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Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

I noticed at Brunswick and Harbord the bike signals now activate at the same time as the pedestrian advance. Such a nice sight to finally see!

I did read somewhere that it's their intention to have that for all intersections with a bike lane and a pedestrian advance, but there's some barrier to rolling it out quickly across the city (as usual).
 
What I've noticed a lot of recently is bike couriers going the wrong way in a bike lane. I know they're just going half a block or whatever on the side of the street the restaurant they're accessing is on, but please get off your bike and walk it on the sidewalk rather than the wrong way in the bike lane. They're mostly too narrow for two-way traffic!
 
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On the Bloor/St. George intersection, I don't have the details, but I am told there will be work on the issue(s) this week.
Workers on site measuring this morning.

There are also now pylons with signs at every curb and neon paint denoting them.
 
I absolutely hate it. Those people piss me off.
In this case its weird, but for high traffic areas that have bike lanes like adelaide and richmond, running on the bike lane instead of being stuck behind people walking does kinda make sense to me, Even the MGT has some of this
 
Another thing I would like to get cyclist's opinion on is the idea of converting sidewalks into multiuse paths. Oakville just converted a stretch of sidewalk on North service road between Fourth Line and Dorval Rd into a multiuse path. I'm not an avid cyclist but this feels like a half measure way to accommodate cyclists. Seems like groups of pedestrians who take up the entire width of the path would force cyclists to have to go onto the grass.


They finished the project a couple weeks ago, and I took a photo of the path this morning. North Service Rd & Lindsay Dr.
OakvilleMultiUseLane.jpg

Also notice that work on Speers Rd from Dorval to Kerr St. has begun. They're preparing to move the hydro poles further back from the road. I'm assuming the separated bike paths on the western portion of Speers will be extended all the way to Kerr St from Dorval.
 
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Another thing I would like to get cyclist's opinion on is the idea of converting sidewalks into multi use paths. Oakville just converted a stretch of sidewalk on North service road between Fourth Line and Dorval Rd into a multi use path. I'm not an avid cyclist but this feels like a half measure way to accommodate cyclists. Seems like groups of pedestrians who take up the entire width of the path would force cyclists to have to go onto the grass.


They finished the project a couple weeks ago, and I took a photo of the path this morning. North Service Rd & Lindsay Dr.
View attachment 597096

Also notice that work on Speers Rd from Dorval to Kerr St. has begun. They're preparing to move the hydro poles further back from the road. I'm assuming the separated bike paths on the western portion of Speers will be extended all the way to Kerr St from Dorval.
Yea ive seen theese in Whitby too, Its just the lazy way of building bike lanes in suburbia.
Always making sure no car lanes are lost
 
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Another thing I would like to get cyclist's opinion on is the idea of converting sidewalks into multi use paths. Oakville just converted a stretch of sidewalk on North service road between Fourth Line and Dorval Rd into a multi use path. I'm not an avid cyclist but this feels like a half measure way to accommodate cyclists. Seems like groups of pedestrians who take up the entire width of the path would force cyclists to have to go onto the grass.


They finished the project a couple weeks ago, and I took a photo of the path this morning. North Service Rd & Lindsay Dr.
View attachment 597096

Also notice that work on Speers Rd from Dorval to Kerr St. has begun. They're preparing to move the hydro poles further back from the road. I'm assuming the separated bike paths on the western portion of Speers will be extended all the way to Kerr St from Dorval.

It depends how its done.

I dont mind if theres space for it to be right next to a sidewalk, and there is tar for the bikes and concrete for the pedestrians.

I also don't mind if its super wide, like a single lane road width.

Or, if there is a sidewalk on the other side of the street.

But this seems like its none of those, and so its pretty meh.
 
Not a cyclist, but just curious as to UT's opinion on people who use bike lanes for jogging?


In a suburb like you linked or wide lane area, I think it’s okay. There’s a myth that running on asphalt is easier on the knees than concrete (because technically asphalt is “softer”), so sometimes that's an influence. Sidewalks can be in worse shape than the shoulder of a road where bike lanes tend to be; the road usually doesn’t have potential tripping risks every few feet like a sidewalk might with uneven “slabs”. Years ago I ran with a group in Whitby and when in subdivisions we were always on the road, but there were few cars and nearly 0 cyclists, so I get it. Living in Toronto's west end, I find it rare to see anyone running in a bike lane, let alone on the road. If anything, I see more people cycling on the sidewalk
 
It depends how its done.

