Bike activists going guerrilla

[angela bischoff]

The thing about bike lanes is that they're cheap; all you need is a little
bit of paint.

Inspired by the 'Other Urban Repair Squad' (OURS) in Toronto (see pics
here http://bikelanediary.blogspot.com/ ), other guerrilla groups
concerned about cycling safety have sprouted up in LA, Russia and
Portugal.

All that's required is a homemade bike stencil (cut out of cardboard),
some cans of spray paint (asphalt paint sprays best), and ideally a
special asphalt paint sprayer for the line (sort of like a walking cane
with a little wheel on the end and a container for the can. They cost
upwards of 50 bucks and can be ordered through a hardware store.)

The other important tip is to have several scouts (in front and behind the
repair squad) looking out for cops or other city vehicles. If one is
spotted, a loud pre-practised noise is made and the squad scatters until
the coast is clear.

Not that I am involved...

No surprise cyclists are frustrated with the palatial pace of bike
planning in North American cities. On the contrary, the movie Cycling in
Copenhagen <http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5092322980326147472>
tells of how that great city (with a northern climate not unlike most
Canadian cities) spends 20% of its municipal transport budget on bike
facilities. It can now boast that one third of its trips are made by bike.
The city planner interviewed, Jan Geld, claims they created the bike
culture by creating safe space for bikes while removing car space, little
by little, a deliberate planning objective. Compare that to the
congestion, smog and car-nage of North American cities.

Bring on the spray paint!

-a
--------------


Bike activists going guerrilla
Cycling `repair squad' takes to the streets over slow expansion of bike
lane program
June 18, 2007
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/article/226454

ROBYN DOOLITTLE
STAFF REPORTER

Standing beside two parked cars, two men in dark baseball hats wait for
the signal.

It's broad daylight and nearly rush hour on Bloor. A woman in
paint-stained jeans sprints ahead of the men, scanning the street. Another
stations herself across the road, surveying the speeding cars for police.
The thumbs-up sign is given.

The painting can begin.

Seconds later, a cardboard bike stencil is thrown on the road and the
first of seven cans of hot pink paint is emptied on a stretch of Bloor St.
W.

"Putting in a bike lane?" asks a teenage girl cycling by.

--

Putting in bike lanes is exactly what the Other Urban Repair Squad does.
Last week, the group of vigilante cyclists hit a stretch of Bloor between
Ossington Ave. and Dufferin St.

The two-hour effort it took to put down the lane is meant to protest how
long it has taken the city to expand its bike lane program.

No one denies its $73 million plan to expand bike lanes around the GTA
over the next decade is years behind schedule. For example, Bloor St. is
supposed to get a bike lane, between University and Church, sometime
within the next three years.

---

Thirty feet down the road, the team is about to paint again when the
stained-jeans woman lets out a high-pitched "boo."

The men leap off the road, and stash the cardboard and paint beside a
garbage bin. A TTC service car and special constable whiz past.

The two painters slip into casual conversation mode. Neither appears too
concerned that the hot pink paint on the street – matching what's on their
hands and feet – would immediately give them away should anyone
investigate.

---

The first time the group struck was on May 30. The gang spray-painted an
illegal bike lane in the Annex, between Spadina Ave. and Bathurst St.,
along Bloor. To make the paths appear legitimate, painters stencilled the
city's bike lane logo – a bicycle and large diamond – along the road as
well.

The lines may have been sloppy, but that didn't stop cyclists from using
the lane for two weeks until the city cleaned it up last Monday.

"The shop owners on Bloor said they thought it was the city staff
painting," said Rick Helary, manager of road operations in Toronto. He
says the total cost of the clean up was $1973.74.

This is a small price to pay, says the Repair Squad's ringleader, a man in
his late 30s(members of the group asked their names not be used). "The
city is taking way too long. There is no need for this. Why don't they
just paint the bike lanes? People are dying."

The most recent cyclist killed in the GTA died earlier this month when he
collided with a garbage truck on Bayview Ave., near the 401.

The leader of the Repair Squad had his own close call 15 year ago, when he
crashed into a car near the SkyDome. The driver had stopped in the centre
lane to let a passenger out. The cyclist was "doored" as a result. "You
can still see the scar across my chest and arm," he says.

The activist says he and others were inspired by a group that took action
last summer. Cycling advocates, such as Take the Tooker, have been known
to draw chalk bike lanes around the city. But that's not going far enough,
this group says.

So two weeks after their original stunt, the Repair Squad headed toward
another section of Bloor St. This time, they decided to use hot pink spray
paint, both for novelty and so that people would know it wasn't done by
the city.

---

It was all carefully planned in advance. A few members came to the area
the night before to scout out the neighbourhood and test the line painter
in a back alley. It would take roughly 30 minutes to paint stencils every
50 feet down the stretch of road, they realized.

They began their work at 3:15 p.m. with cars still parked along the curb.
The group has to wait for rush hour, because that's the only time cars
can't park where the bike lane would be.

"Cars are a good cover when we do the stencilling," says one of two female
members in the group.

"Perfect," one says, as they notice a red Honda parked only feet away from
a large Chevy. With lookouts at the ready, the pair crouch between the two
bumpers. One holds down a large cardboard stencil, while the other traces
the image with paint.

Once the diamonds and bike logos are done, the woman puts on an orange
emergency-worker vest and walks straight into oncoming traffic. As she
signals for cars to pass into the centre lane, another walks behind her,
using a line painter.

Commuters instinctively take their positions, and bikes head right for the
new lane, as drivers dutifully merge left.

"Are we finally getting a bike lane?" asked a passerby heading into a
corner store.

"Yes ma'am," one of the Repair Squad replies.

"How exciting!"

 ----------------------


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