Annex residents support separated bike lanes

Via BlogTO (which got it from the Annex Gleaner), I found out that the Annex Residents Association has published their Cycling Policy, calling for improved cycling infrastructure in their neighbourhood - bike lanes on Bloor from Avenue to Bathurst, separation of bike lanes from car traffic, contra-flow bike lanes on one-way streets, bike boxes, 30km/h zones, "Idaho rolling stops", and and so on (adopting many things from the Ward 20 bike advocacy report).

Albert Koehl, lawyer and Bells on Bloor founder, says:

“One of the big complaints that people have is that cyclists don’t obey the rules of the road. Our view in the policy is that if cyclists feel that they are being accepted and valued in their community, than they will start to feel a part of the community and obey its rules,”

The ARA policy complements the proposal by Minnan-Wong and the bike union for separated bike lanes, though along Bloor or Harbord it isn't without political opposition:

The most significant of these — which the ARA is careful to point out not all members support — involves the addition of dedicated/separated bike lanes in the area. That such infrastructure would likely necessitate the elimination of on-street parking isn't explicitly spelled out in the document, but given the size and nature of this stretch of road, it doesn't really have to be. If the notorious little section of Harbord just west of Spadina couldn't get regular bike lanes without jeopardizing street parking, it'd take some pretty creative engineering to add separated lanes without doing the same on Bloor.

BlogTO and the Gleaner point out that the Clean Air Partnership study of the economic impacts of bike lanes along Bloor in the Annex showed it to be a potential boon for stores.

Andrea Garcia, director of advocacy and operations for the Toronto Cyclists Union, sees the ARA’s policy as a great long-term goal. “I think this is a great policy,” said Garcia. One of the things that has kept them from implementing bike lanes sooner is the amount of street parking, Garcia said.

“Bike infrastructure is actually the cheapest form of transportation. It’s the most cost-effective infrastructure that moves the most people per dollar,” said Garcia.

The City of Toronto has also been making moves for more bike accessibility in the city. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong put forward a proposal to create a connected network of cycling routes along streets such as Wellesley and Richmond.

“We’ve already started doing some of the things listed in the policy” said Daniel Egan, manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure with the city’s transportation services.

“Rolling stops are a provincial issue that has to do with the Highway Traffic Act so that is out of our jurisdiction.”

The only thing that would be expensive are the physically separated lanes, Egan said.

Changing the speed limit to 30 km/h between Bathurst Street and Avenue Road on Bloor Street was also raised as a concern.

Bloor Street is a major arterial roadway and these changes would not satisfy criteria to maintain the flow of traffic in the area, said Ron Hamilton, manager at traffic operations of Toronto & East York District, Transportation Services at the City of Toronto.

Council will only reduce speed limits to 30 km/h if there are traffic calming measures on the road like speed bumps, Hamilton said. “Bloor Street is one of the only major streets that go from Scarborough all the way to Etobicoke,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton added that the existing infrastructure is already faulty, given that half the lanes are allocated to parking.

“One of our recommendations was for the Annex to be part of a city-wide bike plan,” said Frank Cunningham, the ARA chair of planning and zoning. “If Bloor Street was the only east-west bike artery in the city, it would defeat the purpose. There needs to be a network of bike lanes.”

Now we just need to work on the BIAs. I've heard that even where some businesses are bike-friendly and support bike lanes, the BIAs such as Yorkville and Harbord have been consistently ignorant of the needs of most cyclists, preferring to ignore them rather than accommodate them properly.

herb : 14 years 2 months ago
Tags: advocacy, bike infrastructure, bike lanes, urban planning, Ward 20

BIXI Toronto to launch May 3

Just found out from Torontoist via Twitter that BIXI Toronto is launching May 3!

I was just talking with a staff person yet again to get a status update. I was reassured that it was on track. Kudos to staff for all the hard planning on this! And for keeping it a big, big secret on why the official announcement didn't happen earlier. From Torontoist:

Daniel Egan, manager of cycling infrastructure and programs for the City, says the public can expect to find out the exact future locations of the bike-share service's eighty pick-up stations in April.

