bike lane

Oooooh its Pooooh

In the many years that I have been riding a bicycle in bike lanes, I have had to share them with a lot of things. From rickshaws, to inline skaters, to joggers…oh yeah cars and trucks and those other things, all sorts of things.

I have become pretty tolerant to all forms of these transportations. I still give the stink eye to cars, inline skaters in the bike lane, but for the most part I have made my peace with them. I have discovered that the things I put my hands on turn and I can navigate around most obstacles, except for what I came across this morning.

I have taken to morning rides on my bike before I go to work. It’s about a 20km ride that takes around an hour. Part of the route is over the train tracks on the Sorauren bridge. This morning I almost ran over some horse poo-poo.

This could have been a dangerous and disgusting situation. Nothing worse than wiping out on some manure. Well, I only know one group of people who ride horses in the city and that be the police.

I remember one time asking a cop who cleaned up after their horses when they crapped on the road. He looked down at me from his mount, with disdain in his voice he told me, "that’s what city works is for.” Well, city works is not doing its job and the police are crapping in bike lanes, so isn't it time that we retired these horses?

Emma hard at work

Anyone who loves coffee knows about the Sam James Coffee shoppe on Harbord Street. The little Japanese cubicle that Joe Pantalone dismissed when it first opened is thriving. The line up out its door some mornings is a testament to a bustling business.

But, as anyone who rides a bike along the busy Harbord strip knows, there are usually a couple of cars waiting while the drivers quickly dart into to get take out. This creates a dangerous situation for cyclists.

Emma, super star barista who works most mornings decided to take it on herself to educate drivers who insisted on parking in front of the store. One morning while I was enjoying a cup of joe, a car pulled up and as usual the driver stopped while the passenger went in for coffee.

Emma informed the woman that parking in the bike lane was dangerous for cyclists and that they could even receive a $450.00 fine if the police rolled by. The customer was concerned and thanked her for the information.

A week later the driver of the same car went into the coffee shop and complained directly to Sam how horrible Emma was during that situation. She informed Sam that Emma had been rude and probably, though I am not sure, thought it best that she be dismissed for her behaviour.

Proposed Lansdowne Bike Lane: Bloor St. to Davenport Rd.

As part of the Bike Plan, the City of Toronto is proposing the installation of bike lanes on Lansdowne Ave. between Bloor St. and Davenport Rd. This 1.5km stretch of new bike lane might not seem like much, but it will end up being a key connection between the Davenport Rd. bike lanes, Dupont St. / Annette St. bike lanes, and Lansdowne Ave. sharrows (black squiggles on the map). These all lead into other significant pieces of local cycling infrastructure such as the West Toronto Railpath (green line on map) and parts of the proposed West End Bikeways.

There will be a public meeting about this proposed bike lane on Thursday:

Thursday March 25, 2010
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Wallace Emerson Community Centre
1260 Dufferin - Ambrico Room

In the recent past, there was some significant opposition to the narrowing of Lansdowne Ave. south of Bloor St., so there may be some community opposition to the installation of these bike lanes. It would be extremely helpful if cyclists, especially locals, came to this public meeting to show their support.

The approval and installation phases of this looks like it may happen rather quickly:

Following this consultation, City Staff will review any comments received. We plan to submit this project for consideration to Public Work and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) meeting on April 20, 2010. We anticipate the Lansdowne Avenue bike lane project will be considered by City council on May 11-13, 2010. If approved, bike lanes on Lansdowne Avenue are planned to be installed in summer 2010.

If you can't make it to the consultation, be sure to the following addresses with letters of support and comments: bikeplan@toronto.ca, councillor_giambrone@toronto.ca, pwic@toronto.ca

More information about this public consultation can be found at:
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/public-consultations/lansdowne.htm

The map is the City of Toronto's 2009 Bike Map, with some additions made with my own mad graphix skillz

Annette St.: All plugged up
A few days ago, the Toronto Star's fixer got excited about getting the Annette St. "No Stopping" signs added next to the new bike lanes. Cyclists everywhere rejoiced, and all was good.

