Cycle Toronto

Coroner's Inquest into Cycling Deaths in Ontario

2012-02-07T19:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post! I have been writing blog entries all along in my head, I assure you, but I guess it's harder for you to read them that way.

Earlier this year, as a result of public pressure and unfortunate cycling tragedies, Ontario's Chief Coroner announced an inquest into cycling deaths in the province. You can read about some of the details in this news article from October.

A call for submissions went out to the public and I took the opportunity to work with my local Toronto Cyclists Union ward group and draft a set of proposals for increasing safety on our roads. We developed a set of nine suggestions based around our three pillars of safety: infrastructure, education, enforcement.

Continue reading for our proposals. We welcome your comments and feedback.

1. Separated bike lanes

The safest and most thriving cycling cities in the world – Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Bogotá, for example – have all built physically separated bike lanes because they are proven to work. Closer to home, Montreal, Vancouver, and even Guelph have installed or are in the process of installing separated bike lanes. Toronto has started to look into a small network of separated bike lanes and we support this effort. Separated lanes that abut the adjacent sidewalk increase safety by preventing cars from stopping or parking in bike lanes, and prevent open car doors from interfering with cyclists and causing collisions.

In addition to building the proposed network of physically separated bike lanes in Toronto’s downtown core, we recommend the City to build physically separated lanes on all major arterials outside of the core. Further still, we recommend the City start to convert all painted line bike lanes into physically separated lanes. It is our position that having a robust, well designed, and well-integrated network of physically separated bike lanes in Toronto will have a transformative effect in increasing ridership and safety.

2. Bike-specific traffic lights

Bike-specific traffic lights increase safety and regulate traffic in the exact same way that traffic lights for cars, streetcars, and pedestrians do. They have been installed in cities where there are also physically separated bike lanes – for example, New York City, Vancouver, Montreal, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam. Bike-specific traffic lights are a visual regulator and reminder to other users of the road who has the right of way. In Copenhagen, bike traffic lights typically turn green a few seconds before car traffic lights to allow the stream of cyclists a head start in crossing the intersection. Visibility, priority, and regulation provide safety to cyclists.

3. Mandate side guards on large trucks

We support the proposal of Olivia Chow and others to require side guards on large trucks to prevent cyclists and pedestrians from being pulled underneath. We understand that this was a recommendation of the last Coroner’s Inquest in the late 1990s and we support its renewed call.

4. Improve painted line bike lanes

Painted line bike lanes are an improvement over nothing, but they are a half measure at best. Their most important function is to carve out space for cyclists, and reserve the physical space on the street for when the City is ready to convert them into physically separated lanes.

In the mean time, these lanes can be improved in a very simple and inexpensive way. At all of these lanes, when they approach an intersection, the solid line becomes dotted to allow and encourage cars to merge into the bike lane in order to make a right hand turn. This is a key zone of insecurity and collision for cyclists because they must always contend with cars making right-hand turns from the bike lane. Cyclists are forced to make a last minute decision to continue on the right of the car, swing into traffic to go around on the left, or end up being suddenly stuck behind the car. All of these options can be very dangerous for cyclists and encourage avoidable collisions.

To change this, we recommend requiring that all painted line bike lanes be solid lines up to the intersection. This idea has worked well with bike boxes recently installed, which prevent cars from merging into bike lanes and from making right hand turns on a red light. There is one example of a solid lane, which is that heading westbound along College at Bathurst. Cars at this intersection now overwhelmingly stay in their lane and make right-hand turns only when the bike lane is clear.

5. Remove on-street car parking

Though contentious with car drivers and erroneously contentious for local businesses, no city will have a safe and thriving bike culture and ridership if we continue to allow on-street car parking. The main issue, as you see on the recently re-designed Harbord Street, is that cyclists are constantly forced to change direction, go in and out of lanes and sharrows, and swerve around parked cars. Removal of on-street parking will free up space to install new bike lanes and will reduce the occurrence of cyclists being hit by opened car doors. Where on-street parking remains, bike lanes should be designed so that they are adjacent to the sidewalk, with parked cars as the buffer between cyclists and moving traffic.

6. Rationalize right-of-way rules

Whether or not there are clear right-of-way rules that include cyclists, users of the road do not universally know what they are. This causes confusion and collisions. We recommend that right-of-way rules be rationalized to prioritize users of the road in a hierarchy of vulnerability. Pedestrians will have right of way first, then cyclists, and then cars. This means, for example, that right-hand turning cars must wait for crossing pedestrians and cyclists before they make their turn.

7. Cycling education in schools

A big part of improving safety for cyclists and all users of the road is to teach children how to safely ride bikes on city streets; that is, to raise the next generation with the know-how, confidence, and experience of city cyclists. As there used to be drivers’ education in high schools, we recommend implementing cycling education into elementary schools. In Copenhagen, for example, elementary school children are required to pass cycling tests at school. This provides for a supportive environment in which children can learn the rules of the road and gain experience and confidence riding on the street. Of course, we recommend that this be implemented along side the installation of physically separated bike lanes, which is an element of making cycling safe for children. The age at which children start this education may be debated, but we recommend around the age of ten.

8. Amend the Highway Traffic Act

One of the greatest obstacles to developing safe cycling infrastructure is that the definition of “vehicle” in the Highway Traffic Act (“Act”) is defined to include bicycles, which ends up treating bikes as if they were cars. This causes a variety of problems such as making it legally difficult for cities to install contra-flow bike lanes on one-way streets. We recommend that the Act be amended to create a unique legal category for the bicycle. This is important in recognizing that a bicycle is a vehicle fundamentally different from a car, bus, or truck, and should be afforded different treatment. We already see unique legal categories for vehicles such as streetcars, which, in Toronto, have right-of-way lanes and specific traffic signals as a result. We believe that amending the Act in such a way will affect a shift in how we think of and treat bikes in Ontario.

9. Enforce traffic laws

While we accept that the rules of the road apply equally to cyclists – though an amendment to the Act may have a positive effect on this – there is almost no enforcement of other vehicles that park in bike lanes. With some regularity, municipal police forces implement blitz days where they ticket cyclists. This type of action does not happen with respect to ticketing other vehicles on the road vis-à-vis cyclists and bike lanes. Enforcement will improve safety by ensuring that cars are not parked in bike lanes and will send an equally strong message to motorists that they must obey the rules of the road when it comes to cyclists.

Traffic

2011-08-03T21:27:00.000-04:00

A friend recently sent me this image. Well said.

Ring and Post Flowers

2011-08-01T23:00:00.002-04:00

The other day I was riding through Kensington Market and saw these great flowers growing from ring and post bicycle parking.

My Street Has No Trees is a new public and participatory art project to beautify our public spaces. Teaming up with Art Spin and Blacksmith Cycle, this project has started to outfit Toronto bike parking with lovely little flower pots and flowers. Here are some pictures I snapped this weekend.

Art Bike Strikes Again!

2011-07-30T12:54:00.000-04:00

Saw this sweet second 'art bike' this morning when my partner and I were out for a morning coffee and croissant. Check out more photos inside.

The good folks over at blogthegoodbike have done it again.

You may recall the hoopla over the first 'art bike' that caught the media's attention as well as the attention of Transportation Services at City Hall. It was supposed to be removed, but I ride by it every so often and it's still there. I won't reveal the location of the second 'art bike' though.

Hopefully Ford the Destroyer won't eat this one.

Photo: blogthegood

Ha ha! Actually, tensions have settled and apparently the City has given the good bike project 50 more bikes to use and have relaxed the City by-laws to boot.

Ford Nation Meet Bicycle Nation: Ride for Jarvis!

2011-07-20T22:31:00.002-04:00

This evening over 1,000 people in this great city of ours took to the streets to register our discontent with the recent decision of city council to remove three bike lanes in Toronto, and we took to the streets to show our support and resolve for a better cycling city for everyone.

The Toronto Cyclists Union organized this great ride. Around 1,000 people met first at Allan Gardens for a rally with words from the organizers, councillor Paula Fletcher, and councillor Mike Layton.

Photo: Cycle Toronto

We started up Jarvis and then up Church to Bloor, circled back down Jarvis and then along Queen ending up at City Hall.

Photo: Cycle Toronto

More demos are being planned with the goal of getting bigger and bigger crowds of cyclists out on the streets. Also, a call was put out for critical mass rides, which occur in Toronto the last Friday of every month at 6 p.m. starting at Bloor and Spadina.

There was a lot of media out covering the ride. Check out the news stories from City TV, the Toronto Star, and a video report from the Toronto Sun. Tweeting was going wild over at #bikeTO.

Also, Cycle Toronto finally has some pictures up on flickr and you can see the Ride for Jarvis set.

Thanks to the TCU. Now's a great time to sign up as a member and get involved.

Ride for Jarvis, Ride for Toronto

2011-07-19T13:39:00.000-04:00

Join us tomorrow evening, Wednesday, July 20, at 6:30 p.m. at Allan Gardens for a protest ride down Jarvis St.

Photo: I Bike T.O.

The Toronto Cyclists Union has organized a Ride for Jarvis, which is a critical mass type demonstration for tomorrow evening to show our disappointment with last week's decision by city council to remove bike lanes on Jarvis St., Birchmount Rd., and Pharmacy Ave.

While we all hope that the proposed network of separated lanes will become a reality, it is never a good sign when bike lanes are removed.

So come on out and show your support and solidarity for cycling in Toronto.

Bike Share Hits Madison Wisconsin

2011-07-08T17:23:00.000-04:00

A good friend of mine has been living in Madison, WI the past year and has been loving the cycling culture there. He sent me this photo and others of the B-Cycle bikes that came to Madison this year.

