Keep bike lanes off busy streets

Bicycle plans on Bloor Danforth started to ignite a controversial debate at City Hall last week. The proposed 24km would go through several neighbourhoods and business communities all the way from Scarborough to Etobicoke and already two of Toronto’s leading mayoralty candidates, George Smitherman and Rocco Rossi, have expressed some serious concerns about it.

The city is moving forward and is currently looking for a third party to conduct an environmental assessment, at which point further public discussions, the measurement of traffic patterns and reports on on-street parking will begin. A massive under-taking and one that, I believe, will be very expensive to the taxpayer.

Its impact is huge. Certainly I hope the city pays very close attention to the Business Improvement Associations and business owners along this corridor. It was interesting that I had one business owner on March 19th come up to me in Greektown right after I exited the Chester subway. He was very concerned that this had been discussed and he felt that, despite what he and many others say, that the plan will go-ahead. It was at that point that I decided that I would write about this issue.

As I said in my last piece, I am not anti-bicycle. I just believe the bicycle plan needs to be looked at more closely in the sense that lanes shouldn’t be placed on such busy arterials. The other consideration the city needs to figure out is how urgent is the expense? I’ve learned that the Toronto Bike Plans figures prominently in the city budget. I understand that it received an increase in funding in 2009 to $8 million and a commitment of $70 million to fund the Bike Network in the 2009 to 2010 capital plan. I believe the multi-million dollar backlog of road and sewer repairs warrants a higher priority on this.

Can we somehow encourage and put more emphasis on bicycle use in a secondary plan, which involves our excellent and beautiful ravine system? For example, in East York, there are many entries into Taylor Creek Park and the Don Valley for cyclists to ride downtown with no worry of passing cars within a few feet of them.

As a regular and frequent visitor to Greektown, I can tell you that the area at many times during the day and evening is congested. A lane in that area will just divert the cars on to Broadview and along O’Connor Drive in East York or on to the east/west arterials south of Danforth. Ultimately it will just add more travel time, and yes, more pollution in the air. What impact will gridlock do to the business community in Greektown, which has become very well known to have an excellent selection of restaurants? What will it do to customer parking? I believe it will cause a huge impact.

One of Danforth’s most well known retailers, Saul Korman, who’s had his business, Korry’s Clothiers, for 56 years, told me that approximately 50,000 cars drive by the Danforth over a 24-hour period. He noted to me that a very significant number isn’t local traffic either. “People with bikes don’t come to the Danforth to buy suits or groceries,” he said. “I’m not against bikes but it’s not the right street for this.”

Councillor Case Ootes who represents Ward 29 rightly noted that the thought of cyclists biking from Scarborough to downtown Toronto is incredibly small.

Cycling is also not the popular mode of transportation during the winter especially if we have snow on the ground.

The other important point is that we have a subway operating along the same route directly below from one end of the city to the other.

Again, as I said in my last piece, this comes down to spending and figuring out what core services require attention. Given the financial state of the city, I say we can’t afford this now.

I expect my piece to ignite a further discussion but at the end of the day perhaps if we’re giving so much of the road to cyclists, then perhaps it does warrant a debate to have bikes licensed in the city. Councillor Michael Walker recently made this point and it should be discussed sooner rather than later. Another topic for another day.

About Justin Van Dette

Comments

[Patrick]

"The other important point is that we have a subway operating along the same route directly below from one end of the city to the other"

Aside from all the other irrelevant arguments pointed out, this is by far the weakest. This line of reasoning suggests that cyclists should take the subway but drivers of automobiles should not. Bicycles NEED to be incorporated into the way we travel in the city. This obstinante fight against bike lanes is nothing more than projection of anxiety onto the subjects whom this debate concerns. Vancouver, Montreal and Copenhagen are models Toronto SHOULD strive for. Limiting access to major roads only adds to the problem of cyclists making illegal manueveres to get where they need to go.

[TdB]

So, if the user of a road isn't buying things in the area, then modifications appropriate to their mode of transportation aren't necessary? Excuse me? Roads are for transportation, not for pandering to demographics with money to burn. Moreover, why isn't the privatization movement not clamouring for more privately operated parking lots? Why are these people parking on public streets, thereby taking away two lanes of a four lane road? Curb-side parking takes up more room than a bike lane!
Furthermore, (pardon the double negation) claiming not to be anti-bike and then denying bikes on arterial roads is naive and inconsistent. Arterials are often the most direct and efficient route between major nodes of activity. Denying a mode of transportation efficiency is to work against it deliberately. Supporting alternative transportation (and thereby make headway against excess capacity by moving volumes to more effecient, or smaller size, forms of transportation) on arterials makes sense.

