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General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

ShonTron said:
Stay classy, Canada Post.
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I've never really noticed Canada Post vehicles illegally parked before, but in the last 2-3 weeks, I've seen a few instances of Canada Post vehicles proudly displaying parking tickets, in streetcar stops, etc. I wonder if there has been a policy shift.
 
https://twitter.com/to_cycling/status/491295011477422080

@TO_Cycling: @TO_Transport has repaved curb lane for Adelaide Cycle Track Pilot Project pre-marking starts tonight #biketo #TOpoli

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So the painting of the lanes on Adelaide are gradually moving east.....and they have gotten to a point that I had wondered how it would be handled....the condo construction around John Street where the right lane is still blocked. It seems the temporary solution is to paint the lane immediately to the left of the bike lanes with bike lane markings.

Does this lane become a bike only lane at this point? How do they expect (particularly in rush hour when the bike lanes are most needed) for the cars in that lane to suddenly exit the lane to honour the bikes only principle? If that was/is the intent, it would seem a bit of signage further west advising the autos that they were about to lose (for about 50m) a lane....otherwise there is gonna be a bit of confusion/interaction at that point.
 
TOareaFan said:
So the painting of the lanes on Adelaide are gradually moving east.....and they have gotten to a point that I had wondered how it would be handled....the condo construction around John Street where the right lane is still blocked. It seems the temporary solution is to paint the lane immediately to the left of the bike lanes with bike lane markings.

Does this lane become a bike only lane at this point? How do they expect (particularly in rush hour when the bike lanes are most needed) for the cars in that lane to suddenly exit the lane to honour the bikes only principle? If that was/is the intent, it would seem a bit of signage further west advising the autos that they were about to lose (for about 50m) a lane....otherwise there is gonna be a bit of confusion/interaction at that point.
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I decided to bike Adelaide this morning (I usually don't) just to check out these lanes. It was around 8:10 but traffic was pretty light and the number of vehicles blocking the bike lanes was minimal (mostly construction equipment). When I got to Peter St the bike lane ended before a construction hoarding that extended into the street and there were sharrows (at a very sharp angle!) pointing the way around the hoarding.
 
the lemur said:
I decided to bike Adelaide this morning (I usually don't) just to check out these lanes. It was around 8:10 but traffic was pretty light and the number of vehicles blocking the bike lanes was minimal (mostly construction equipment). When I got to Peter St the bike lane ended before a construction hoarding that extended into the street and there were sharrows (at a very sharp angle!) pointing the way around the hoarding.
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Yes....the sharrows show the cyclists where to go.....but (contrary to most opinions) most drivers also want to obey whatever rules are laid out for them (even if they don't agree with all of them ;) ) and you literally just go from being in a legal lane to all of a sudden driving over a painted cylclist....my worry is that some day, someone, will actually hit a real cyclist.

I drove through there at about 8:50 and even if I knew I was, for about 50m, about to be in a bike lane and tried to avoid it...I had nowhere to go...and I would describe this morning as the lightest traffic I have seen on Adelaide in over a year.
 
Incidentally, the City of Toronto has released an App for interested users to track their cycling use (link to the city's info page), with the idea of providing more data to the City on where and when people cycle. It uses your phone's GPS to record location over a trip -- you tap to start and stop, with pausing possible. I've used it a couple of times thus far. It's a bit fiddly, but not bad. I don't necessarily buy the Greenhouse offset it provides, but that's ok. It can also give calories burned, but I use a heart rate monitor for that.

I'm not sure how much it will possibly change or improve cycling infrastructure in the city, but I'm willing to use it for now.
 
Apparently, this happened this past Sunday. From the Toronto Sun, at this link:

Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon hit by car

By Don Peat ,City Hall Bureau Chief First posted: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 07:16 AM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 08:44 AM EDT

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Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon in Toronto East General hospital on Sunday.
TORONTO - A man has been charged with careless driving after Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon got knocked off her bike and sent to hospital.

The bike-loving councillor was riding south on Woodbine Ave. crossing Gerrard St. on Sunday when she was hit and left lying on the street just before 11 a.m.

"I'm all banged up on my left side but I'm surprised I can walk away - it could have been a lot worse," McMahon told the Sun on Tuesday.

McMahon - who is running for re-election - said she was being her "classic, cautious, Mary Poppins, cyclist self" when the incident happened.

"The light had just changed and next thing I knew I had a passenger side door right at my handlebar and so I yelled, I screamed and then thump, the back of the car hit me and tossed me off onto Woodbine," McMahon said.

"I was lying there on Woodbine and thankfully no one ran over me."

"I can't believe I'm OK because I was lying on Woodbine Ave." she added.

The Beaches-East York (Ward 32) councillor said someone called 911 because they were worried she hit her head.

