General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

[robmausser]

It's 2017 and apparently this is how we still design bike lanes.



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I'm sure the Dutch would have a lot more to say about this.

I dont understand our obsession with mixing transit systems together in Toronto... why wouldn't you just naturally do this:

 

[amnesiajune]

I dont understand our obsession with mixing transit systems together in Toronto... why wouldn't you just naturally do this:

The streetcar and bike lanes get in the way of right turns, and bikes are very far from the road so it's harder for car drivers to see them. It can't work unless you ban those interfering right turns (which we've done on Queen's Quay) or you give streetcars and bikes a red light whenever car traffic has a green light (which we've done on Cherry Street), but both of those "solutions" are atrocious for a major artery.

 

[nfitz]

That's because nobody and I mean NOBODY waits until pedestrians are completely off the road to make a turn - because you'd be waiting 5 light cycles before there's a break long enough to turn. Are you naive on purpose or do you not look out your window while at the office? I can see this disaster play out right now at York and Adelaide. Nobody follows this dumb rule.

What are you talking about?

There's no traffic lights at pedestrian crossings. There are no light cycles. And there's no pedestrian crossing at York and Adelaide. Just a regular interesection. And the "don't cross when pedestrians are on the crossing" doesn't apply to intersections, unless a crossing guard is present.

I've never seen a crossing guard and York and Adelaide. Have you?

 

[Filip]

What are you talking about?

There's no traffic lights at pedestrian crossings. There are no light cycles. And there's no pedestrian crossing at York and Adelaide. Just a regular interesection. And the "don't cross when pedestrians are on the crossing" doesn't apply to intersections, unless a crossing guard is present.

I've never seen a crossing guard and York and Adelaide. Have you?

I was told this rule applies to all pedestrian crossings including signalized ones.

If the government really made a regulation that affects 1% of crossings (pedestrian crossings are disliked by cities and being eliminated) then really these liberals are so far out to lunch that I can't help but laugh.

 

[TrickyRicky]

The article in the headline today regarding the bike passport program on Bloor is an interesting one because it is a clear indicator that the bike lanes have been generally bad for local businesses. As a local Landlord I am agnostic in the sense that business will find a way to adapt. I just wanted to point out that these decisions like prioritizing cycling lanes are not neutral or win-win scenarios. They create local winners and losers, they have real cause and effect influences, they will benefit the lives of some while literally ruining the lives of others. They will have long term consequences that will shape the street in ways you may like but unintentially may not like.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I was told this rule applies to all pedestrian crossings including signalized ones.

If the government really made a regulation that affects 1% of crossings (pedestrian crossings are disliked by cities and being eliminated) then really these liberals are so far out to lunch that I can't help but laugh.

Only the pedestrian crosswalks

and crossings with crossing guards.

 

[amnesiajune]

The article in the headline today regarding the bike passport program on Bloor is an interesting one because it is a clear indicator that the bike lanes have been generally bad for local businesses.

It reminds me a lot of the "Shop on <street being torn apart>" ad campaigns that YRT/Viva has been running while they build their BRT systems. The fact that they only have 70 businesses participating in this, when there are 20-30 at the ground level on any given block, also says quite a bit IMO.

 

[steveintoronto]

Very good article on London UK's cycle planning in today's Guardian:

Is TfL's new cycling plan revolutionary or a waste of time?
Laura Laker
Thursday 22 June 2017 07.00 BST

Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, once said “in God we trust; everyone else bring data”. London has moved towards the mantra of one man who transformed a city for cycling by using a major data analysis to show where cycling routes could be built to get the greatest number of people on to two wheels.

Transport for London (TfL) has taken census data, cycle counts, surveys and data from the city’s hire bikes to identify future urban development and growth hotspots and collision data. They have created a map of 25 corridors across London, along which the greatest number of cycling trips could be generated.

Some believe the Strategic Cycling Analysis (SCA) could prove crucial in pushing London’s 32 boroughs – who control 95% of the city’s roads – to build the future cycle superhighways, quietways and liveable neighbourhoods. At present, boroughs form an incoherent patchwork of mixed-quality, stop-start odds and ends for cycling, and some boroughs do not want any cycling routes.