[Joe]

Sorry Justin, rational thought was lost at city hall about 7 yrs ago when Miller got in with his broom promises. The people of this city have no representation at city hall anymore and their concerns are not being addressed these days. All the consultations, public meetings and environmental assessments are simply a smoke screen to pretend to be doing things legally. In the end, the decision has already been made and only once rational thought returns to city hall, hopefully after October, will this pandering to special interest groups, to the detriment of everyone else, end. I too am not anti-bike, however, common sense needs to be used more often than it has been over the last 7 yrs.

[Patricia]

Riding a bike is not all about sight seeing as your piece suggests. I ride my bike to work, weather permitting everyday and I know dozens of other people who do as well. Having bike lanes on Jarvis would make me feel a lot safer and make my trek to work a tad easier, and I say a tad because bike lanes or not I don't trust car drivers anymore. For the most part they are considerate but drivers are bullys, and they can get away with it because in this city the car is king. Why are car drivers so afraid of a 10 lb bike, they are much larger and it would be nice if they just looked around them and slowed down before getting to the next red light.

[Toronto Boy]

There's already a subway line under that street. Anybody (with or without a bike) who wants to be environmentally-friendly should just hop on the subway during that stretch of their trip! A bike lane on Bloor Danforth would be an environmental disaster (especially in the winter) - tens of thousands of more cars would sit idle for longer periods of time every day and night!!!

[trikebum]

“People with bikes don’t come to the Danforth to buy suits or groceries,”

Stupid statement...... not too many men buy suits today period, whether motorist or cyclist, and all cyclists consume groceries. Also, most cyclists will be local and shop where they live or on their way home.

As far as ".......giving so much of the road to cyclists, ..." Cyclists are already entitled to the full lane if necessary. That is the law.

That said, as a cyclist I love the Danforth just the way it is. When there is no parking at rush hour i take the full curb lane. in off-peak hours there is still a 1/2 lane to use.

[Patti]

I agree, bikes should not be on main roads. I would ride my bike to work if I had a safer place to ride. I think if we had pleasant bike trails to downtown more people would ride. Oh and they should be heated in the winter.

[Motorists are cyclists too]

The Yorkville BIA has endorsed having bike lanes on Bloor between Sherbourne and Spadina. The writer should provide the facts instead of painting all business interests (or cyclists, for that matter) as monolithic groups.

Others have already pointed out the main flaw of this piece: the assumption that cars are for transportation, and that bikes are for joy-riding. I rode from Victoria Park and Danforth downtown every day for work when I lived in that area. It saved me a ton of cash. Cyclists take up less space than cars - much less. Should they all buy cars and drive on Bloor-Danforth instead. The writer complains, but provides no viable solutions.

Hang out on College Street west sometime. The restaurants are full 7 days and nights a week, even with a narrow street and bike lanes. It's not magic. Count the number of parking spaces on the Danforth, then divide it by the number of businesses on the Danforth. It's pretty obvious that most business is not coming from cars parked on the street itself. The arguments here are incredibly weak.

[jim]

look the bicycles are going to be on the road whether you have bike lanes or not, so your comments make no sense. if you want to keep bicycles off the roads you will have to arrest the bicyclists. even Julian Fantino won't help you with that one.

[Gabriel]

Why is it that our value as individuals is consistently defined in terms of our identity as "consumers" and not as "citizens" sharing in a common good? That i may or may not shop on the Danforth (which i actually do) is immaterial to the issue of determining a mobility strategy for the city that is both appropriate for the needs of the 21st century and widely inclusive as opposed to exclusive. The fabric of the Danforth neighourhood was largely laid in the early 20th century and is actually not suitable for high levels of car traffic. The basic design assumptions of the neighbourhood argue against car traffic, not for it.

[Alan]

"I just believe the bicycle plan needs to be looked at more closely in the sense that lanes shouldn’t be placed on such busy arterials."

So where exactly will they go? I like the 'ravine' plan, but a) we only have so many ravine systems and b) they generally go downhill, towards the lake. The point of the Bloor/ Danforth bike lane is to establish a viable, contiguous east-west route. Now if such a lane were to avoid arterials, it would then have to go on side streets, which would necessitate the removal of parking spaces. And as every politician knows, you don't mess with parking.

