bike lanes

Riconroy, in this video, shows us the daily conflict between drivers and cyclists in Toronto bike lanes.

There is conflict between cyclists and drivers in the city; one of the ways it shows itself is in sharing space, especially bike lanes. Are they exclusively for cyclists, or can cars and trucks use them to get a coffee, or make a delivery? Cyclists maintain that having to swerve out of the bike lane to get around a stopped vehicle is more dangerous than having no bike lane at all. Enforcement of no-stopping by-laws is at best lax.

Lawyer, and former Toronto Police Services Board chair, Alan Heisey, is being supported by bike union members in calling for a crackdown on bike lane blockers. Currently the city is putting in bike lanes but enforcement is lax, effectively negating their usefulness.

A former Toronto Police board chairman wants cops to crack down on bike lane blockers.

In a letter to his former board, lawyer Alan Heisey details his run-ins with vehicles illegally parked in Toronto's bike lanes and demands the police services board order its boys in blue and the blue hornets to unleash a ticketing blitz.

"There has been an awful lot of good intentions by the city implementing a system of bicycle lanes, but as we all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions," Heisey told the Sun yesterday. "The bicycle lanes as a practical matter don't exist because they are not usable."

Along with the crackdown, Heisey -- an avid city cyclist for the past 35 years -- wants the board to consider putting cameras on the Bay St. bike-transit lanes to catch violators and increase fines to those who use bike lanes as short-term parking spots.

He also wants the board to ask police and parking enforcement vehicles to avoid stopping in bike lanes unless it's an emergency.

"It's interesting that some motorists complain about how little the bicycle lanes are used and I would say one of the reasons that that is possible is because motorists occupy the bicycle lanes on such a frequent basis," Heisey said. "It's a (bike) road to nowhere."

The police board will consider Heisey's letter and a deputation from Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cyclists Union tomorrow. Bambrick said the union passed on 200 letters from its members supporting Heisey's recommendations.

While she doesn't support using cameras to catch bike lane blockers, she does want a crackdown on violators and would like to see the about $60 fine for blocking the lane to at least double.

Traffic services Sgt. Tim Burrows said parking control and police officers currently issue tickets for those caught parked illegally in the lanes.

"Most of the time ... by the time we get the call and get over there, (the vehicle) is gone," he said. "It is a problem and it is a risk to safety when someone decides they are going to occupy the lane illegally."

I think many of us have seen police drive right by vehicles parked in bike lanes. I can't see how anyone could miss them. Drive down College at any time of day and you'll find any number of taxis, Canada Post, Fed Ex and other courier trucks blocking the lane. Please deputize us cyclists and we'll solve this problem while making loads of money for the cops!

(Photo titled: "bike lane?" by mdintoronto)

In terms of bike lanes, sharrows, lights or any bike infrastructure at all other than post and rings, the Bloor Corridor Visioning Study is a bit of a let down. But there will be a public meeting November 10 where some good souls could push for something more substantial (if the City is accepting public input at this meeting). The background information is online (hat tip to TaketheTooker), examining the planning issues in the segment between Avenue Road and Christie/Grace Streets.

The City Planning Division is coordinating a Visioning Study for the Bloor Corridor. The purpose of the study is to develop a shared vision for Bloor Street West for the next ten years, through consultation with area stakeholders including residents, businesses and landowners. The study will examine such matters as land use, built form, community services and facilities, transportation, heritage and urban design in developing a vision for the future evolution of the Corridor, as well as recommendations to achieve that vision.

On November 10, 10am, the City will propose an amendment to the Official Plan with area specific policies for the Bloor Corridor, in consultation with the local community. It will take place at City Hall, Committee Room 1, 2nd floor.

A fellow fllmaker Clarence Eckerson, Jr. from NYC send this film with this note:

"Just sending out this quickie new Streetfilm on NYC Bike Lanes:
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/bike-lanes-in-the-big-apple/

A good video to use if:

• Your city needs bike infrastructure
• Your city needs more or innovative bike facilities and they are not doing experimentation in design
• If you want to show people in your neighborhood and community what is going on in NYC and the benefits to bike amenities.

