The Star: Jarvis St. must change with evolving environs

[WeirdFishes]

It is also about safety. Below is some well know info from the net. Bike lanes will only be good for the city. I say add them on all roads. I drive and would prefer it. Better than waiting behind a bike, holding up traffic, and causing issues trying to get around the bikes.

Bike lanes help define road space, decrease the stress level of bicyclists riding in traffic, encourage bicyclists to ride in the correct direction of travel, and signal motorists that cyclists have a right to the road. Bike lanes help to better organize the flow of traffic and reduce the chance that motorists will stray into cyclists’ path of travel. Bicyclists have stated their preference for marked on-street bicycle lanes in numerous surveys. In addition, several real-time studies (where cyclists of varying abilities and backgrounds ride and assess actual routes and street conditions) have found that cyclists are more comfortable and assess a street as having a better level of service for them where there are marked bike lanes present.

In summary, bike lanes do the following:

- support and encourage bicycling as a means of transportation;
- help define road space;
- promote a more orderly flow of traffic;
- encourage bicyclists to ride in the correct direction, with the flow of traffic;
- give bicyclists a clear place to be so they are not tempted to ride on the sidewalk;
- remind motorists to look for cyclists when turning or opening car doors;
- signal motorists that cyclists have a right to the road;
- reduce the chance that motorists will stray into cyclists’ path of travel;
- make it less likely that passing motorists swerve toward opposing traffic;
- decrease the stress level of bicyclists riding in traffic.

Well-designed facilities encourage proper behavior and decrease the likelihood of crashes. Numerous studies have shown that bicycle lanes improve safety and promote proper riding behavior.

The addition of bicycle lanes in Davis, California reduced crashes by 31 percent.

Bicycle lanes on a major avenue in Eugene, Oregon resulted in an increase in bicycle use and a substantial reduction in the bicycle crash rate. The crash rate per 100,000 bike miles fell by almost half and the motor vehicle crash rate also fell significantly.

When the city of Corvallis, OR installed 13 miles of bicycle lanes in one year, the number of bicycle crashes fell from 40 in the year prior to the installation to just 16 in the year afterwards, and of the 5 crashes that occurred on streets with bike lanes, all involved bicyclists riding at night with no lights.9
In Chicago, Illinois, crash severity was reduced in one study of marking bike lanes in a narrow cross section where 5 foot bike lanes were marked next to 7 foot parking lanes

In Denmark, bicycle lanes reduced the number of bicycle crashes by 35 percent.11 Some of the bike lanes reached risk reductions of 70 to 80 percent.

A comparison of crash rates of all types in major cities has shown that cities with higher bicycle use have lower traffic crash rates of all types than cities with lower bicycle use.

In a national study comparing streets with bike lanes and those without, several important observations were made:14
Wrong-way riding was significantly lower on the streets with bike lanes.
In approaching intersections, 15% of cyclists on streets without bike lanes rode on the sidewalks, vs. 3% on the streets with bike lanes.
On streets with bike lanes, 81% of cyclists obeyed stop signs, vs. 55% on streets without.

 

[Tewder]

I would agree that safety is extremely important and that's why I would prefer to see a bike route mapped out on side streets rather than on main arteries.

Bike lanes are good where possible of course but so many of Toronto's inner-city roadways are quite small that taking the space required for a bike lane in each direction would be creating serious bottlenecks in traffic. Don't forget lanes for buses and taxis, and streetcar right-of-ways too.

 

[confusion]

Bike lanes need to be on main routes because cyclists are like pedestrians. The traffic is already there.

Since it is additional human powered effort to take those side streets, you're just wasting infrastructure money by putting the bike lanes there, when they are needed on the main routes. People will always go for the path of least resistance.

 

[Tewder]

Ideally this side street route would be a convenient alternative to the main arteries, not requiring a cyclist to go out of their way. Besides, I know lots of people in the city who would love to ride their bike now and then but who are scared to death of the trafftic, not to mention the pollution and exhaust. I don't blame them, and I would think that a well signed and published route would be a pleasure to use, and infrastructure could be added in parts to increase connectivity and fill in gaps etc.

