Avoiding Ontario Place P-gates

P gates are the subject of today's The Fixer in the Toronto Star. Here is the article:

Cyclists on the Martin Goodman Trail are again dodging metal gates at entrances to Ontario Place, after the city had opened them.

The P-shaped gates were set up on the trail near the spots where it crosses Ontario Place entrances, to prevent cars from driving on it to jump gridlock on Lake Shore Blvd. after events at the park.

On May 31 we reported on how they also funnel cyclists into the middle of the trail, and too close to the gates when other bikes or inline skaters try to pass, where they can crash into the barriers or each other.

The city parks department, which is responsible for the trail, decided to open them after our column, figuring the hazard they posed to cyclists was greater than the need to keep cars off.

But Ontario Place owns the property over which the trail runs and overruled the decision. It closed the gates again last week, saying vehicles on the trail are more dangerous to people than the barriers.

Jonathan Daley, Ontario Place’s director of corporate affairs, said drivers leaving from the Remembrance Dr. entrance at the west end of the park try to sneak onto the trail to get a jump on slow traffic.

Ontario Place decided to close them to ensure drivers don’t start using the trail again, said Daley, adding it is responsible for the safety of people on its property, even those using the trail.

It’s a problem not unlike the one solved a few years ago by rerouting the trail from the waterfront, where cyclists were coming too close to Ontario Place guests, to an area parallel to Lake Shore Blvd., he said.

When cars get onto the trail, the threat is transferred to the people using it, he said, a situation Ontario Place cannot allow.

Daley said it wants to work with the city to reduce the danger to cyclists — possibly by slowing them down as they approach the gates — and is willing to consider creative ideas.

But it’s back to square one for now, with cyclists and other trail users running the risk of collisions when too many converge at the gates and try to squeeze through.

Interestingly that first the Ontario Place person says that the problem is cars using the path:

Jonathan Daley, Ontario Place’s director of corporate affairs, said drivers leaving from the Remembrance Dr. entrance at the west end of the park try to sneak onto the trail to get a jump on slow traffic.

And this is very, very bad. But the solution to this problem is slowing down bicyclists:

Daley said it wants to work with the city to reduce the danger to cyclists — possibly by slowing them down as they approach the gates — and is willing to consider creative ideas.

Anyone want to call Daley and ask, is the problem really cars on the path, or is it that bicycles head through the intersections too fast? Because drivers, you know, don't notice the signalized bicycle crossing. And slow bicycles may be able to stop when a car comes barreling through.

By the way, slowing down trail users will just make a bigger mess. Ontario Place wants to try that, I might decide to stop, dismount my bike, and slowly (and safely!) walk across the road accesses....preferably when an event is on.

Is this really something to even complain about?

Just slow down for 10 bloody seconds and pass the barriers with care.

Considering these p-gates keep cars OFF of the route, it's probably something we don't need to throw our arms up over.

Its not the tour de france. You're out there getting to work, or going to a friend's, getting exercise, contributing to helping the planet... you don't need to do all that at a non-stop rate of 35km/h.

There are zippo cars in the Ontario Place parking lot on a weekday morning or evening. What are the odds that one of those non-existent cars will want to drive down the trail? Likewise zippo. Yet the P-gates are closed, dispite the utter lack of events or attendance at Ontario Place.

I think that the "keep the cars off the trail" is BS spin. I expect that Ontario Place's logic goes like this:

1. Our customers all arrive by car
2. Our parking lot revenue is keeping us afloat
3. Our customers are otherwise unfamiliar with the area and they likely will fail to yield to cyclists and this could be an image problem for Ontario Place
4. Therefore, let's slow down the cyclists so our customers can cruise in and out unimpeded; the cyclists will be going slowly enough to keep out of the way of our customers

I'll also point out that, despite the long design process involved in relocating the trail, the intersections are poorly-designed and unsafe even wthout the P-gates.

Do traffic engineers try to improve the safety of dangerous intersections by narrowing them down with metal barriers in the travel lanes to make a narrow gap through the intersection? This would surely slow the cars down and increase their safety, no?

If I was the only one on the trail I wouldn't care as much. When it gets busy, you'll get strollers, joggers, rollerbladers, and cyclists all making random moves to squeeze through. "Just slow down" is not the answer to this problem.