The Blog

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Bike Paths and Promenades in Osijek, Croatia

Most people are probably well aware of the Croatian coast, but what are the inland cities like and do they have any bike infrastructure? With just two nights in Osijek, we get a glimpse of what the fourth biggest city in the country is like for getting around by bicycle...

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Roy Symons Roy Symons

Bicycle Scenes from Paris

Paris has been getting a lot of press about its bicycle infrastructure for many years now… And for good reason… They’ve been pretty busy… Never having been there before, it was time to take in the sights and some of the bike infrastructure that gets you there…

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Roy Symons Roy Symons

Greenways and Bikeways in Burnaby and Vancouver

Another local bike ride with the long lens capturing some fresh updates to the Central Valley Greenway on my morning commute, then a few photos from a quick trip to Downtown Vancouver after work taking in some Seawall scenes and neighbourhood bikeways…

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A Few Bicycle Scenes from Victoria

Earlier this week, I had a couple of hours to spare in Victoria, so I brought along my long lens to experiment with different perspectives. Here’s what I captured...

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The Streets of Utrecht

The final leg of our April 2024 trip takes us back to Utrecht, our favourite city in the Netherlands, for reasons I can’t fully explain. This time, we ride from Amersfoort and dive deeper into one of my favorite routes through the city. Along the way, we explore the usual highlights: protected bike lanes, bus rapid transit, bicycle streets, bike parking, and plenty of people getting around by bicycle, along with a few other interesting sights.

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A Quick Loop Around Kelowna

Kelowna bike infrastructure is looking pretty good these days. Join me on a quick loop around the City taking in some protected bike lanes of varying styles, gravel trails, multi-use pathways and open (or closed) streets depending on your perspective…

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Vancouver and North Vancouver Bike Tour

Come for a ride along some AAA bike infrastructure in Vancouver and North Vancouver as we take in a few of our ISL Engineering projects as well as many others along the way… Sharing some knowledge and a few insights as we go…

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Scenes from Groningen: City of Bicycles

City of Bicycles, their claim, not mine, but it’s probably a fair one… Groningen has the highest mode share of people cycling anywhere in the world. We arrive in Groningen for Kings Night so expect some people getting around on bicycles while wearing a lot of orange, expect some bicycle scrambles, some back streets, and a few fast bicycle routes to neighbouring towns…

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Roy Symons Roy Symons

Bicycle Scenes Riding Through the Northern Netherlands

On this part of the trip we work our way across the north of the country, taking in some new locations to us, and seeing how far the good bike infrastructure extends north, beyond the mainland, and between small towns and cities as we head towards Groningen…

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Bicycle Scenes from Alkmaar, Netherlands

A historic and compact city north of Amsterdam, we explore many tiny streets, pedestrian streets, bicycle streets, amongst the usual protected bike lanes, people of all ages and abilities riding bicycles, tulips, windmills, and some very changeable weather…

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Bicycle Scenes from Amstelveen and Amsterdam

Part 2 of the trip finds us back near Amsterdam, staying on the south side, discovering new bridges for active modes, ticking off the bike parkade, discovering a diverging diamond interchange, and… not kidding… a machine for cleaning flex posts….

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Bicycle Scenes from Den Bosch

Starting the 2024 Netherlands Trip in Den Bosch, we get over jet lag while exploring the centre on foot, some infrastructure highlights further out, ride to neighbouring Tilburg, and see a few innovative things I haven’t seen before along the way… There continues to be more lessons from the Dutch…

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Lessons from the Dutch: Fietspad Exhibition at Habit Coffee in Victoria, BC

If you find yourself in Victoria, BC before June 30, 2024, head over to Habit Coffee on Pandora Avenue to check out my first Fietspad photo exhibition. Cost of entry… buy some of their great coffee and locally sourced snacks to support this shop doing a great service to the community in hosting such events by local artists… and engineers...

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Metral Drive in Nanaimo: Revisited

Dutch designs, even Dutch levels of ridership during the BC Land Summit bike tour… Catching up on Metral Drive after a year or two, as we take a bike ride through Nanaimo on the new Evo bike share bikes, taking in some multi-use pathways, protected bike lanes, protected intersections and continuous sidewalks and bike paths.

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Talking about my Books on the Active Towns Podcast

If you’re interested in listening to me talking about my books and how I ended up doing what I do, have a listen to my conversation with John Simmerman on his Active Towns podcast. Links to the YouTube video and a few audio versions below…

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Bicycle Scenes from Vancouver

With a few hours to kill around Downtown Vancouver, I took a spin around on the bike, where I thought I’d try and find some classic waterfront views. Not my typical post, but sometimes it’s nice just to enjoy the view… There’s still some good traffic free bike infrastructure though…

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Roy Symons Roy Symons

Fietspad Final Chapter: North America’s Dutch Todo List

The final chapter of fietspad not only summed up the findings of that trip, it was the starting point to explore other Dutch ideas, beyond the protected bike lanes, protected intersections and continuous sidewalks that are already gaining traction.

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