Bike share programs have been springing up around the world in the past several years as people come to discover that cycling is the fastest, cheapest, and most fun way to get around a city. These public systems are great for tourists and for resident commuters.

Of course, Toronto got the BIXI bikes this year and recently saw it's 100,000th ride! Expansion is in the air, for sure.

BIXI was not the first bike share program to hit Toronto though. Toronto's Community Bicycle Network ran a bike share program several years ago.

Here's another photo from Madison:

So, a round of applause for the good folks of Madison!

New York City Skirt Police

2011-07-06T18:29:00.001-04:00

This is the story of Jasmijn Rijcken, a Dutch woman in NYC to promote Vanmoof bicycles, who alleges she was stopped and harassed by a NYC police officer for wearing a skirt while biking. Apparently this can be dangerous and distracting to motorists.

This story has been picked up by, reported on, and blogged about by many so far and I won't attempt to repeat it. Take a look at these links for the background:

The Gothamist was one of the first to pick up the story
Across the pond in London, the Guardian also picked up the story
Further afar, our Danish friends at Cycle Chic reported on the story and explored a bit of the gendered history of cycling
Some suggested it was all a marketing hoax, so Streegsblog investigated and decided that it was likely legit

This isn't the first time the NYPD has sought to ticket a cyclist for perfectly legal behaviour. Not too long ago I blogged about a cyclist in NYC who was ticketed for not riding in a bike lane. He made a great video about it.

In response to this madness, protest rides were organized. They've been dubbed 'Skirts on Bikes' rides.


Photo: Andrew Schwartz for New York Press

Check out the Village Voice and the Gothamist for more on the protest rides.

So, what gives with hating on women (and cyclists) these days? In Toronto this past year a police officer made some comments to a group of students at York University that women should dress less slutty in order not to be raped. This, of course, spawned a worldwide reaction that led to the now famous Slut Walks.

Save Jarvis Bike Lanes!

2011-07-05T23:02:00.004-04:00

Ford has decided to ignore reason and economic sense by proposing to remove the Jarvis St. bike lanes.

We must stop him.

Here's how you can help.

The Toronto Cyclists Union has sent out an action alert and set up a website with helpful information:

1. Call and E-mail Rob Ford: 416-397-FORD/mayor_ford@toronto.ca
2. Call and E-mail your local Councillor
3. Sign our petition
4. Join our Save Jarvis! Team by contacting us at jarvis@bikeunion.to. We're looking for volunteers who can flyer the bike lane on week day mornings, gather testimonials, pictures, video and connect with cyclists who use the bike lane.
5. Attend the upcoming City Council meeting on July 12/13 where Councillors will be debating and voting on the Jarvis removal. Let's show City Hall that the community supports bike lanes on Jarvis Street. The more cyclists that attend the meeting, the better. Please plan on staying for as long as possible. We'll have a better idea of what day Jarvis Street will be debated on as the meeting date gets closer.

We need you to reach out to your network and help the bike union keep the flood waters rising. Share with every electronic friend until we beat this bad idea.
Join for Jarvis!

For background and more information take a look at the following links:

I Bike TO: What is wrong with the Jarvis Bike Lane? and a Backgrounder
Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation: Public Works Committee votes for and against Bike Improvements
Mez Dispenser: Dissecting Mayor Ford's Jarvis Letter

This debacle and the mess that is Rob Ford has even made it all the way to Denmark, and has been featured on Copenhagenize.

Like transit, priority neighbourhoods, and public housing, cycling in Toronto is under attack. It's time we stand up and fight back!

Ford Conquers Art Bike?

2011-06-16T22:01:00.004-04:00

So Toronto is going to have "art bikes."

Spontaneous act of art ordered removed from Dundas St.

The Toronto Star published an article on June 2 about Caroline Macfarlane who painted a bike that has been locked to a bike post for over a year.

Sometimes I take Dundas to and from work and saw it the other day. It was awesome! Bike + art = cool things in Toronto.

Then Transportation Services decided to put a removal notice on it because they hate art in Toronto (actually, it's because all of a sudden, after sitting there for over a year, this bike is taking up precious parking space for other bikes and needed to be removed). Despite attempts to save the bike, Transportation Services got their way.

blogthegood

So the bike was removed and now seems to be a nice prize for Ford. Kinda looks like one of them left-wing pinko bike riders!

More 'art bikes' rolling to T.O. sidewalks

Today the Toronto Star reported that since removing a nice piece of street art City Council has decided to institutionalize "art bikes" by providing Macfarlane with 150 bikes collected by the City to art up and put on sidewalks around the city. Am I missing something? So the City can step in and decide to ruin something great and then become heroes for "allowing" the very same artist to do it all over again? Let's just hope the City doesn't move to sell off the art bikes to corporate sponsors.

This reminds me of two weeks ago when the City painted over a mural on Dupont that was still in progress of being made even though it was commissioned by the City. What is going on here?! Who is in charge?! Apparently the City is now allowing the same guy to re-paint the same mural at the same spot. I don't get it.

Check out Macfarlane's blog post on the so-called art bike.

Contact Transportation Services to register your discontent.

Video: Bicycle Tickets for Legal Cycling?!

2011-06-14T19:03:00.001-04:00

The other day a friend of mine sent me this video of a guy in NYC who got a ticket for not cycling in the bike lane. Turns out, of course, that not cycling in a bike lane is perfectly legal and the guy should not have been ticketed. Apparently one should continue to ride in a bike lane even when there are obstructions.

Have your say: physically separated bike lanes in Toronto

2011-05-15T16:43:00.003-04:00

Copenhagen - Bogotá - Montreal

In the May issue of Cyclometer - the City of Toronto's newsletter about cycling - there is a call out for help on designing physically separated bike lanes in Toronto. With the successful launch of BIXI bikes in Toronto and the recent publicity about a downtown network of separate lanes, it seems that the City is seriously considering creating some decent biking infrastructure. The call out reads as follows:

Share Your Cycle Track Design Insights
The City of Toronto is starting to consider options for physically separated bike lanes (Also known as "Cycle Tracks") in the downtown area.

You can help inform our research by contributing to the SteetsWiki Cycle Tracks web pages. You'll need to create a wikispaces account and join "SteetsWiki", which is usually approved within an hour or two, and then you can start to edit web pages. With your help we can find all the potential solutions for designing ideal Cycle Tracks.

This may be a great opportunity to ensure that the designers and planners at City hall have all the information they need to do a good job. So.... have your say!

Biking is Cool

2011-01-15T11:05:00.000-05:00

Paul, Ringo, George and John ride bikes.

My partner recently found this cool site that posts pictures of famous people riding bikes. It's called Rides a Bike.

Save Transit City!

2011-01-07T23:23:00.000-05:00

Because a functioning city needs more than bikes, come out and rally in support of Transit City this Sunday January 9 from 2-4 p.m. at City Hall.

I received this nifty poster from Councillor Joe Mihevc's listserv. I'm not on facebook, but apparently there is a page set up for the event.

Biking news: dedicated lanes in Toronto, raised lanes in Guelph, and Canada featured on Copenhagenize

2011-01-07T18:59:00.001-05:00

It's been an interesting week for cycling.

Dedicated lanes in Toronto:

Today the Star ran an article about a plan to build curbs to separate bike lanes in the downtown. Denzil Minnan-Wong, the new chair of the public works and infrastructure committee, has come out in support of building a network of separated bike lanes along major streets. Some streets that already have space carved out with bike lanes - such as Sherbourne - will get curbs separating cars from bikes. Other streets without bike lanes - such as Richmond - may get bi-directional bike lanes. Of course, this plan must pass through the committee and then council, but it's great news for Toronto!

Raised lanes in Guelph:

Credit: Guelph Remastered

Upon some research this week about 'raised lanes' I found out that Guelph has begun construction on Ontario's first raised bike lane. Separated from car traffic by raising the lane like a sidewalk, this lane is very similar to the type seen in Copenhagen.

Ottawa and Toronto make Copenhagenize:

A post on Copenhagenize today rails on the Bank Street BIA in Ottawa for opposing the planned physically separated bike infrastructure, which cited safety concerns as their reason. Apparently the study cited in support, which highlighted an increase in accidents after Copenhagen built separated lanes, came from the vehicular cycling community that argues vigorously against cycling infrastructure. Vehicular cyclists advocate for bikes to be treated the same as cars - certainly not a position supported by us here at Cycle Toronto.

Copenhagenize also linked to the Star article noted above.

The Great Sharrow Debate

2011-01-03T18:10:00.001-05:00

Sharrows are a sorry substitute, a poor compromise, and an illusion of safety and progress. Until the City starts taking bold action to create a functioning network of physically separated bike lanes, cyclists will continue to be second-class citizens. And those who use bikes to ride on city streets must stop accepting unsafe and regressive pavement markings in place of safe and effective cycling infrastructure: we must shed ourselves of the defeatist attitude that something is better than nothing and advocate collectively for real change. A vision of Toronto as a true cycling city is not out of reach, but we must stop negotiating ourselves down to the point where we believe that separated lanes are unworkable and sharrows will push us in the right direction. If we want the City to be bold we must be bold ourselves!

* *

The City of Toronto will soon be holding a public consultation to discuss the relatively recent pilot project on College St. between Manning and Landsdowne that saw "sharrows" installed where College St. has been determined to be too narrow to accommodate the continuation of the College St. bike lane. On-street car parking is allowed except during rush hour when the sharrows reveal themselves for cyclists. Thursday January 20, 2011 will be an opportunity for us to tell City Hall that we won't accept second-rate gestures of progress and recognition any longer. Come out and make your voice heard.

