Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

[Tuscani01]

Memo to "Eglinton Connects" design people.
Do we really need all those Bike lanes, really?
Today, a beautiful early afternoon July day, I drove Eglinton Avenue from Bathurst to Leslie. I know the Cyclists lobby will set their hair on fire again as they do every time evidence counter to their vision of the world is presented but here is the score, 2 cyclists, hundreds of motor vehicles. The 2 cyclists were encountered between Avenue Rd and Mount Pleasant Rd, the section where you planned an equal number of lanes for cyclists and motor vehicles).
Bathurst to Avenue Rd and Mount Pleasant to Leslie Street were entirely Cyclist free.

As a driver, I would say yes, we do need more bike lanes. The only time I use my Bixi membership is if I am going to a place that is connected to my home by bike lanes. I would bike a lot more, as would many other drivers, if more bike lanes existed. It's the only thing holding people like me back from cycling. I do not feel safe on Eglinton as it exists today and wouldn't even consider cycling along it. Put in a bike lane, and I will be the first to hang up my keys and use a bike.

 

[ehlow]

As a driver, I would say yes, we do need more bike lanes. The only time I use my Bixi membership is if I am going to a place that is connected to my home by bike lanes. I would bike a lot more, as would many other drivers, if more bike lanes existed. It's the only thing holding people like me back from cycling. I do not feel safe on Eglinton as it exists today and wouldn't even consider cycling along it. Put in a bike lane, and I will be the first to hang up my keys and use a bike.

I think bixi would work well in a neighbourhood like Yonge & Eg, since people could bike to the subway stop to reduce the "last mile" problem, expanding the catchment area of the subway station.

 

[BurlOak]

Memo to "Eglinton Connects" design people.
Do we really need all those Bike lanes, really?
Today, a beautiful early afternoon July day, I drove Eglinton Avenue from Bathurst to Leslie.

I think you were supposed to drive up to 401 and then back down on Leslie. Eglinton Connects said that nobody goes straight through Yonge and that why traffic volumes drop off so significantly in the section between Avenue and Mt. Pleasant.

 

[junctionist]

Bike lanes will be useful on Eglinton. The street will be revitalized and people will bike to the strip, LRT stations and for new trips that were previously unimaginable in Scarborough because of a lack of bike lanes. People moving into condos will be more likely to bike.

A lot of people bike in Scarborough--mostly on sidewalks. It isn't a good situation, and bike lanes will address it.

 

[BurlOak]

But tell me ... how would you improve the 2031 travel time if you don't build LRT?

How about frequent and integrated GO service from Agincourt.

 

[spider]

I'll ask spider: do you really care about >10 years later? Are you sure you'll be driving at Yonge & Eg regularly that far in the future?

Yes I do care even though I am pretty sure that I won't be allowed to drive anywhere in 10 years. I care because the bike lanes are a terrible waste of money tossed onto the pyre of trendy political correctness.

While I have pen in hand I have a question. Ever notice that the cycling proponents always use the singular rather than plural when describing their activities, It is always "I" do this and don't do that, never "we". I think it is safe to say that most of our society lives and thinks as groups such as families. I will be more inclined towards a need for bike lanes if projected usage were couched in terms such as "my wife and the children" would love to mount our 4 or 5 bikes and pedal off to the grocery store or a movie.

 

[WislaHD]

Having said that, those who hate LRT would probably hate BRT too, since it's the same thing, it's transit lanes on the road.

Yah, but its a form of RT (which is needed on Sheppard) and it is much cheaper.

If they don't want LRTs then they can have BRTs and we can throw the money somewhere that needs and wants it. We could do the entire WWLRT with the money from SELRT.

Let's be honest here, the major reason Sheppard is a topic is because of political reasons and the current stub of a subway those political concerns produced. The area east of Victoria Park is low density and it has a massive highway running alongside the entirety of it. Connecting bus routes from the north do not have high ridership by the time they reach Sheppard and bus routes from the south can save time and a transfer by going to Eglinton. The currently planned B-D expansion would dilute peak-hour ridership by changing ridership patterns to be multi-directional. If the 2031 studies show that Sheppard East has barely enough peak hour ridership to justify LRT when ridership is all heading to Don Mills, then a BRT can support a multi-directional travel pattern on Sheppard no problem. Lastly there would be no destinations/trip-generators on Sheppard East besides the interchange stations.

There are other routes in the city where investing in rapid transit makes much more sense. Waterfront West, the SRT, DRL phase 1, DRL phase 2a and 2b, FWLRT, Kingston BRT, various GO projects and even an argument could be had for Eglinton West.

If the residents of Sheppard East don't want the LRT, then boo hoo. Lets use the money elsewhere.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Having said that, those who hate LRT would probably hate BRT too, since it's the same thing, it's transit lanes on the road.

