Toronto Queens Quay & Water's Edge Revitalization | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

I did an 'experimental' run by bike from Donlands/Mortimer to BMO Field to see whether it was a good method to avoid transit on our way to the rugby this morning. 90 mn round trip, very pleasant, so we're going to give it a try. The construction at Yonge and at Rees will be the pinch points. And I guess the ferry docks.

QQ is a great ride these days!
 
nfitz said:
Bizarre - that's not even a different pre-amalgamation department as me (in Ward 33).
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Bizarre, not necessarily. If there are plans for more road works in same block in next few years they (sensibly) do not waste $$ restoring utility cuts but they will certainly make sure they are not sinking.
 
They've added bicycle symbols to the appropriate traffic lights. Of course it makes no difference. Cyclists are still blowing through reds. It's not a matter of comprehension, it's about entitlement.

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Does the same sense of entitlement apply to the pedestrians who also ignore the signals?
 
Some other changes at Lower Simcoe.

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I've been here for less than 5 minutes and already witnessed several near misses with cyclists intentionally blowing through the red.

What I don't understand is why there is not a single police officer here. In an 8 hour shift, dozens upon dozens of people would be fined and hopefully change their minds about disobeying traffic laws that they somehow think doesn't apply to them. There are cops at far less complex intersections. Queens Quay is demonstrably dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists, cars and streetcars, yet not a single police officer in sight.
 
How is a bicycle suppose to fit in that box painted between the streetcar tracks and the path?
 
I did a Periscope after I posted the above pics. It demonstrates a lot of the issues on Queens Quay, all of which are due to pedestrians and cyclists callously disobeying their signals. I also captured a group of a dozen people just casually waiting on the streetcar track for the crosswalk light to turn green. I don't know if you can build signage to deal with that kind of stupidity.
 
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MetroMan said:
I did a Periscope after I posted the above pics. It demonstrates a lot of the issues on Queens Quay, all of which are due to pedestrians and cyclists callously disobeying their signals. I also captured a group of a dozen people just casually waiting on the streetcar track for the crosswalk light to turn green. I don't know if you can build signage to deal with that kind of stupidity.
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I think they have them they are called crossing gates. Maybe we should take a loom at using them along with fences along the streetcar right of way.
 
MetroMan said:
They've added bicycle symbols to the appropriate traffic lights. Of course it makes no difference. Cyclists are still blowing through reds. It's not a matter of comprehension, it's about entitlement.

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I was just walking through the Leslie and Lake Shore intersection. All of the bicycle signals there have the bikes in them. Red bikes, Yellow bikes. And green bikes. People can walk when the little green man is walking and stop when the red hand goes up. I think that this might actually work. I find them a good deal more clear than more coloured circles. At the very least, these signals are now completely distinct from the car and truck traffic signals.
 
MetroMan said:
I did a Periscope after I posted the above pics. It demonstrates a lot of the issues on Queens Quay, all of which are due to pedestrians and cyclists callously disobeying their signals. I also captured a group of a dozen people just casually waiting on the streetcar track for the crosswalk light to turn green. I don't know if you can build signage to deal with that kind of stupidity.
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Well one big issue is that pedestrian signals are for between the streetcar tracks and the road. If you want to active the button on the lake side, you have no choice but to cross the bike path, only to get sandwhiched between the tracks and the bike path. A lot of fun when you have a dog.
 
Megaton327 said:
The signals as a whole seem redundant as cyclists don't seem to obey them.
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Now I do know there are some cyclists that will blow through any signal, and they aggravate me to no end. I do wonder here, is the incredibly unconventional intersection design enhances the problem. The design is all a bit too subtle. Think of a typical intersection for vehicles. There's a stop bar that's clearly demarcated and then the lights are close to the stop bar. These are located in kind of random places in the middle of the intersection among a sea of other lights. While the design is pretty, it's just not terribly usable or safe.
 
I'm down there a lot. I find that cyclists are stopping more at most of the signals (except the one near Lavazza and the one across from Shopper's) than they did in the past. Pedestrians, however, seem to ignore the signals more than they used to.

I think it is a learning curve. There will always be people new to the area because of tourism, but they learn by example. On a busy, sunny Saturday, it's much better than it was last year.

I recently met some people who visited Toronto for the first time and without hesitation they said QQ was their favourite place in Toronto.
 
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