khris
Senior Member
I saw yesterday they were prepping the bike lane on Richmond west of Church St. I'm so excited about this, as this is my commute to work every day.
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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)
- Thread starter MetroMan
- Start date
the lemur
Senior Member
The problem with the College lanes is that they are not continuous and they reflect the city's long-standing reliance on painting bike lanes in traffic alongside parked cars, putting cyclists in the door zone, rather than using parked cars as a barrier between bikes and the rest of traffic, having them ride closer to the curb.
Riding bikes and bike lanes are dangerous
Not inherently. It depends on the behaviour of the rider and the design of the bike lane, respectively. You might just as well call driving and roads dangerous for the rate of accidents per km driven.
I think that the whole bike thing is a fad. It is a craze that started growing rapidly during the recession around 2009 or so.
Yes, I think we've already established that you're a hysterical alarmist.
Bicycling wasn't very popular even 10 years ago
Are you for real?
The number of people who ride bikes in Toronto is extremely small and I think you will find that the vast majority of the population agrees with me on this (just like the vast majority of the population is against tearing down the Gardiner, thinks Toronto needs a larger subway system, etc.)
Multiple citations needed.
If you find that the odd road in NYC has more bikes than cars it is because few people drive in NYC
Few people who live within NYC (specifically, Manhattan) drive regularly, but there is still a lot of traffic coming in and going out - their level of congestion still attests to the dominance of cars.
the lemur
Senior Member
andrewpmk
Senior Member
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/06/05/the-exploding-growth-of-bikesharing
An increase from 7 bike sharing systems in 2002 to 497 in 2012 sounds like a fad to me. The biggest increase was from 2009-2010 around the recession. Also a lot of these bike sharing systems (including the one in Toronto) have gotten into financial trouble. Bixi which used to run the bike share system in Toronto went bankrupt in 2014. My guess is that if TD has not sponsored "Bike Share Toronto" then it would have shut down. Most of these bike sharing systems are underused.
The vast majority of people do not care about bicycling. If you go outside a small area around downtown Toronto, bicyclists are practically non-existent. There are hardly any bicyclists around Yonge-Eglinton and certainly in Scarborough they are a very rare sight.
An increase from 7 bike sharing systems in 2002 to 497 in 2012 sounds like a fad to me. The biggest increase was from 2009-2010 around the recession. Also a lot of these bike sharing systems (including the one in Toronto) have gotten into financial trouble. Bixi which used to run the bike share system in Toronto went bankrupt in 2014. My guess is that if TD has not sponsored "Bike Share Toronto" then it would have shut down. Most of these bike sharing systems are underused.
The vast majority of people do not care about bicycling. If you go outside a small area around downtown Toronto, bicyclists are practically non-existent. There are hardly any bicyclists around Yonge-Eglinton and certainly in Scarborough they are a very rare sight.
wopchop
Building Toronto
And the vast majority of people also don't care about public transit. Does that mean we shouldn't build it?
You're argument is basically begging the question. You are assuming that because you see no cyclists in Scarborough, that no one is interested in cycling, or that people wouldn't cycle if it was safe to do so. That is a logical failure.
I could turn that around and say, "I see few people taking the bus in City X, that means no one is interested in taking public transit, and improving public transit is a complete waste of money". That is obviously a dumb argument.
You're argument is basically begging the question. You are assuming that because you see no cyclists in Scarborough, that no one is interested in cycling, or that people wouldn't cycle if it was safe to do so. That is a logical failure.
I could turn that around and say, "I see few people taking the bus in City X, that means no one is interested in taking public transit, and improving public transit is a complete waste of money". That is obviously a dumb argument.
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the lemur
Senior Member
You might as well assume that walking is fad because so few people are seen doing it in Scarborough or along the 401. Or that no one is interested in cars because if they're so great why aren't they on the island, huh?
the lemur
Senior Member
A fad is something that is popular for a very short time. From 2002 to 2012 ... yeah, an extraordinarily brief, short-lived decade-long fad.
