city hall

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.

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?

Mayoral candidate George Smitherman's office put out a critique of mayoral candidate Rob Ford's stance on cycling. Witness the video where Ford state's that his "heart bleeds" for cyclists who are hit, but that in the end he feels that it is "their fault" for being hit, presumably because they shouldn't be on bikes at all.

This was an easy swipe at Ford and the video is making the rounds. The fact is, Mayoral Candidate Rob Ford is just not as suave as George Smitherman or candidate Rocco Rossi, though their basic stance is the same: take cyclists off the streets.

Smitherman, in his transportation plan, for instance, claims (unlike uncouth Ford) that he "supports Toronto cyclists and will make it easier for Torontonians to choose safe cycling". In order to that he will "rethink" the cycling plan. Then the first thing he will do is indefinitely postpone / cancel all bike lanes on arterial roads (Smitherman announced this soon after Rossi made a similar announcement). There are two major bones that Smitherman is throwing to cyclists, and both of them have their own issue (I'm ignoring the others because they're not really new at all):

1. build physical separation of existing bike lanes
2. "expedite" bike "expressways" through hydro corridors and ravines

My responses:

Toronto transportation staff has been planning new bike-specific traffic control signals to go along the 30 km of new trails in our suburbs, and for downtown is planning bike boxes at five locations downtown on College, Bloor and Harbord.

The traffic lights will enable cyclists and pedestrians to more quickly cross the major arterial roads when on the trails and will allow cyclists to cross with their own crossing beside the crosswalk. If you happen to live near the new trails in North York and Scarborough, it wouldn't hurt to call your councillor to let them know you think this is a great idea. Let them know that you, as a cyclist, actually exist and happen to live in the suburbs. It's amazing how often councillors claim that no on cycles in their ward.

As for the bike boxes, take a gander at this video on how they work. Bike boxes allow cyclists to filter to the front so they can make quick left turns or merge easily back into the bike lane after the intersection instead of being stuck behind all the cars. There are no right turns on red allowed with bike boxes, but this matters little where there are lots of pedestrians crossing.

From transportation services:

After Councillor Howard Moscoe's prodding, City Council has released the previously confidential manual which explains who can get their parking tickets cancelled. I am glad that they did this, and it helps make things much more clear to everyone in this city. Many thanks to Councillor Moscoe, and the other councillors, who made this happen.

Before this manual was released, I had though that more enforcement would help to diminish the number of vehicles found parked in bike lanes. I had also thought that on-street separated bike lanes should be used sparingly and strategically.

I now realize how naive I was.

While I expect that some of the excuses to get one's parking ticket cancelled to be removed from the current manual, I have to expect that many, if not most, of them will remain. Because of this, I now find it necessary to add my voice to the many who are already calling for the conversion of existing bike lanes into on-street separated bike lanes.

The passive enforcement of barriers which would deter people from placing their vehicles in bike lanes seems to be the only remedy we have to keep those of us in this city who ride bikes safe from moving cars and trucks, and to keep bike lanes safe from becoming free parking or ad-hoc taxi stands.

And safer infrastructure will only encourage more people to ride.

Join a group of cyclists for a fun, friendly, and casual ride from traditional car-centric suburbia (Don Mills Centre) to Downtown City Hall.

Date: Monday May 31st 2010
Departure Time: 7am (be there before 7am for a brief intro and speeches)
Meeting Location: Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East Southwest Corner

City of Toronto Councillor and Budget Chief Shelley Carroll has confirmed her attendance, and has been warming up for the ride recently. So get ready for a beautiful cycling week in the sun!

Toronto Annual Group Commute from Don Mills

Live on the east side of the Don Valley near Lawrence Avenue? Riding across the Lawrence Avenue bridge can be challenging for some. There will be a pre-ride westbound across the Lawrence Avenue bridge departing from Lawrence Avenue East and Underhill (Northeast corner) at 6:30am.

City Council debated late into the night on the bikeway network plan for 2010, which was passed 26-8, with one caveat: it was amended by Councillor Hall (Ward 1) to remove the pilot University Ave bike lanes from the motion. The vote to amend was 15-13, but apparently Councillor Fletcher, who has been quite pro-bike lane, made an error in her vote (or some have said there was a technical glitch). A re-vote was requested but apparently there is a bizarre council rule that a re-vote cannot take place if it will change the result (one is not sure why else someone would want to re-vote). So no re-vote and this council session is now complete. The next one is June 8 and 9.

Damn council. Not even willing to try something out. You could have voted to take it out after the pilot project. We've tried the whole car thing, folks. Just look how well that worked. Just look.

It was a very close vote to remove it, but it doesn't mean that it might not show up in June. The chances are that it will be a close vote again if it is put on the agenda of the next council session. The results of the vote are here, start calling your councillors to get them to wake up and support it.

Tomorrow is do or die. Either council approves the loan guarantee and contract with Bixi, or it will be a long, long time before Toronto gets its own bikesharing program. Please go to City Hall at 10 am with your bike helmet on to show your support. The Mayor is making a special push for it!

The 2010 Bikeway Network will be coming up at a later time, possibly on May 12th. That's when the University bike lane pilot will up for vote. This item will be likely even more contentious than Bixi. Follow the bike union's Twitter feed @bikeunion to see when the item is coming up, then rush down to City Hall with your helmets!

I've got a lot of hope riding on Bixi. Way back in 2000, my roommate Todd Parsons first brought back the idea of yellow bikesharing back from his trip to Austin, Texas. This brought forth Bikeshare, which populated Toronto with lots of yellow bikes for 6 great years. Now I'm hoping that Bixi will more than fill the hole that Bikeshare left. I hope that all cyclists and other folks can jump to show the politicians that this is a great idea! We can't let Montreal have all the fun.

From Yvonne at the bike union:

As per my email last week about the City Council meeting taking place May 11th & 12th in Council Chambers - you are invited to attend whenever you are able.

Although I don't have specific details around timing, I now know that Item PW 32.8 – The Public Bike (Bixi-Toronto) Program (http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2010/pw/bgrd/backgroundfile-28853.pdf) will be one of the Mayor's items! Good news indeed.