spider
Senior Member
90+ cars, 0 bikes.
In locations deemed to be heavily used bike routes.
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General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)
- Thread starter rp07
- Start date
In locations deemed to be heavily used bike routes.
spider
Senior Member
Winter cyclists are like UFO sightings, very rare and almost always reported by enthusiasts.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
what? While cycling certainly drops in the winter significantly, its not like it goes away completely. There are always a couple of cyclists around town, even in the winter.
LNahid2000
Senior Member
There's no point even responding to spider. He makes these same posts every year.
spider
Senior Member
Yes, and he is right every year.
reaperexpress
Senior Member
I know it's bad to respond to trolls but I feel like pointing out a couple things here.
1. Until this year, the city made basically zero effort to maintain the bicycle infrastructure during winter. Therefore cycling was orders of magnitude more scary/unattractive than it is during the warmer months. Even if we assume that they did a good job clearing the downtown network, this has only been the first year where winter cycling has been practical, so it's not surprising we have yet to see much of an increase in it. Just like every other transport service/infrastructure, it takes time to build ridership.
2. Wellesley street is still under construction. Until I saw these very pictures, I would not even consider it while bicycling downtown because it was a massive construction mess. I'm sure plenty of other people are still avoiding it too.
nfitz
Superstar
Good grief, do you really think that bike lanes on Wellesley will not be used? Wellesley! You can't conclude that from a few pictures shot in the middle of the winter, during construction.
Just go take a look at Google Streetview. You see bikes there when it's not the middle of winter.
And the other picture was of Sherbourne.
Surely you've stood on Sherbourne Street ... it's bloody dangerous trying to catch a bus, with all the bikes whizzing past (when it's not the middle of winter), down that new bike lane that's already completed! Or do you deny their existence?
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UserNameToronto
Active Member
Random interjection:
I found the extra money the City spent this year on clearing bike lanes to be very noticeable. I cycled to work in the core nearly every day this winter and I'm not a very hardy cyclist at all.
It was possible for me because the Sherbourne bike track and the Shuter bike lanes were cleared and salted several times per day. On the worst days I still saw a few other cyclists. 85% of the time the road was dry and clear; 10% wet and clear; 5% some snow; never really any ice. Even going slowly and cautiously it cut my 30-40 minute TTC trip in half.
Apart from the advanced snow clearing I found having good bright lights, wearing a toque under my helmet, and having a utility bike with protected brakes and drivetrain were the key factors. I saved about 2-3 hours per week & hundreds of dollars on TTC tokens.
I found the extra money the City spent this year on clearing bike lanes to be very noticeable. I cycled to work in the core nearly every day this winter and I'm not a very hardy cyclist at all.
It was possible for me because the Sherbourne bike track and the Shuter bike lanes were cleared and salted several times per day. On the worst days I still saw a few other cyclists. 85% of the time the road was dry and clear; 10% wet and clear; 5% some snow; never really any ice. Even going slowly and cautiously it cut my 30-40 minute TTC trip in half.
Apart from the advanced snow clearing I found having good bright lights, wearing a toque under my helmet, and having a utility bike with protected brakes and drivetrain were the key factors. I saved about 2-3 hours per week & hundreds of dollars on TTC tokens.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Most bicycle lanes and paths have been cleared of snow by now... by the sun and higher temperatures.
spider
Senior Member
wopchop
Building Toronto
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.667049,-79.374702,3a,39.6y,232.85h,85.62t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1so8MGDWixsIkTRGjeQLhO9A!2e0!5s20140601T000000
This game can go on and doesn't prove or disprove anything, at is is not scientific at all.
Even in your link (june 2014), if you turn the camera around, you can see 2 cyclists behind the TTC bus. I also see 1 cyclist north and 1 cyclist south of the intersection on Sherbourne.
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nfitz
Superstar
No bikes in that very short block that way, but if you turn around, you can see two coming towards you, behind the bus.
Not sure your point ... I go down the street a bit and I can see more bikes than there are cars on Wellesley!
LNahid2000
Senior Member
Therefore, there are always more bikes than cars.
UserNameToronto
Active Member
The bike lanes are clear now. But they were also clear, on my route at least, all through the winter too.
spaced
Active Member
Maybe it has something to do with the giant signs that say "BICYCLE LANE CLOSED".