[ssiguy2]

^^ Say's who? Have you heard of any concrete plans to do exactly this? These should have concrete plans with the money available right now. Chow has done absolutely NOTHING to improve the public realm and especially upgrading streets to be friendly to pedestrians as opposed to cars. The never-never plan of renewing Yonge near Dundas actually had specific considerations for Uber drivers despite going right over a subway line and a new east-west one coming on line. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Ford sure hates his bike lanes which is why he wanted no car lanes reduced for bike lanes but he NEVER said anything about widening sidewalks. St.Lawrence Market Lane is pedestrianized and I don't recall him saying anything about it when it came to the reduced car lane debate. Not everything that ails Toronto is Ford's fault but he does make for a cheap and easy excuse for a gutless and non-visionary Mayor and Council. London managed to do it downtown on Dundas Street {no, they are not, thank God, changing the name} so what's stopping Toronto?

 

[afransen]

^^ Say's who? Have you heard of any concrete plans to do exactly this? These should have concrete plans with the money available right now. Chow has done absolutely NOTHING to improve the public realm and especially upgrading streets to be friendly to pedestrians as opposed to cars. The never-never plan of renewing Yonge near Dundas actually had specific considerations for Uber drivers despite going right over a subway line and a new east-west one coming on line. You couldn't make this stuff up.

Ford sure hates his bike lanes which is why he wanted no car lanes reduced for bike lanes but he NEVER said anything about widening sidewalks. St.Lawrence Market Lane is pedestrianized and I don't recall him saying anything about it when it came to the reduced car lane debate. Not everything that ails Toronto is Ford's fault but he does make for a cheap and easy excuse for a gutless and non-visionary Mayor and Council. London managed to do it downtown on Dundas Street {no, they are not, thank God, changing the name} so what's stopping Toronto?

Proper treatments for Yonge, Front, Queen, King, etc. would involve fewer parking and vehicular lanes. Ford has mused about removing bus-only lanes as well.

 

[ssiguy2]

So why hasn't Toronto completely closed down these streets on the weekends and holidays? Ford wouldn't give a damn about that so where is the City? Also, the courts struck down his bike lane disaster plan so there's no reason to think they wouldn't do the same for sidewalk expansion/road closures at certain times. London does it all the time with it's new Dundas Place. Even supposedly right-wing car loving Calgary not only closed down 5 blocks of it's main downtown shopping street, Stephen Ave, 24/365 to become Canada's best pedestrian-only street but also right adjacent to it, it has the transit-only road for it's LRT/Buses with light priority. The Calgary Cowboys clearly are more interested in becoming a pedestrian & transit friendly city than Toronto is. Calgary didn't need a Royal Commission to study the impacts of TPL but just did it from the start with COMPLETE transit priority using actual rail gates outside the downtown which is why the CTrain is as fast as ANY subway/metro system.

As for your gutless and two-faced Mayor, she does have the new stronger Mayor's power to get things done if she wanted to but make no mistake, she doesn't want to. Chow, despite all her talk and touchy-feely policies, has turned out to be an SUV's best friend.

 

[Undead]

Toronto's not all bad and no city is perfect. But this place is absolutely a blinkered provincial backwater in some ways. And obviously we have much less heritage architecture because our City is so much newer than the old, historical cities everyone loves to visit.

 

[abovegrade]

While all these concerns about Toronto are valid, I have to remind everyone what we are doing in Downsview which will be absolutely transformative in terms of building pedestrian-only streets. I think when something like this happens in our backyard, it inspires change throughout the city (hopefully). Although the pedestrianization of Toronto won't happen over night.

 

[SashaLemon]

This needs to happen yesterday. So much of Toronto's public realm is so shabby. Why can't we step up and transform our main street, how can we do it anywhere else?

 

[afransen]

This needs to happen yesterday. So much of Toronto's public realm is so shabby. Why can't we step up and transform our main street, how can we do it anywhere else?

It more annoys me how busy the sidewalks are and that they aren't wider. It would be nice if they looked better, but honestly, the sooner they can narrow roadway to 2 lanes the better.