The London Cycling Campaign’s Simon Munk calls the SCA, and the city’s new data-led approach to cycling, “really important”.

“It really does demonstrate in a strong, data-led way if you spend money, people will cycle. That changes the tone and the tenor of the conversation quite dramatically,” he said.

“For years and years and years we have had small groups of cyclists passionate about their patch demanding change, then you have councillors saying, ‘No one cycles around here, no one ever will, forget it.’

“It’s not just ‘if you build it, they will come’; it’s ‘this is where to build it’. That ‘no one cycles in my area’ conversation is pretty much over,” he said.

The SCA considers where cycling connections with the greatest potential for growth are; how those connections could be prioritised; how they could contribute to achieving Healthy Streets goals and the “opportunities to deliver area-wide cycling improvements”.
The map of 25 corridors represents potential cycling demand. It calculates the most likely route of cycle trips between known trip origins and destinations across London. This is something TfL has long done for motor traffic and public transport. It doesn’t identify individual roads, but plots a line between two points of demand. TfL will now work with London boroughs to develop specific routes along those corridors.

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Analysis suggests there are approximately 8m cycleable trips in London each day – these are not stages of the Tour de France, but short trips averaging 3.15km.

TfL also revealed the benefits of recently built protected cycle routes. There was a 54% increase in cycling along the new east-west cycle superhighway from Parliament Square to Tower Hill since its construction, and a 32% increase in the north-south cycle superhighway – routes built under the former London mayor Boris Johnson and his cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan.

Will Norman, London’s current walking and cycling commissioner, said this administration is committed to making physical activity a part of more Londoners’ everyday lives. He said: “While we are working hard to build new cycle superhighways and quietways now, it’s also important that we look ahead to expand the cycling network and create the next generation of routes. That’s why we’re using this ground-breaking analysis to identify the areas of greatest potential for cycling, and why we’ll be working closely with the boroughs to deliver schemes that help continue this spectacular growth in cycling for many years to come.”

But Gilligan, who has been critical of what he sees as a lack of action during Sadiq Khan’s tenure as mayor so far and timidity in building routes approved under Johnson’s tenure, is less than enthusiastic about the value of the SCA. Although he doesn’t object to the analysis itself, he sees it as “displacement activity” – a distraction from the work of building the infrastructure.

“They have been coming up with reasonably obvious answers that there is high demand for cycling on these corridors, instead of building them,” Gilligan says. “That’s my concern: that there’s no commitment of any kind in it.

“The bureaucrats tried to make me do this. They said, ‘Let’s try to have analysis before we build these routes’, and I said, ‘No, we know where the routes are needed, go outside the building and have a look.’

“There’s high demand for cycling on most roads in central London. It depends on where you can get the routes built, which is on [TfL-controlled roads]. That’s all the analysis you need. I think this was a way to waste six months.”

Dr Rachel Aldred, a reader in transport at the University of Westminster, said the SCA’s value lies in getting more people cycling. She said: “It’s great to see Transport for London basing their strategic cycle planning on cycling potential analysis. We need to be looking at trips that aren’t currently cycled, but could be, and building infrastructure and services to give people the choice of cycling those trips. That’s what a cycling potential analysis allows.”

It’s not just London that could benefit from knowing where would-be cyclists want to go. Aldred says councils outside London could quantify demand for new cycle routes in their own areas using the recently published Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT), produced by Aldred and colleagues, which maps how much commuter cycling could increase at area and route level.

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...alysis-revolutionary-or-displacement-activity

 

[steveintoronto]

Riding in crosswalks prohibited
(29) No person shall ride or operate a bicycle across a roadway within a crosswalk at an intersection or at a location, other than an intersection, which is controlled by a traffic control signal system. 2015, c. 14, s. 40 (2).

“crosswalk” means,

(a) that part of a highway at an intersection that is included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway, or

(b) any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface; (“passage protégé pour piétons”)
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08

 

[nfitz]

I was told this rule applies to all pedestrian crossings including signalized ones.