Bike-sharing is also by no means the most reliable indicator of cycling's popularity.
I see plenty of bikes around Yonge & Eglinton (those east-west avenues are pretty good for biking, not a lot of car traffic much of the time) but you have a point regarding Scarborough (which is largely designed around the car but could easily accommodate (more) off-street bike infrastructure).
If 'nobody' outside downtown Toronto cares about cycling, why do staid little towns persist in putting in bike lanes?
Huh, looks like no one in Podunkville cares much about driving either.
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nfitz
Superstar
I took a rare walk down Sherbourne this morning in rush hour. (rare because 504 AM service has been so much improved this year, that I've had no reason to look for alternatives).
I was surprised at how many bikes there were on Sherbourne. It's very much increased from what it was this time last year. If it keeps increasing at this speed, they are going to have to add capacity on a parallel route. Perhaps Jarvis would be a good choice.
I was surprised at how many bikes there were on Sherbourne. It's very much increased from what it was this time last year. If it keeps increasing at this speed, they are going to have to add capacity on a parallel route. Perhaps Jarvis would be a good choice.
CDL.TO
Moderator
You can't judge the demand for a bridge based on how many people are swimming across the river.
You can't judge the demand for a bike lane based on how many people are cycling in mixed traffic.
You can't judge the demand for a bike lane based on how many people are cycling in mixed traffic.
smably
Senior Member
Argh, this is so frustrating! Have they learned nothing from the Richmond/University intersection? It's a deathtrap for cyclists -- constant stream of vehicles turning right across the bike lane, only about 50% of which actually check for bikes before turning. I've had so many close calls at that intersection. Since the time I almost ended up under a truck that abruptly turned right without signalling, I've learned to just lay on the horn as I approach University (sorry, pedestrians). In general, I love the separated bike lanes, but somebody's going to get killed if they don't fix the intersection treatments.
Napoleon
Active Member
I'm sorry, do you read what you actually write? A 70-fold increase over a decade is a fad?! Maybe in addition to likes, this system should include a way to vote troll points.
Back to the real topic. It's fantastic that the lanes now connect to Sherbourne. No wonder usage has increased on both Richmond and Sherbourne, as we're seeing the benefits of connecting good pieces of bike infrastructure (not that I wouldn't change a few things about the Sherbourne lanes). I used to live near Sherbourne and Wellesley, and while both Sherbourne and Richmond/Adelaide had good infrastructure, trying to find a good route to link these was pretty tough. Bay Street has a bit of a bike lane in places. One can zig and zag down St. George/Beverly/behind a parking lot and an awkward crossing of Queen. Or what I would usually do, just brave the nasty bits of Richmond/Adelaide that had no bike lane.
Now, we have two solid fairly protected bike routes that connect to Sherbourne. Wellesley/Harbord goes to Ossington (where it abruptly ends). Richmond/Adelaide with some wiggling through the park can be made to extend to Shaw. This almost looks like the start of a grid.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
Something was up today... and I don't quite know what. I take Sherbourne daily and have never seen so much cyclist traffic ever in this city.
And it wasn't just Sherbourne. Bloor was completely packed with cyclists also. It didn't look like it was a group ride, or recreational. Just seemed like everyone decided to bike to work today. It was literally a continuous line of cyclists heading West on Bloor, and then a bunch of them continuing South on Sherbourne. The line along Bloor only broke up at red lights. Otherwise, it was non stop bikes flying by.
I pulled out my phone to get a picture, but I was driving and didn't want to risk getting caught.
It didn't feel like Toronto this morning.
Did it feel like an evolved Toronto? 
Tuscani01
Senior Member
Did it feel like an evolved Toronto?
It was actually a little dangerous. Bikes waiting to make a left onto Sherbourne from Bloor were spilling onto the roadway, forcing cars into the middle lane, and backing Bloor up to about the DVP.
This city definitely needs more bike infrastructure, not less.