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It wasn't yet 8:30 AM, but the crowd already spread across both sides of Toronto's Lippincott Street. Donning helmets and safety gear, the gathering spilled out onto Bloor Street as cycling enthusiasts gathered for the announcement. But nobody stood in the bike lane.
Celebrating the official launch of the Bloor Street Bike Lane project, Councillors Mike Layton and Joe Cressy were joined by the City of Toronto's Manager of Cycling Infrastructure & Programs, Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati. Gathered at the southwest corner of Bloor and Lippincott, cyclists were already zipping by along the recently installed bike lanes as the Councilors spoke, welcomed by cheers from an enthusiastic crowd.
Running along a 2.6-kilometre stretch from Shaw Street to Avenue Road, the year-long pilot project was hailed as as "iconic for Toronto" by Layton, and "long overdue" by Cressy. Together, the two Downtown Councillors were instrumental in making the project a reality, advocating an "untested" pilot project that has been touted as an uncharacteristically direct step forward for a City prone to politicized analysis/paralysis. Approved by City Council in May, the bike lanes entered into service over the last few days.
Although the $0.5 million pilot project is inherently somewhat experimental in nature, Cressy emphasized the data-driven approach that's being taken to assess the new infrastructure's impacts. Reciting former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's mantra of "in G-d we trust, everyone else bring data," Cressy explained that a rigorous empirical analysis will help make the benefits of improved bike infrastructure clear. "I'm confident that the pilot project will demonstrate that cycling infrastructure, when it's done right, is a win-win for everyone," the Councillor said.
Speaking from a more technical perspective, Gulati outlined the scope of the data-driven analysis now being undertaken. In partnership with public and private organizations including the Toronto Parking Authority, Ontario Traffic Inc., and the University of Toronto, the City is collecting three sets of data to assess the pilot project.
In addition to measuring automobile and bicycle traffic on Bloor (and adjoining streets), the City's data will also take into account factors like parking availability and retail sales, as well as travel times. Notably, however, Gulati notes that reliable information about safety and collisions is hard to accurately assess using a one-year data set, though feedback regarding perceptions of safety will nonetheless be collected. "[I]t’s difficult over a one-year pilot project to come to conclusions about safety,” Gulati told the Toronto Star.
In advance of the project's launch, the first round of data was collected by the City in order to establish a baseline for comparison. Using a series of 23 cameras (and collecting some 5,000 total hours of footage), two further data sets will be compiled throughout the next year, informing the report that will be presented to the City's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.
Set to be released next Fall, report will provide a recommendation as to whether the project should be maintained, modified, or removed. For Cressy, Layton, and scores of Toronto's cyclists, the hope is that the data will provide a sufficient basis for the continuation—and eventual expansion—of the project. For the excited crowd, the Bloor Street bike lanes offered a glimpse at the sort of ambitious, impactful change that rarely becomes an immediate reality. For now—and for at least a year—it has.
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