 

[TKTKTK]

Bike lanes need to be on main routes because cyclists are like pedestrians. The traffic is already there.

Actually, they're exactly like vehicles.

Since it is additional human powered effort to take those side streets, you're just wasting infrastructure money by putting the bike lanes there, when they are needed on the main routes. People will always go for the path of least resistance.

Absolutely, which is why putting bicycle lanes on smaller routes that run very close to the main routes is a good idea. If cyclists want to continue biking on the more major street (say, Bloor over Charles/Harbord) they can, but the path of least resistance will be available one block over.

 

[Tewder]

I heard recently that part of the city's budget goes to ensuring that bike lanes are kept clear in the winter? Does anybody else find this to be ridiculous? I'd love to know how much Torontonians are paying so that three people can ride to work in the winter in any weather condition. Sigh, this is what's wrong with the city and why it is always crying poverty. Revenues are not the city's problem, the choice of expenditures is.

 

[realtycoon]

I heard recently that part of the city's budget goes to ensuring that bike lanes are kept clear in the winter? Does anybody else find this to be ridiculous? I'd love to know how much Torontonians are paying so that three people can ride to work in the winter in any weather condition. Sigh, this is what's wrong with the city and why it is always crying poverty. Revenues are not the city's problem, the choice of expenditures is.

I totally agree....

The infrastructure spending should be spent towards roads and transit (Light rail and subways) that would serve the greatest number of people.

 

[Tewder]

The thing I find more alarming is that some individuals expect this kind of preferential funding.

 

[Archivist]

Preferential funding? How about extending the 427 into the Greenbelt, something I think is completely contrary to several of the province's stated goals. That, I consider preferential funding, benefiting primarily the developers of virgin land.

We can all play the preferential funding game if you like.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I heard recently that part of the city's budget goes to ensuring that bike lanes are kept clear in the winter?

Meanwhile the city refuses to plow backyard laneways, even though this is the preferred design today for lowrise housing, with parking in the back. In Cabbagetown there are laneways that haven't been plowed all winter, and when called on it, the city says their priorities are elsewhere....

 

[junctionist]

What's wrong with plowing bike lanes? Not only is it a good idea given that cyclists are the most vulnerable users of the road, without cleared lanes, cyclists in the winter have to ride in a position where it's impossible for cars to pass them. The city sadly doesn't even clear all the bike lanes.

I totally agree....

The infrastructure spending should be spent towards roads and transit (Light rail and subways) that would serve the greatest number of people.

People choose to ride bikes and deserve some infrastructure as well, particularly as painting lines and plowing a little bit more of the road costs a tiny fraction of any new transit project.

 

[Archivist]

Bike lanes are also used by pedestrians taking a stroll. They encourage active living.

I would have no problem with the city plowing back lanes. Such things don't come free of course, and it is refreshing to see Admiral Beez calling for a more activist role for our municipal government and for the higher taxes that would be required for this to occur. Perhaps the most appropriate method to accomplish the new levy would be a back-lane service fee tax added on to the property taxes of those who have a back lane.

 

[Mustapha]

Meanwhile the city refuses to plow backyard laneways, even though this is the preferred design today for lowrise housing, with parking in the back. In Cabbagetown there are laneways that haven't been plowed all winter, and when called on it, the city says their priorities are elsewhere....

Talk to someone in a department that has some authority. The laneways NW of Yonge and Lawrence are plowed and salted.

 

[TKTKTK]

Bike lanes are also used by pedestrians taking a stroll. They encourage active living.

I would have no problem with the city plowing back lanes. Such things don't come free of course, and it is refreshing to see Admiral Beez calling for a more activist role for our municipal government and for the higher taxes that would be required for this to occur. Perhaps the most appropriate method to accomplish the new levy would be a back-lane service fee tax added on to the property taxes of those who have a back lane.

And a bicycle license fee could cover bicycle infrastructure

 

[lordmandeep]

and somehow the licensing scheme to collect the money will cost much more then it actually makes ^^^