Clearly you haven't met some of the LRT haters I know.

 

[nfitz]

How about frequent and integrated GO service from Agincourt.

It's the east-west traffic that was the problem. Great for someone who is close to Agincourt, and it helps a bit. And I suppose the Sheppard/McCowan subway station would help some too. But none of these are moving people east-west along Sheppard ... they are primarily moving people further south. Those who have to move east-west are going to be stuck in gridlock.

Perhaps revised modelling would be of use.

 

[andrewpmk]

Memo to "Eglinton Connects" design people.
Do we really need all those Bike lanes, really?
Today, a beautiful early afternoon July day, I drove Eglinton Avenue from Bathurst to Leslie. I know the Cyclists lobby will set their hair on fire again as they do every time evidence counter to their vision of the world is presented but here is the score, 2 cyclists, hundreds of motor vehicles. The 2 cyclists were encountered between Avenue Rd and Mount Pleasant Rd, the section where you planned an equal number of lanes for cyclists and motor vehicles).
Bathurst to Avenue Rd and Mount Pleasant to Leslie Street were entirely Cyclist free.

The number of people riding bikes in the whole area near Yonge/Eglinton is a rounding error, marginally higher than zero, and that is in the summer. Riding a bike in Toronto is simply too dangerous with or without "bike lanes". Luckily there are two municipal elections between now and 2020, so Eglinton Connects will probably get killed once John Tory becomes mayor and if somehow Olivia Chow wins then she will probably be so unpopular that she will lose in 2018. The insane price tag will ensure that this gets killed if nothing else.

The bike advocates make the same claim that the Gardiner teardown advocates make: they claim that the section of Eglinton near Yonge is underused and the section of Gardiner east of Jarvis is underused. Which is sort of true, but those sections still have plenty of traffic, and building even more condos near Yonge/Eglinton and building a proposed office development near the Gardiner/DVP interchange will make these roads much busier. Deliberately reducing road capacity in a city that has some of the worst traffic in a developed country is a terrible idea, time and time again we see that doing this just makes traffic worse and worse. Never mind that Lawrence and St. Clair have gaps in them so it isn't like there are a whole lot of alternatives for drivers to avoid this stretch of Eglinton. Narrowing Eglinton will simply cause 24/7 traffic jams and ensure that the LRT is even more overcrowded that it would be otherwise.

 

[nfitz]

The number of people riding bikes in the whole area near Yonge/Eglinton is a rounding error, marginally higher than zero, and that is in the summer. Riding a bike in Toronto is simply too dangerous with or without "bike lanes".

That comment is just absurd. Just pop on over Google Streetview, check out May 2013, and you'll see that there's bikes chained to every available object at the Yonge-Eglinton intersection, and no where else left to put them.

And then come back here and apologize for posting such blatant lies.

Here's June 2012 (most recent available) at Duplex and Eglinton:

 

[howl]

Memo to "Eglinton Connects" design people.
Do we really need all those Bike lanes, really?
Today, a beautiful early afternoon July day, I drove Eglinton Avenue from Bathurst to Leslie. I know the Cyclists lobby will set their hair on fire again as they do every time evidence counter to their vision of the world is presented but here is the score, 2 cyclists, hundreds of motor vehicles. The 2 cyclists were encountered between Avenue Rd and Mount Pleasant Rd, the section where you planned an equal number of lanes for cyclists and motor vehicles).
Bathurst to Avenue Rd and Mount Pleasant to Leslie Street were entirely Cyclist free.

You should go stand at the corner of College and Bathurst at 5:30pm on any weekday and then tell me if bike lanes attract bike riders or not.

 

[BurlOak]

You should go stand at the corner of College and Bathurst at 5:30pm on any weekday and then tell me if bike lanes attract bike riders or not.

So if College and Bathurst has a lot of bike that means we need bike lanes on Eglinton.

There is a lot of traffic on Highway 401, maybe we should build a free-way from Cochrane to Moosonee.

 

[robmausser]

The number of people riding bikes in the whole area near Yonge/Eglinton is a rounding error, marginally higher than zero, and that is in the summer. Riding a bike in Toronto is simply too dangerous with or without "bike lanes". .

Wow, the last time I saw blind ignorance like this was in a church!

There are bikers EVERYWHERE right now in Toronto. I live near Yonge/Eglinton and during rush hour its bike city.

 

[WislaHD]

You also have to keep in mind that biking on Eglinton can be dangerous and most people elect to bike on Soudan, Roehampton or Broadway.

A bike lane would change things. Anyway this backwards thinking when it comes to street use in North America is dumb. I am currently in Europe and there are bike lanes on all major city roads here.