I both bike and drive. But the only time I drive is when I'm leaving the city or going to Ikea. Biking (and walking) are much more civilized modes of transportation, in my opinion.

[Adam Leggett]

Bloor/Danforth, like most Toronto arterials, already has 1.5 lanes in each direction. Sometimes it's enough to squeeze a car between traffic and parked cars, and usually it's not. What's the problem with actually using the extra half lane for something?

[Jesse Ewles]

Much like public building need to be wheel chair accessible, all public roads need to be pedestrian accessible. I pay the same taxes as everyone. My bike deserves a place on every road way.

[serge]

The idea in the base of any bike lane plan should be simple: where citizens use bikes for their transportation - city is to make a bike lane there to separate bicyclists and motorists. This way they share a road in a safe way. Otherwise we get mixed transit flow where nobody feels neither safe nor confident. Good example of this is Danforth.

[Bill McDonald]

There seems to be a bit of smoke out there that clouds over some facts. The Scarborough Community Council in January 2008 passed, a not opened to discussion admendment proposed by the local Councillor that bike lanes be installed on Danforth Avenue from about Warden Avenue to Victoria Park Avenue. This admendment was again passed by the full Council at the City Hall. It's a done deal! Once again there is the bike lane on Pharmacy Avenue from Eglington Avenue to Danforth Avenue, it starts no where and goes no where. just happens to be the limits of the Councillor's Ward. Now just to the north of Eglinton Avenue is the Hydro right-of-way that could connect you to Downtown via bike paths. The whole point is, there is absoutly no thought goes into the placement of bike lanes, just can we do it, if we can, put it in. Now it all comes down how much the Councillor in the area wants a bike lane, as now it only has to be approved by the Community Council and the Transportation Division

[Colin]

Wow. This blogpost has to be the most incoherent yet on the subject of bike lanes.
Very expensive to the tax payer?
$80 million over two years = <2% of total capital budget expenditures for City of Toronto over next two years (averaged from $25.7 Billion 10 year plan)
But, your response is to create a ravine bike system; does this have no cost?
And a bike ravine system would eliminate the need for on-street bike lanes because...bicyclists don't live and work on main streets, only in ravines?
I agree, a bike ravine system (which already exists, by the way) would be an excellent part of a larger network of bike lanes and paths that allow Torontoians to get from place to place safely and efficiently. But it's just ONE part of the network. To have a good network which encourages cycling, there needs to be bike lanes on major arterials where people live and work, like Bloor/Danforth.
That plan is like having the Finch bus (or eventual LRT) run through the Finch hydro corridor - it may be slightly cheaper and not disrupt precious car space on the road, but it is NOWHERE near the trip generators that are actually located on Finch Avenue.

You're subway argument? I don't really get it. You simply state there IS a subway, with no further explanation? I'd argue that since there is a subway, people don't need to be driving their cars along Bloor because that is the easiest way to get from Point A to Point B on the street over long distances. Smaller distance (or larger, if one wants to) could easily be covered by bicycle.

I think this Rocco Rossi/Rob Ford/Smitherman ad disguised as a blogpost should be better researched and not based solely on heresay, anecdotal evidence, an assumption that cars have priority on roadspace, and incoherent reasoning.

Good luck with the Ontario PC Party.

[TorontoBikeChip]

Itake exception to Saul Korman's comment that people on bicycles do not buy designer suits. Yes we do. I owned a home just off The Danforth near Greenwood and my bicycle was my primary mode of transportation from Greenwood to Bloor and Church. I travelled The Danforth. I subsequently moved to a more expensive property south of Danforth and Broadview. I still commuted to my job. Last year when I needed to buy a car, I rode my bicycle on Dundas alone the bike lane to the Mercedes dealer and bought a car. Mayeb in 1953 people didn't arrive on bicycles to KORMAN's shop, but this is a different century. Many people spend thousands on their bikes, so they can afford a suit in his shop. My partner is a lawyer and he also commutes by bicycle to work. We certainly won't be darkening the door of KORRY's when we need clothes.

Bike lanes are GOOD for business, people. It's time Toronto 'gets it'.

[Shinyredbike]

By law, bicycles are entitled to the entire lane. I'd rather give them a dedicated lane rather than worry about hitting them when I swerve to avoid them. People shouldn't put a price tag on human life.

[Logan]

That makes about as much sense as saying that we shouldn't put sidewalks on roads that are busy either.

