two-timer

Public input on proposed line
The Hamilton Spectator, (Jun 4, 2009)


City staff are recommending King Street and Main Street revert back to
two-way traffic for the new rapid transit line proposed to cross
Hamilton between McMaster University and Eastgate Square.

Staff prefer a typical transit system running along the median of King
Street, with vehicle traffic in the north and south curb lanes. The
two main arteries would convert to two-way traffic between Paradise
Road in the west and the Delta in the east.

Council and citizens have overwhelmingly backed a Light Rail Transit
(LRT) for the line, but that still has to be decided by the provincial
agency MetroLinx and it could support a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
system.

Residents can learn more about the staff preference at an open house
next Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel, between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The city wants to hear what residents think about the proposed
operation and also to confirm support for a LRT. It held two open
houses this week, one held in west Hamilton Monday that was attended
by 20 people.

Lisa Zinkewich, senior project manager, said a transit line running
down the median would disrupt the least traffic and has also been
shown to boost economic development.

One resident, Larry Berberick, said at an open house last night he
prefers to have the system in the south curb lanes and keep Main and
King as one way streets.

"My thinking is this would be safer."

private parking

University Plaza has one bicycle rack for the entire plaza. Why?

commuter challenge

Commuter Challenge Reminder....

Hamiltonians are invited to participate in various events throughout the city during Commuter Challenge week June 1-5.

Make a Change Monday encourages Hamilton residents to make a commitment to an alternative mode of transportation and to register their participation at www.hamilton.ca/commuterchallenge if they already haven’t done so. On Tuesday, the Transportation Fair and Smart Com mute Expo takes place at Downtown Hamilton’s Gore Park from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Wednesday is Walk to Work Day and Walk to School Day along with a 1.2km walk starting at noon from Gore Park to the Jackson Square Plaza. Thursday is Totally Transit Day when registered participants wearing the official Smart Commute Hamilton wristband can ride the HSR bus system for free all day. The week is rounded out with Bike to Work Day on Friday that includes designated routes from various locations around the city to downtown Hamilton.

Workplaces and individuals are encouraged to sign up today for the Commuter Challenge or to get further information at www.hamilton.ca/commuterchallenge

back to two ways

(no surprises here: one way streets are still a problem that needs to be dealt with, as consultants have been telling Hamilton for decades.)

---

Ron Albertson, the Hamilton Spectator

Talking the walk of life TheSpec.com - Local - Talking the walk of life

International experts advocate end of one-way streets as a big step toward making city a pedestrian paradise

John Kernaghan
The Hamilton Spectator

(May 14, 2009)

Hamilton enjoys many "patches of loveliness, but also patches of despair" that can be remedied by converting one-way streets to two-way and limiting truck traffic.

That's the conclusion one member of an international team examining Hamilton will present today to city policy-makers.

"Truck traffic can't be the sacred goose," offered Bronwen Thornton after walking around downtown Hamilton yesterday.

She is development director of Walk21, a United Kingdom organization promoting pedestrian livable areas.

After observing huge trucks crossing tranquil James Street North on Cannon Street, Toronto urban designer Paul Young said, "Trucks are killing the city."

Thornton, Young and four other experts were invited to Hamilton to offer advice on how to introduce active, safe and sustainable transportation policies.

They are part of the touring Canadian Walking Master Class project, which is funded by the federal government.

Young said that intersection of James North and Cannon showed the best and worst of Hamilton's transportation plan.

The visiting experts and staff from several city departments interrupted the walk to meet Dave Kuruc of Mixed Media art shop, which occupies the southeast corner.

He showed them how James North has prospered since being converted to two-way traffic with recessed parking areas and expanded sidewalks.

But his remarks were often drowned out by big trucks roaring west on Cannon, a one-way street.

Kuruc said he plans to press his point with city planners by inviting them to have tea with him on the narrow sidewalk on Cannon.

"We'll see how they enjoy that," he said.

