business

Thanks to some warm winter weather and possibly to a bit of persuading on my end (by directing some emails to Street Furniture and to Councillor Vaughan's office), City staff have installed post and rings along Portland and Richmond next to the new Loblaws.

As I noted in the other post, Councillor Vaughan and Jennifer Chan of his office were quite helpful in pursuing the case of the missing bike parking to get it solved. Lisa Ing of Street Furniture was also helpful in spelling out the details of this location and the limitations of her office.

It's super that we now have some bike parking for Loblaws. Now what about the rest of the stores along that block on Queen? Short-term bike parking should be no more than 15 metres from the entrance of destinations, according to the Bicycles at Rest design guide. Are post and rings just not "aesthetic" enough to get installed there?

The "season" for installation of bike parking ends in the fall - it gets too difficult to install with lots of snow and the City ends its contract with the company that installs the bike rings. It is remarkable, then, that these post and rings appeared. Who installed them? There were plans in the works to install them but not until the spring. Did public pressure on City staff quicken that process?

[Editors: The Bike Biz directory is now accessible. We forgot to make it public when announcing this.]

Everybody knows that bikes are good for business. But do you also know that business can be good for bikes? Well to show you, I Bike T.O. has created a listing of bicycle-friendly business (see the top menu under "Bike Biz".

Bicycle-friendly business is meant to be used as an index of Toronto and area businesses that provide service oriented to cyclists or incorporate bicycles as a significant portion of their operations.

When you start down this road you realize there are a number of great small and large businesses that have bicycles on their minds. Take Chocosol, for instance. Chocosol delivers all their chocolate products by cargo bike! They show up at numerous festivals and sell their wares. They even have a bicycle-powered blender.

And of course there are lots of bike stores. The outstanding ones that have bicycle commuters on their minds include Curbside, Urbane Cyclists, Hoopdriver Bicycles, Bike Joint and so on.

The promotion of cycling is essential to building, growing, and sustaining the future culture of cycling.

The City of Toronto does its part to promote cycling within the city. Toronto's bike plan includes the promotion of cycling. Bike Month, the Bicycle Friendly Business Awards, and the Ambassador program are but only a few ways that city itself promotes cycling.

Promotion doesn't end with the (would be) cyclists themselves. Promotion can take many forms, and some is aimed to attract and build ridership. But other promotion is meant to encourage investment in cycling infrastructure, including end services (bike parking, etc) at various destinations by businesses and attractions. Governments and businesses also need to know about some of the benefits that cyclists provide to our communities.

Hopefully back very soon.

From the City of Toronto BFBA website here are the winners of the Bicycle Friendly Business Awards for 2007:

• Best Bike Parking Award - Winner: North American Findings
• Bicycle-Friendliest Suburban Business Award - Winner: Scarborough Campus Student Union
• Bicycle Commute Award - Winner: Quadrangle Architects Ltd.
• Best Small Business Award - Winner: ChocoSol Traders
• Best Large Business Award - Winner: Urban Space Property Group / Center for Social Innovation
• Best Skills Development - Winner: Ontario Cycling Association
• Best Overall Award - Winner: Butterfield & Robinson

The BTAC (Bicycle Trade Association of Canada) held a reception last night. Though the politicians failed to show, the board of directors did get to meet Councillor Heaps earlier in the day. They had a good discussion on what needs to be done for cycling in Toronto. A number of city staff and reps of various cycling organizations were also present for the free fodder: the Toronto Cycling Committee, Community Bicycle Network, and ... maybe that was it. I don't know if the other groups were conveniently not invited or if they just couldn't make it.