* *

"Sharrows" are "shared lane pavement markings," which look like bicycles with two chevrons in front. They are becoming increasingly common on streets in North America as well as the UK and Australia. In 2004 the City of San Francisco undertook a study of sharrows, which soon after saw them spread across the U.S. For more information about sharrows generally take a look at the Wikipedia page and for more information about sharrows in Toronto you can read the FAQ on the city's website.

Sharrows are meant to do a number of things including: alert motorists to the presence of cyclists on the road, improve safety for cycists, and indicate the lateral position where cyclists should ride. In Toronto we tend to have two types: sharrows placed to the right side of a curb lane where there is enough room for cyclists and motorists to ride side-by-side, and sharrows placed in the centre of the curb lane where there isn't. In the latter case, cyclists are encouraged by sharrows to "take the lane," as it were.

* *

There are several reasons why I believe that sharrows are bad for cyclists.

First, the psychological sense of improved safety on the road gained by sharrows is not a substitute for the real improvement in safety that would come with physically separated lanes, raised lanes, or bike pathways. Sharrows don't provide much more security for children, older riders, less agile riders, or larger cargo bikes that could be used to transport kids. Toronto continues to be a cycling city dominated by younger and more physically fit individuals. An inclusive method of transportation this does not make.

Sharrows tend to put cyclists between fast moving cars (and/or streetcars) and parked cars that leave cyclists vulnerable to both opened doors and cars changing lanes (despite any visibility improvement gained by the sharrow): The reality is that bikes are still placed in the middle.

Second, sharrows aren't all that usable. Most of the time sharrows sit under parked cars, or cars sitting in traffic. Turns out that they aren't all that visible under snow either. Rush-hour sharrows are only operative for a few hours on weekdays and centre lane sharrows encourage unsafe riding practices - I for one would rather ride by the side of road than in the centre of a lane between cars, buses, and trucks all going 40km/hr faster than me.

Anecdotally, I have heard from drivers who find this practice of "taking the lane" to be incredibly frustrating and unsafe. The effect is to pit cyclists against motorists when the intention is to encourage a polite sharing of the road space. The result, from a vocal car driving population, is a reasonable argument to get bikes off the roads entirely.

Third, sharrows reinforce the incorrect and detrimental belief that bikes are cars. Ontario has regretfully lumped both cars and bikes into the definition of "vehicle" under the Highway Traffic Act. This allows a bike to be on the road in Ontario, but has seemingly convinced everyone to treat bikes likes cars: the same traffic laws, the same traffic violation fines, arguments in favour of requiring bike licensing, and, for our purposes here, requiring bikes to share the road with cars.

Streetcars, for example, are not "vehicles" and it has been easier to develop streetcar-specific infrastructure including right-of-way lanes, traffic lights, etc. A separate definition has provided the possibility of prioritization in some cases (such as specific and advance lights) and a broader debate about budgeting, policy, design, and engineering. "Pedestrian" is not defined in the Act, but I would venture a guess that we all think sidewalks are a good idea.

Sharrows are "infrastructure" that reinforce the false notion that bikes and cars should be treated the same and should share the road. If we start to think of bikes as a unique category of transportation, which they are - one more similar to pedestrians than cars - then the realization that it makes more sense to accommodate bikes by building separated infrastructure will follow.

Cities like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Bogotá have all been successful in creating some form of separated cycling infrastructure - whether it be separated lanes, raised lanes, off-road but networked paths, or bike paths integrated into sidewalks - that recognize bikes as a form of transportation unlike cars.

Forth, sharrows are a political step backwards and will make it harder to advocate for better cycling infrastructure in the future. Each time we accept a new sharrow on the road we signal to City Hall that this is a reasonable compromise on safe infrastructure and that we are willing to settle for anything. We set a very low standard and a dangerous precedent for how Toronto should develop it's public road space. Even though we have caught onto the idea of "complete streets" we still see a fragmented understanding of the space between buildings.

* *

These arguments certainly raise many questions. There are undoubtedly legitimate concerns about money, political will, available road space, design and engineering standards, the legal status of bikes, and so on. But if Toronto is ever to become a safe and enjoyable cycling city we need to at least start with a shared vision and framework of best standards, rather than worst.

Notice of Public Consultation: Sharrow Evaluation Report

2010-12-31T17:33:00.001-05:00

A public meeting to discuss rush hour sharrows is coming up on Thursday January 20, 2011 at City Hall. This is an open meeting to learn more about the trial project that put sharrows on College St. for use during rush hour when car parking is not allowed. Click here for more information and details about time and place.

Sharrows are pavement markings that indicate where cyclists are supposed to ride on the road and are also meant to alert car drivers to the presence of cyclists. Earlier in the year the City of Toronto unleashed these markings on College St. where the road narrows and the bike lanes end. The City reached out to cyclists who ride that stretch of road during rush hour to see how they like it. You can read my previous post about the pilot project here.

To prepare for the meeting, or for your interest, you can download the Evaluation Report [pdf].

Totally decontextualized picture of a sharrow. Credit: CBC

Truth be told, I'm not a fan of sharrows, but I'll save that diatribe for another post.

City of Toronto 2010 Bicycle Count Summary

2010-12-21T23:04:00.002-05:00

The City has just released its Bicycle Count Summary. From the City website:

In September 2010, the City of Toronto conducted its first Bicycle Count along four screenlines in downtown: Bloor Street, Spadina Avenue, Queens Quay and Jarvis Street. The Count provides data on how many cyclists are riding on downtown streets, when and where they are riding, and other characteristics about cyclists such as helmet use, gender, sidewalk riding and whether the cyclist is transporting a passenger.

Take a look at the Summary [pdf] and the Complete Raw Data [web links].

The Count found that over 19,000 cyclists entered the downtown core and over 15,000 exited between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on a typical weekday in September. [Correction: the survey likely counted bicycle trips in and out of the downtown, rather than unique cyclists.]

Not surprisingly, the count found that people preferred riding in bike lanes, which also attracted a broader range of riders.

This Count comes as a welcome addition to the resources the City and all of us have to better address the infrastructure needs of cyclists in Toronto. Funny, also, that it comes so shortly after my last post that spoke about the need to track and count cyclists as they do in other cities such as Copenhagen.

Spotlight on NYC

2010-12-12T19:26:00.002-05:00

Photo: NYC Bike Maps

New York City often comes up in discussions about bike lanes these days. Apparently over 250 miles of bike lanes have been created within the last four years alone. Popular grassroots support for better and safer cycling infrastructure, an increase in ridership, and strong willed municipal political support have made this possible.

NYC may be a sexy place to talk about bike lanes and bike culture, but it is not necessarily the leader in the U.S. Other cities like Portland, OR and Madison, WI have long been good cycling cities.

But there is a sense that if such a huge, congested and heavily populated city like New York can manage to redesign its streets to support the bike, then so can just about any other city.

While 'European style' bike lanes have been floated in the media, this past summer, when Toronto was very close to trying a pilot project on University Avenue by installing physically separated bike lanes, they were often described as 'New York style' lanes (like in the photo above).

Two articles of interest:

Despite the great progress in NYC, there have been some set backs. A friend of mine has sent me a few news stories from the Times: one is about how backlashes to newly installed lanes has resulted in lanes being taken away; the other is about some bike lanes that seem to go underutilized by cyclists.

The first article highlights a common theme that rides across North American cities that are coming to terms with redesigning their streets. Like New York, Toronto has been struggling with it's own backlash to bike lanes (e.g. the recent mayor election campaigns, the redesign of Jarvis St. and Bloor St., etc.). When there is limited public space, the debate unfortunately becomes one of 'my rights versus yours'.

The second article is perhaps more curious. At a recent Toronto Cyclist Union meeting I heard the following interesting anecdote: more bike lanes were installed when Mel Lastman was mayor than when David Miller was mayor; Miller's retort was that Lastman put all the easy lanes in. This is to say that bike lanes are political and often cycling infrastructure goes in where there is least resistance rather then where it is needed most. For example, there is a shiny new bike lane of sorts on Harbord St. but no bike lane on Bloor despite the fact that Bloor would make a heck of a lot more sense for an East-West biking corridor.

Photo: Copenhagenize

The NY Times article on an underutilized lane begs just this question: are we willing to build a cycling network that addresses the needs of cyclists, or do we prefer to build a patchwork system that is most feasible. While I don't know much about the lane mentioned in the article - whether or not it makes sense in the larger scheme of a NYC network - one way to solve this issue is to have people out on the streets tracking cyclists. Several years ago, Copenhagen employed people to stand at intersections and count the number of cyclists that rode by. Now they have an automated counter.

With respect to the NYC lane, user comments provided other perspectives to the 'cause' of the lane's underutilization, like it being winter. Here's one example:

"Wow, such a scientific study on bike lane usage. A 2 month old, 19 block long bike lane in winter wasn’t used for the half an hour this reporter stood around. And the conclusion is what, in the headline? Perhaps look at a bike lane that’s built properly, that’s of sufficient length to take people somewhere, when weather is not freezing, and you’ll see something different. The person from the TA is right, bike lanes become useful when you have a whole network of them to take you where you want to go, not just a 19 block stretch. All you have to do is take a look at the east or west side bikeways along the rivers, during the summer, to see how many people want to ride bikes in a safe place. If there were protected bike lines the entire length of Manhattan, they would be used. But you have to start somewhere, which is why you have small stretches of bike lines now, which hopefully in the future will grow into a usable network. - san"

For more on cycling in New York, check out the following links:

NYC Department of Transportation

NYC Department of City Planning

Transportation Alternatives

NYC Bike Maps

Cycling in New York Wiki

Think Bike Workshop No. 2

2010-11-24T22:32:00.003-05:00

Thanks City of Toronto
Think Bike website!