Egan continues: "There will be several announcements between now and then. Once the marketing campaign kicks into gear there'll be a lot of information."

The Public Bike System Company will be handling Bixi's day-to-day operations, but City staff are responsible for much of the work involved in finding ways to expand and improve the system over time. The initial service area is relatively small, and so the next big job will be mustering the resources and political will to make it bigger.

Autoshare has also announced that they will be giving out 100 free BIXI memberships. Stay tuned!

herb : 14 years 2 months ago
Tags: BIXI Toronto

Rob Ford not so anti-cycling as advocates make him out to be

Dave Meslin makes a pitch on why Mayor Rob Ford may not be so anti-bike. Ford made headlines with his quotes about cyclists "swimming with the sharks" and in this video which was distributed before last fall's election, Ford is quoted as saying "Cyclists are a pain in the ass". Meslin's point is that if we had listened through the entire video (a rambling 7 minutes long) that we would have heard something more supportive coming from the mouth of the then-councillor.

Ford says “cyclists are putting their lives at risk every time they go on the road,” and his solution is both simple and practical: “We have to widen our sidewalks, split them basically in half, pedestrians on one side, closest to the stores, and the cyclists on the other side. It will work in this city.”

This might not be the right solution for every street, but the idea of physically separating cyclists from motor traffic, where possible, is a good one. It encourages more people to try cycling. The concept is not new, nor radical. It’s just common sense, and that’s why separated lanes are being used in cities all across the world, from Berlin to Manhattan to Montreal.

It’s easy to demonize and judge each other based on our worst moments and quotes. But upon closer inspection, Ford’s infamous anti-bike speech happens to contain one of the most supportive bike policy proposals ever put forward on the floor of city council. And during his campaign, Ford proposed “a comprehensive network of bicycle trails across the city to provide a safe, convenient ‘backbone’ for bicycle transportation across Toronto.”

This is just one example of how nothing is black and white at city hall, although it is often appealing to pretend otherwise. It’s much easier to break things down into bike vs. car, downtown vs. suburb, or left vs. right. But bicycle safety is not a left-wing issue, nor is it a downtown issue.

Cycling is a billion-dollar industry in Canada. More than 65 per cent of Toronto households have at least one bicycle and the fastest growth is actually in suburban areas. I grew up in suburban North York and rode my bike all the time on quiet streets, in parks and on the sidewalks of Bayview or York Mills. All my neighbours had bicycles, too. And while Don Cherry talks about “pinkos who ride bicycles,” anyone who has ever stepped into a suburban Canadian Tire knows bikes are as much a part of our culture as hockey.

Not all cycling advocates aren't buying Meslin's argument:

Meslin says "nothing is b&w", but Ford ran on totally divisive rhetoric, ie. "war on cars". Ford doesn't get benefit of the doubt. #biketo

and:

Is Rob Ford a cycling advocate? He's the opposite of that but some people don't think so... http://bit.ly/g6NrfT #BikeTO #Toronto

I've been known to be pretty critical of the mayor and his rhetoric, and I'm not going to really retract anything I said. I believe the mayor should take responsibility for making the streets more dangerous. Since the election I've had a feeling that cyclists have been on the receiving end of increased anger from motorists. Still, I will agree with Meslin that it isn't black and white. Ford has supported (off-road) bike paths where they don't increase (car) traffic congestions. I would never have imagined a right-wing councillor like Minnan-Wong come forward with a plan for a comprehensive separated bike lane network downtown and say things like this:

“My bike plan is a recognition of [the fact that] bikes exist. They’re here to stay. There have been too many accidents and we need to do something about that. I don’t believe that bike lanes should go on every single street. But I do believe they deserve a reasonable option.”

I don't have to agree with everything that Minnan-Wong is doing but in this bike plan I fully support him.

herb : 14 years 2 months ago
Tags: advocacy, bike infrastructure, politics