[Justin]

Every time I see a comment like this "As I said in my last piece, I am not anti-bicycle" (Rocco Rossi has also made similar comments), it's typically an immediate signal that the writer is completely clueless about the cause of bicycle lanes, etc..That is, it usually means: "I believe bicycling is a nice weekend activity that should be strictly confined to multi-use pathways at nice leisurely speeds that do not get in the way of dog-walkers, roller-bladers, skateboarders, etc., but the road is the domain of my car".

First, bicycles should be seen as a valid form of transportation, not an "activity". Second, this debate should be about more than just cars vs bicycles -- but rather cars vs every other form of current and future transportation. So long as we allow cars to take precedence over all other forms, we will never address congestion, super high infrastructure costs, pollution, economic opportunity. For instance, take a look at all that is happening with electric micro-cars, scooters, bicycles -- each of these alternatives will likewise demand a piece of the same roads held sacred by current car drivers. Not to mention public transit...The age of singular, car-based transportation is coming to a very necessary end.

[Peter Bird]

Justin's arguments don't add up: - commuting cyclists are just like all other commuters in that they want the fastest, most direct route - ravine bike paths are pleasant for a Sunday ride, but not the choice of most commuters - the combined 6 feet or so width of 2 bike lanes would require less space than a driving lane and about as much space as parking on one side of the street so don't talk as if both driving and parking would be reduced - the yearly budget for bike lanes, which is often not spent, is a pittance compared to road and sewer repairs - and I would encourage Justin to commute by bike for a week in busy traffic, and then consider where our priorities should be - it always amazes me how much we talk about public safety, and yet we are prepared to do so little for the public safety of those of us who bike - I shop on the Danforth and go to reataurants by bike as do many others - I bike year round, and winter in Toronto is becoming less and less of an event - there were only 3 or 4 days this winter where there was a significant amount of snow on the roads - finally, licensing of cyclists is a red herring - what is the issue? - raising revenue - OK figure it out, my car takes up way more room and wears out the roads probably 10 thousand times faster, so what is a fair licence fee - is your concern safety - licensing of drivers did little to protect the 15 or so pedestrians run down earlier this year - get with it Toronto, even Calgary has more bike lanes than we do!

[John Missios]

"Keep bike lanes off busy streets"? I'd rather see streets bike busy rather than car busy. So, (aside from taxis and trucks on business duties) let's keep cars off our city roads instead. In most cases, cars are unnecessarily driven in the first place.

[greg]

Is the the bloor-danforth corridor already too small to add another lane ? If the local business community gets most of its patronage from customers who drive then chances are replacing parking with bike lanes will kill the business or the business activity in the area. Isn't that what makes this area so special? That is pretty obvious. This should be researched thoroughly.

I believe that if bike lanes are added it should be added to a street wide enough that the lane can be partitioned from main traffic for safety as well as in order to allow parking, that way everybody sort of wins.

I believe this is part of an underlying trend where small
business communities are being left out of the debate on the future of the city.

In toronto we have the attitude that those who dare to own small businesses are self-centred and therefore not worthy of a voice so we ignore them then we wonder why average income is dropping in the city. Nobody is going to become well off working the cash in a McDonalds or Walmart yet we tilt the scale in their favour (non-canadian global corporations) as much as possible. If folks in Greektown has concerns they should not be dismissed.

PS. This car vs bike thing is also very childish and unproductive. It's the perfect example of the Crab Bucket social complex that is the current trend in this city.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crab%20bucket

[serge]

and about Danforth specifiaclly. Each time I am biking there, I can't stop wonder, that almost1/3 of the road is blocked with cars parked or parking. Why this does not bother motorists? It really creates a lot of congestions and danger moments. It really bothers me a lot. Why, following Van Dett's logic, not to move the parkings from main arteries to the closest side streets and this way to resolve the congestion and always scarce lanes problem?

[Whitney]

I agree, the argument against bike lines is weak. BUT as a casual biker, I am terrified of having to bike down busy streets to get to my destination. I would prefer if the lanes were on quieter streets, but still main roads. I'm not very fast so I ultimately end up slowing down traffic, and I'm also scared to run into people parking their cars and opening their doors without looking. And as a streetcar rider, it's really annoying when I walk out to get on the car and a biker whooshes past me... for some reason, they don't think they are a vehicle? It would be nice to have bike lanes on quieter streets for these reasons... not because it would inconvenience drivers, but I just think it is ultimately safer for everyone, pedestrians included.