Two-way sharrows in Toronto - another innovation by Urban Repair Squad

(Photos by Tino)

From the Urban Repair Squad folks a two-way sharrow on Macdonnel St in Parkdale. The Torontoist has a good post and interesting comments:

Longtime Urban Repair Squad documentarian Martin Reis says he first spotted the symbols over the weekend. "Toronto has so few real good north-south connections, especially in the west end," Reis explained to Torontoist. "I mean, the west end is a giant black hole of no bike infrastructure." Add that to the experience of biking north on a street, facing-down cars travelling south, and "it's a bit nerve-wracking," Reis says.

The official City inventory of bike infrastructure includes one-way sharrows and also contra-flow lanes to allow cyclists to go both ways on one-way streets for cars. The URS "innovation" is interesting, even if there are bound to be reservations about encouraging cyclists to travel over the same sharrows in both directions. If there was some reasonableness in this idea, perhaps there should be sharrows on both sides of the streets so cyclists can bike on the side they'd normally be expected to bike. But that isn't entirely the point, likely. A two-way sharrow catches the eye and makes one think "Why not?"

The comments includes the precautionary ones:

Going the wrong way down a residential street is just dangerous. It confuses drivers, and it puts the residents of the street in danger. On a one way street (like the one I live on) kids are used to looking in only one direction to see if it safe to cross. A silent bicycle zooming along usually is very surprising to the person walking out onto the street. Bikes should follow rules for safety and good manners. Usually there will be an equivalent one way street one street away. Dont be so lazy! Douchbags!

as well as the practical:

  1. Cycling the 'wrong' way on a one-way is not dangerous. You might think it's dangerous, but there is no evidence to prove that it is.
  2. Not all one-way streets in Toronto are the same width. Some were built with the intention of being two-way, but residents on the street lobbied to have them one-way to limit non-local traffic. Brunswick from Wells south to College is good example of this. It's as wide as other two-way streets and alternates one-way north to one-way south fives times (at nearly every intersection).
  3. Bicycles are only "vehicles" because of an ancient clause in the Highway Traffic Act - the clause also includes horses and buggies... Just because something is law doesn't mean it's right.

I've never been convinced that the prohibition against cyclists travelling the wrong way down one-way streets is about safety. Not only do many Toronto cyclists do this every day, but other jurisdictions such as in German cities, allow cyclists to do this. A contra-flow lane in Toronto reinforces this movement.

herb : 14 years 11 months ago
Tags: advocacy, contra-flow, sharrows, urban repair squad

Editor of car fetish Wheels joins ranks of cyclists

A few weeks ago a positive cycling article came out in - of all places - Wheels, the Toronto Star's car fetish section. The author, Mark Richardson, rode country roads alongside Eleanor McMahon, founder of the Share the Road coalition. The article is interesting for not only its focus on McMahon's strong push for better cycling infrastructure and her experience working with politicians and policy-makers, but also for the fact that Richardson has had an increasing personal interest in cycling. As he notes in a May article, Cyclists aren't leaving, and add Editor to ranks:

Yes, the editor of Canada’s largest automotive publication also rides a bicycle. I wrote here last summer of how my cruel and unusual wife, a keen cyclist, has been prying me from the broad saddle of my Harley-Davidson and onto the spindly seat of her old Fisher hybrid. My kids bought me Lycra cycling gear for my birthday, and on a pleasant afternoon, the two of us will head out on the country roads near our home in Milton.

And then in July, Richardson's wife convinced him to go on the 730 km Great Waterfront Trail Adventure from Niagara-on-the-Lake to the Quebec border.

And that brings us to the September article on McMahon, showing the naysayers like Rob Ford that in fact car drivers willingly do give up their cars for cycling, at least every once and a while. The anti-bike attitude is contributing to injury and death and doesn't help anyone:

“Cycling has become so polarized that it’s made it difficult to get things done,” says McMahon. “It’s pushed politicians off to the side — if they’re seen as pro-bicycle, then they must be anti-car, and if they’re pro-car they must be anti-bicycle. But they’re the people to fix this. Instead of motorists and cyclists pointing fingers at each other, we need to tell the politicians to sort this out.”

