New Bike Lanes on University, Bay, Spadina, and Other Roads

[TOareaFan]

You know what's interesting, Toronto has warmer weather than Copenhagen for 80% of the year; they keep biking at -5C and snow, there's no reason we can't. Biking in the cold is not difficult if you dress properly.

That is interesting but that has been so for a very long time.....no? Yet there is annually a marked and significant decrease in the amount of cycling that goes on this city once the weather turns. I know that anecdotal observations are not the be-all-and-end-all of analysis but it is hard to ignore what you see with your own eyes. Once we hit, say, thanksgiving around here it is easy to note how little cycling goes on on city streets....it doesn't go to zero but it becomes the exception rather than the norm.

So bike paths might increase the amount of cycling that goes on in the good weather months but I don't see them having much (any?) impact in the bad weather months.

Have you ever considered biking from your home to the Go station?

I can say with all honesty......."no, not once, never!" Partly because I am a fairly infrequent user of GO (the level of train service just comes nowhere close - most days to matching my typical work days - been discussed elsewhere in threads on that topic) but when I do it is because I have to get to work and I have no interest in adding time to my comute....I either take a +/- 12 minute car ride or a +/- 20 minute bus ride. I will, however, add another bit of observational data.....the very nice bike rack area at the Brampton GO station which is quite well used in the late spring/summer/early fall is (allowing for some observational statistical rounding) empty in the late fall/winter/early spring. Not sure where Brampton's weather ranks relative to suburban Copenhagen but there is another group of cyclists who choose not to do so in our winter weather.

 

[dob467]

Here's a great open letter explaining how yes, cycling does fit into the city's overall transportation plan - http://spacing.ca/wire/2010/04/16/open-letter/#more-10533


April 16th, 2010
An open letter to candidates about complete streets
Posted by Spacing

Dear candidates,

The individuals who have signed this letter met recently to discuss the theme of transportation in our city. We are a diverse group of people involved in all aspects of this issue who came together to help build a constructive consensus on this critical issue. We believe in transforming our city’s streets into livable spaces that function both as sustainable transportation routes as well as vibrant destinations. Complete Streets would bring us closer to Toronto’s stated goals of being green, clean, competitive and diverse.

We do not believe that there is a “war on the car.” The Complete Streets model strives to provide room for everyone including drivers, cyclists, transit riders and pedestrians. It’s simply about offering choice, and ensuring that everyone can travel safely. If there is a war, it’s just a war on old thinking. A war on inefficiency. A war on traffic. A war on pollution. Cities around the world are making this shift with great success, improving the quality of life for all of their citizens and their competitiveness as places to live, work and invest.

To describe transportation issues in Toronto as a conflict between drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians is a divisive approach that does our city a disservice and misses the whole point. There are not two Torontos, comprised of cyclists or drivers. In fact, statistics show us that those who own bicycles are more likely to own cars than those who do not. We are one Toronto. We drive, we ride and we walk. The goal of Complete Streets is to ensure that our streets are designed to safely accommodate all users.

This goal can be achieved by attracting more citizens into the process, turning neighbours into engaged informed advocates, and we are committed to working together collectively towards this goal.

We encourage all candidates to embrace this comprehensive and democratic approach to transportation, rather than perpetuating or encouraging a divisive framing that unnecessarily pits Torontonians against each other. We can only build a green Toronto if we all work together.

Signed,

Jehad Aliweiwi • Executive Director, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office
Yvonne Bambrick • Executive Director, Toronto Cyclists Union
Rahul Bhardwaj • President and CEO, Toronto Community Foundation
Matthew Blackett • Publisher and Creative Director, Spacing Magazine
David Crombie • Chair, Toronto Lands Corp.
David Crowley • Vice President, Halcrow Consulting Inc.
Julia Deans • CEO, Toronto City Summit Alliance
Susan Eng • Vice-President, Advocacy, CARP
Jane Farrow • Executive Director, Jane’s Walk
Luigi Ferrara • Director, School of Design at George Brown College
Adam Goddard • Composer
Eti Greenberg • Wellington Place Neighhbourhood Association
Ken Greenberg • Architect and urban designer
Paul Hess • Professor, Geography and Planning, U of T
Ed Levy • Senior Transportation Consultant and Transportation Engineer
Roberto Martella • Owner/operator, Grano Restaurant
Dave Meslin • Founder, Toronto Cyclists Union
Shawn Micallef • Senior Editor, Spacing Magazine
Eric Miller • Director, Cities Centre, U of T
Steve Munro • Transit Advocate
Gil Peñalosa • Executive Director, 8-80 cities
Dylan Reid • Co-chair, Toronto Pedestrian Committee
Nancy Smith Lea • Director, Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, Clean Air Partnership
Adam Vaughan • City Councillor, Ward 20

