General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

[W. K. Lis]

Muddy York. The name given to Toronto before it was a city because it's streets were rivers of mud. There were early bikes by about 1818, but it really took off with the penny farthing by 1871. Toronto didn't become a city until 1877, six years after.

However, the bicycle had a problem with Toronto's roads, the mud. To accommodate the bicycle, the streets had to be paved. They did. Now at least after a rain, the roads were not quagmires. Remember the heavy rains, thank the bicycle for getting them paved as protection against the rain.

Unfortunately, the first patents for a kind of automobile started appearing by 1879. By 1895, the automobile industry was growing. And with the automobile, they found a ready made accommodation for them in the form of paved roads. The automobile took over the roads from the bicycle.

Now the bicycle wants back a share of the paved roads from the automoible. Seems only right, it was the bicycle that got them paved in the first place.

 

[gboykovekin]

This is from New York city, i dont think it would be any different on this side of the border.

Study Says Cyclists Ignore Traffic Laws

29.3% did not use the designated lane when there was one.

Cyclists are not required to use the bikelane for a myriad of obvious reasons (turning, passing, obstacles, bad surfaces, etc.); many drivers are clueless to this.

 

[typezed]

Licensing, like helmet laws, will only discourage people from using bicycles. Bikes will never be lowered from the garage rafters, summer after summer. This culling of the bike mobs may be what is truly desired by the many who view automobiles as the natural way of getting around for grownups. When all those who don't want the hassle of registering and paying fees to do something as simple as ride a bike decide to let their hubs rust then only the spandex set will be seen riding bikes. Then infrastructure to accommodate cycling can be further ignored because cycling will be viewed as the weekend hobby of a small subculture.

We're already drowning in rules that are rarely enforced. There's nothing now stopping the authorities from ticketing adults riding recklessly on busy downtown sidewalks or running red lights or riding on the wrong side of the street. I see these things happening all the time - if I had the authority I could be handing out tickets several times an hour. While they're writing those tickets maybe they could write a few for drivers parking in bike lanes, just to be fair. If they actively attack the problem with the discretion police now have and there still exists a large problem of ignoring the rules, then come talk to us about licensing.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Seems like tic for tac.

We should ticket and fine these clowns for obstructing bike lanes.

 

[gboykovekin]

^ Although parking is not allowed in bike lanes, stopping may be allowed if there's no signage deeming otherwise (and if the driver is letting off passengers). Also, turning vehicles are allowed in the bike lane when making a turn and cyclists should therefore pass on the left.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I most often see cabs, delivery vehicles and courier trucks blocking bike lanes. We need physical barriers separating bike lanes from traffic lanes to prevent this and of course for safety reasons.

Imagine how many people would take up cycling if they actually felt safe navigating in protected cycling lanes?

 

[vic]

^ Although parking is not allowed in bike lanes, stopping may be allowed if there's no signage deeming otherwise (and if the driver is letting off passengers). Also, turning vehicles are allowed in the bike lane when making a turn and cyclists should therefore pass on the left.

Some bike lanes may seem to allow stopping due to incorrect / missing signs. Even so, the motorist would not be permitted to enter the bike lane in the first place.

"A motorist may ONLY enter a bicycle lane in order to enter or exit a private driveway; to enter or exit a curb lane used for parking; to drop off or pick up disabled persons as defined in the Highway Traffic Act; or to make a right turn at a road intersecting a bicycle lane."
(Toronto Municipal Code, s.194-4)"
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/pdf/bikelane.pdf

I do agree that motorists should merge into the bike lane when making a right turn, and that cyclists should only pass on the left when motorists are turning right.

 

[TOareaFan]

CFTO (is it still called that?) had a piece on their late news last night about how saddly underused bike lanes in Toronto are. I really don't have an opinion on this subject so it does not matter to me but the figures were astounding and they had film crews at a lot of locations showing (well not showing) the bike traffic.

In a very interesting piece of script writing they closed the piece with a statement telling the massive amounts of money the city plans to spend in the next few years building more of them.....leaving, I am sure, opponents of bike lanes (and some neutrals) shaking their head over the juxtaposition of a lack of use and further spending.

 

[kettal]

The report was almost exclusively about Scarborough. They mention that the inner city has very heavily used bike lanes; but anyone who has been downtown in the past 3 years already knows that.

And the best interviewee the reporter could find was a shirtless guy in a vinyl house declaring it a waste of money. Great.

You can watch it here just click on Monday and fast forward 12:00 minutes.

 

[W. K. Lis]

CFTO (is it still called that?) had a piece on their late news last night about how saddly underused bike lanes in Toronto are. I really don't have an opinion on this subject so it does not matter to me but the figures were astounding and they had film crews at a lot of locations showing (well not showing) the bike traffic.

In a very interesting piece of script writing they closed the piece with a statement telling the massive amounts of money the city plans to spend in the next few years building more of them.....leaving, I am sure, opponents of bike lanes (and some neutrals) shaking their head over the juxtaposition of a lack of use and further spending.

The first phase of the Gardiner Expressway opened to traffic from the Humber to Jameson on August 8, 1958. I was a kid back then. However, I was able to, on weekends, walk (not run) across the Gardiner Expressway. Of course, back then there was nothing to do downtown, especially on Sundays, so traffic was not there. It did grow in volume over the years. Wouldn't recommend doing that these days, even with the traffic jams.

It will take a while for bicycles to adapt to bicycle lanes, as people learn they get exercise and can save money doing so.

