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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

Jeff Morgan said:
It will take a while for this legislation to pass. Perhaps Toronto should get shovels in the ground for as many projects as possible before it passes.
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The City cycling unit has limited capacity to accelerate projects; more money in the budget could make some difference, but they really need more staff to actually carry out detailed design.

There will be a slew of consultations this fall, some of which will translate into projects next year, many not til 2026.

If there's a desire to accelerate that, there's a need to finish the design work sufficient to have the by-laws ready to approve changes.

Right now, no projects are scheduled to go to I&E for final approval until early next year.

Anyone wanting to push for acceleration will need to write to the Mayor ASAP, because hiring in the City is a months long process. Even Capital requires people writing out detailed tenders that take at least 2 months to get issued.
 
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chrisw said:
globalnews.ca

Ford government to table legislation to restrict bike lanes on city streets | Globalnews.ca

The transportation minister will table the new bike lane rules as part of his next major piece of legislation, which the government has said will focus on stifling congestion.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
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lol ridiculous.

How does this even work? Can the city not make lane reductions anywhere? i.e. Pedestrianizing Yonge St. What about roads clearly and wildly over capacity?

I get the Province's hesitancy on reducing roads like Bloor, perhaps (though as a whole still disagree).. but especially outside of Toronto many municipalities convert 4-lane roads which are operating at like 20% capacity to bike lanes or do road diets in general. Is that banned now too?
 
Removing vehicle lanes to install bike lanes is the worst of all worlds and short sighted of Toronto to have been proceeding this way over the past few years.

Generally speaking, we shouldn't be expanding the roads to accommodate new car volumes but we also shouldn't be removing lanes from our already small roads while purposely adding more cars to the road each year.
 
J Bacon said:
Removing vehicle lanes to install bike lanes is the worst of all worlds and short sighted of Toronto to have been proceeding this way over the past few years.

Generally speaking, we shouldn't be expanding the roads to accommodate new car volumes but we also shouldn't be removing lanes from our already small roads while purposely adding more cars to the road each year.
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wat?
Someone hasnt heard of induced demand I guess.
 
Really curious to see how the city maneuvers around this. Biking infrastructure will still be built but how creative will we get? Depends on the wording of the legistlation but the proposals will be interesting. How many lanes are a bit too wide and could fit a lane in them without "removing" one. Interesting times ahead indeed
 
J Bacon said:
Removing vehicle lanes to install bike lanes is the worst of all worlds and short sighted of Toronto to have been proceeding this way over the past few years.

Generally speaking, we shouldn't be expanding the roads to accommodate new car volumes but we also shouldn't be removing lanes from our already small roads while purposely adding more cars to the road each year.
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In the course of my walk yesterday, I made an entirely unscientific study of vehicle queues, at intersections along Bloor as I walked west to east from Huron to Bedford. I only counted one direction (westbound, in evening rush hour, ~5 to 5:15pm), and only observed one cycle at each light.

This is what I noted, Bloor/Huron:

11 cars queued
13 cyclists queued

Bloor/St. George

7 cars queued
13 cyclists queued

Bloor/Bedford

11 cars queued
8 cyclists queued.

I don't want get this thread back into more 'studies' LOL, so I apologize if anyone tries to take it there, and I don't exaggerate here the usefulness of quick anecdotal data.

But I still think its of interest that over those 3 intersections cyclists cumulatively outnumber drivers in rush hour.

That was achieved by removing car lanes and adding generous cycle tracks.

I think it makes the case that this can work out well, at least on some streets.
 
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Is Ford still so angry that he didn't become mayor that he wants to crap on Toronto as much as he can? Or at least on the Torontonians that he perceives did not vote for him? (Cyclists, lovers of OSC, OP...). I'm only half kidding here
 
Northern Light said:
But I still think its of interest that over those 3 intersections cyclists cumulatively outnumber drivers in rush hour.

That was achieved by removing a car lanes and adding generous cycle tracks.

I think it makes the case that this can work out well, at least on some streets.
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I mean showing cyclist / car counts during balmy times should be contrasted with various periods from October to March.

The city is purposefully adding more cars to the road every year with each condo completion.
Removing capacity from already small roads is poor policy, the city is ensuring that we max it out as is.

However the proposed legislation above also seems like poor policy as it could remove context from any discussion.
 
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J Bacon said:
I mean showing cyclist / car counts during balmy times should be contrasted with various periods from October to March.
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I'm happy enough to agree w/that.

J Bacon said:
The city is purposefully adding more cars to the road every year with each condo completion.
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Most condos being approved in/near downtown today have very little parking, typical ratios are one space or 1.5 spaces to every 10 units.

It must then be added, that many of those comparatively few cars that do occupy parking in the new builds sit idle during rush hours. They are the grocery car, the camping car, the trip to see mom in Markham car.

Now, in the same breath, lets acknowledge that there are condos being built in more suburban, less transit centric locations with higher levels of parking. But I think relatively few of those cars are being used to commute to the City core.

J Bacon said:
Removing capacity from already small roads is not poor policy, the city is ensuring that we max it out as is.
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This may be true, where the roads are close to, at or above capacity (vehicular) and where the removal of lanes does not result in changed commuting patterns (uptick in pedestrian/cycling/transit).

But I think a universal condemnation of lane removal is unreasonable. Its better to talk about objective policy standards
 
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If something ridiculous like this comes to pass, you'll just see cyclists take matters into their own hands and ride in the middle of traffic lanes. You already see that on some downtown streets that lack bike lanes like Dundas, where cars have pretty much given up driving in the right lane because there are so many cyclists.

Good luck with your buffoonery Doug! I'm actually not overly concerned by this proposal.
 
Towered said:
You already see that on some downtown streets that lack bike lanes like Dundas, where cars have pretty much given up driving in the right lane because there are so many cyclists.
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To be fair, cars have given up driving on the right lanes due to street side patios in the summer time, and curbside parking.

Where would you add bike lanes in this situation?
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