Ride for Jarvis, Ride for Toronto

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.

Save Jarvis Bike Lanes!

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.

Video: Bicycle Tickets for Legal Cycling?!

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.

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

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.  

City of Toronto 2010 Bicycle Count Summary

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

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

Bike lanes in Montreal

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.

First Toronto Mayoral Debate

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".

Roads should be used for the movement of people not cars

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.

Bike lanes or On-Street Parking?

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

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

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

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

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!