tammy's blog

I had the pleasure of meeting a graduate student from York this week who is researching Critical Mass, and he wants to know: Have YOU ever participated in critical mass Toronto?

He is conducting a survey and would like your input. The survey is part of a case study and is completely anonymous and confidential. If you can spare three to five minutes, just go to:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2bd637nc23HQRvIBtW...

If you would like more information about the research, please contact Andrew Bieler at bielerandrew@yahoo.com.

See you this Friday! Spadina and Bloor, 6pm.

Photo by Martin Reis

The City of Toronto Official Plan envisions a city where active transportation helps to relieve congestion and improve air quality. Yet, right now less than 2 per cent of the City of Toronto Transportation budget is dedicated to walking and cycling infrastructure.

Now is your opportunity to let the city know that it needs to treat cycling as a serious form of transportation.

Tomorrow, Thursday March 6th, the City of Toronto's budget committee will meet to wrap up the 2008 Operating Budget. The Operating Budget pays for the staff that runs programs and services. For several years now cycling activists have been trying to get increases in this area without success. Although we welcome the 2008 capital budget increase in transportation services from $3.0 million to $5.5 million for cycling infrastructure (needed to install the substantial increased amount of 50 km of on-street bike lanes scheduled for this year) it is now time to ask that the cycling safety, education and promotion programs also receive a similar much-needed boost.

Martin Koob of biketoronto.ca has posted a succinct summary here. It includes an outline of the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation's (TCAT) bike-related recommendations.

They asked council to:

<

ul>

Name / Occupation / Age

Tanya Quinn/ IT Coordinator / 34

What do you use your bike for?

Everything! Commuting, shopping, visiting friends, crazy long day rides sightseeing small town Ontario, camping etc.

How often do you ride?

Pretty much every day. It’s my main mode of transport. Some days when I’m more local, I walk.

How long have you been commuting by bicycle and what made you decide to start?

It was six years ago that I became seriously committed. I had been taking the streetcar to work and I found it slow and unreliable. At first I was in bad shape, since I rarely got any exercise, and the streetcar I would have passed me while I was red-faced and lying on the boulevard trying to catch my breath. I kept doing it every day because I bought a bike computer and was fascinated watching my mileage go up and up. After 2 or 3 weeks it wasn’t so hard anymore.

What would you say to convince someone who is considering commuting by bicycle to go for it?

Just pick a nice day and try it out! Or try your commute on a Sunday. The perception of what it’s like to bike in traffic always seems worse than the reality.

When did you start commuting in winter and why?

Other people were doing it, I figured how bad can it be? The first winter I was commuting I had a long commute so I did half bike and half transit to avoid the unpleasant parts of the TTC trip.

Cyclist profiles are part of an ongoing series at Spacing and I Bike TO. In celebration of the season -- and the City's Bike Winter program -- I will now focus on winter cyclists!

Name / Occupation / Age
Christina Bouchard / Bike Month Organizer / 24

What do you use your bike for?
Transportation and Recreation.

How often do you ride?
Daily

How long have you been commuting by bicycle, what made you decide to start and what would you say to someone who is considering trying it for the first time?
When I moved to Toronto for my first year of University, I left my car in Ottawa. I was so thrilled to be out of the burbs and living downtown. I would say:

"Riding your bike is like chopping wood, it will warm you up as you go”.

“Think positive. It may be winter, but it’s still nice to be outside.”

When did you start commuting in winter and why?
By November of my first year, it became winter and I just kept going.

What are the biggest challenges for winter bikers in Toronto?
Be careful of the streetcar tracks.

What reaction do you get from co-workers?
My co-workers all get it, but there are plenty of others who seem to think that my genetic make-up is somehow different from them.

What's the best thing about commuting by bicycle in winter?

This photo was taken by Martin Koob at the City's cycling consultation session in July. A summary of that consultation can be found here.

Remember back in June when the newly minted Cycling Committee Chair, Councillor Adrian Heaps, said we'd get 27 km of bike lanes this year or else? Heaps was quoted in the Star saying, "If the transportation department has to spray paint it themselves – you can quote me on this – it's going in."

Who's counting? Martin Koob of biketoronto.ca is. He has crafted a comprehensive list of what's done, what's approved and what's left for 2007. Let's add it up!

Paint is dry:

* Logan Ave. - Eastern to point zoom south 0.2 km (contra-flow, pictured at bottom)
* Christie St. - Bloor to St. Clair 1.2 km (more pictures in our <a href="http://www.ibiketo.ca/image/tid/191">Streetscapes gallery</a>)
* Knox - Queen to Eastern 0.2
* Roselawn - Marlee to Dufferin 1 km (additional information below - <strong>UPDATE</strong>* Pictures now added below)


Approved and ready to rumble:

* Chester Hill - Broadview W 0.1 km
* Greenwood - Danforth to Queen 2.1 km
* Carlaw - Logan /Gerrard to Dundas 1 km
* Pond - Sentinel to Murray Ross 1 km


The Sierra Club of Canada is hosting the City of Toronto's 2007 Car Free Day celebration on Yonge Street and Yonge-Dundas Square on Thursday, September 20 from 10 am to 2:00 pm.

World CarFree Day is this Saturday, September 22 in Toronto.

Come out and see how much fun carfreedom can be! Host a Parking Metre Party along Queen St West from 1 p.m., then join the Carfree Parade at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. assembly at Trinity Bellwoods, to head east).

How to host a parking metre party:
1. Scout out a parking spot where you'd like to spend the afternoon
2. Park your non-motorized "vehicle" (bike, trike, roller-skates, dinky-car etc.) along Queen West
3. Pay the meter: for $1.50 per hour the spot is yours! (Be sure to display your parking receipt on the "dash" of your "vehicle"!)
4. Have fun!

It's fun! It's legal! Bring your fellow velorutionaries!

Then, on Sunday, September 23, Bells on Bloor invites you to join their pedal powered parade.

We will ring our bells all the way from High Park to the ROM. Free bells will be distributed by Bell Captains. If I am given the honour of being a Bell Captain, my name will be Bella Lugosi. (Major Belle E. Ache has not yet confirmed my status.)

Bikes belong in Ontario!

The Bicycle Trade Association of Canada (BTAC), with the ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada, an organization dedicated to preventing brain and spinal cord injury through education, is holding a media conference in Toronto at Sweet Pete's Bike Shop, Thursday, September 20th at 11 a.m.

The purpose of the media conference is to:

• Release the "Bikes belong in Ontario!" policy platform - a comprehensive policy program to promote cycling in Ontario;
• Support the proposal of provincial investment in municipal cycling infrastructure and an Ontario PST exemption on bicycles and bicycle helmets;
• Explain how the bicycle is the healthiest, most environmentally friendly and efficient means of urban transportation available to Ontarians;
• Explain how a tax exemption on helmets will promote safe cycling and prevent brain injuries.

The media conference will take place at Sweet Pete's Bike Shop, 1204 Bloor Street West, on Thursday, September 20th at 11 AM.

WHAT: Release of "Bikes belong in Ontario!" policy platform

From the original MyBikeLane New York:

By my reckoning, MyBikeLane is 1 year old today! Congratulations to the innovator of this pioneering open-source people's law enforcement site.

This van has it's hands spread wide open and is clapping for MyBikeLane . . . not.

But look at us! Toronto's MyBikeLane is number two after NY with 370 posts and 40 members. Unfortunately, we do have lots of opportunities for photos here in the T-dot, especially on Bay and College streets. Here is a pic added by Vic of one sadly typical infraction on College street, below.