 

[kettal]

There was an article in Spacing on this a while ago. Toronto winters are significantly different from Copenhagen.

Toronto
December: Min -6 Max +1
January: Min -9 Max -1
February: Min -9 Max -1
March: Min -5 Max -1

Copenhagen
December: Min +1 Max +4
January: Min -2 Max +2
February: Min -3 Max +2
March: Min -1 Max +5

Copenhagen also has virtually no snow and snow/slush does not last due to the temperature.

That said I don't think that climate should preclude building bike routes. They will be used every day from April to Novemeber as well as many winter days.

Did you get those numbers from the spacing article? Canada Weather Office gives Toronto temperatures as follows:

Dec: -3.7/+1.8
Jan: -7.3/-1.1
Feb: -6.3/-0.2
Mar: -2/+4.6

Until recently, I wouldn't even try biking in winter, but since I've been doing it, I realize it can be more pleasant than sitting in a cold car, as the body creates heat naturally with exercise. And biking in snow is nicer than biking in rain, you don't really get wet.

 

[kettal]

That is interesting but that has been so for a very long time.....no? Yet there is annually a marked and significant decrease in the amount of cycling that goes on this city once the weather turns. I know that anecdotal observations are not the be-all-and-end-all of analysis but it is hard to ignore what you see with your own eyes. Once we hit, say, thanksgiving around here it is easy to note how little cycling goes on on city streets....it doesn't go to zero but it becomes the exception rather than the norm.

So bike paths might increase the amount of cycling that goes on in the good weather months but I don't see them having much (any?) impact in the bad weather months.

College street maintains a lot of bike users year round, but for the most part, yes there is a decline. It wasn't long ago when I also believed biking in the winter was only for crazies.

I can say with all honesty......."no, not once, never!" Partly because I am a fairly infrequent user of GO (the level of train service just comes nowhere close - most days to matching my typical work days - been discussed elsewhere in threads on that topic) but when I do it is because I have to get to work and I have no interest in adding time to my comute....I either take a +/- 12 minute car ride or a +/- 20 minute bus ride. I will, however, add another bit of observational data.....the very nice bike rack area at the Brampton GO station which is quite well used in the late spring/summer/early fall is (allowing for some observational statistical rounding) empty in the late fall/winter/early spring. Not sure where Brampton's weather ranks relative to suburban Copenhagen but there is another group of cyclists who choose not to do so in our winter weather.

You should try it at least once. I can't say this without knowing exactly where you live, but it's entirely possible that the bike can be competitive with your car time (due to no searching for a parking space) or at least bus time (no waiting for the bus to arrive). You'll never know unless you try.

 

[TOareaFan]

College street maintains a lot of bike users year round, but for the most part, yes there is a decline. It wasn't long ago when I also believed biking in the winter was only for crazies.

Again, my "analysis" is based on my observational experiences. I have used, before, the example of Adelaide. I drive it nearly every day from Bathurst to just before University. In good weather it is actually quite impressive how many people are cycling along that route...there is a fair number. In bad weather and all winter it gets to the point where if you see a cyclist you think "wow, that's strange they must be real dedicated!" I guess what I am really saying (on my route) cycling becomes a statistically insignificant number in winter months.

You should try it at least once. I can't say this without knowing exactly where you live, but it's entirely possible that the bike can be competitive with your car time (due to no searching for a parking space) or at least bus time (no waiting for the bus to arrive). You'll never know unless you try.