Young noted how businesses along James North had added flower planters and street seating that combined with the trees on the street and slower traffic to make the area flourish as a destination.

The group also walked areas in Ancaster, Westdale and Ottawa Street North and found some nice pockets but a disconnect between them.

Jacky Kennedy, director of walking programs for Green Communities Canada, said she was delighted to find those pockets.

She said her previous image of Hamilton was framed by visits to offices near high traffic areas along Main Street.

The group was heartened to hear that York Boulevard and Wilson Street were being converted to two-way and walked past the portion of York where a lane of traffic will give way to an outdoor market area to complement the Farmers' Market.

jkernaghan@thespec.com

905-526-3422

http://thespec.com/News/Local/article/565614

Getting There with Google

The excellent HSR and Google Maps partnership to provide trip planning is disabled until Friday, May 8, 2009.

After Friday, try it if you haven't yet. It gives you the next three available trips to your destination including walking, waiting/transfer times, and allows you to choose the day and time of arrival or departure.
The only problem I've had with it is seasonal routes show up as year round (ex. Rock Gardens), but otherwise a very excellent tool. (It should make the HSR's horrible online trip destination tool obsolete.)

where is Hamilton?

Montreal pedals past us TheStar.com - Canada - Montreal pedals past us

PETER MCCABE PHOTO FOR THE TORONTO STAR

A new Bixi bike and one of its 300 parking stations is displayed by Alain Ayotte, executive vice-president of the Montreal parking authority, which put up $15 million to start the bike rental service.

May 05, 2009

Andrew Chung
QUEBEC BUREAU CHIEF

MONTREAL – So what if the white painted stripes outlining the bike lane along Prince Arthur St. aren't straight, as if drawn by a child without a ruler.

At least the lane is there, say the hundreds of cyclists who use it every day. In fact, bike lanes like this, and paths demarcated by concrete curbs, are everywhere in this city, which for cycling enthusiasts seems to have suddenly become bike heaven.

Through a combination of recent efforts, Montreal is dramatically prioritizing bicycles. Not only has it embarked on a huge expansion of its bike paths – it already has more than Toronto – but on May 12 it will officially launch the first full-fledged public bike rental service in North America, called Bixi, a combination of bike and taxi.

"Bixi for me is not just a bicycle," said André Lavallée, a member of the mayor's cabinet and responsible for the city's transport plan. "It's like an ambassador for our vision of transport in Montreal, of our values and willingness to change the city."

Lavallée is out to "change the mindset" of citizens here, to reduce car dependence, and one major way is through the bicycle.

The efforts are getting noticed. Toronto's Green Living magazine named Montreal the "most bike-friendly city in the nation."

Time magazine called Bixi one of the 50 best inventions of 2008. The service also won an Edison "Gold" award for the best new energy and sustainability product.

To be sure, there are annoyances. Montreal is one of the continent's bike theft capitals. And, anecdotally, Montreal drivers, can be relatively aggressive. (As can cyclists here, to be sure.)

But Bixi and paving the way for 800 kilometres of bike routes by 2013 are "good for our health and good for the environment," said Suzanne Lareau, president of Vélo Québec, which has been promoting cycling for decades.

Montreal forgot about building bike paths for the last 20 years, Lareau observed, and now, with its new transportation plan, "the city says, 'We have to ... make up for lost time.' "

Lavallée attributes the change in political attitudes in part to the relentless activism. But also, he surmised, "it's cultural, because Montreal is in the middle, both European and North American, so it's a different way of life."

Examples are everywhere. Take the elegantly designed bike path along de Maisonneuve Blvd. through downtown. The city even kept it plowed in the winter, which some called a waste of money.

Bixi, for its first season at least, will be concentrated in the central core of Montreal, with 3,000 bikes and 300 stations, each just a few hundred metres from the next.

Public bike rental systems are found in other European cities, notably in Paris, where its service, Vélib, has been a huge success and whose bikes are now as familiar a sight on the landscape as a Citroën or sidewalk toilet kiosk.