Way back in September I attended the Think Bike workshop at the El Mocambo and posted a blog entry about all the great ideas that our friends from the Netherlands had for our fair city.

The Dutch bicycle/city planners teamed up with Torontonians and city hall folk to create plans for redesigning Sherbourne St. and setting out a plan for a downtown bike lane network.

I was so captivated by the discussions that I failed to take good photos of the designs. Much to my good fortune, the City of Toronto has updated its Think Bike website and has posted the presentations from that night. You can visit the site and download the PDF presentations as well as other presentations from the Netherlands.

In particular, I liked the illustrations of different ways to design a street with a separated bike lane. Here are some examples from the Blue team's presentation:

Protected 2-way bike path with central blvd

Protected 2-way bike path with small dividing curb

Low flow shared space

Traditional separated bike lanes on either side of car traffic

Be sure to check out the presentations in full. Vive le vélo!

Short history of bike lanes in the Netherlands

2010-11-23T21:25:00.000-05:00

My unofficial hiatus is officially over! Cycle Toronto is back.

I've been keeping a list of all the things I plan to blog about in the coming days and weeks, but before I get to that, we'll ease back into things with a short video about the history of bike lanes in the Netherlands. I first saw this video on Copenhagenize.com.

Here it is. Enjoy!

Bike lanes in Montreal

2010-09-25T10:33:00.001-04:00

A while ago I wrote a post on separated bike lanes, bike specific traffic lights, and BIXI bikes in Montreal. Recently, a friend of mine visited Montreal for a weekend and snapped a nice photo of a separated bike lane running along Avenue du Parc:

Montreal has been building these types of separated bike lanes for a few years now. Already installed is a bi-directional, physically separated bike lane on the downtown street Boulevard de Maisonneuve:

For those who may remember, the intersection of Parc and Pins used to be a total disaster with many roads converging into or passing one another. Recently this intersection was flattened and now there is a nice bike lane that follows it along. Below is an aerial view of the way the intersection looks now with a handy blue line to indicate the bike lane.

Of biking in Montreal, my friend said: "The BIXI program as well as ample and safe bike lanes makes cycling much more accessible for residents and visitors to the city." Below is a picture of the Montreal Bikeway Network:

Vélo Quebec, a non-profit organization, has put together a planning and design manual focusing on pedestrians and cyclists.

I haven't had the chance to look through it, but I may just go ahead and order a copy.

At the recent Think Bike workshop in Toronto, Dutch bicycle planners addressed a number of design possibilities for Toronto, including bi-directional and buffered bike lanes as they have in Montreal, and illustrated several streets in Toronto's downtown core, such as Simcoe and Blue Jays Way, that could easily accommodate a redesign with physically separated bike lanes.

Montreal remains a great example for Toronto in how it's possible to integrate safe bike lanes into street reconstruction and redesign. Montreal is also a great example for Toronto because of the similarities in physical geography of the city and climate. If they can bike in the winter so can we.

BIXI coming to Toronto?

2010-09-22T21:00:00.008-04:00

As you may already know, the City of Toronto is considering investing in and bringing BIXI bikes to Toronto. Last night outside the Think Bike workshop the Toronto BIXI team set up a booth in their bid to sign up 1000 members before the November 30, 2010 deadline. The City requires that 1000 people sign up by this date in order to show a minimum level of interest to make the investment worthwhile. To get the official scoop, check out the Toronto BIXI website. It costs $95 to become a member for a year and additional charges depending on your usage of the bikes.

Behind the Bike

BIXI, which stands for Bike Taxi, is a public bike sharing program. There are many different companies that manufacture public bikes and operate such systems around the world. BIXI is owned and operated by a private, not-for-profit firm called Public Bike System Company (PBSC) which is based in Quebec.

To design, engineer, operate and source raw materials, PBSC works with several other individuals and companies. Michel Dallaire, an industrial designer, designed the component parts; Cycle Devinci, a firm of mechanical engineers, manufacture the bikes; Morrow Communications takes on marketing; and 8D Technologies builds the automated machines and parking systems. In addition to this, PBSC gets its aluminum from its title sponsor Rio Tinto Alcan, the world's largest aluminum/aluminium company. Depending on your politics, this last partner may not be much of a selling point.

The BIXI system is brought to municipalities around the world by PBSC who enters into a cost sharing arrangement with the municipality to launch and operate the program. In Canada, BIXI was first launched in Montreal in the spring of 2009. The City of Toronto started looking into BIXI in 2010 and plans to enter into a 10-year agreement with PBSC to be launched May 1, 2011. In a document from the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee of a meeting held on April 20, 2010, the proposed financial arrangements and obligations are detailed. A summary is quoted below:

City staff and PBSC have negotiated the draft terms of an agreement whereby PBSC would enter into a 10-year agreement with the City to be launched May 1, 2011. When the program is deployed, Torontonians and visitors would have access to 1,000 bicycles via 80 fully automated and conveniently located “bicycle parking stations” in the downtown area during the first year of operation with the potential to expand the system to other areas in the future. PBSC would be responsible for the $4.8 million capital investment to manufacture and install the public bicycle infrastructure and for the operation of the program, and the estimated $1.3 million average annual operating cost. In return, the City would provide a loan guarantee to assist PBSC in securing favourable financing. The City would be responsible for the cost of replacing the bicycles and stations due to vandalism and theft in excess of a six percent threshold.

All of this, apparently, is conditional upon signing up 1000 members before the November 30, 2010 deadline.

Support Public Bikes

Public bike sharing programs have been a great success in many cities around the world. It makes cycling an easy option for those who may not own a bike or who are only interested in short cycling trips around the city. Public bikes come in handy for filling the gap between public transportation and the remainder of your journey, visitors and tourists, and even those of us who have bikes but might find ourselves without it from time to time. In fact, yesterday I asked the Toronto BIXI rep why I or someone else who already has a bike would become a member. Two main situations, she answered: First, I may be out without my bike - for example if it is raining in the morning and I decide to take the TTC but it clears up at the end of the day; Second, I may have a visitor in from out of town who wants to ride along with me. Pretty good scenarios.

There are potential problems with BIXI and any public bike sharing program though. Vandalism and system failures of the automated machines and parking systems have been noted in some situations. In these cases, the City and BIXI would be responsible, respectively.

Either way, having more bikes on the road is a good thing. There is power in numbers both in terms of creating a critical mass of cyclists for presence and safety on the road and for improving the political will for other cycling needs like infrastructure and education. It will allow people who don't usually ride a bike to pick one up from time to time and experience how the city opens up and becomes a far easier and enjoyable place in which to get around. (Not everyone has to be a yearly member.)

While I don't expect to ride BIXI bikes all that often (granted I was told that the yearly membership pays for itself if you ride two times a month), I am thinking seriously of becoming a member just to help achieve the 1000 member mark and make the project a reality. So should you!

(Disclaimer: I don't work for, nor am I being compensated by, PBSC or the City of Toronto.)

Think Bike Workshop

2010-09-21T22:27:00.000-04:00

Earlier this evening I had the opportunity to attend the Think Bike Workshop at El Mocambo. The City of Toronto and the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands played host to Dutch bicycle planners yesterday and today.

Yesterday and earlier today these Dutch bicycle planners worked closely with city planners and community cyclists to tackle two main projects. The Blue team (blue being the official corporate colour of Toronto) was tasked with developing a cycling network in the downtown core. The Orange team (orange apparently is the colour of the Netherlands) took on the project of redesigning the Sherbourne street corridor. To find out more about this you can visit the Think Bike page on the City of Toronto website.

The purpose of this event was to showcase the results of these two workshop projects. Representatives from each team took the stage to report back their conclusions, designs, observations, and recommendations. Before the official speaking began, audience members had an opportunity to view the workshop results which were tapped up on the walls. These included pictures of proposed changes; charts and bullet lists of strengths, potential problems, strategies, etc.

Each group went up in turn and, for the most part, we were given presentations by the Dutch bicycle planners. The blue team envisioned a downtown bike network that filled in the present gaps in bike lanes, created several north-south and east-west cycling corridors, and, best of all, displayed four different ways to re-imagine/create complete streets in Toronto. Most of these involved some set up of separated bike lanes, green space, sidewalks, and car lanes/car parking. In particular, the planners spoke of the need to create "safe cycle routes" which would be these types of separated bike lanes. These lanes are particularly important for getting new cyclists on the road who may otherwise feel unsafe riding in current conditions.

Welcome desk

The blue team completely redesigned Sherbourne street with separated and painted bike lanes, bike boxes at each intersection, accommodations for pedestrians getting on and off busses, etc. It was an excellent attempt at providing a detailed plan for a complete street design.

Questions from the audience touched on the issues of giving cyclists a unique legal status (i.e. different from both pedestrians and cars), cycling in Toronto's winter climate, politicians in the upcoming municipal elections who may bring with them strong political vision for cycling in Toronto, etc.

Stage before start of presentations.

The evening and workshop was a success in terms of taking in the expertise and recommendations of the Dutch bike planners. They made many great points for us to incorporate in our next bike plan including: integrating transportation planning with city planning, re-conceiving of possible street designs, connecting up public transportation with cycling, marketing cycling to the public, integrating cycling education into primary schools, etc.

