Cyclists alarmed over proposed bylaw to restrict bike parking on the street

There's been a flurry of alarm among cyclists after this last week's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting, that a vote on harmonizing of street by-laws seems to be banning cyclists from parking their bikes to anything in the public realm, unless authorized by the General Manager. If something is locked for more than 24 hours then it may be removed (it's not clear from the the text if the 24 hours applies to post and rings as well as "illegal" parking.

It's not clear if the alarm is justified or not, though understandable given the anti-bike bent of those in control of city committees. Councillor Mike Layton was frustrated by the vote:

As part of the streets bylaw, PWIC voted to make it illegal to park a bike anywhere but a bike post. How much bike parking will this lose?

Though city staff have said that in practice things won't be as bad as cyclists fear. Christine Bouchard of of Transportation Services said on Facebook:

This by-law harmonization will consolidate existing by-laws which are still in effect from the seven pre-amalgamation municipalities. Its purpose is to allow for the removal of "things or articles" locked to City property which create a problem for pedestrians, like A-frame signs, shopping carts, and abandoned articles. Abandoned articles may include derelict bicycles. The interpretation that the purpose of the bylaw harmonization is to remove locked bicycles which are in good working order from City streets is an incorrect interpretation of the harmonized bylaw. The level of actual service by bylaw enforcement is not changing. Transportation staff will develop wording to clarify this for when it goes to Council.

Perhaps it's not as bad as we thought, or at the least no worse than things are currently for finding places to park our bicycles. In practice, bylaw officers only go about removing derelict bicycles once a year, tagging such bikes and returning a week later to remove those that still remain with the tag. This practice is currently not backed up by law, so this proposal will give the City a better defence against claims made by people who've lost their bikes to the City.

As another City staff person noted, post and rings being used as "bike storage" instead of parking takes away an opportunity from other cyclists. The larger problem of fairness, he notes, "involves the overall structural deficit of bike parking on private property - renters/condos with no room to store inside turn to the post-and-ring as their only convenient solution - one that appears totally legal to them: locking a bike to a bike locking ring paid for by their tax dollars." This by-law may put a bit more squeeze on cyclists, but the solution cannot be found in allowing cyclists to park anywhere, but in vastly improving parking on private and public property. Incredibly, Toronto is actually a leader in providing on-street parking, or at least we were.

As a side note Bouchard also mentioned that it is now the "public realm group" who is handling post and ring stands, since they're considered "street furniture". The application process is the same (you can use this online form), but now requests go to the public realm group.

herb : 13 years 7 months ago
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Decision on Richmond/Adelaide separated bike lane - send your responses by Nov. 2

A decision will be made at Public Works and Infrastructure Committee this week about whether to approve Transportation staff's recommendation regarding Richmond/Adelaide separated bike lanes. The bike lanes have been in the official Bike Plan for the last ten years, but there are some obstacles. Instead of doing a pilot project sooner, staff is recommending we go straight to the required EA and install them in 2013:

City Council authorize the General Manager of Transportation Services to initiate a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment study for separated bicycle lanes within the Richmond-Adelaide corridor, between Bathurst Street and Sherbourne Street, which could include consideration of a pilot project to install and evaluate separated bicycle lanes on the preferred alignment during the course of the study.

For those who wish to make a deputation regarding the project, please contact Ms. Candy Davidovits of the Citys Clerks Division at pwic@toronto.ca or at (416) 392-8032 by 4:30 p.m. on November 2, 2011. For more details on submitting comments or requesting to speak, see the City web page: Have Your Say! (www.toronto.ca/legdocs/tmmis/have-your-say.htm)

Given all the construction on Richmond and Adelaide it seems likely that PWIC will approve this report to delay and do an EA. One noted improvement they could make to the EA is to extend the study area to connect to the Eastern Avenue bike lanes. Why have separated bike lanes on only part of Richmond/Adelaide?

Note: there will also be a report on the proposed pedestrian/cyclist bridge into Liberty Village: For more information about the King Liberty Pedestrian/Cyclist Link study please visit the project web page: www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/king_liberty/

herb : 13 years 7 months ago
Tags: bike infrastructure, Bike plan, politics

Public consultation to Front Street at Union Station, Nov 3 - what's in it for bikes?

Cyclists and BIXI users who dock at Union Station might be interested in the proposed changes to Front Street at Union Station meant to better accommodate growing pedestrian traffic. A second public meeting will be held Nov 3, 2011, 3-7 pm at Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Room 309 (here for more info). It will be the second and final public consultation event for this project.

Recommendations include the existing two travel lanes in each direction being reduced to one wider travel lane in each direction, marked with sharrows; expanded sidewalks, with lay-by parking for taxis, buses, etc.; new mid-block pedestrian crossing; and bike parking rings on the north side of Front Street (moved from the south side of street). The report also recommends that BIXI docking stations be placed immediately east of Bay Street and west of York Street on newly expanded sidewalks.

There is a Facebook group. And you can send comments to Jason Diceman at FrontStUnion@toronto.ca.

The proposed recommendations are quite good and will vastly improve accessibility for pedestrian traffic. It falls a bit short, however, on improving the realm for people on bikes, including the large number of people using BIXI. In European train stations, such as the ones I've visited in the Netherlands, cycling is made a higher priority than it is in this plan; bike lanes go right up to the front door and there is covered bike parking nearby. It would be nice for bike traffic to be given the same priority as taxis and car traffic.

The bike parking and the BIXI docks are being moved further away from the station. We don't know how many bike parking rings are being installed, and if they are installing enough for the anticipated number of cyclists using Union Station. A noted omission as well is not putting a BIXI station on the Bay Street Teamway west of Bay, where 2009-approved bike lanes will be installed next year.

I am hopeful that with some small changes cycling and cyclists can be better accommodated on Front Street and Union Station. Please send in your comments!

herb : 13 years 7 months ago
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