herb's blog

Here is the first serious platform presentation on cycling by Mayoral Candidate HiMY SYeD. It's a shame that all the mainstream candidates have only excreted patronizing and dangerous platforms. We are still waiting on Sarah Thompson's platform which might take cyclists a bit more seriously than the likes of Rossi, Smitherman, while anything is better than Ford's vision of cyclists giving up on cycling altogether else lest they take their lives in their own hands. You'd think that these guys had never been on a bike or been around cyclists.

Well done Himy.

"Vision 2020 - Another Toronto IS Possible" - Mobility - BikeCity

Toronto Mayoral Candidate HiMY SYeD has informally been sharing his BikeCity Vision with cyclists and the wider community since May 25 2010, the beginning of his Campaign in becoming The Peoples' Mayor.

' BikeCity ' is a key component in his integrated overall 10 year direction of hope in Toronto: ' Vision 2020 - Another Toronto IS Possible '.

' Vision 2020 ' is defined in three broad themes - Mobility, Sustainability, Identity.

The ' Vision 2020 ' theme of Mobility begins with ' BikeCity '.

The complete Mobility theme within Vision2020 will be expanded upon and shared later in mid-September.

No, Holland is no land of unicorns and candy cane trees, despite being below sea level, and filled with tulips, bicycles, and people who don't stop cycling for any kind of weather (except maybe if the polders fill up with water). This is why their expertise is particularly useful as an export, as the following videos demonstrate well.

Then (1950s):

Bicycle Rush hour now:

Rain doesn't stop them:

Nor winter:

What's so special about the Dutch? Not much. They just happen to have lots of cycling infrastructure and have built up lots of cycling expertise over the last 100 hundred years. And I've been informed by folks at the City that they'll soon be coming to Toronto to share their experiences with planners here with the inaugural "Toronto ThinkBike Workshops":

The City of Toronto will be working with the Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to host Dutch bicycle planners on September 20th and 21st.

The Dutch have established themselves as world leaders, in the area of bicycle infrastructure design. Toronto and Dutch bicycle professionals will form two teams for this event. Each team will be given a Toronto problem to solve, with results unveiled at a free public event Tuesday September 21st, 6-8 pm. Which team will develop the most exciting design solution? Come watch the presentations and vote.

El Mocambo - 2nd floor, 464 Spadina Ave. Tuesday September 21, 2010, 6:00 -8:00 pm
Free admission. Cash bar

I've been informed that the two "Toronto problems to solve" will include the Sherbourne corridor in a conversion to separated bike facilities and the other will be in finding a preferred east-west corridor downtown - likely Richmond or Adelaide.

Mari on bakfiets with kids: Photo by Andrew Tolson for Maclean's

There aren't any statistics, but it certainly looks like there are lot more "bakfiets" / cargo bikes out on Canadian streets ("bakfiets" is Dutch for box bike and is a general term for any bike with a box for cargo or kids). Mainstream Maclean's magazine rarely pays any attention to urban alternative transportation, let alone bikes, but even they've noticed a proliferation of cargo bikes. It's not exactly booming but these bikes stand out in a crowd, particularly if a slight woman is pedalling a large bike with kids in the front. The cars move out of the way and pedestrians stop and stare.

Despite claims to the contrary, Elmer the Safety Elephant has retired and been replaced by the Safety Animal. (Click through to see large image.)

If you're a CBC Radio nerd like me you might have heard a renewed mandatory helmet debate this morning with the news that a cyclist died from "life-threatening head injuries" in a crash a month ago at Caledonia and Davenport. The media and police have jumped on the fact that the cyclist was not wearing a helmet.

Police claim they discovered that "the severity of the head injury indicates that he was not wearing a helmet". (I wonder why they couldn't discover he wasn't wearing a helmet by just looking for an absence of a helmet in the area. I also wonder why the media is taking the police's take on the cause of head injuries when this is normally the role of health professionals.)

The man was riding southbound at Caledonia Park Road "at high speed" as he approached a green light on Davenport, according to police.

When the light changed, the man made a sharp left turn eastward onto Davenport's westbound lane, and then lost control and fell onto the roadway.

