dug up for a pipeline, but now it's open again. It's a pretty nicely maintained gravel path, although the wayfinding is a bit lacking.
Yeah I always take the tunnel under Mary Hill Bypass that drops you west of the psychiatric hospital because I don't feel comfortable going onto reserve. Would be great if Metro clarified the status of all the trails in the area and brought in wayfinding
I honestly had no clue there was a sidewalk on that bridge!

The 'normal' route through Colony Farm Park has been so chaotic since the dyke trail closed, although at least it's not obstructed anymore by TMX construction
Reposted by Ruofan ๐ŸšŽ
To people looking for a home today, writes @dannyoleksiuk.bsky.social, it matters a great deal whether that home is built next year, or in ten. Re-legalizing small apartment buildings throughout our cities would create more homes faster. www.sightline.org/2025/10/28/t...
To Build Fast, Think Small | Sightline Institute
How re-legalizing small apartment buildings would spur the homes city dwellers need now.
www.sightline.org
According to the BC Ministry of Transportation, you may bike through this crosswalk, but you must dismount and walk across, but also you must not walk here

(Port Mann Bridge NB @ United Blvd)
@markedwardson.com pointed out that even the Ministry, where cycling infrastructure goes to die because of bureaucratic hangups about the Motor Vehicle Act, has one

Like come on why is the COV being so weird about this
A recent bugbear of mine: Vancouver has inexplicably decided that this sign, which is used basically everywhere in BC, is illegal for some reason

It's not that big a deal because unsignalized cross-rides are really rare here, but still just really baffling stuff
As we approach the clock switch, a reminder that we need to overthrow the tyranny of the morning owls and have DST year round
My local bus growing up literally had ZERO service off-peak and weekends

I had to walk 50 minutes to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue to catch the bus
A lot of Montreal suburbs are huge transit deserts too, where you practically have to drive.

Having grown up in Ile Perrot, I wouldn't wish Vaudreuil-Soulanges transit on anyone. Can't believe large parts of a county 5 minutes off-island have worse transit than 100 Mile House, BC (population 1,928)
Reposted by Ruofan ๐ŸšŽ
Reposted by Ruofan ๐ŸšŽ
Finally got around to playing with TransLink realtime GTFS data. Kind of fun. Transit in Vancouver is looking pretty good, especially considering this is an hour midday on a holiday weekend, with some lines not running (hello 44) and not all buses reporting real-time information.
It is my conviction that charging extra for guac should be outlawed and that, contrary to all price controls hitherto attempted since the dawn of humanity, this will have no negative consequences
Reposted by Ruofan ๐ŸšŽ
Sadly the new provincial reforms to their multiplex system appear to continue to NOT apply to the City of Vancouver.

The Province continues to ignore Vancouver's housing shortage, the epicenter of the provincial housing crisis.
Yeah the piecemeal bike lanes they demanded from developers in Metrotown and on Willingdon kinda suck, but I think Burnaby's willingness to build some continuous on-arterial MUPs in areas that aren't actively being redeveloped stands out from Vancouver. We basically don't get that outside downtown.
Ultimately I think Burnaby's infrastructure is mediocre at best, but IMO the philosophy they're pursuing of protecting direct routes on-arterial creates way better outcomes than Vancouver's 30-year obsession with circuitous local street bikeways. Even today, a protected infra map reveals a big gap:
BCP through Metrotown isn't great but hopefully the proposed upgrades get funded soon! For me, Moscrop/Midtown would actually be a very direct commute route between Kits and New West, but 29th Ave in Vancouver and Southwest in Burnaby are just way too unprotected right now to chance during rush hour
I think Rumble and Moscrop are both pretty direct alignments that would get way more use if the connectivity on the Vancouver side wasn't worthless. Masumi Matsui remains in bits and pieces after a decade, and "Midtown" sends you down two terrifying arterials (29th and Slocan) to connect anywhere
No doubt that Downtown's AAA network clears anything else in the region, but I think Burnaby is starting to develop a decent network? Gilmore, Rumble, Moscrop/DLP, Kensington, Glenlyon are all protected MUPs and I prefer them to the winding streets full of cars that you find south of False Creek
I guess the only one where it's objectively better on the Vancouver side is Portside, which becomes a practically impassable dirt trail in Burnaby if you don't have a mountain bike (the Trans-Canada Trail). Cold comfort given that Portside leads literally nowhere
It's weird to me that the Burnaby city line is where bike infrastructure goes to die... but not in the direction you'd think. Moscrop becomes an awful arterial road (East 29th), Rumble becomes a maze in Champlain Heights, Frances-Union becomes the busy stretch of Adanac crossing Highway 1, etc.
Reposted by Ruofan ๐ŸšŽ
Burnaby is seeking feedback on their Southwest Bikeway upgrades, but some of the proposed options are... not good. If you live or ride through Burnaby, please read and tell them to take these upgrades seriously!

visionzerovancouver.ca/2025/10/01/t...
Tell Burnaby to take its Southeast Bikeway upgrades seriously
Burnaby wants to upgrade the Southeast Bikeway. We want you to ask for better.
visionzerovancouver.ca