Toronto is hoping for a public bike system of its own and has asked for companies to show their interest in running one. It wouldn't be operational until next spring at the earliest, a city official said.

Montreal's parking authority has fronted the $15 million to start up Bixi and hopes that, given that a city agency is on the hook, it won't experience the extensive vandalism and theft as seen in Paris, whose system is run by a private company. Thousands of Vélib bikes have been swiped in the last two years. Some of the rather utilitarian bikes have been used for stunting. Others have reportedly been torched or thrown into the Seine River.

Montreal officials are confident, however. They say Bixi will be more secure than Paris.

And Montrealers, Lavallée said, "will fall in love with it."

RENTING A BIXI IN MONTREAL

Insert your credit card, get a code, choose a bike at its dock, type in the code and, voilà, you're riding.

The first 30 minutes are free. The second 30 minutes cost $1.50, the third $3, the fourth and subsequent 30-minute periods cost $6 each.

With a membership – $28 for a month or $78 for a year (the season is only May through November) – you get a keycard and the process is faster.

Bikes can be dropped off at any station. If the docks are full, you get an extra 15 minutes free to drop it at the nearest station.

Montreal's system is more expensive than those in Europe, local officials say, because Bixi is city-owned and does not, as in the case of Vélib, the bike rental service in Paris, rely on an advertising company to operate the system in exchange for ad space.

With the launch of North America's first full-fledged bicycle rental service and a huge path expansion planned, the city is a cyclist's paradise compared with Toronto

cycling survey

The short of it: cyclingsurvey.mcmaster.ca (please note: no 'www')

And the long of it:

Hi,

I haven't had the opportunity to meet all of you yet, but my name is Jamie Stuckless and I am a Masters student in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences at McMaster. I am conducting a cycling study in the Hamilton-Wentworth region and I am looking for survey participants.

This survey is anonymous and completing it should take 15-20 minutes. This survey is intended for residents of Hamilton-Wentworth who cycle, or who used to cycle and who are 18 years of age and older. The survey can be found online at:

cyclingsurvey.mcmaster.ca
(please note: no 'www')

Paper copies of the survey are also available.

This study seeks to answer four related questions; (1) what motivates people to cycle, (2) what factors are significant in the decision to decrease cycling frequency or stop cycling over time, (3) how do cyclists interact with public transportation and (4) how can this information be applied to promote and prolong bicycle ridership? I expect that this research will be beneficial to the local cycling community by providing recent cycling data that is specific to Hamilton-Wentworth.

After the study has been completed, an online written summary will be made available to interested participants and community groups.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions. If you would like to obtain a paper copy of the survey, let me know and I can provide you with a list of locations near you where the survey is available.

peace and bicycle grease

Jamie Stuckless
School of Geography and Earth Sciences
McMaster University
(905) 525-9140 ext. 28611
Email: stuckljp@mcmaster.ca

Cootes Drive, history?

http://www.dundasstarnews.com/news/article/172863

Community apathetic over new Cootes Drive
Controversial road was result of now fading car culture
Craig Campbell, News Staff
Published on May 01, 2009

Dundasians of the mid-1930s were apathetic towards construction of Cootes Drive –as long they weren’t paying for it.

But according to research by former Valley Town resident and transportation activist Randy Kay, the Dundas Diversion project was not without controversy. Local merchants, property owners and town councillors worried about the new road’s route, connections and possible impact on local business.

As Mr. Kay explained to those in attendance at the season-ending Dundas Valley Historical Society meeting, one thing nobody questioned in 1936 or 1937 was destruction of valuable wetland as pavement carved through the Cootes Paradise ecosystem.

Mr. Kay dug into microfiche copies of the Dundas Star and Hamilton Spectator to trace the tale of the road that has raised problems its entire 63-year lifespan. A few months before the road began carrying traffic, town councillors refused to widen King Street West to accommodate a possible connection to the new road.