Won't happen for many reasons.....I solved the searching for parking issue by reserving a spot - even though I seldom use it I pay for a spot. I view it as a contribution to GO/Transit and it removes that headache. When I bus it is because I just don't want a car at the end of the day (ie. I am involved in an activity in which alcohol might be consumed) so I am pretty sure I would not want a bike either.......while I am careful when driving around cyclists, I recognize that, both, cyclists and drivers can make mistakes and they sometimes "come together" I don't like the risk of injury in that case if I were on a bike......and, finally, I do know where I live and am pretty certain that cycling would be the longest of those 3 options to get to the station.

 

[confusion]

Copenhagen also has virtually no snow and snow/slush

And if you're implying that Toronto does there is something wrong with you. What did we have this year, one snowstorm? It never snows here. Period. And when it finally does everyone freaks out and everything is shut down anyway. I've cycled the last 5 years all 4 seasons in the city and it is rare that I can't bike because of the weather. If anything I might bike less on the extremely hot days in the summer vs the colder days in the winter.

I am just so sick and tired of the Toronto cycling climate argument, it is utterly pathetic and unfounded.

 

[TOareaFan]

And if you're implying that Toronto does there is something wrong with you. What did we have this year, one snowstorm? It never snows here. Period. And when it finally does everyone freaks out and everything is shut down anyway. I've cycled the last 5 years all 4 seasons in the city and it is rare that I can't bike because of the weather. If anything I might bike less on the extremely hot days in the summer vs the colder days in the winter.

I am just so sick and tired of the Toronto cycling climate argument, it is utterly pathetic and unfounded.

Just to be clear, my comments are not that you "can't" cycle in Toronto in the winter....clearly some do and if you can walk you can probably cycle. My comments/observations are that most "don't" cycle in the winter....that is fairly obvious from just looking around. When weighing the costs/benefits of any bike lane project, we must, then, consider that the impact for cyclists is really for 8 months...while the impact in terms of lost driving lanes is for 12.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Just to be clear, my comments are not that you "can't" cycle in Toronto in the winter....clearly some do and if you can walk you can probably cycle. My comments/observations are that most "don't" cycle in the winter....that is fairly obvious from just looking around. When weighing the costs/benefits of any bike lane project, we must, then, consider that the impact for cyclists is really for 8 months...while the impact in terms of lost driving lanes is for 12.

You said earlier in this thread that one of the reasons you don't cycle is feeling like it's unsafe - I think many people share that opinion, particularly in the winter when the roads are slippery.

I think more people will cycle year-round once more infrastructure is available to them.

 

[TOareaFan]

You said earlier in this thread that one of the reasons you don't cycle is feeling like it's unsafe - I think many people share that opinion, particularly in the winter when the roads are slippery.

I think more people will cycle year-round once more infrastructure is available to them.

And while I agree that more (relative to today) will, it will still be less (significantlly so) than in the summer and not enough for the lost lanes of vehicular (car and bus) traffic. I imagine that's where we disagree and probably will have to agree to disagree.

 

[js97]

HOw about we just rip out part of the middle median to make room for bike lanes vs removing a car lane?

What is one to do once that bike lane ends at bloor? They'll be riding with the cars again. Patch-work projects seem to be a specialy for this administration.



I think it's absolutely ridiculous to even propose the feasibility of biking 'all year round'

Hello!

We live in Toronto, when it snows and freezes about 5 months of the year (this winter has been an exception).

Toronto is only bikeable perhaps from April to October.
And the majority of people that work along the univerisity corridor cannot show up to work a little wet, sweaty or underdressed.

Further more, it will only realistically benefit people that live within a 5 km radius, and that efficacy is only approximately 1500 meters of Univeristy, which I'm sure don't drive already.
The social, economic, and environmental cost of congestion by implementing a bike lane on univeristy is not worth the minor convinience benefit it is propsed to provide.

Of course it's great to have a bike lane, but if you show the bikers what it will really cost 'society', I think most of them would be okay with the alternative of using other parellell streets.

Further more, if you look at the people that would require access to Univeristy because of Work/live situations, those are not the type to ride a bike. Doctors, nurses, reaserchers, and all the financial employers in the district, people that live in Yorkville?. U of T students have plenty of alternative options that are already there.