 

[doady]

As I have advocated in several cycling related threads I think all cyclists in Toronto should be tested, and licensed if they pass the exam. This would create jobs and income for the City not to mention education that is sorely lacking. Police would issue tickets for any infractions just the same as for vehicles. It's a jungle out there, some civility is needed and this might just help.

Hmm... there isn't any civility at all among cyclists? Cyclists are just a bunch of savages to you? So some cyclists diregard the rules so what? Plenty of car drivers disregard the rules as well and drive recklessly.

 

[W. K. Lis]

What is the current school policy in Toronto towards students using their bicycles going to school? Are there bicycle racks, or do they only allow them to be locked to a fence?

What about high school students using their cars to get to school? Are students allowed to park their cars on school property? With student TTC tickets and passes, why would parking be available?

What got me thinking was this article from Streetsburg Los Angeles:

Streetsblog.net Back-to-School Season Brings Bike-to-School Bans

by Brad Aaron on August 20, 2009

As schools across the country open their doors for another year, Robert Ping of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership says students are increasingly facing "bans" against walking and biking to campus. Network member BikePortland.org reports:

"It’s pervasive throughout the country and we’re hearing about it more and more,” [Ping] said. The problem, according to Ping, is that many school principals and administrators feel that biking and walking to school is simply unsafe. They are concerned about being held liable for anything that happens during the trip to and/or from school.

In addition to studying the current scope of the problem, the Safe Routes National Partnership is putting together a team of legal experts who will craft a legal statement directed at school principals, outlining why improving biking and walking options will not increase their liability exposure. They hope the legal statement will also help allay the fears that lead to bike ban policies in the first place.​

Though, as Ping points out, principals can't actually stop students from walking and biking, they can use their influence to discourage it. Administrators can also deny students a decent place to store their bikes during the school day. But if the issue is safety and liability, what about those high school parking lots?

Ping said one safe routes advocate he heard from countered a bike ban in their community by asking the principal whether or not he felt liable for kids who drive to school. “That’s a great way to push back on this idea.”
​

As a kid, I either took the TTC or walked to school. My own kids, either took the school bus or walked to elementary school, or took the TTC or walked to high school. College or university was the TTC for me and later my own children.

Nobody used the car to take the kids to school, or took the car to school.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Hmm... there isn't any civility at all among cyclists? Cyclists are just a bunch of savages to you? So some cyclists diregard the rules so what? Plenty of car drivers disregard the rules as well and drive recklessly.

First, I am an avid cyclist. Despite being diagnosed with serious osteoporosis in my spine last winter I made the decision early summer to continue cycling despite the potential risk because I love it and missed it. I cycle for pleasure (along the trails) and as a means of getting to where I need to go from about March to October, I don't cycle in the winter.
That said, yes, there is civility among cyclists. I'm guessing 30-40% of riders obey the rules of the road, cycle safely and use hand signals. The rest generally ride with some degree of abandon from minor violations to downright insane!
Just because some drivers disregard rules of the road and drive recklessly doesn't give license for cyclists to do the same, at least vehicles have a form of training, licensing and enforcement. Cyclists do not.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Martin Goodman Trail - Ontario Place

Waterfront Toronto Opens Martin Goodman Trail at Ontario Place

The newly revitalized stretch of the Martin Goodman Trail at Ontario Place is now open for public use. The revamped 1.3 kilometre section of trail is a critical component of the approximately 56 kilometre Martin Goodman Trail that runs along Toronto’s waterfront and offers an important opportunity for alternative modes of travel across the waterfront.

Designed by leading landscape architects Janet Rosenberg & Associates, the new and improved stretch of multi-use trail runs parallel to Lakeshore Boulevard through Ontario Place from Marilyn Bell Park to Coronation Park at Strachan Avenue.

Giving people more access to the waterfront is a key priority for Waterfront Toronto which has already made a number of improvements to the Martin Goodman Trail. Earlier enhancements include extending the trail from Lakeshore Boulevard East to Commissioners Street in the Port Lands and significant improvements through Marilyn Bell Park from Jameson Avenue to Ontario Drive.

Waterfront Toronto is planning to officially open the newly revitalized trail at Ontario Place on Saturday, September 19 at 12:30 p.m. More information coming soon.

Source

 

[TOareaFan]

The report was almost exclusively about Scarborough. They mention that the inner city has very heavily used bike lanes; but anyone who has been downtown in the past 3 years already knows that.

That was not my recollection of the report so I thank you for the link that gave me chance to watch it again. Either you gave a different link from what you saw or the above is just simply not correct.

While the story is filed from a fully empty bike lane in Scarborough...they do point out right at the onset that they looked for users of bike lanes in different parts of the city and looked from the ground and the air....the story was not about Scarborough it was just filed from there (not surprising given the location of CFTO's studios)........and no where do they mention that the inner city lanes are heavily used. There is a bike advocate who justifies the future spending of an additional $70 million by saying that the new money will be focused in core where there is the best hope to get value for the money....but no one in this storey (not even the bike advocate) says there are any lanes that are heavily used. The closest anyone comes is a city councillor who says that 1 million people ride a bike somewhere in Toronto at some time in a year.....but that does not mean in a bike lane nor does it mean regularly.

Like I said, I could care less one way or the other but it does no debate any good to mis-state facts....especially when you post a link to a source that does not support those "facts"

And the best interviewee the reporter could find was a shirtless guy in a vinyl house declaring it a waste of money. Great.

So, only taxpayers who wear shirts 100% of the time and live in condos or brick houses are allowed to have opinions on how their tax dollars are spent? Was the other interview with the fully clothed gentleman in the seemingly nice car more valuable?