“From the standpoint of Dundas, the new highway was not a necessity,” Mr. Kay quoted from a 1937 edition of the Dundas Star.

Mr. Kay said Hamilton’s own Thomas McQuesten, who brought McMaster University to west Hamilton and supported the Royal Botanical Gardens, used the Dundas marsh as a site to demonstrate his plan for a new divided highway.

Minister of Highways from 1934 to 1943, McQuesten spearheaded later construction of the Queen Elizabeth Way linking Toronto to Fort Erie, the 401 through Oshawa, the Niagara Parkway and Highway 20 in Stoney Creek.

Mr. Kay said there was no noticeable cry from the community for the road link.

But the natural area between Dundas and Hamilton was not valued. Some considered it useless, or a back-up landfill site.

“In the 1930s, no one was putting up a fight for the marsh.”

Just about anything available was apparently used to fill in the wetland and provide a base for the road. By 1938, there had already been two deaths on Cootes Drive. And speeding was recognized as a problem, as it continues to be today. The Dundas Star of 1938 described Cootes Drive as a “veritable racetrack.”

McMaster University recently placed a radar sign on its bridge over Cootes showing drivers how fast they are travelling. A few years ago, a student crossing the road was struck and killed.

Over the years, Cootes Drive roadkill has contributed to the destruction of several endangered turtle species. Mr. Kay suggested several years ago Cootes Drive should be shut down, torn out and the area returned to a natural space. That wasn’t the focus of the recent presentation, which explained the history of the road’s development when the prestige of a paved road surpassed knowledge of the ecosystem.

Even within that culture, Mr. Kay noted, Cootes Drive wasn’t something the community wanted. And as people move away from cars towards conservation and restoration, perhaps the Cootes Drive of tomorrow will be different.

“I think times are changing. I think we have to change,” Mr. Kay said. “We have to get out of single occupancy cars. We have a habit that we just have to drive everywhere.”

“We’re not going to get rid of cars. It’s about how we use them.”

http://www.dundasstarnews.com/news/article/172863

helmet hugs

city walks

Community walks inspired by Jane Jacobs TheSpec.com - Local - Community walks inspired by Jane Jacobs

The Hamilton Spectator, (Apr 29, 2009)

The community spirit of Jane Jacobs is inspiring two neighbourhood walks on the weekend.

Architect Ken Coit will lead a free walking tour of Westdale Saturday at 11 a.m.

Charlie Mattina, who grew up in the James Street North neighbourhood, will lead a tour there Sunday at 1 p.m.

The tours mark Hamilton's first experiences with a program called Jane's Walk, named for urban thinker Jane Jacobs, who wrote about connections between people, buildings and neighbourhoods.

In a Jane's Walk, an organizer leads an informal tour of a neighbourhood, discussing its historical, architectural, social or other characteristics, such as popular shortcuts and local personalities.

Saturday's walk starts at the Westdale branch of the Hamilton Public Library on King Street West. Sunday's starts at the Mixed Media store at James and Cannon streets.

PEARL and POULETTE. well, sort of Poulette...

The Environmental Assessment for three (3) pedestrian crossings of the CP Rail corridor at Poulette Street, Pearl Street and Ray Street has now been completed.

The study assessed the need for the three bridges, the structural condition of the Pearl Street Bridge, and identified the heritage attributes of the Pearl Street Bridge that should be retained during any reconstruction, rehabilitation and/or alteration of the bridge.

The following conclusions were made:

• a rail corridor crossing at Pearl Street should be retained, but the existing bridge should be replaced for safety reasons
• the Pearl Street Bridge replacement can likely be completed with minimal net environmental impacts

In addition, Council endorsed the construction of an additional pedestrian crossing at Poulette Street, should alternate funding become available.

