Spadina "bike lanes" suck!

Door-o-rama indeed... I recently heard some shop is selling a bicycle called the "door-prize" which is exclusive to Toronto. Maybe a gag?

I ride outside the bike lane if there are parked cars... so honk at me, whatever.. it's either you honking or opening your door in my face, given the choice I choose the former!

Kevcom, you really put it well. There are some on Lawrence Avenue East too, but they're literally the width of a sewer grate, obviously not meant for bicycles to use. Happy riding and shoulder check every 5 seconds.

If cars want to treat bike lanes as optional (and for an example of this, try taking Dupont east towards Yonge st.) I think it's fine for me to treat them as optional too.

Many people appear to think the white lines on the edge of Spadina mark out bike lanes. As one of the Toronto transportation engineers explained at a public meeting over Annette Street, Spadina has no bike lanes, just markings for the edge of the road. The pavement between the white lines and the kerb does not have the width required for a lane, for bicycles or anything else; those lines mark out storm sewers and nothing else. Runoff goes in the gutter; bikes go on the road.

That's why I think they should just rip out those lines and either widen the lanes a little, or move the "gutter lane" to the centre of the road by the streetcar right of way. The lines are just creating confusion for all motorists and cyclists, and leads to dangerous situations. Whoever put them there is a s***head - they're in fact more detrimental than beneficial. You put it well Spragge - runnoff in the gutter, bikes on the road - we're not runoff, and I wish the city would see that.

Hi all,

I do believe I heard, many years ago, from a City Staffer, that Spadina was the first road in Toronto to have bike lanes attempted.

From recollection, the story goes that a Metro Roads crew was simply told to go out and paint a line on the right hand side of the curb lane, but the measurements they were given were wrong. The white line, though painted with good intentions, wound up going where cyclists should ride, not where the actual edge of the lane is (or should be).

Perhaps the veracity of this story could be confirmed with Dan or Lukasz at the next TCAC meeting.

I agree that Spadina is a treacherous "door" route, and I ride it occasionally, always remembering as I get to Dundas and Spadina, just why going a few extra blocks east is worth the while. Be very careful on Spadina, if you really have to ride it. Absolutely shoulder check constantly, and don't hesitate to create the space you need to stay safe.

Cheers,
Brian

Spadina was not the first "attempt" at bike lanes; Russel Hill already had them, and Poplar Plains had them soon afterwards.

Cyclists, even back in the late 80's/early 90's, lobbied very hard to get bike lanes on Spadina. Promises were made...

TTC staff fought against planners. For new developments on Spadina TTC staff wanted low parking maximums, planning staff defended generous parking minimums. Planning won.

These are the same planners that fought against a proposed development on Lake Shore Blvd W on the streetcar line because it didn't have enough car parking. The developer, instead, had proposed very generous bike parking and suggested that people could use the streetcar or the bus; Go transit's Mimico station is a 15minute walk away from the proposed site. Staff won this battle, too.

It's for this reason that I [usually] don't trust the city's planning staff, nor TTC staff, as far as I can throw them.

Back to the bike lane, as there were promises made, a line was painted on Spadina that was supposed to be a token effort to the cyclists, but this paint is technically an "edge strip" and was never a bike lane.

The skinny: Be very wary of trusting Planning and/or TTC staff when it comes to bike issues, especially bike lanes...

Well, there are planners, and then there are planners. Not everyone in the department is so bone-headed..

with Sharrows on Spadina this year.

Check out the recent updates to the Bikeway Network being proposed by Transportation staff - http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/public-consultations/pdf/byd...

with Sharrows on Spadina this year.

Check out the recent upgrades to the Bikeway Network that are proposed/planned by Transportation staff - http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/public-consultations/pdf/byd...

I don't trust the City too much these days, but I also have issues with the new process and those who are championing them ie. I don't always trust the CU's judgements, and instead of one single person, there needs to be a network subcommittee again. Open to all; minutes; city staff; plans... not private, quick and doing things for deadline and "green".
How many of the people involved in the Spadina debacle are still around and being paid? hmm. Such width: but nope, not enough room for a bike lane, and the edge line shows the perils of badly crafted motions.

I suspect that it would be too "controversial" to have both a right-of-way and a dedicated bike lane on the same road. Then the poor motorists will have the same number of lanes as anyone else, this would be sooo unfair!

I don't really think that the planning department is evil, or that the staff there are all anti-bike. In fact the planning department has done some good things. The problem is that they have also done many bad things.

Planning is a big department with many people, and some people there are still sooo pro-car/pro-car parking that they often come off as anti-bike and/or anti-transit and even anti-pedestrian. At times I swear that some planners want to build communities exclusively for cars and car parking, and not for people.