Police also issued an advisory in the Monday release that said: "While helmets are not mandatory for those over [18], Traffic Services would remind everyone that helmets are your best defence against brain injuries that result from falls. Parents need to be vigilant in ensuring children wear their helmets at all times when riding their bicycles."

This news follows a study at the University of Manitoba that helmet legislation works to get more people to wear helmets (while also reducing the number of people willing to bike).

While it is often a good idea (in my opinion) for an individual to wear a helmet to reduce the chance of a head injury, the broad statistics are not clear if helmets help all that much. We should not arrive at a conclusion and decide policy based on these individual cases where people have head injuries. It is known that helmets are of very limited value in the event of a collision with a car; and many cyclists negate the protective effect of helmets by taking more risks. The promotion of helmets implicitly shifts responsibility of care to the cyclist and away from drivers, and away from the provision of safer streets by means of street calming or bicycle facilities.

The truth is, strong calls for mandatory helmet legislations happen mostly in countries - such as United States, Canada, Australia - where the cycling modal share is very low and where injuries and deaths per kilometre travelled are much higher. It's not hard to argue that a big reason for this is that it's easier to shift the blame onto cyclists rather than taking effective steps in configuring our urban spaces to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.

Source: www.cyclehelmets.org/

What we can take away from this is that helmet wearing is only a tiny part of the overall picture. We must look to other elements of cycling policy in countries where injury/death rates are low; elements such as bike lanes/paths and early cycling education.

The Toronto Star has discovered that one can be fashionable on a bike (which is not the same as saying a particular bike is fashionable), thanks in part to the Curbside employees and thecommonelite.org bloggers, Gillian Goerz and Mikey Bennington.

“The city lends itself to cycling because it’s predominantly flat and there is a great street culture with lots of people outdoors,” says Goerz, who also works as an illustrator. “It’s also spread out with different cultural centres (that are) easy to get to on bikes.”

Another reason style and spokes are suddenly in sync could be bike-sharing programs such as Vélib’ in Paris and Bixi in Montreal (and Toronto next spring), which offer spontaneity to bike riding. That means you’re not dressing to go for a ride; rather, you’re dressing for your destination, whether that’s a gallery opening, dinner with friends and, yes, even a night out at the clubs or a bar. The bike just a cab as the mode of transport.

That’s why it’s not unusual to see girls wearing miniskirts and platforms while pedalling.

“Just because you’re riding a bike, you don’t have to lose your femininity,” says April Wozny, a Toronto publicist who will ride to her meetings on a bike she bought for $100 and calls Big Blue Buttercup.

ING Direct Canada's lion will appear on the BIXI Toronto bikes next spring, as they've signed on as the primary sponsor of the bikesharing program. Mayor Miller and Public Bike System Company reps announced ING this morning.

“Public bike systems like BIXI can significantly reduce the cost of commuting and make a healthy impact on our cities and our lives,” said Peter Aceto, President and CEO of ING DIRECT Canada. “We are always excited to help Canadians save their money so being a part of bringing BIXI to the Toronto community is a great fit for ING DIRECT.”

No word on what percentage of the sponsorship needed is being provided by ING, though I was assured it was a substantial proportion. BIXI Toronto is required to raise $600,000 for each of the next three years.

In related news, ING Direct has also sponsored the custom painted, Toronto Cyclists Union bike giveaway. Is it a coincidence that this Dutch company is supporting cycling in a big way?

I noticed the BIXI Toronto site has a lot more info now. For instance, they are offering a corporate program where employers can provide gift certificates to their employees. They've also provided some details on how someone can sponsor a station. I've been told that the going rate for a station is about $20,000, in case you're interested.

Where employers provide auto parking, sponsoring a station or memberships for their employees is a win-win. Doling out $95 a year is a lot less than what a car parking spot costs. Heck, instead of building a parking spot a business could probably buy 2000 BIXI memberships (give or take; just look at High Cost of Free Parking by Dr. Donald Shoup for confirmation). Just think of how much money they'll save (even if we amortized the parking spot over 10 years at $2000 a year, though I don't really have a good idea of the yearly costs).