The 30-day public review period will extend from Friday April 17, 2009 to Tuesday May 19, 2009. The project plans and other information are available at the studies website www.hamilton.ca/ppr_bridges_master_plan as well as in a Project File Report at the following

locations:

· Locke Street Library, 285 Locke Street South, tel. 905-546-3492

· Central Public Library, 55 York Blvd, tel. 905-546-3200

· Office of the City Clerk, 77 James Street North, Suite 220, tel. 905-546-2489

· Public Works Department, 77 James Street North, Suite 320, 905-546-2489

If after reviewing the report you have any questions or concerns, please contact:

Justin Readman, B.Sc. (Env.)

Project Manager – Environmental Planning

Capital Planning and Implementation Division

Public Works Department, City of Hamilton

77 James Street North, Suite 320

Hamilton, ON L8R2K3

Tel: 905-546-2424 Ext. 2218

Fax: 905-546-4435

Email: eplanning@hamilton.ca

If concerns arise regarding this project, which cannot be resolved in discussion with the City, a person or party may request that the Minister of the Environment make an order for the project to comply with Part II of the Environmental Assessment Act (referred to as a Part II order), which addresses individual environmental assessments. Requests must be received by the Minister of the Environment (address provided below) within the 30-day public review period. A copy of the request must also be sent to the City of Hamilton to the attention of Justin Readman (address provided above).

Minister of the Environment

135 St. Clair Avenue West, 12th floor

Toronto Ontario

M4V 1P5

safer speeds, safer communities

transportation and climate change

Did you know?

In order to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases where they are today, global CO₂ emissions would have to be cut by 50 to 60%. (http://www.adaptation.nrcan.gc.ca/posters/on/on_09_e.php)

The graphic above highlights an interesting yet still neglected answer to the climate change challenge: getting away from the car as a default choice in mobility can be the most straightforward way for Ontarians to lower greenhouse gas emissions. We've changed our lightbulbs; can we change our driving habits?

shut up and drive?

Drivers, get ready to put down those cellphones TheSpec.com - BreakingNews - Drivers, get ready to put down those cellphones

Romina Maurino
TORONTO — Get your hands off those cellphones, Ontario drivers — a new law that bans using hand-held devices to talk, email, or send text messages while behind the wheel was passed today.

The new rules, which won’t come into effect until at least the fall, include a fine of up to $500 as the province joins other jurisdictions in cracking down on drivers using the devices.

“What we’re trying to do is to avoid distractions while people are driving — those distractions being caused, in this case, by electronic devices that are hand-held,” said Transportation Minister Jim Bradley, adding he has no plans to ban eating or drinking coffee in cars.

The law doesn’t affect the use of hands-free devices such as Bluetooths or using cellphones for 911 calls, but it does ban portable video games, MP3 players and DVD players.

Global positioning systems will be allowed, as long as they’re properly secured to the dashboard.
There are no demerit points attached to the bill, but drivers who place others at risk by using one of the banned devices can also be charged under existing careless driving laws.

The law exempts firefighters, police and paramedics, but several other groups have also asked for a pass.

The Transportation Ministry is considering additional exemptions for devices used to dispatch, track and monitor commercial drivers, but said more changes are unlikely.

“There are organizations that have come forward to say (they) believe they should have an exemption,” Bradley said. “We’ll have to evaluate that very carefully.

“We will be extremely reluctant as a government to grant any exemptions unless a very compelling case could be made for that.”

Bradley wouldn’t give a specific date for the ban to take effect, noting it still needs to go through certain legislative processes and an education period so the public learns the rules.

But he said drivers can expect the change to come “later this year, possibly in the fall.”

Hamilton Centre MPP and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she supported the bill, noting if people must communicate while driving, there are hands-free gadgets that allow them to do so.

“Technology exists that can prevent people from having to use a hand-held device, and I think that’s where the biggest concern is in terms of distraction,” she said.

Ontario is the fourth province to enact such a ban, following Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, which in 2003 became the first province to ban the use of hand-held cellphones, the penalties range from $11 to $400 plus four demerit points.

Quebec motorists face fines of $115 plus the loss of three demerit points, while Nova Scotia’s fines start at $164.50 for a first offence and grow to $337 for subsequent offences.

