commuting

College and Manning 8:30 a.m. April 23, 2010. 'Mr. Green' sends his message.

The following video shows a ride downtown from the point of view of my helmet camera. A useful tool for rides, the helmet camera both lets me take videos of what a ride feels like, and has a wonderfully civilizing effect on drivers en route.

This is my simple bike. A Peugeot Sport with 27 inch wheels, fenders and a coaster brake.

Nothing fancy. An old used Brooks saddle maybe for comfort. It's not a silent ride, there are squeaks here and there. But my hands are free and it's easy to maintain.

Where can you build yourself a bike like this? Try the Bike Pirates if you are into DIY which is super fun. Other places to try are CBN (Community Bicycle Network) and the Bike Joint.

A highly recommended ride.

West Toronto Rail Path last night. Somehow I thought it might be free of ice or snow.

Wrong.

Well, it was a lot fun to ride. Kinda like mountain biking on sandy soil.

Nice to see other cyclists as well using the trail on such a nice winter's night.

The map geeks at the Toronto star have outdone themselves with this google map of Commuter cyclists by census tract (a small area as defined by Statistics Canada's census). It shows the breakdown of how people commute who live in that area. The census tracts with red boundaries are over 10%.

Politicians need to stop treating cyclists as if they are marginal. If you lived in an area with cycling at 13% and showed this data to your councillor maybe a lightbulb would go off in their head. It's still a minority but not one they can always safely ignore.

It doesn't address who commutes through the area. For instance, the area southwest of Dundas West and Dufferin has 11.5% of commutes by bicycle, yet there may be many people driving through from the suburbs which will water down that percentage on the road.

The highest percentage is on the Toronto Islands at 29%. This is unsurprising, since no cars are allowed. It's odd to think that 18% of them still drive to work - they must be parking cars downtown.

The second highest is in Parkdale at 14%! This area bounded by Dundas, Queen, Sorauren and Lansdowne has an above the Toronto average household income and is mostly detached houses with a few condos.

The core of the highest rates of bike commuting is in the Annex - bounded by Bloor, Dovercourt, Spadina and Dundas. Leslieville and East York aren't too far behind.

There was a lot of trash talk about the supposed 'War on the Car' this year. There will be more next year I am sure. Last time I checked it was you and me and dare I say even those who drive
who suffer the effects of car culture, or shall we say, high-carbon consumer capitalism. So get ready for the next stage when car drivers fight back against bike lanes. You know it's coming.

I found the above illustration on the GOOD website.

According to the City of Toronto (Census) riding to work was up 32,6% between 2001 and 2006 from 1,3 to 1,7. Not bad but too slow for my likes. Wonder what the current stats might be. I think it's up despite everything we face. I am just thankful for everyone on two wheels.

Below is a graph for modal share stats for Ontario. [Editor: Toronto is at 1.7% while the second highest is Orangeville at 1.2%. Metro Toronto would be much, much higher since the burbs pull the numbers way down.]

Update: The Toronto Star has a published a map today with the percentage of commuters who ride bicycles to work, from the 2006 census

The bike union launched a campaign this week to help smooth over the anger between drivers and motorists. Cyclists are extending the olive branch in the form of thousands of "Thank You" cards to be given out to drivers when they doing something courteous to cyclists. The campaign is partly in response to the angry rhetoric surrounding the death of Darcy Sheppard and the trial of Michael Bryant.

The "Cyclists Paving the Way" campaign is meant to dial down some of the rhetoric being heard in the so-called "war on the car," says Yvonne Bambrick, executive director of the Toronto Cyclists Union.

About 5,000 cards with the words "Thank You" have been printed for cyclists to give to deserving drivers, perhaps by tapping on the car window at a stop light, Bambrick said.

A motorist who looks over his or her shoulder before swinging open their door into the street – sparing an oncoming cyclist the chance of collision – would qualify for a card, Bambrick says.

It's "a chance for cyclists to thank the drivers who do see them, and do treat them with respect and as fellow citizens," she added.