Clarence

Ontario's Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller has criticized Toronto and Ontario for failing cyclists and pedestrians. Notch it up to another report (the first being the 1998 Coroner's report) that activists can wave in front of politicians as they waffle and drag their feet:

Toronto's cycling enthusiasts celebrated a small victory this week after the province's environmental commissioner released a report criticizing the city over its lack of bike lanes.

In his annual report, this year entitled Building Resiliance, commissioner Gord Miller criticized Toronto's handling over the Bloor Street revitalization project.

The report said that the city didn't have to consult the public because of the way the project was classified.

"It was classified as an 'A' which means there was very little opportunity for public consultation and discussion that some proponents of cycling wanted to see," Miller said after tabling his report in the provincial legislature on Tuesday.

Miller said the classification resulted in the loss of bikes lanes in the area of Bloor, between Church Street and Avenue Road.

At the time Councillor Rae said they wanted to make this section of Bloor a "destination" rather than just a corridor. Tell that to the motorists.

He said the province needs to do more to ensure bicycles are taken into consideration when municipalities seek provincial approval.

(Photo: Dundas West BIA)

Dundas West merchants really want their rush-hour parking, even as the new businesses readily admit they don't really need it. Their "NOPE" posters villifying Councillor Giambrone are still hanging in the windows of shops along Dundas West. Their campaign "Our Neighbourhoods are Destinations not Highways!" got a bit of press this last spring, and some renewed interest now. A few weeks ago I wanted to find out why the BIA is fighting to keep rush hour parking despite the needs of cyclists and transit users. What I found was a bunch of self-described progressive merchants, some of them even calling themselves cyclists. They are definitely a bunch of nice people, even if their rhetoric is disproportionate to the issue at hand. Lula Lounge's recent fundraiser, "Save the Dundas 71", is a case in point given that Lula isn't open until long after rush hour.

Just when I was beginning to despair that the City has done all it can for downtown cyclists, that it has built all the bike lanes it has planned in the bike plan, chriskayTO snapped a photo of sharrows being installed on Bloor Street. Some may say this is a half-ass measure, and they'd be right, but that doesn't mean it's worse than nothing at all.

Small improvements to downtown are still coming. Our access to the waterfront is improving as the City unveils bike lanes and wider sidewalks on Yonge to the waterfront, to complement the new Simcoe underpass. But we are slowly reaching the end of all that the current bike plan has in store for central Toronto.

Paths on the city's outer edge are most lacking. Lanes planned for the downtown core have largely been installed, but the outer 416 is missing most of its promised lanes and trails.

It's great the outer 416 has the opportunity to get better lanes and trails, such as the $28.8 million to be spent on paths for the Finch and Gatineau corridors. But the needs of downtown cyclists are not being met with the loose network of installed lanes. If this is all there is in the plan, then we need a new plan. Luckily, City staff are thinking along the same lines. Back in May they introduced to Public Works a report on strategic directions. Part of that plan is to launch a public bikesharing system by next spring and to expand the downtown bikeways to support the bikesharing system.

I happen to like maps. If you don't share this trait, then I suggest you move on. You could watch the MC SpandX video "Performance" instead (thanks to BikeSnobNYC). As for the rest of you, look at this image of the OpenCycleMap layer of OpenStreetMap, a collaborative online map project, which seems to have Google beat when it comes to marking cycling routes.

Contributers (aka map nerds) go around with their GPS devices and map out features and routes. These then get uploaded (along with other public domain map information) to the OpenStreetMap website with a bit of tweaking. Local Toronto map nerds have been doing a good job on the cycling features of Toronto as of late. I decided to join in on the fun and edit the Moore Park Ravine trail which needed some corrections.

The link above defaults to the cycling layer which shows the Toronto Bikeway Network routes in transparent blue with floating route numbers. The paths are displayed as blue dotted lines or with a transparent blue stripe when they are part of the numbered network. The roads with a solid blue outline are the on-road bike lanes.