In the first year after Nova Scotia made it illegal for drivers to use hand-held cellphones, close to 2,000 tickets were handed out by police.

In Quebec, the latest statistics show at least 12,000 tickets have been handed out by Montreal and provincial police since last July. Hand-held devices were banned on April 1, 2008, but Quebec drivers were given a three-month grace period.

Manitoba introduced legislation in November that proposed fines of at least $190 for using hand-held cellphones or for smoking while there are children in a vehicle, while Prince Edward Island is also considering a ban.

Reclaiming York Downtown

An exciting project with a great deal of potential is due to begin construction this spring 2009 in the downtown - in tandem with the reconstruction of both the Farmer's Market and the Central Library, York Boulevard between Bay and James will become a two-way street with enhanced pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, and far more opportunity for an active and invigorating street life: plans include market stalls for the wider sidewalks, and street closure possibilities for special events.
Check out the city web site for more detail.

car oriented

After walking to the Public Information Centre for the Hamilton Cycling Master Plan at the Downtown Education Centre (it's good to have it downtown), much to my dismay, I encountered a familiar problem: the sign on the front door directing attendees to enter via the rear doors, off the parking lot.

So many public buildings, be they schools, churches, or this downtown ed centre, have altered the original architectural design's function (i.e. front doors) to favour access to parking lots as the way in and out of the building. To be fair, this was an evening event and I was told that the rear doors were used because security for the building wanted it that way. Still, to me, this is a symptom of a culture that expects people to drive cars, and not walk, take transit or cycle to these destinations.

And on the subject of cycling: no bicycle parking was available for those who arrived on two wheels. Shouldn't all public institutions (at least) have adequate bicycle parking to encourage active modes of transportation? Of course they should...

July 2009 Decision Deadline for Rapid Transit

Ontario cash helps Hamilton move on transit TheSpec.com - Local - Ontario cash helps Hamilton move on transit

$3m in provincial study funding will focus on logistics of James-Upper James corridor

Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator

(Apr 3, 2009)

A $3-million infusion of transit cash is a "strong indication" the province understands the needs of Hamilton, says Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

The funds are slated to help the city push forward on two proposed rapid transit lines, one on the King-Main corridor and the other on the James-Upper James corridor.

"We are clearly positioning ourselves to be part of the ... $11.5-billion Move Ontario funding envelope" that still has $2.5-billion in it, Eisenberger said. Hamilton's two projects are estimated to cost $1 billion.

The new $3 million is part of $9 billion in transit funding announced earlier this week by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

The lion's share of the pot, $7.2 billion, went to projects in Toronto, which are closer to starting construction than either of Hamilton's rapid transit lines. Another $1.4 billion was allocated to York Region, north of Toronto.

Bob Nichols, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation, said in an e-mail that Hamilton received the money to do work that will help it determine the potential for rapid transit, either light rail -- which council favours -- or buses. The money will help finalize plans for the corridors, he said.

"Decisions on future transit infrastructure funding will be made through the province's capital planning process and in the context of (the) Metrolinx regional transportation plan," Nichols said.

Eisenberger said the amount of cash the city got is "consistent with the way we've positioned our interests ... fully understanding that projects that are ready to go should go."

To date, Hamilton has focused the bulk of its work on the King-Main line, which is ready to be constructed first.

That proposal is now undergoing an analysis by the regional transportation body Metrolinx, which needs to give the thumbs-up before the line moves ahead.

Jill Stephen, director of strategic and environmental planning with the city, said the new funds will help with background work on the trickier James-Upper James corridor.

That work needs to be done before the project can be evaluated by Metrolinx.

"The escarpment provides a bit of a challenge for getting up and down, and the B-line (King-Main) is relatively flat," she said.

"So we want to make sure that we look at the lines together to see how we can co-ordinate all of the efforts."

Stephen said about $600,000 has been spent for work on the King-Main line.