No. Only "pedestrian crossovers". See this MTO tweet:

If the government really made a regulation that affects 1% of crossings (pedestrian crossings are disliked by cities and being eliminated) then really these liberals are so far out to lunch that I can't help but laugh.

It's not a regulation. It's a law. Section 140 of the Highway Traffic Act. Liberals? Section 140 is ancient. It's not that much changed but for a few words from the 1990 version when it was last consolidated. Going back to the 1980 consolidation, it is Section 120, and identical to the 1990 version, as far as I can see - and it notes the last change to that section was 1974.

I'm not sure how Liberals fixing a wording of something is a big deal. Do you know how many changes to the Highway Traffic Act there have been? Probably thousands.

 

[steveintoronto]

Much of the press is also reporting this incorrectly.
The ambiguity comes from "crossover" v "crosswalk".

Here's from MoT:
Q5: What is the difference between a pedestrian crossover and a crosswalk?

The new law applies at all pedestrian crossovers, not at crosswalks, unless a school crossing guard is present.

Pedestrian crossovers are identified by specific signs, pavement markings and lights; some have illuminated overhead lights/warning signs and pedestrian push buttons.

Drivers and cyclists must wait until pedestrians have completely crossed the road. There are 3 new types of pedestrian crossovers (see Q9 below).

A crosswalk is a crossing location usually found at intersections with traffic signals, pedestrian signals or stop signs. A crosswalk can be:

• the portion of a roadway that connects sidewalks on opposite sides of the roadway into a continuous path; or,
• the portion of a roadway that is indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs, lines or other markings on the surface of the roadway at any location, including an intersection.

Illustration of crosswalks at an intersection with traffic signals and pedestrian signals

Q6: What is a school crossing?

A school crossing is any pedestrian crossing where a school crossing guard is present and displaying a school crossing stop sign.

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/pedestrian-safety.shtml

Drivers and cyclists must wait until children, school crossing guards and all pedestrians have completely crossed the road

Q7: Does the law apply province wide?

As of January 1, 2016 the new law applies province wide to all pedestrian crossovers, school crossings and other locations where there is a school crossing guard.

Q8: What are the penalties?

Drivers and cyclists may face a fine in the range of $150-$500 – drivers may also face 3 demerit points. Fines will be doubled in community safety zones.

Q9: Are there any new types of crossovers where this law applies?

Yes. In response to requests from municipalities for more options for pedestrian crossovers, road authorities may choose to install one of the new types of crossovers.The law also applies at these new types of pedestrian crossovers.

Drivers and cyclists must wait until pedestrians have completely crossed the road

Drivers and cyclists must wait until pedestrians have completely crossed the road

Drivers and cyclists must wait until pedestrians have completely crossed the road

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/pedestrian-safety.shtml

 

[Avenue]

Riding in crosswalks prohibited
(29) No person shall ride or operate a bicycle across a roadway within a crosswalk at an intersection or at a location, other than an intersection, which is controlled by a traffic control signal system. 2015, c. 14, s. 40 (2).

“crosswalk” means,

(a) that part of a highway at an intersection that is included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway, or

(b) any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface; (“passage protégé pour piétons”)
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08

If this rule had been observed, we'd be getting about 10+ more cyclists/day getting killed simply trying to make left hand turns.

 

[steveintoronto]

If this rule has been observed, we'd be getting about 10+ more cyclists/day getting killed simply trying to make left hand turns.

You obviously have no concept of navigating an intersection. You cycle through the intersection, wait at the opposite corner from where you entered, wait for the light to change, then proceed in your wanted direction, I detailed this a few posts back. If you want cross in the pedestrian lane, get off yer friggin bike and walk it across, as is required by law, let alone common-sense.

Suddenly swerving into a pedestrian lane with no signal, not looking behind, and not thinking is an excellent way to get killed.

 

[Avenue]

You cycle through the intersection, wait at the opposite corner from where you entered, wait for the light to change, then proceed in your wanted direction, I detailed this a few posts back.

You do this. Bloor and Bay at 5:15 pm, preferably.

 

[rbt]

You do this. Bloor and Bay at 5:15 pm, preferably.

That's ridiculously easy to achieve. Look for crossing guard, none spotted, go ahead as normal; rule followed as written.