I have no idea what the convoluted desire to do this is, this doesn't affect me at all, but it's an unfortunate summer for the city as whole.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I think it's absolutely ridiculous to even propose the feasibility of biking 'all year round'

Hello!

We live in Toronto, when it snows and freezes about 5 months of the year (this winter has been an exception).

Toronto is only bikeable perhaps from April to October.

Why are all the bicycle racks at the subway stations (ie. Bathurst Station) filled with bicycles, even during winter? Why do I see people on bicycles during snowstorms? Why do I see bicycles while its raining? If you look, you will actually see bicycles out in all kinds of weather and time of day or night. They are there. Because they take up so little space, they are a benefit to the roadspace, unlike the 2 tons of metal and rubber that wreck roads and take up valuable real estate for most of the day.

 

[West End Boy]

Because they take up so little space, they are a benefit to the roadspace, unlike the 2 tons of metal and rubber that wreck roads and take up valuable real estate for most of the day.

Amen! I'm sick of hearing people say that people don't cycle in the winter. People do, of course fewer than in the summer, but people still cycle in the winter and have every right to do so.

Drivers in Toronto are no more victims of a "war" than are straight white men. It's always hard to go from being the de facto assumption to being challenged to let everyone have a piece of the pie. People can resist all they want, but Toronto definitely seems to be heading in the direction of Manhattan, and folks who live there don't tend to expect to be able to drive everywhere. You can't move enough people by car efficiently when you have the kind of population density that is starting to happen in Toronto, bike lanes or no bike lanes.

If you want to have a credible position on transportation, please make sure that you use all forms of transportation regularly, including walking, cycling, cabs, public transit, and yes, driving a personal vehicle. If you do all of these on a regular basis, then I would be much more interested in hearing your opinion about how we should or shouldn't accommodate more modes of transportation equitably. If you mainly drive, then don't be surprised if I refuse to accept your car-centric point of view when it comes to cycling infrastructure or public transit.

 

[TOareaFan]

If you want to have a credible position on transportation, please make sure that you use all forms of transportation regularly, including walking, cycling, cabs, public transit, and yes, driving a personal vehicle. If you do all of these on a regular basis, then I would be much more interested in hearing your opinion about how we should or shouldn't accommodate more modes of transportation equitably. If you mainly drive, then don't be surprised if I refuse to accept your car-centric point of view when it comes to cycling infrastructure or public transit.

I was enjoying your posting till I got to the third paragraph. So I drive regularly, walk reguarly, use GO and TTC ocassionally and take the odd cab here and there.....but my opinion is not valid because I don't cycle? Hogwash....or are to dismiss every opinion on this board where the person says (paraphrase) "I get around ok and I don't own a car, everyone should use transit and walk like I do".

I think you will be hard pressed to find people who use all modes regularly. Yes, transportation in the city has to be balanced......but to suggest the only "positions" that are "credible" are those that come from people who, personally, have a transportation pattern that mirrors that city/region balance is just silly (IMO).

 

[kettal]

If you expand the definition of 'regularly' to mean once a month, I qualify for all 5

Perhaps we should take a look at Montreal... have they seen an increase in winter cycling since the installation of protected bike lanes?

 

[Torontovibe]

Protected bike lanes make all the difference. When I lived in Montreal I biked on them every day and felt safe. When I moved to Toronto, I stopped biking within the first week. I don't bike at all now and I won't go back to biking unless they put in protected lanes. I feel it's very unsafe biking in Toronto today and I won't risk my life to do it. I wonder how many people, like myself, will start biking once there are safe, protected lanes? I bet it's a lot. I want to see protected biking lanes all over Toronto.

For the ones saying Toronto has 5 months of snow, that's complete BS. When have you seen snow in November or April? I can't remember seeing it. The only times we get snow is SOMETIMES in December and SOMETIMES in March. Even in those 2 months, we only have snow for a few days in the month. Most of the time, in those months, the ground is snow-free and dry. I'd say we only have 2 months with good snow potential and even in those months, most days, we have no snow. People on this site seem to like to make mountains out of moe-hills. Get real!