At the end of the evening, one of two hosts, who is the head of cycling infrastructure (or something like that) at City Hall put it well: it's not for a lack of ideas, the question is one of money and political will.

(Sorry for the lack of photographs; I'm still getting used to whole reporting/blogging thing.)

Early morning bike ride along the Martin Goodman Trail

2010-09-20T19:37:00.002-04:00

A few weekends ago I went for a lovely early morning bike ride with my good friend Sam. We met up in the west end and biked down to the water so that we could go along the Martin Goodman Trail. The MGT is one of Toronto's best cycling paths primarily because it is separated from car traffic and affords the cyclist, inline skater, or jogger a stress free way to commute across town and take in the beautiful water front. Below is a map of our ride:

View Robby And Sam Cycle in a larger map

We started up around College and Dufferin and made our way south to the lake.

We rode east along the MGT and found a nice beach and dock to sit on and have our delicious chocolate croissants.

There was a pretty strong head wind that day, and so after the beach we headed back up through High Park. Along the way we stumbled upon a magical playground:

We ended up at a delicious breakfast place on Roncesvalles called Brads.

As it turns out, we were having so much fun that I neglected to take any photos of the actual bike trail. Whoops! Thanks for the ride, Sam!

Cyclists Beware! Two-Week Police Ticketing Bonanza Coming to Toronto in September.

2010-08-30T21:34:00.001-04:00

Credit: Inside Toronto

I'm all for road safety, but I'm not sure that a city-wide ticketing blitz by the Toronto Police is the best way to achieve it. According to a recent Toronto Star article:

Police handed out more than 400 tickets to cyclists and pedestrians in a three-day safety blitz in the area between the DVP and Victoria Park Ave. and south of Eglinton Ave. W. Police cautioned an additional 250 people on bike and foot leading up to the blitz.

Apparently this isn't the first time.

First, I highly doubt that most cyclists (or pedestrians) have a comprehensive knowledge of bike traffic laws and potential violations. True, ignorance of the law is no excuse, but it is the reality in many cases. So the real issue becomes one of education, which is a responsibility of the government. In Denmark, children are taught how to ride bicycles in primary school and are taught the rules of the road and must pass a cycling test. It is an effective way to teach everyone about cycling and about the law. Toronto does have a cycling training course called CAN-BIKE, which will teach children and adults about road safety and traffic laws, but it is a voluntary program. While integrating bike education into primary school is a good idea, this is by no means an argument in favour of requiring bike licensing.

Pop quiz: how many bicycle laws/violations are there? How many can you name?

Answer: download a table of all possible bicycle violations.

Here's a sampling:

For the legally inclined, you can also find these laws in the Highway Traffic Act. As the above pic indicates, many of these laws also apply to cars.

Second, it's not clear that all of these bike laws even make much sense. Running a red light, fine; but, ride 2 on a bicycle? Actually, the Highway Traffic Act is a bit clearer on this point. It reads:

178. Bicycle passengers
(2) No person riding on a bicycle designed for carrying one person only shall carry any other person thereon. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 178 (2).

This likely allows for a parent to ride with her children:

Awesome! Thanks treehugger

But, it almost certainly does not allow for this:

Credit: Cycle Chic

A perfectly common way to put a second person on a bike in many cities across Europe is a quasi-criminal act in Ontario.

Third, enforcing quasi-criminal laws by having police engage in ticking bonanzas is really a reactionary, tough-on-crime policy operating under the guise of "safety." In many ways it's a political move in the same vein as the Safe Streets Act, which provides police with greater powers to repress homeless and poor people using the rhetoric of making our streets safer (for who?).

My point is that if the police, or the city, or the province were really interested in making roads safer for everyone, then they would do two things: first, affect a political and policy shift in terms of how we address issues of road safety; second, build a functional network of separated bike lanes. The first "political" solution addresses the underlying ideology of how we frame issues and engage with social problems; the second "technical" solution looks to designing a safer environment for all users of the road so that ticket bonanzas aren't necessary.

So, advocate for complete streets and don't vote for Rob Ford.

Until then cyclists: ride safely, be courteous to other users of the road, and beware!

Cycle Toronto Summer Road Trip: Chicago and New York City!

2010-08-21T23:20:00.000-04:00

At the end of June I went on two trips with my partner: first, to Chicago, where we saw a great Phish show, stayed with an old friend, and ate at the delicious Frontera Grill; then, to Brooklyn, where we baked in the heat, wandered the city, had some succulent pork, and had a generally fantastic time with some good friends. On both trips I did a little "field research" and observed the cycling culture and infrastructure. Below are some photos I took.

Chicago

On our way up to the L I saw this nifty bike parking area. Two levels, a great way to connect cycling and public transit. The (out of focus) picture below is the same parking area from another view.

Unfortunately, that's all I have for Chicago.

New York City

These seemed to be pretty standard bike lanes in NYC: painted white lines separating them from car traffic and green paint to indicate it as a bike lane. Definitely nice to see the green paint, much like Copenhagen's distinctive blue paint.

One morning we decided to walk across the Brooklyn bridge into Manhattan. On the way up to the bridge we found this pathway with separated space for pedestrians and cyclists.

Here is another example of the green painted bike lanes, but this one has a much larger buffer painted between the bike lane and car lane. The major design flaw, as you can see, is that it doesn't do much to prevent cars from driving across the buffer and even into the lane itself.

This road forks into two directions and you can see the green lane on the left and a sharrow marking on the right to direct where cyclists should ride. Unfortunately, the bike lane has been placed between the parked cars and the rest of traffic.

Finally! Here is a picture of a separated and dedicated bike lane. It is totally removed and protected from the rest of the street. Perhaps it's not the most attractive separated lane I've seen, but it gets the job done.

This picture shows how road designers have placed the separated bike lane and cars making a left hand turn. Presumably cyclists have the right of way on a green light.

In this photo you can see not only the physically separated bike lane, but also the bike specific traffic light. I'm a big fan of bike specific traffic lights where there are bike lanes like these because it helps cars and pedestrians realize that cyclists are on the road and have particular right of way rules.

A beautiful photo taken by my partner from the roof top of our hosts' apartment in Brooklyn.

Round Up

That's it for Cycle Toronto's summer road trip. It's always interesting to see how other cities are accommodating cyclists and improving their cycling infrastructure. Toronto was close to getting a New York style separated bike lane on University Avenue this summer, but we all know how that ended. If you're going be taking any road trips of your own, snap some photos of cycling and cycling infrastructure and send them in so that I can post them on the blog.

Bicycle Film Festival Aug 18-22

2010-08-12T20:58:00.001-04:00

Who even knew this festival existed? Apparently this year is its 10th anniversary!
Either way, looks great. Toronto will be seeing the Bicycle film festival this year running from August 18 - 22 with movies screening at the Royal Theatre and CineCycle. More details to be had on the official website.

Check out this neat trailer:

Copenhagen Through North American Eyes

2010-07-26T22:25:00.000-04:00

This is a recent Streetfilms video about cycling in Copenhagen through North American eyes. It was filmed during the 2010 Velo City global bike conference that just finished in Copenhagen. (Oh how I wish I could have been there! I just got back some beautiful black and white photos that I took in Copenhagen last fall/winter and am feeling a tad nostalgic.)

Much of what you see in this video is the result of technical solutions to problems around making cities (and Copenhagen in particular) more livable and bike friendly. As you will see in the video, it was a process that has taken shape over 40 years and much to the credit of Jan Gehl. I say "technical" because of an interesting conversation I had with a friend a few weeks ago about urban planning and the issue of technical solutions to fundamentally political problems. More on that another time.

Enjoy the video. The soothing, meditative music is a nice touch!

G20 and the use of police bikes against protestors

2010-07-22T14:14:00.000-04:00

It's not the first time, but during the week leading up to and the weekend of the G20 in Toronto, police officers used bicycles as one more tool in their arsenal of repression. The fact that many of the 19,000 officers on guard that weekend rode bicycles or used them in various ways is nothing surprising since Toronto police officers often use bicycles as their official daily means of transportation. Perhaps it was the sheer scale of the "security" apparatus that weekend that made the presence of so many bikes particularly troubling. In addition, police officers used those bikes in ways that would make many bike riders cringe. Bicycles are more often thought of and used as instruments of liberation: freedom to move around the city easily, a cheaper transportation alternative for people of modest means, an independent mode of transportation for teenagers and younger kids, freedom from cars and so on. But, unfortunately, on the G20 weekend bikes were used as instruments to control and suppress our freedoms: freedoms of assembly, freedoms of speech, freedoms from arbitrary detention and so on.
Below is a montage of video footage taken by a friend of mine from the G20 weekend of police officers and their bikes.

I was present at the demonstration on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday as a volunteer legal observer. What I saw was that, for the most part, police were using their bikes to create walls and barriers in order to contain the demonstrations within a designated place, funnel demonstrators along certain routes, and sometimes to completely surround and detain people. As one clip in the above video showed, one technique was to bring their bikes up on the back wheel (like a horse on its hind legs) to create a more aggressive stance and posture. One problem with the police tactic of using their bikes to create a wall on the periphery of a given march was that it made it often difficult for protesters to leave the protest (There seemed to be a policy that if a person decided to exercise their rights to assembly and speech by being at the demonstration he or she was accepting a de facto possibility, or likelihood, of being surrounded, arbitrarily detained, beaten up, and arrested by cops. That is, if you come don't expect to leave.)

(credit: TreeHugger/blogTO)

Check out TreeHugger for a interesting article on the use of bikes at the G20 with lots more photos like this one above. Also, BlogTO has a post of many good G20 photos including the one above.