I dont mind if theres space for it to be right next to a sidewalk, and there is tar for the bikes and concrete for the pedestrians.

I also don't mind if its super wide, like a single lane road width.

Or, if there is a sidewalk on the other side of the street.

But this seems like its none of those, and so its pretty meh.
The multiuse path is noticeably wider than the sidewalk that was originally there. But it couldn't have been more than 2-3ft wider.
 
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Living in Toronto's west end, I find it rare to see anyone running in a bike lane, let alone on the road. If anything, I see more people cycling on the sidewalk
You will tend to see it when the sidewalks are very busy downtown. As far as dedicated cycle tracks go there aren’t many I’ve been on far in the west, but I occasionally see runners in cycle tracks on Queens Quay, Wellington, Sherbourne, Esplanade/Mill St.
 
Another thing I would like to get cyclist's opinion on is the idea of converting sidewalks into multiuse paths. Oakville just converted a stretch of sidewalk on North service road between Fourth Line and Dorval Rd into a multiuse path. I'm not an avid cyclist but this feels like a half measure way to accommodate cyclists. Seems like groups of pedestrians who take up the entire width of the path would force cyclists to have to go onto the grass.


They finished the project a couple weeks ago, and I took a photo of the path this morning. North Service Rd & Lindsay Dr.
View attachment 597096

Also notice that work on Speers Rd from Dorval to Kerr St. has begun. They're preparing to move the hydro poles further back from the road. I'm assuming the separated bike paths on the western portion of Speers will be extended all the way to Kerr St from Dorval.
I've seen this in Mississauga too.
 
Another thing I would like to get cyclist's opinion on is the idea of converting sidewalks into multiuse paths. Oakville just converted a stretch of sidewalk on North service road between Fourth Line and Dorval Rd into a multiuse path. I'm not an avid cyclist but this feels like a half measure way to accommodate cyclists. Seems like groups of pedestrians who take up the entire width of the path would force cyclists to have to go onto the grass.
You could also ring your bell instead of being forced to the grass.

I think multi use paths can be fine in Suburbia especially in areas with light foot traffic. A lot of novice riders might be biking on the sidewalk anyways.

And it seems they've also upgraded the crosswalk lines to signal a bike lane, and they added signs to yield to bikes.

In Toronto with heavy foot traffic in the ravines and waterfront, multiuse paths can be quite unusable for cyclists.
 
Workers on site measuring this morning.

There are also now pylons with signs at every curb and neon paint denoting them.
I mean, it's not like there aren't thousands of protected intersections in the world, and dozens in Canada. Seems like a very unfortunate miss.
Another thing I would like to get cyclist's opinion on is the idea of converting sidewalks into multiuse paths. Oakville just converted a stretch of sidewalk on North service road between Fourth Line and Dorval Rd into a multiuse path. I'm not an avid cyclist but this feels like a half measure way to accommodate cyclists. Seems like groups of pedestrians who take up the entire width of the path would force cyclists to have to go onto the grass.


They finished the project a couple weeks ago, and I took a photo of the path this morning. North Service Rd & Lindsay Dr.
View attachment 597096

Also notice that work on Speers Rd from Dorval to Kerr St. has begun. They're preparing to move the hydro poles further back from the road. I'm assuming the separated bike paths on the western portion of Speers will be extended all the way to Kerr St from Dorval.

Usually these are accompanied with a centre line and a sign asking users to keep to the right in the direction of travel. Generally these MUPs are fairly low traffic so conflicts are not too bad. Just ring your bell and pass at a reasonable speed. I find I only have to go off the sidewalk on concrete sidewalks (I ride on sidewalks for short stretches between proper bike infrastructure), and in those cases I defer to pedestrians and will ride off the sidewalk when passing. The MUPs are wide enough that this is not necessary.
 
Yea ive seen theese in Whitby too, Its just the lazy way of building bike lanes in suburbia.
Always making sure no car lanes are lost
I'd say they are generally superior to painted bicycle gutters as they provide more protection. Most roads in the suburbs are way too fast moving (>50kph speed) for cyclists to feel secure in a painted bike lane without curb protection. Even where there is curb protection, it usually disappears at intersections where most collisions happen anyway. So MUPs are far safer than on-street bike lanes. The gold standard would be separated bicycle lanes with protected intersections and dedicated pedestrian sidewalk.
 

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