I don't yet know the people in the planning department at all, so I still judge them all with suspicion because, as a department, they don't have a great track record; at least not from where I stand.

But I will note that they are improving, and that this improvement is noticeable in the core. Alas, I live in [former] Etobicoke, where bone-headed things are still happening.

How else do you explain road design that excludes other than motorised transport? Designs like the South Kingsway at the Queensway? The Queensway west of S Kingsway void of sidewalks on the south side? The lack of sidewalks on the west side of Parkside Dr?
Roads were and are built as exclusion zones and boundaries to bipedal transport.

It sounds like bike lanes were omitted from the Roncesvalles reconstruction. Bicyclists will have a choice of riding in the door zone OR on the streetcar bed. Streetcar operators are loathe to share roadspace with bicyclists now. How do you think that will go over? How many bicyclists will be hit before someone's next stop will be six feet under?

It's the name of a bike Sweet Pete's is selling. Supposedly designed specifically for the toronto rider. Looks like just a rugged light commuter to me. The name of the bike is a marketing gimmick.

I've heard the 'bike lanes' on Spadina were designed by a road engineer who doesn't believe bicycles belong on the road, but who was instructed to include bike lanes in the redesign. Can anyone confirm? If true, does this character have any clue what the iron ring on his/her pinky is there to remind engineers of? (hint, Quebec bridge, stop killing people with bad design). Absolutely these lanes should be obliterated and replaced with sharrows.

I've heard the 'bike lanes' on Spadina were designed by a road engineer who doesn't believe bicycles belong on the road, but who was instructed to include bike lanes in the redesign. Can anyone confirm? If true, does this character have any clue what the iron ring on his/her pinky is there to remind engineers of? (hint, Quebec bridge, stop killing people with bad design). Absolutely these lanes should be obliterated and replaced with sharrows.

The Spadina bike lane engineer story sounds like an urban myth. The engineering ring being connected in any way to the Quebec bridge collapse is definitely a myth.

The Quebec bridge / engineer's ring story - yeah don't recall if I heard that first from an engineer friend or a documentary on the two construction collapses of the Quebec bridge that killed so many workers in 1907 and, under a different engineer, in 1916. I just now googled it and apparently the link between the two isn't true though widely believed. Too bad; it fits in well, including the dates, the humility it demands of engineers, and the material used in the rings.

Turns out the Iron Ring Ceremony was the inspiration of a U of T engineering professor named Haultain who in 1922 called on his buddy Rudyard Kipling (no less) to come up with a ceremony of obligation for newly minted engineers. In 1923 Kipling delivered "The Ritual of the Calling of the Engineer", uniquely Canadian, and a great Canadian story. I still think "Stop killing people with bad design" is in keeping with the spirit of the oath.

And Spadina's so called 'bike lanes' seems to have originated from such an obviously mischievous bad intent it's hard to believe it wasn't deliberate.

In my experience, the Transportation Engineers at City Hall draw on extensive study and expertise before they even reach the design phase of a bike lane or other cycling facility. The poor state of implementation and funding of cycling infrastructure is linked directly to political support, or the lack there of.

So if you're looking for "evil" or "mischievous" elements I'd look to public policy rather that an individual.

Its an edge stripe but not intended to be a bike lane.

The City's Transportation planning department is filled with great individuals who are doing their best to move people around in this city. They all understand terms like "complete streets" and "integrated transportation." I don't have a bone to pick with them.

It the city's planning staff who, when they insist that new development need a minimum of three car parking spots per housing unit, that I make a big deal over.

Stuff grows to fill the available space. Hard drives fill up with stuff, expenses grow to fill available funding, and tasks grow to fill available time-lines. And cars are acquired to fill the available parking. To say that "parking requirements are built on studies" is to show exactly how self-fulfilling prophecies work.

A good friend of mine did not buy a second car for their family because they had nowhere to park it. He's since moved, and is just as close to work, and he still bikes there. But now that he has a bigger driveway, he also has a second car. He had gotten along fine without the second car, and he could have continued to do so, but now that he has the space to store it, he acquired the second to fill the available space.

These are the same planners that don't demand, nor recommend, [enough, or quality] bike parking be installed, yet do demand that generous quantities of car parking be built.

Well said, sir.

Those Spadina 'bike lanes' are accidents in the making. I've spent years wondering why they haven't been stripped away. Like you, I'll continue to ride center in the right hand lane until something changes. I'd rather piss off 905 asshole motorists than get smoked with a door.

I agree, those quasi-lanes only confuse motorists and cyclists about where everyone should be on the road. Yesterday, a taxi honked at me for not riding in the gutter.