"The ambulance came and then they were worried because my blood pressure was quite low so they loaded me up, took me to emergency and I had a CAT scan," she said.

A Toronto Police officer interviewed McMahon at Toronto East General hospital and told her the driver had been charged with careless driving. Police confirmed the charge on Tuesday but wouldn't reveal the driver's name.

Although she's always advocated for separated bike lanes, McMahon said the incident has driven the point home.

"We need more separated bike lanes," she said.

John Mohler was one of the drivers who stopped to help McMahon.

"I saw somebody on a bicycle going over, I didn't really have a clear view of exactly what happened but I just saw somebody going over and down," Mohler said. "I just pulled over and stopped to see if there was anything I can do to help."

Mohler agreed "it could have been worse."

"If you know people who commute on their bikes or ride their bikes around then you know people who have eventually had accidents like this, unfortunately in Toronto it is just too common," he said.
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For a video about the collision from CP24, click on this link.
 
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New bike lanes open in Richmond and Adelaide area

Read more: http://www.cp24.com/news/new-bike-lanes-open-in-richmond-and-adelaide-area-1.1938836#ixzz38zOtTPsx

A network of downtown bicycle lanes that Toronto city council approved in May has officially opened.

The bike lanes are part of the Richmond-Adelaide pilot project aimed at safety and improving connectivity for cyclists. Although the project is not yet complete, a number of lanes are now in place, separated by a paint barrier from motor-vehicle traffic.

When finished, the bicycle lanes will run along Richmond Street from York to Bathurst streets, and the Adelaide Street lane will run from Simcoe to Bathurst streets. They will be connected by north-south lanes on Peter and Simcoe streets.

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A City of Toronto handout shows the proposed bike lane network for the 2014 Richmond-Adelaide pilot project. Click image to enlarge.


A cyclist travels along a bike lane on Simcoe Street on Wednesday, July 8, 2014. (Cam Woolley/CP24)

Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong hailed the opening of the bike network as a “much-needed initiative.â€

“We know that this is one of the most used streets for cycling in the city, especially east-west,†said the councillor.

So far, cycle tracks have been installed on Simcoe Street from Front to Queen streets, and on Richmond from Bathurst to Niagara streets. Westbound lanes have been completed on Phoebe and Stephanie streets, and a southbound lane on Bathurst Street is also in place. The Adelaide lane is also now open between University and Bathurst streets.

The city still has to install the westbound lane on Richmond Street and part of the eastbound lane on Adelaide Street, as well as the north-south lanes on Peter Street from King to Queen streets. Traffic signals will also be modified to accommodate cyclists moving through the network.

Minnan-Wong criticized the project for taking nearly three years from start to finish. He also called for greater parking enforcement to ensure motor vehicles do not park in lanes meant for cyclists.

“I drove downtown this morning and cyclists, I know, were disappointed and I’m disappointed when you see trucks and taxis and all sort of vehicles parked in these cycle tracks,†he said. “What we have to do is make sure these cycle tracks are clear for cyclists because if they’re blocked, all this is for naught.

The project is estimated to cost $390,000 and the results of a final environment assessment will be released in the first half of 2015.

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Bike couriers should require licence: Minnan-Wong


From the Toronto Sun, at this link:

Public Works chairman Denzil Minnan-Wong wants to look at licensing bike couriers. At the opening of the Adelaide St. W. bike lane on Wednesday, Minnan-Wong was asked whether he supports licensing cyclists.

Minnan-Wong admitted the idea of bike licences comes up every three or four years but suggested the city should start by licensing bike couriers.

"The place I would start, but this would have to be decided by the new council, is licensing cyclists who are associated with courier companies," Minnan-Wong said. "That's what I hear, (that) some of the most aggressive cyclists are from those courier companies."

While he stressed the majority of cyclists are "good cyclists" there are some who give the rest of the cycling community a "bad name."

"I think there are bad cyclists just as there are bad motorists," Minnan-Wong said.

"Those are the people … who rip through intersections, they rip through crosswalk without paying attention, they get a head start before light turns green."

Minnan-Wong argued there needs to be a way to identify cyclists who behave badly "so there is some penalty associated with their bad conduct."

But he stopped short of supporting bike licences for everyone.

"The six-year-old who is riding around on his bicycle, do you have to make that child go and get a licence? I think there is a common view that that's not appropriate," Minnan-Wong said.

"The cycling community by and large I think have some concerns with regard to that." ​​
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One small step... then the other will be...?

While I agree that bicycle couriers should be licensed just as truck couriers (driver's license) are licensed, I don't want bicycle licenses for general use.

Does the city license truck couriers' motor vehicles? If they don't, maybe the city should license ALL couriers within the city. Maybe another source of revenue for the city?
 
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I hadn't been along Bay st in a couple of weeks and I see they've added bike lanes S of College. North of College there are sharrows painted now.
 
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