Nicholas Kevlahan, spokesperson for Hamilton Light Rail, a residents' group advocating for light rail transit (LRT), said the cash from the province is a good sign.

"I think the fact that they're giving the city this amount of money when they know the city's pushing for LRT is a positive sign," he said.

City staff are planning to hold public information sessions in June to provide citizens with an update.

The Metrolinx board will make a decision on the city's King-Main line in July.

car co-op

Groups float city car-share plan TheSpec.com - Local - Groups float city car-share plan

The Hamilton Spectator, (Mar 5, 2009)

Thousands of people in Toronto do it.

Share cars.

Guelph, Waterloo and other cities across North America also have non-profit services that rent cars to people who don't need to drive every day.

And now an alliance of two environmental groups and one church now want to gauge interest in setting up a Hamilton car-share co-operative.

To do it, they're inviting anyone interested to attend a presentation at 7 p.m. Wednesday at First Unitarian Church, 170 Dundurn St. S. The event is sponsored by Green Venture, Clean Air Hamilton and the church's social justice committee, which hope some who attend will take on a leadership role and participate in two next-steps workshops to develop a made-in-Hamilton sharing plan.

Guest speaker will be Mike Driscoll, president of the Guelph Community Car Co-operative (guelphcarshare.org).

carrier wave

---

Helping cyclists carry the load TheSpec.com - Local - Helping cyclists carry the load

Mac students win design award

Rob Faulkner, The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 10, 2009)

Raised in Toronto, Lindsey Kettel was no stranger to cycling: The fifth-year McMaster student says bikes outnumbered people at her house.

So, when a McMaster industrial design course asked students to examine ways to improve the grocery-carrying experience for people without cars, she got into gear ... with two wheels and a dream.

"One thing I noticed is a problem with unplanned stops," Kettel says of cycling. She recruited fellow fifth-year mechanical engineering and management student Cory Minkhorst, of Milton, to turn her idea into a prototype.

They created an award-winning collapsible carrier for commuter cyclists -- a type of trailer with soft sides that folds so well that it packs as tight as a close-fitting rear bike pannier. For a demo, they put it on Kettel's mom's 25-year-old bike.

And last weekend, the 22-year-olds took first-place in the innovative design category at the Ontario Engineering Competition at the University of Guelph. It saw about 200 competitors from 15 universities.

They won $3,500 and a chance to go to the Canadian Engineering Competition March 5-8 at the University of New Brunswick.

Kettel and Minkhorst did their research and saw that lots of fixed trailers existed, like the ones rented on campus. But none folded away with such a small profile that a cyclist would keep it on a commuter bike, they say.

Large packs of toilet paper, or cases of beer, are hard to haul in backpacks or bike panniers. Their carrier -- which has a name they can't reveal as it nears copyright protection -- fits two cases of beer.

The pair, who have had people suggest they get on the CBC entrepreneurial TV show Dragons' Den, are still refining their carrier. First up, they may create a whole new prototype for the national contest.

By April, they will submit it as a thesis project at McMaster. And as they both anticipate spring graduation, they are toying with the idea of turning the carrier into cash.

Some of the Guelph engineering contest sponsors were informally interested in funding their work, but the duo plan improvements.

The prototype cost $160 to make with some donated materials. A better cinch-sack, bolts, a bit of carbon fibre and more, with manufacturing efficiencies, may cut it to $125. It'll sell for about $300.

"That's actually at the lower end of the range of products like this," says Minkhorst, noting that their engineering contest pitch this weekend had more commerce than most. "This project really is a great thing, to combine both parts of our degree."

rfaulkner@thespec.com

905-526-2468

Arbour Road multi-use path link

An important link across a highway for cyclists and pedestrians - check it out at www.hamilton.ca/ArbourRoadCrossing.

PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTRE
The following PIC will be held to provide further information and to receive public input:
DATE: Thursday February 5, 2009
TIME: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Michelangelo Banquet Centre, 1555 Upper Ottawa Street, Hamilton