And she knows how to work with politicians. She spent 10 years as a press secretary to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and held senior roles with the United Way of Ottawa and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. On Monday, she’ll be bringing the mayor of Portland, Oregon, to the Ontario Bike Summit in Burlington, where he’ll be telling the attendees about why his city is one of the most bicycle-friendly in North America. It recently more than tripled the number of its residents who cycle regularly, partly by building and improving hundreds of kilometres of bicycle trails.

“That cost $70 million,” she says. “That’s the price of a mile of freeway.”

McMahon wants the Ontario government to invest $20 million in an improved cycling infrastructure, considerably more than it spends now on such things as bike racks on buses and upgraded bike parking facilities. The Ministry of Transportation has given $750,000 to 33 communities in the last two years for projects that promote cycling and other alternate forms of transport, as well as other money spent promoting safe cycling.

But this is much less than the $200 million Quebec has invested or the $31 million B.C. has earmarked in the past year on cycling.

herb : 14 years 11 months ago
Tags: active transportation, advocacy, media, Ontario

Will anti-bike lane rhetoric win elections? Do all residents want fast car traffic?

TorontoCranks informed me of some anti-bike lane campaigning taking place in Scarborough, Ward 35 - Adrian Heaps' ward. There's no love lost on Heaps by hardcore cycling advocates (including TorontoCranks who considers Heaps an "arrogant jackass") but TC points out that Heaps has done a lot to improve his ward. And at least Heaps has voted for all the bikeway network projects before council in the last 4 years while he was also the chair of the Cycling Committee.

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Can an anti-bike lane screed win Michelle Berardinetti this ward? I'm skeptical since I don't believe the issue is front and centre for lots of people who are likely more worried about their jobs. TorontoCranks makes the great point that the bike lanes on Pharmacy, which Ms. Berardinetti complains about so loudly, were installed on what is basically a residential street. Much like the Dundas East bike lanes, the Pharmacy lanes have calmed traffic and made it safer for all the residents. This may be something which the locals have noticed.

Pharmacy Avenue in Ward 35 runs from Eglinton to Danforth Avenue. 90% of the addresses in this section are homes. There are two small strip malls, an indoor mall at Eglinton, one gas station and two factories on Pharmacy. There are also two schools, two recreation centres and two major apartment complexes. There are also a few schools set back from Pharmacy. A lot of kids use Pharmacy or cross it to get to and from school. Before the bike lanes were installed collisions were a near daily occurrence. Screeching tires a near hourly occurrence. Two things caused these accidents. High speed and the fact that many intersections on Pharmacy have the crossing street offset.

The speed limit on Pharmacy is 50kmh. Yes the bike lanes have slowed traffic. To about 55-65kmh compared to pre-bike lanes of 60-80kmh. Largest ticket from a radar trap outside my house was 100kmh. Post installation there has been a great reduction in collisions. So effectively Ms.Berardinetti wants to increase the speed on Pharmacy Avenue resulting in more collisions. After 60kmh, crosswalks and crossing guards become useless. Not enough time for either driver or pedestrians to react if their paths cross. This is why two crosswalks were removed from Pharmacy and replaced with stoplights… and yes part of the rationale of installing bike lanes was to reduce the speed on Pharmacy. Actually residents were calling for the installation of speed bumps. So how will her plan for increased speed benefit the kids walking to school? Prior to the bike lanes you knew things were bad when the semi-crusty mechanic from across the street would help kids cross the street to help them avoid being hit. The look on seniors’ faces was also precious as they tried to cross four lanes to get to the post box outside my house. Have bike lanes solved all of the warts on Pharmacy? No but it is a lot better now compared to before. This is a residential street and not a high speed shortcut for 905?ers.

herb : 14 years 11 months ago
Tags: bike lanes, politics, Ward 35