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General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

Toronto not in the Top 10 Bicycle-Friendly Cities list; but Montreal #5?

AskMen.com has produced a list of the world's Top 10: Bicycle-Friendly Cities (click on this link). No surprise that Toronto didn't make the list, but Montréal made it to #5?

Here's Montréal's write-up:
Two years ago, Montréal embarked on an ambitious $134 million plan to revamp the city’s bike trails and create a more bicycle-friendly atmosphere. The plan included incorporating bicycle-friendly lock points into standard parking meters, which has greatly reduced the standard (albeit illegal) practice of chaining your ride to whatever immovable post might be available. The city currently boasts 2,400 miles of trails with plans to expand. Montréal also has the first urban bike-share infrastructure in North America, the Bixi program. The company has been so successful that rollouts in New York, Boston and London have followed the Montréal start-up.
Click to expand...

At least Toronto is #15 compared to Montréal's #20 in their list of Best Cities to Live In.
 
Miller did a presentation at my school the other day and someone asked about bike lanes on Bloor. He said that they are looking at creating rush-hour only lanes where during the morning the south parking lane will be used only for cyclists travelling into the core, obviously the opposite when travelling from the east. Even though this is a very practical (weather-snow) and politically safe plan its unfortunate because I really want a dedicated lane that could be utilized any time of the day....and what is going to keep cars from entering the bike 'parking lane' during rush hour,.. They have a hard time keeping out of regular bike lanes.
 
Here's something I have not seen before. At least at protests.

Crowd control of protesters by police on bicycles:
[video=youtube;UHUJxbMnpcI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHUJxbMnpcI[/video]

All that's needed now are the police to hand out flowers.

Make love not war.
 
From streetfilm.org:

Mapping Your NYC Bike Commute
by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. on October 17, 2010 | 305 Plays

Regardless of age or ability, everyone deserves the right to a safe and convenient bike commute. In New York City, every day the DOT is making that more of a reality - thanks to an incredible diversity of bike facilities. The city has moved past simple, striped bike lanes and on to refreshing configurations like curbside, floating parking-protected, physically separated, two-way bike paths.

Bike riding is on the rise. Commutes that were unthinkable years ago, are becoming attainable. Riders are more confident in their knowledge of the street grid. One resource that helps is the NYC Cycling Map. Use this cycling freebie to not only link up to the best routes in your neighborhood, but also to find alternatives and experiment with your riding. You'll be amazed how easy - and safe - it can be.

So for inspiration and major cajoling, I decided to hop on my Batavus Dutch crusier and show you my new commute from Jackson Heights, Queens all the way to the Streetfilms offices in lower Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge. It's a hardy 11 miles each way, and yet almost 90% of the journey is on some sort of bike facility or marked bike route. Furthermore, about 5 miles of it is on completely separate car-free bicycling paths, its no wonder that many days I arrive at work in a zen-like state.
Click to expand...

[video=vimeo;15824819]http://vimeo.com/15824819[/video]
 
While Mayor-elect Rob Ford would not be a supporter of bike lanes, what about the Councilors-elect?

New York City is getting more bike lanes. A nightmare for Rob Ford?
[video=vimeo;16314007]http://vimeo.com/16314007[/video]
 
Ford was in favour of passing lesser issues completely to the regional councils. Perhaps he would be in favour of leaving the issue of bike lanes in Old Toronto to the Toronto-East York council.
 
I'm pleased to see that New York is taking an interest in cyclists, but some of those lanes are just asking for trouble.

If both directions of cyclists are on the same side of the street or if cyclists are shielded from driver's view, there needs to be a place where turning drivers can wait for it to be safe to cross the bicycle lane. In New York, some intersections have these measures in place, but not all of them. If segregated lanes are not well designed, they could ironically lead to an increase in car-cyclist collisions.
 
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It's easier for a city to adopt cycling infrastructure on one way arterial streets, because those streets retain a lot of road capacity for cars even with the fully separated lanes.
 
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