bike infrastructure

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.

Toronto cyclists face a dangerous combination of streetcar tracks and motorists, the Bicyclists' Injuries and the Cycling Environment Study (BICE study) has found in its preliminary results. The BICE study is coordinated by the Cycling in Cities program at the University of British Columbia, which interviewed 690 cyclists injured and admitted to hospital in Toronto and Vancouver in 2008 and 2009.

Injury by circumstance: preliminary results from BICE study at UBC

The initial analysis chose 150 interviews from each city and created a picture of the different environments each city's cyclists encounter. For downtown Toronto the researchers found that one-third of injuries involved streetcar tracks and a sizable portion of that involved cyclists falling because they are avoiding double-parked cars, cars moving out of parking spaces or drivers opening doors. The cyclists then slip or get their wheel stuck in the streetcar track.

The other big portion of downtown Toronto injuries involved "dooring" where the cyclists hit the car door because the motorist or passenger opened the door as the cyclists passed. This contrasts with Vancouver where most injuries involved car collisions.

George Smitherman, mayoral candidate, has published a "transportation plan", or, as I prefer to call it, a thinly veiled nod to motorists and patronizing approach to transit, cycling and walking. It may be easier in an era of a "war on cyclists" that a mayoral candidate can get away with a platform that does less for cyclists than what is in the Bike Plan already.

"Furious George" has adopted candidate Rossi's tactic of "supporting" cyclists so long as they get off all the major roads, by saying he'll provide "safer routes on less busy main roads" with a focus on bike "expressways". He seems to want to raise the ire of his past self who said weeks ago in response to Rossi's plan:

In terms of suggesting bicycles should be relegated to crescents and cul-de-sacs, this is akin to saying you’re not in favour of the city of Toronto being a modern city… I don’t think it’s leadership to take the language of the war on the car and flip it on its head and say, “The war on the car has had its go at city hall. I’m going to advance the war on the bike.”

So where's this modern city, George, while you're trying shove all the cyclists into the ravines and hydro corridors like so much garbage?

Here's the fine print on George's plan:

• Time out on construction of new bike lanes on arterial roadways, but move immediately to ensure current cycling routes are safer and better maintained

Have the new sharrows had any affect on cyclist and driver behaviour? I decided to see for myself now that the sharrows have been painted on College. I snapped some photos during rush hour when the lanes were free of parked cars. While taking to heart Mez's note of caution that the meaning of the sharrows is being diluted and subverted by allowing drivers to park on them outside of rush hour, it's still interesting to see how there be some benefit to the new symbols. My quick observations showed that most cyclists on sharrows tended to ride further out than on a similar road without sharrows.

West of Ossington on College, I stood looking west on a stretch where I didn't see any parked cars in either direction. During a few minutes I saw a number of cyclists cruising quickly towards downtown. I might be wrong but it appeared as if most of the cyclists were riding much further out than they might on streets without sharrows, effectively taking the lane. Could it be that a small increase in cycling confidence is in evidence here?

At the same time I saw most drivers avoid the curb lane even though they were allowed and there were no cars parked on the curb within view. Could it be that drivers were a bit more careful because of the sharrows?

According to the May edition of the City's Cyclometer newsletter, the G20 security zone will require that all post and rings will be removed 2 weeks before the event and installed afterwards.

The G20 Summit security requirements mean that all street furniture within the 'security zone' must be removed temporarily. This includes bike parking rings, of which about 1000 must be removed two weeks prior to the event. The area effected runs from Yonge Street west to Spadina Avenue and from Queen Street south to the lakefront.

Every effort will be made to replace the rings quickly once the summit has concluded by the final week of June. Posts will remain intact so re-installation will be simpler.

The security zone may still be a huge area, potentially going as far north as Queen St, as far east and west as Yonge and Spadina, and maybe as far south as the Gardiner. The actual size is all top secret.

I hope the feds and the G20 will reimburse the City for removing and re-installing all the street furniture; and while they're at it, reimburse all the cyclists for for having to walk blocks out of the way because there isn't any parking anywhere.

Parking on sharrows: Courtesy of Peter of Why are We Alive?

Peter of Why are We Alive? let me know the City is installing rush hour sharrows on College between Lansdowne and Manning.

The City is experimenting with sharrows along this difficult stretch. Without a political shift towards bikes, the staff have to make do with trying to accommodate streetcars, non-rush hour parking and bikes. They are conducting a survey of College bike commuters to gauge their perceptions before and after the sharrows are installed. Do people feel like the sharrows make them feel more comfortable? Do drivers give you more room? Or are they just confusing?

I'll give the transportation staff for trying something new - it might not be ideal and it may evolve into something better, but given the circumstances they're on the right track.

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.

The Complete Streets Forum is taking place this Friday. It's not too late to sign up. Even the Mayor is going to be there!

What are complete streets?
From Wikipedia (as of April 21, 2010):

In urban planning and highway engineering, complete streets are roadways designed and operated to enable safe, attractive, and comfortable access and travel for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transport users of all ages and abilities are able to safely and comfortably move along and across a complete street. Proponents claim that Complete Streets also create a sense of place and improve social interaction, while generally improving property adjacent land values.

Here's the media release of the forum:

(Toronto, Apr 20, 2010) -- Transportation stakeholders from across Canada will meet on Friday, April 23 at the inaugural Complete Streets Forum to discuss how to improve city streets in Toronto and other municipalities across Ontario to take into consideration all users including pedestrians, cyclists, public transit users and motorists.

Date: April 23, 2010
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location: Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Ballroom, C floor

Complete Streets Forum is organized by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT), a project of the Clean Air Partnership, in partnership with Transportation Options and the City of Toronto with the generous support of our sponsors.