On Sunday, people took back the streets with their bikes in a critical mass/"bike bloc" action. Below is one of many videos capturing the event.

Here is some reporting on the event by the Globe and Mail and pictures from CTV and Rabble. Like most demonstrations that week/end, things did not end well for everyone. One Bike Pirate volunteer who was part of the critical mass action was brutally beaten up by police and arrested. You can find his first person account over at I Bike T.O. Here is one passage from his account:

I was now on my stomach with my arms restrained behind my back with my face being pushed into the street under the knee of another police officer. A large group of police set up a line of police bikes to stop onlookers from getting a clear view on what was taking place. The police threatened the witnesses with arrest under the charge of obstruction of justice. As the beatings continued the officers repeatedly kneed me in the head, lower and upper back. There is heavy bruising around my right shoulder, cuts and bruises on my right knee and right elbow and my chin has a large cut that likely needed stitches. As I was being beaten, I cried out in extreme pain, “Stop the insanity.”

I have nothing against police officers using bicycles as part of their daily life. In fact, I think it's a great idea for police officers and other workers of civil or public institutions to use bikes for their jobs. In countries like Denmark, there is a long and celebrated history of postal workers using bicycles.

(Royal Danish Post custom bikes. Credit: Cycle Chic)

I think it would actually go a long way to "normalizing" the use of bicycles in any city for public institutions to require workers to use bikes as part of their job and daily work routine. Not only that, but it can create a great demand for the local economy. In Toronto, Urbane Cyclist, which is a worker run co-operative, builds and services Toronto Police bikes.

The aftermath of the G20 is just starting to take shape in terms of calls for a public inquiry and other forms of legal action to redress the police brutality and violation of cherished Charter rights that took place that weekend. In the mean time, go for a nice relaxing ride on the soon to be finished Jarvis St. bike lanes!

No Justice No Peace.

Toronto Bike Month! (and more)

2010-06-01T19:09:00.002-04:00

It's Toronto Bike Month!

True, biking is great all year round, but it is nice to have a month to promote cycling in the city.

There are lots of great events, workshops, etc. to take part in. NOW Magazine has a nice web page/calendar of events.

And, what a great poster to advertise the month. What I like most is the excellent bicycle choice: a Danish-style city bike!

Also this month in Toronto is Transport Futures annual summit on Leadership and Road Pricing. Looks interesting, but might be for the nerdy transportation enthusiast out there.

On Sunday, the Toronto Star ran an interesting piece in the Insight section about segregated bike lanes in France. While it is nice to see this kind of support for good cycling infrastructure, the article was strangely curious of this kind of bike lane design. Granted it's almost unheard of in Canada, it is all over the place in Europe (not to mention other places like South America - Bogota to be precise). The idea is simple and effective: reverse the bike lane and the parked cars. Parked cars become a buffer separating bikes from moving cars. Voila!

Also, last Friday, mayor hopeful George Smitherman held a fundraiser where he spoke about his transportation priorities. Although he said he would halt new bikes lanes for the time being, he did give support to curbing bike lanes to make them physically separated from cars. Spacing has a nice roundup of the event.

University Avenue Dedicated Bike Lane Voted Down by Mistake

2010-05-13T10:43:00.002-04:00

City council voted last night 15-13 against the proposed dedicated bike lane on University Avenue which was planned as a pilot project this summer.

The City vote was was part of a larger vote to broaden the Bike Plan, which passed.

Councillor Paula Fletcher voted against the proposal by mistake. An attempt to have a re-vote failed because, apparently, the voting rules don't allow a re-vote when it would change the outcome of the final decision.

If Fletcher had voted as she intended, then there would have been a tie, which, in this case, because the vote on the proposal was an amendment to the larger vote on the Bike Plan, would have settled in favour of passing the proposal.

What a disaster.

Read all about it in the Globe and Star.

Cycling in Windsor

2010-05-05T17:32:00.000-04:00

True, this blog is about cycling in Toronto, but, truth be told, I currently live in Windsor, ON as I finish my law degree and write the bars.

Windsor is (dare I say, was) a car city, but it does have a cycling community struggling with it's own issues as many other cities currently are. There is a basic bike lane network made up of on-road painted line bike lanes, and other bike routes and off-road paths. Check out this nifty Google map of the Windsor bike lane network.

Like many cities, Windsor's bike lane network is pretty patchy, with lanes starting and ending at various places where roads narrow (e.g. on Riverside Dr.). Interestingly, while there are many people who ride bikes (including adults commuting around town and kids hanging out at the local skate/bike park) there seems to be a lot of people who don't "follow the rules of the road". People tend to bike on the sidewalk even where that street has a bike lane, and often you'll see people biking in bike lanes but on the on the wrong side of the street.

But, Windsor does have a fairly active Cycling Committee, which works to improve cycling safety and viability in Windsor. The Windsor Bicycling Committee advises City Council and tries to engage the broader community on cycling issues. In fact, they have put together a free cycling conference to be held on Saturday, June 26 at 10am at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor. The keynote speaker is going to be Ben Gomberg, who is the Cycling Coordinator for Chicago. Should be great! See the below picture for registration information.

Windsor also has a great community cycling blog, called Bike Windsor, where you can find loads of information about up-coming events, as well as general discussion on cycling issues in Windsor.

The best place to bike within the City, from my experience, is the great path that runs along the Detroit River. There is a nice sculpture garden and a great view of downtown Detroit.

So, bike on Windsor!

Arguments against bike licencing and excise taxes

2010-04-15T11:25:00.004-04:00

With all the uproar over the proposed dedicated bike lane pilot project on University Ave this summer, the issue of bicycle licencing or charging some kind of bike tax is starting to rear its ugly head. Generally, I am against imposing such things primarily because we should be encouraging cycling instead of discouraging it and because the whole issue is largely a symbolic one to appease motorists who are antagonistic toward increasing cycling infrastructure.

A recent post on BikePortland.org tackled the issue of excise taxes and lays out some of the pros and cons. There is a great comment by Ryan G who sarcastically poses the question of whether we should start charging excise taxes on shoes to pay for the building of sidewalks for those darn pedestrians who refuse to get in a car and drive like the rest of us.

Mikael, over at Copenhagenize.com, recently posted on the issue of bicycle licencing and lays out some good arguments against it. Some of the main reasons are that the expense of setting up a licencing and registration system, and the cost of administering it, and the cost of enforcing it, would be a huge waste of tax payer money as compared to the amount that could reasonably be expected from the licence and registration itself (as compared to cars). Other reasons against licencing have to do with encouraging cycling rather than discouraging it through licencing. The benefits of cycling over driving to our health care costs alone are a great example of why we should encourage cycling. In the end, the recommendation is that we should actually be paying people to get out of their cars and onto bike or foot. How about that!

What the Toronto mayoral candidates have to say about the dedicated bike lane project on University ave

2010-04-14T11:09:00.001-04:00

Yesterday the Toronto Sun published a short article of quotes by the mayoral candidates of their reaction to the proposed pilot project for dedicated bike lanes on University ave. Their reactions are not all that surprising and give a great sense of how each of them as mayor would deal with the "bike question" in Toronto. In order of most supportive of the project to least:

Joe Pantalone:
According to his executive assistant “Joe Pantalone strongly believes that cycling is an essential part of Toronto’s transpiration solution. He is reviewing the proposals from that perspective and will subsequently be commenting on the proposals.”

Sarah Thomson:
“I think there’s a safety issue. I think when you look at all of the ambulances coming in and out along University (Ave.) there, I really think (the protected lane) should go down the centre, the landscaping area along the centre, the boulevard ... I believe we need a bike lane there but I would prefer to see it in that centre area.”

George Smitherman:
“I say take a timeout on new bike lanes. Use the money to improve the existing ones, some of which are barely passable.”

Rob Ford:
“I can’t support something that’s going to congest traffic more than what it is ... I don’t mind trying it but I know it’s going to be a traffic nightmare. The people are going to be freaking right out. They’re going to be very upset.”

And, tied for last place:

Rocco Rossi:
“Pulling two lanes of University Avenue out of commission, particularly right now with our transit funding in doubt, is sheer madness. And there is a larger issue of democratic fairness here, too. Bike lanes on arterial roads have emerged as a major issue in this election campaign. I am calling on the mayor to acknowledge the basic rights of the people of Toronto to choose their own future.”

Giorgio Mammoliti:
“I can promise you this: When I’m the mayor of the City of Toronto, if they succeed with these bike lanes, I will take them down and that will be the first thing that I do ... All you’re going to do is create accidents. The agenda for the bike needs to be there but it is not going to take over the car. It’s not going to do it in this city. Not in this lifetime.”

News Flash: Toronto to get Dedicated Bike Lanes!

2010-04-13T16:32:00.005-04:00

What a great surprise when I went to check the daily news and saw this headline: Dedicated bike lanes coming to downtown this summer.

According to the Toronto Star news update, the City will be embarking upon a pilot project this summer to put dedicated - i.e. physically separated - bike lanes in on University Avenue running from Richmond to Wellesley. According to the article:

Cyclists would ride in the lane adjacent to the centre median under a pilot project that would begin in July and end in September.

This is good news for me in particular because I'll be working at University and Queen and will definitely be using this new lane. Hopefully this project will be a success and spur on the movement toward better and safer cycling infrastructure in Toronto. Hopefully, as well, motorists find that they too enjoy not having to wrestle with cyclists for space on the road.

For a nice mock up photo of the changes to University Avenue under this pilot project, take a look at the post on I Bike T.O.

