The CBC reports that the pedestrian committee is working to close a loophole that allows e-bikes on sidewalks. This makes sense, as e-bikers must be adults, and the intention of the bylaw was to allow children to ride on sidewalks.
I find that my perception of e-bikes is influenced by whether the e-bike looks like a bicycle, or looks like a motorcycle/scooter. I recently saw a bicycle-style e-biker motoring her way down the sidewalk on Queen street, and most people didn't seem to care. The other day, I was passed rather closely by a motorcycle-style e-bike in the bike lane, but was glad that he sounded his bell/horn to alert me to his presence. I don't personally have a problem with e-bikes using bike lanes, and am rather dismayed that the Bike Union has taken an opposing position. A 32 km/h top speed e-bike is much nicer to share the roads with than more cars!
However, monkey see = monkey do. It looked like a motorcycle using the bike lane. After this a real motorcycle decided to use the bike lane to pass congestion, which I do have a problem with as their speed is not limited, and can actually pose a danger.
Obviously many motorists are not clued in to the existence of e-bikes yet as I saw an e-bike travelling down the middle of the lane on Eastern Avenue, which would surely evoke honking rage if it was a bicycle travelling the same speed (regardless of the speed of traffic at that time).
What do you think? Do you think that perceptions of e-bikes are different whether they look like a bicycle, or look like a motorcycle or scooter?
I have noticed this series of potholes on Dundas St., eastbound just west of Prince Edward Dr. (map) growing bigger over the last few weeks. The potholes are long and somewhat narrow, parallel to the roadway and probably about 1.5m from the curb.
Riding eastbound on Dundas St. towards the Humber River, there is usually a fairly high amount of traffic, plus the downhill grade of the road really allows cyclists, and motorists, to pick up speed. A momentary loss of attention or movement to avoid another hazard could cause a cyclist's front wheel to drop into this chasm leading to a terrible over-the-handlebars kind of crash, or just a mangled wheel and fork if you're lucky.
The Star's "Fixer" column earlier this week got very quick results with the bike-crash causing pothole on Dupont St. I want to see how quickly the City responds to a request from a regular schmoe like me who doesn't have media credentials.
This morning I followed the directions on The City's pothole page: "Call the City at 416-599-9090, press the pound key (#) followed by 164 and leave a message". I spoke to a person who took the report. Perhaps all cyclists should have this number programmed in to their cell phones, or at least written down somewhere convenient, so that we can report these types of dangerous situations immediately.
I will continue to ride past here every morning and evening during my commute, and will report back as soon as it gets fixed.
It costs about $25 to repair a pothole. Crews repair the potholes within four days of it being reported.
Let's hope this one gets filled in quickly, as it's more than just a bumpy annoyance, it's a disaster waiting to happen.
Two new bike lanes were being presented at this meeting: A 3.1km stretch of The West Mall, from Bloor St. down to The Queensway (map), and a 3.4km piece of Bloor St. W. between Mill Rd. and Kipling Ave (map).
One of the points that several residents at last night's meeting kept bringing up went along the lines of, "But these lanes don't take you anywhere!". Well, contrary to popular belief, I feel that these lanes will actually fill in a much-needed gap in the network, providing safer cycling in mid-town and south-western Etobicoke.
The Bloor St. bike lane will start at almost the Mississauga border (not sure why they didn't extend it just a bit further), connect to a future Mill Rd. bike lane (in the Bike Plan), connect to the Renforth Dr. bike lane (which connects up to Rathburn Rd bike lanes, Centennial Park, Eglinton bikeway, etc.), West mall bike lanes, over Highway 427, Kipling Subway/GO station (via Aukland Rd. and the hydro corridor which is also in the Bike Plan), and the Etobicoke City Centre in the Six Points / Bloor / Islington area.
The West Mall bike lane will provide an important North-South connection between Bloor St., and the Queensway, eventually connecting down to the pathway along Etobicoke Creek and down to the lake, and also feed into the Bloor bike lane and Renforth Dr. bike lanes going north. It also brings cyclists close to the Etobicoke Civic Centre.
What are some of the obstacles to having these bike lanes installed? Very few, actually. On Bloor St., the bike lanes will not remove any on-street parking. No door-zones anywhere along the way. There are very few businesses along this stretch of Bloor, and therefore few conflicts with motorists turning in and out of driveways. There was some concern from area residents that the automobile traffic on Bloor St. is too fast and busy, so it is unsafe for cyclists. But that's possibly one of the best reasons to make it safer and slow the traffic down!
Perhaps two of the biggest obstacles to implementing these bike lanes are Councillors Doug Holyday (Ward 3) and Peter Milczyn (Ward 5). Milcyn already seems to be in favour of installing these bike lanes, but Holyday is likely to vote against any kind of cycling infrastructure at any chance he gets, especially in his own ward. Cyclists in Ward 3 should definitely put the heat on to Doug Holyday.
It seemed that the biggest obstacle for the West Mall bike lanes was that people felt it is an unsafe place for anyone to be on a bicycle, bike lane or not. There isn't a huge volume of traffic, and the road is very wide, but residents report that motor vehicles speed through here, and there can be heavy truck traffic between Dundas St. and the industrial areas south of there. Again, sounds like a good reason to install their planned bike lane (often with a wide buffer) to reduce cyclist/motorist conflicts and bring the motor vehicle speed down.
How soon might this happen? Sooner than I expected! According to the presentation notes:
Subject to Council approval, bike lanes would be implemented in 2009, through the
repainting of the roadway.
The first step is for these lanes, along with a whole host of others, to be approved at tomorrow's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting. After that, it's up to council to make the final approval, and then get the lines painted. Hopefully it will be a fast and simple process (though I can just imagine the new round of "WAR ON CAR!" headlines coming out when these lanes come up for vote).
In closing, this isn't the most sought-after section of Bloor St. bikeways, but it has always been in the Bike Plan and will finally fill in a big missing gap in the whole Etobicoke network. Make sure you contact all of the appropriate parties at City Hall to give your support to the idea:
