potholes

A few months ago I was at a FreeGeek "Unconference" where I attended a demo of the SeeClickFix website, which is a "crowd-sourcing" way to report - and fix - problems with your city. SeeClickFix is also selling itself as a service for municipalities so they can get citizens to easily report potholes, broken park benches, litter and so on. During the election campaign, mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone proposed to make the website an integral part of Toronto's 311 service. (Presumably Mayor Ford would hate SeeClickFix as much as he hates 311. It's not entirely clear why he hates the popular 311 service other than that he sees it as competition for his own phone call service.)

At the time of the demo I immediately tested it out by reporting just one of the many, many bad road cuts on Queen Street West. Derek of BlogTO, which recently tried it out as well, noted that Toronto 311 is a watcher for the SeeClickFix Toronto reports. I haven't checked to see if the road cuts have been repaired, i.e. dumped a bit of asphalt in it, but I keep getting reminder emails that the issue in SeeClickFix hasn't been closed. Perhaps it has been fixed but Toronto 311 doesn't close the issues.

Just look at the latest street fixings from the Urban Repair Squad. Cyclists are akin to "action-heroes"; deftly dodging potholes, cracks, and utility cuts.

See full photo set.

Saddletramp wrote: "The action-hero drama of dodging obstacles and potholes, escaping devil-may-care drivers in super-fast cars, and braving the fierce, temperamental elements, may seem, and feel, quite comic. Unless you're face-down on the pavement.

With some wit, we endeavour to provide warning with humour; suggest danger with comedy; invite caution without frightening... and most importantly, we appeal to our fine city to remember that potholes aren't just uncomfortable, they really, really hurt."

Utility cut on Bloor: That's Bells on Bloor ride on opposite side.

Riding on our utility cuts reminds my GF of rodeo kids riding sheep.

If you've ridden on streets like Dundas West between Spadina and Ossington, you'll have experienced "mutton bustin", the act of riding sheep for pleasure, mostly done by farm kids.

Utility companies are allowed to cut up the roads to install new utilities, and at anytime somewhere in the city a road is being ripped up. When they are finished they patch it up with some temporary asphalt. About a year later the City comes in to do a proper patch (in theory). But in the meanwhile cyclists get to experience mutton bustin, some of the most exciting, neck wrenching roads in our city.

Once you get tired of mutton bustin you can go back to riding the "devil strip" (the concrete strip between the streetcar tracks).

Just missed crashing from a pothole? Then you're probably like a lot of cyclists in Toronto. But now you can help make a bit of difference by calling 311! The city has launched the 311 service to better help residents access City services. If you're like me you've thought many times that you should report a pothole but forget by the time you get to work. Now you can stop your bike, and report the pothole right away! The City will issue a work ticket and will fix the pothole within four days of it being reported. It only costs the City $25 to fix the pothole which is much cheaper than hospital expenses.

Do you like the poster I made? Please use it and if you're artistic feel free to improve it (source and poster size attached).