Bike Lane Designs in Toronto

2010-04-13T11:49:00.001-04:00

In a couple of hours I have my Land Use Planning exam; so what better time to clear my head and write a new post on bike lane designs in Toronto.

I have tried to contact some folks at the City to inquire about designs for physically separated bike lanes, but I haven't received any responses yet. So what I'll look at for now are the main designs that the City uses. You can also find this information on the City's Cycling Website.

Bike Lanes:
These are your strip of white paint on the road lanes. They are meant to be for exclusive use of bikes and there are signs usually posted on the side of the road to indicate that it's a bike lane. Generally they are right up against the sidewalk, but sometimes they are placed between the moving vehicles and the parked cars.

(credit: Toronto Star)

Contra-flow Bike Lane:
Same idea as the first one, but provide for cyclists to ride the opposite direction on a one way street.

(credit: City of Toronto)

Sharrows:
This design isn't actually a bike lane. A sharrow is white hash mark painted on a road to indicate the ideal cycling position on that road, which is usually in the middle of moving cars and parked cars.

(credit: Toronto Star)

Shared Roadways:
These are signed routes which have been designated as preferred biking routes in the official bikeway network plan. There is no physical design or actual physical lane. There is simply a sign on the side of the road that indicates that bikes can ride there.

(credit: Bouke Salverda on flickr)

Off-Road Bike Paths:
These are essentially bike riding trails. They are multi-use for pedestrians, in-line skaters and cyclists. They are physically separated from cars. These are actually the best bike lanes in the city. You can find them west on Eglinton, north-south along the Humber River, east-west along the lake shore, and north-south along the DVP. They are a pleasure to ride on.

(credit: About.com)

So there you have it: bike lane designs in Toronto. In my next post I'll look at some of the problems with these designs and even make suggestions for improvements.

Congestion and Commuting in Toronto

2010-03-31T21:24:00.006-04:00

The Toronto Board of Trade recently released its scorecard report called Toronto as a Global City, which didn't have great things to say about traffic, congestion, commute times and lost productivity in the city.

The Toronto Board of Trade is "Canada’s largest local chamber of commerce, representing 10,000 members and connecting more than 200,000 business professionals and influencers throughout the Toronto region."

This study rated Toronto's economic performance and labour attractiveness as compared to 23 other world cities. While attaining an overall ranking of 4 (after Boston, Dallas and Barcelona), what made most headlines was that Toronto rated dead last for longest commute time to work. Out of the 19 cities with comparable data, Toronto ranked 19th with an overall average of an 80-minute round-trip commute.

The Scorecard also pointed out a recent OECD report that traffic and congestion on Toronto's roads costs the Canadian economy over $5 billion dollars a year in lost productivity. Instead of people sitting in their offices, they're wasting time sitting in their cars in traffic on their way to work. Recent news reports echoed this figure. Back in November, the CBC reported on an OECD report that found that Toronto lost $3.3 billion a year due to traffic and congestion on its roads.

All of this, conveniently, comes on the heels of the 2010 Ontario Budget which announced that the province would not be providing the necessary funding for Transit City to create the much needed and anticipated LRT lines across the city. Toronto is now looking at a $4 billion shortfall. (See the Globe and Mail for a news report and the Toronto Star for some commentary.)

The Scorecard showed that in Paris, for example, over 70% of people get to work by transit, cycling or walking, whereas in Toronto it's almost the exact opposite: around 70% of people commute to work by car. The Scorecard accredited Paris's well developed public transportation system and improvements to its cycling infrastructure to this trend.

So, is it too obvious to point out the problems with the the provincial government not funding public transportation in the country's largest city in light of the Scorecard and OECD report? For more insight into the issue take a read through Steve Munro's transit blog.

All of this talk about commute times reminded me of a great article I read in the New Yorker a few years back called There and Back Again: The Soul of the Commuter. Well worth the read!

First Toronto Mayoral Debate

2010-03-30T09:14:00.006-04:00

Yesterday the first Toronto mayoral debate took place in Scarborough at Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School. Present were the six main candidates of the race (from left to right): Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, Rob Ford, Sarah Thomson, and George Smitherman. (photo: Rick Eglinton/Toronto Star)

While the news reports tended to characterize the evening as a bit of a circus, the issue of bike lanes came up and below is a recap of what each candidate had to say according to the reports.

Joe Pantalone
Joe is the mayoral candidate who is most supportive of bike lanes and said that bike lanes should be put anywhere that they are safe. He reminded the crowd that cyclists are not "martians" but rather "our kids, our sisters, our brothers".

Giorgio Mammoliti
Giorgio, like a disapproving parent, said he would halt the expansion of bike lanes until cyclists can follow the rules of the road. Previously, Mammoliti had said that he took no issue with bike lanes so long as it wouldn't slow down car traffic.

Rocco Rossi
Rocco has come out as the candidate most opposed to bike lanes especially on a reconstructed Jarvis Street and on major arterial roads in the city. Last night he continued to make the issue a divisive one between cars and bikes by saying that he "can't ask a motorist in gridlock to sit there staring at an empty bike lane".

Rob Ford
Rob, who is a recent addition to the mayoral race, came out in favour of bike lanes in the downtown but not in the suburbs.

Sarah Thomson
Sarah has come out strong as a supporter of public transit, calling for road tolls to pay for expanding the subway system, but she has said little about her stance on bike lanes. Previous reports indicate that she is supportive of bike lanes and is looking into safety concerns.

George Smitherman
While in support of bike lanes, George has said very little about his actual stance or policy intentions on bike lanes in the city. Last night, it appeared that George was more intent on discrediting Rocco than saying anything substantive about his own position.

Brief Analysis:
The media has been pushing a discourse of "war" (as seems to be the case anytime there is a debate about anything) and pitting cyclists against drivers. This is a really unfortunate and destructive way to characterize the issue of bike lanes and how to effectively and efficiently use the available road space in Toronto. The reality is that the streets are chaotic and the City has the responsibility and obligation to ensure a safe and equitable transportation infrastructure. Bike lanes - physically separated bike lanes being the best option - are a solution to this chaos because they would separate cyclists from motorists and provide each user with generally exclusive and safe road space to use.

When thinking about who to support for mayor on the issue of bike lanes we should be drawn to the candidate who, first, recognizes that cyclists aren't going to go away and have a right to safe infrastructure and, second, engages with the issue in a positive and democratic way. This means, a candidate who is supportive of bike lanes (I would really like to see who can come out strong in favour of physically separated lanes) on major arterial roads (i.e. where cyclists are, rather than where motorists would prefer them to be), and a candidate who understands the public process at City Hall of creating bike lanes.

Candidates who say all bike lanes should be halted (Mammoliti) or that the bike lane on Jarvis should not be constructed (Rossi) show a lack of understanding of the processes at City Hall. The Toronto Bike Plan has been in existence for almost a decade and sets out a clear bike lane network plan and is far from being completed. The Jarvis Street reconstruction has gone through many years of design, debate, and public input and it would be greatly counterproductive and wasteful to re-engage with the project all over again. One of the greatest problems of Toronto (not just council, but the whole process) is its inability to get things done in a timely fashion.

With all the information we have to date about the candidate most supportive of bike lanes it appears to be Joe Pantalone. We'll have to see how the issue unfolds in coming months.

For some news reports on last night, check out:

"Would-be mayors in war of words" (Toronto Star)

"Smitherman and Rossi come out swinging" (Globe and Mail)

"Testy exchanges at debate" (National Post)

Roads should be used for the movement of people not cars

2010-03-28T17:28:00.000-04:00

I love this picture! It so clearly illustrates how a road can be used most efficiently to move people when the concern is moving people rather than cars. This brings me to the issue of this post, namely: What is the purpose of a road? And, how does the design of our roads shape its use? Further down in this post I'll ask the question of whether or not Toronto, in particular, is living up to its stated policy about the use of roads.

The Ontario Highway Traffic Act says that roads are for the passage of vehicles.

“highway” includes a common and public highway, street, avenue, parkway, driveway, square, place, bridge, viaduct or trestle, any part of which is intended for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles and includes the area between the lateral property lines thereof; (“voie publique”) - HTA section 1

A "vehicle" includes a car and a bike, but not a street car. And, a "highway" apparently does not include a parking lot, at least in Ontario. In the case of R. v. Tresham it was decided by a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) that:

The term "highway", as defined under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, although a fairly expansive definition unlike similar legislation in other provinces, does not expressly include the term "parking lot". While the definition does include the term "place" and specifies "any part of which is intended for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles," I do not find that this provision applies to a parking lot. It states for the "passage" of vehicles and not for the "parking" of vehicles. In this regard the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Mansour, supra, applies, that the definition of highway under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act "does not embrace the concept of a parking lot."

This case was, among other things, about whether an actual parking lot would fall under the definition of "highway" rather than the issue of on-street parking, but this judicial interpretation of the term "highway" may give credence to the argument that roads are meant for the movement of vehicles rather than the parking of vehicles.

The Highway Traffic Act defines a "highway" but doesn't regulate its use insofar as efficiency is concerned. So, for example, it doesn't say that roads should be used in the most efficient way to transport people. Nor does it say anything about equality of use between different kinds of vehicles. While these questions are dealt with in both Ontario's and Toronto's official policy documents, they don't exactly contradict the HTA.

