...because they can't pay cash.
Hahahahaha...
No no, I mean they never give up.
And while fresh air is supposed to be good for your health, I'm afraid some of those bike helmets they wear may allow too much sun to soak into their brains.
Because Cycle Toronto, a group of two-wheel enthusiasts, is now agitating to have bike lanes installed on Yonge Street all the way from Steeles Avenue right down to The Star building at Number One Yonge.
I guess those tens of thousands of subway riders just can't wait to, paraphrasing the immortal words of Freddie Mercury of Queen, "Get on their bikes and ride!"
Did we learn nothing from the recent Jarvis Street fiasco?
In any city, heading towards the water (in our case, Lake Ontario) is generally all downhill.
But Toronto is a city of ravines.
So, when they get to the 401 on their way downtown, they'll head down into Hogg's Hollow (at, literally, break-neck speed - I once personally witnessed a cyclist break his neck on Yonge Street), right past the former Jolly Miller Tavern (now just "The Miller Tavern"), up the hill to the former 'City Limits', minor undulations to Davisville, down past Mount Pleasant Cemetery, up to St. Clair, down again towards Rosedale, up to Bloor, then it's pretty much coast to the lake.
Coming home?
Er, different story.
Uphill pretty much all the way. Just what you need after a hard day at the office.
It would take hours each way - even if you only rode for a portion of it.
And the danger - admittedly from the cars, but it's the cyclists who get run over - is ever-present.
And in case we forget - as we all seem to do - here's roughly what it will look like in February:
Or maybe this:
I couldn't find a picture of Hogg's Hollow in winter, but I'm sure you get my 'drift' ho ho ho...
I own a bike. I used to ride from my house in Leaside to work when I taught summer courses at Ryerson.
My kids all own - and - ride bikes.
But these cyclists can't seem to understand that Toronto is not and never will be Amsterdam or Copenhagen.
It is not flat; it is not warmed by the Gulf Stream.
Toronto is not even Montreal, which admittedly has even worse weather than we do.
But Montreal is also nowhere near as spread out as Toronto is, thanks to our ridiculous real estate prices. Anyone who can afford to live close enough to where they work probably doesn't even need a job to ride to.
As I have said many times, it simply makes less-than-zero sense to dedicate a significant portion of our limited road space to a handful of people who will not even utilize it for several months of the year.
And don't get me started on that unbelievable cost to install showers at City Hall to accommodate the one or two councillors who choose to ride to work.
They should probably just stay home anyway...
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