However, upon further inspection, not all of Annette Street's signs have been updated, so in many sections motorists still feel they have the right to park in the bike lanes. And although other sections of Annette St. have the proper signage installed, motorists continue to park wherever they darn well feel like it.

Ah, but we have parking enforcement officers! They will help!

To be honest, I lost my faith in the police and parking enforcement when it comes to enforcing bike lane parking violations a long time ago. I have seen PEOs and police officers cruise right past bike lane parkers without blinking. I have even spoken directly to officers and pointed out illegal bike lane parkers, but they usually come up with excuses for the motorist.

So, as a final nail in the coffin, I present you with these photos of a City of Toronto Parking Enforcement vehicle parked in....you guessed it....the bike lane. The officer was not in the vehicle, nor anywhere that I could see on the street. It looks like the officer was probably popping in to one of the local businesses for a quick breakfast or coffee, while blocking a lane of traffic.

It seems like such a long time ago (December 17, 2008 - last year!) when the Toronto Star reported that the City is considering adding rumble strips to the Lawrence Ave. bike lanes when they are installed. My apologies for taking so long to post something on I Bike T.O. about it...

Anyway, I'm glad that folks at the City are looking at new ideas and considering different types of infrastructure that haven't been tried yet in Toronto. I'm sure Toronto's bikeway planners are constantly bombarded with suggestions that in reality might not be so easy to implement (Bollards! Grade-separation! Velotubes! Car-free everything! One-way exceptions!), but this rumble-strip idea should actually be a pretty simple one.

However, before we get all excited, I think we need to take a look at a few things about this idea.

What problem(s) does this solve?
According to the article, the purpose of rumble strips is to warn motorists that they are veering towards the bike lane, due to inattention (good jabs at cell-phone talkers and coffee-sippers!), thereby preventing the dreaded "hit from behind" type of collision.

What problems does it NOT solve?

Confederation Parkway Bridge, Mississauga

On Thursday, August 28th, the City of Mississuaga opened the new Confederation Parkway Bridge, which links the Mississauga City Centre to the neighbourhoods north of Highway 403. The Google Map of the area still does not show the new bridge, but you can figure out where it is by drawing a line over the 403 at Confederation Parkway.

So, why am I writing about a new highway overpass in Mississauga here on I Bike TO? Well, because I like this bridge and I think it's a huge step up for cycling in Mississauga.

As reported by TCAT, the bike lanes on Vaughan Rd. between Winona Dr. and St. Clair Ave. (map) are being installed this week.

I rode by there after work on Tuesday evening to check on the progress. They have already painted the initial markings on the road, which will eventually be painted over.

However, the cynic in me is asking, "Why are they doing this?"

Seriously, riding this road wasn't bad at all. The traffic is minimal, the lanes are wide and easy to share, and the limited on-street parking doesn't make for many dooring situations. Maybe this is a simple 1.7km to add to the bike plan, without upsetting anyone. But does it benefit anyone either? Let's have a look.

Bike Plan: Annette St. and Dupont St.

Over the last few weeks, I have had some communications with Adam Giambrone and his staff. They informed me about the Dupont St. bike lanes that are being planned, and announced it publicly on Wednesday evening at a meeting of the South Junction Triangle Residents Association.

According to Chris Gallop (Adam Giambrone's constituency assistant), the current timeline for implementation is: "The report is going to the Works Committee next Tuesday, City Council at the end of the month, and if approved they should be installed by approximately the end of the summer."

Here is the map (PDF) of the proposed Annette and Dupont St. bike lanes, including the on-street parking configurations.

More background and design details about Annette, St., Dupont St., Pharmacy Rd. (Scarborough), and others can be found in this document (PDF) too.

I also just received this email from the City's Bike Plan people this afternoon:

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