In section 1.6.5, the Ontario Provincial Policy Statement (2005) says:

Transportation systems should be provided which are safe, energy efficient, facilitate the movement of people and goods, and are appropriate to address projected needs. (1.6.5.1)

and

A land use pattern, density and mix of uses should be promoted that minimize the length and number of vehicle trips and support the development of viable choices and plans for public transit and other alternative transportation modes, including commuter rail and bus. (1.6.5.4)

"Transportation systems" refers to a system of corridors and rights-of-way for the movement of people and goods, and includes cycle lanes. On the one hand, this could be taken to mean roads should be used for the movement of people rather vehicles. On the other hand, since "transportation systems" doesn't actually mention anything about roads, maybe this doesn't show a preference for the efficient use of road space by bikes and public transit over the less efficient use of road space - in terms of moving people - by cars. Hmmm.

The Toronto Official Plan is more clear. In section 2.4 it states:

In a mature city like Toronto, the emphasis has to be on using the available road space more efficiently to move people instead of vehicles and on looking at how the demand for vehicle travel can be reduced in the first place. Reducing car dependency means being creative and flexible about how we manage urban growth. We have to plan in "next generation" terms to make transit, cycling and walking increasingly attractive alternatives to using the car and to move towards a more sustainable transportation system.

So, at least at the official policy level, Toronto gets the idea of efficient use of road space to move people instead of cars. Whether or not the transformation of our city streets to invite and encourage cyclists, among other more efficient modes of transportation, is happening as fast as we would like or in the way in which we'd like is another story.

But, section 24(1) of the Ontario Planning Act does require that all municipal public works and by-laws conform to that city's official plan. So there is a connection between policy and law so far as land use planning is concerned.

Bike lanes or On-Street Parking?

2010-03-27T15:28:00.010-04:00

I posted before on the issue of on-street parking and a study that was conducted by the Clean Air Partnership and the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation. The study, called Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business: A Study of Bloor Street in Toronto's Annex Neighbourhood, was released in February 2009 and looked at the issue of "competing priorities for space" on the road. It was a great study because the results helped debunk the myth that business owners necessarily object to removing on-street parking for alternate use by either bike lanes or widened sidewalks. Even more, the study showed that a majority of business owners actually think better infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians would improve their business! This is an on-going issue for city planners, engineers, and local business owners (not to mention motorists, cyclists and pedestrians) and so I thought it worthwhile to take a look this issue a little closer.

First, the dichotomy between bike lanes and on-street parking is often a false one. We don't always have to choose between either one or the other. Where space between buildings permits, we can design our streets to accommodate both on-street parking and physically separated bike lanes by simply reversing the on-street parking and the bike lane as in the illustrations below.

(credit: streetfilms.org)

(from Copenhagen)

Currently, Bloor street in the Annex neighbourhood is a four lane car road with the two curb side lanes providing on-street parking. It might be possible to design the street with both a physically separated bike lane between the sidewalk and parked cars, but there doesn't seem to be enough room for both in this case. Below is a picture from the Bloor/Annex study:

So, the issue becomes whether it makes more sense to put in a bike lane (although the City of Toronto is still struggling with the idea of physically separated lanes) or keep the on-street parking. Let's take a look at some of the key findings of the Bloor/Annex study:

Only 10% of patrons drive to the Bloor Annex neighbourhood;
Even during peak periods no more than about 80% of paid parking spaces are paid for;
Patrons arriving by foot and bicycle visit the most often and spend the most money per month;
There are more merchants who believe that a bike lane or widened sidewalk would increase business than merchants who think those changes would reduce business;
Patrons would prefer a bike lane to widened sidewalks at a ratio of almost four to one; and
The reduction in on-street parking supply from a bike lane or widened sidewalk could be accommodated in the area's off-street municipal parking lots.

One of the main conclusions of this study, informing some of the main recommendations, is that relocating car parking to off-street locations would not negatively impact the commercial activity of the area (and that inviting more cyclists and pedestrians would actually positively impact business). Take a look at the full report to read about the methodology, findings, and recommendations.

Just released in March 2010 was a second, similar report called Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business: Year 2 Report: A Study of Bloor Street in Toronto's Bloor West Village. Not surprisingly (to me at least) this report echoed the findings of the previous one. This report surveyed 96 merchants and 510 visitors to the Bloor West Village and found that:

4 out of 5 people surveyed do not usually drive to the area;
Merchants overestimated the percentage of people who drive to Bloor West Village and yet more than half of merchants surveyed believed that reducing on-street parking by 50% and adding a bike lane or widening sidewalks would either increase or have no impact on their daily number of customers;
People who arrive by transit, foot, and bicycle visit more often and report spending more money than those who drive;
People who preferred to see street use reallocated for widened sidewalks or a bike lane were significantly more likely to spend more than $100 per month than those who preferred no change;
The majority of people surveyed (58%) preferred to see street use reallocated for widened sidewalks or a bike lane, even if on-street parking were reduced by 50%.

View the full report.

Convinced?

Given the results of these studies, it might be time to start rethinking how we use our available road space. It is also time that we (those who make the decisions) stop relying on false arguments about cyclists and pedestrians being bad for business.

As I'll get to in future posts, the purpose of roads is to move vehicles and people, not to park cars. And although the car might be the choice of transportation for many people it turns out that far more people can be moved by designing streets to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation.

For some reporting and commentary on these two studies check out the following:

"Study finds that removing parking to install bike lanes or widen sidewalk would benefit business on Bloor" (Spacing.ca)

"Strong support to replace Bloor Street parking with bike lanes" (Rabble.ca)

"Bikes on blur: Recent study clears it all up: cyclists and pedestrians are good for business" (NOW Magazine)

In Style, Safety and Dignity

2010-03-23T20:00:00.006-04:00

I just finished watching another great presentation, this time by Jan Gehl himself. Entitled People Cities = Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Cities = People Cities, Gehl's presentation was part of a public lecture series called International Dialogues: Architecture and Climate Change, which is put on in part by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

This presentation draws a connection between livable cities and sustainable cities, and argues that good urban planning and design can achieve the goals of a lively, attractive, safe, sustainable, and healthy city. Gehl takes the audience through infrastructure planning and design elements that encourage and invite pedestrians and cyclists and addresses the many benefits that this brings for cities and people.

The presentation is in four parts of roughly 15 minutes each. Many other excellent RIBA programs in this series can be found on gleeds.tv.

Without further ado... Part I

In the interest of saving my limited upload allotment, the other three parts can be found linked below.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

College Street Cycling Survey

2010-03-23T16:07:00.005-04:00

The Toronto Cycling Committee put out a call today for participants in their upcoming College Street Cycling Survey. The City of Toronto is working with the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) and the Clean Air Partnership (CAP) to conduct this survey.

The purpose is to "evaluate cycling conditions on College Street before and after the installation of a new bicycle pavement marking application".

I'm not really sure what this "pavement marking application" is, but if it provides a safer bike lane on College Street then it's a welcome change. Last summer I would commute each day along College Street and although there is a painted line bike lane, with all of the traffic and cars and trucks, and the bike lane ending abruptly at certain spots, it was not the most enjoyable or safe experience.

Participants will be asked to complete an online survey about their experiences cycling on College Street between Lansdowne Avenue and Manning Avenue, during either morning or afternoon rush hour, Monday to Friday. The applicable dates are April 19 - May 3 and June 14 - June 18. Participants must be 18 years or older. Below is a map of the area.

If you want to sign up, send an email to bikeplan[at]toronto.ca with "College Street Survey" in the subject line and the following information: your name, preferred email address for correspondence, and what section of College Street you cycle on. For more information, click here.

The Toronto Cycling Committee is a branch of Transportation Services and is the Committee at City Hall responsible for advising City Council and various departments, etc. on the "design, development and delivery of bicycle policies, programs and facilities to promote and enhance cycling within the City of Toronto".

To get monthly information about the Cycling Committee you can sign up for their newsletter called Cyclometer, which is how I found out about this survey.

The City has worked with the TCAC and CAP before to produce reports on such things as bike lanes, on-street parking, and the effects on business in the Bloor/Annex neighbourhood. You can download a copy of this report here, and I'll be posting on some of those issues in further entries.

Ride the City: Toronto

2010-03-21T18:07:00.017-04:00

There was news recently that Ride the City has come out with a Toronto edition. The idea behind this mapping site is to provide you with cycling directions from and to any destination of your choice. Just put in your starting place and destination and the site will generate directions and note whether there are any official bike lanes along the route. The idea behind the site is to provide you with a safe cycling route. In order to help make the directions better for users you can rate the route it gives you. I'm not sure how the site prioritizes its directions, but I suspect it's some mixture of finding safe routes with bike lanes and efficiency.

Creating Culture and Inviting the Use of Public Space

2010-03-21T11:16:00.019-04:00

A few days ago I watched a video of an excellent presentation given by Kristian S. Villadsen from Gehl Architects called Designing Streets as Public Spaces in Northern Climate Cities. The presentation was part of a conference held at McGill University and put on by the Montréal Urban Ecology Centre.

Gehl Architects is an urban planning and design consultancy firm located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded by Jan Gehl who wrote the classic Life Between Buildings, and whose work has inspired and influenced the redevelopment of Copenhagen towards a more pedestrian and cycling friendly city.

The video I found originally posted on copenhagenize.com, which I have come to learn is a term coined by Jan to describe the Copenhagenization of other cities.

What I found most interesting and inspiring about this presentation is the idea that a thriving pedestrian and cycling culture can be created by good urban design. While we might think that cities like Copenhagen have always been the cycling wonders that they are today, this video shows how it was a conscious effort to reclaim the streets and public spaces from cars and redesign them to promote their use by people. What this all means for Toronto is that a great cycling infrastructure is possible.

The video is about an hour long and well worth the watch.

Enjoy!