 

[Mihairokov]

It more annoys me how busy the sidewalks are and that they aren't wider. It would be nice if they looked better, but honestly, the sooner they can narrow roadway to 2 lanes the better.

The roadway should be pedestrianized. The only people who need to drive on Yonge south of, say, Bloor, consistently are delivery drivers. Bay can do whatever Yonge currently does for N/S traffic.

 

[Northern Light]

The roadway should be pedestrianized. The only people who need to drive on Yonge south of, say, Bloor, consistently are delivery drivers. Bay can do whatever Yonge currently does for N/S traffic.

We've been over this lots of times.

Yonge is a night bus route, its also a shuttle bus route, and shifting it to Bay is problematic in many different ways.

While it would not be impossible to pedestrianize Yonge fully, it would create issues that are challenging to deal with, and it really isn't necessary, removing one lane each way will allow for a substantially wider sidewalk and the addition of street trees.

 

[ssiguy2]

It's embarrassing that Yonge is probably the most pedestrian unfriendly major street in the city. Seriously, is there anywhere on Yonge between Bloor and King where someone can sit outside on a patio? I don't mean around the corner but on Yonge itself? The sidewalks are uneven, ugly pavement, and incredibly thin, Yonge & Dundas Square is so completely concrete it looks like Stalin designed it and there are almost no trees or greenery................it's a complete dump and an embarrassment to the city.

Yonge should be completely pedestrianized from Bloor to King and turned into a show piece as opposed to the ugly dump it is now. All they have to do is allow delivery trucks before 10am which they manage to do on every other city on the planet.

 

[old boy]

It's embarrassing that Yonge is probably the most pedestrian unfriendly major street in the city. Seriously, is there anywhere on Yonge between Bloor and King where someone can sit outside on a patio? I don't mean around the corner but on Yonge itself? The sidewalks are uneven, ugly pavement, and incredibly thin, Yonge & Dundas Square is so completely concrete it looks like Stalin designed it and there are almost no trees or greenery................it's a complete dump and an embarrassment to the city.

Yonge should be completely pedestrianized from Bloor to King and turned into a show piece as opposed to the ugly dump it is now. All they have to do is allow delivery trucks before 10am which they manage to do on every other city on the planet.

Yonge and Dundas Square was a big disappointment when constructed and remains so today. What was the city possibly thinking ? Yonge St. was a great walk in the late 60s and early 70s when I'd stroll from MacPherson, where I lived, down one side of Yonge to King St. and back up the other side. I did that walk after work almost every day. It was the best free entertainment, so full of life and colour, smells and sounds.

 

[Richard White]

Yonge and Dundas Square was a big disappointment when constructed and remains so today. What was the city possibly thinking ? Yonge St. was a great walk in the late 60s and early 70s when I'd stroll from MacPherson, where I lived, down one side of Yonge to King St. and back up the other side. I did that walk after work almost every day. It was the best free entertainment, so full of life and colour, smells and sounds.

Yes but that was 50 to 60 years ago.

Unfortunately, Yonge has become dated in that time until only recently when the older buildings were knocked down or refurbished. Not to say this is a good thing but when property owners done take care of things, it gives a bad look.

Case and point Spadina which for decades was an unsightly mess of property standards issues between College and Queen. Once they started knocking down some of the older buildings, the area became alot nicer.

 

[abovegrade]

London is pedestrianizing Oxford street now, Yonge street should follow suit (portions of it anyways).

 

[Richard White]

London is pedestrianizing Oxford street now, Yonge street should follow suit (portions of it anyways).

Yonge was pedestrianized from Bloor to Wellesley around a decade ago on certain weekends.

It was done in the weekend mornings I believe. Unfortunately, Yonge Street is the busiest street in Toronto. You can't just close it to traffic without any viable alternative.

 

[afransen]

Yonge was pedestrianized from Bloor to Wellesley around a decade ago on certain weekends.

It was done in the weekend mornings I believe. Unfortunately, Yonge Street is the busiest street in Toronto. You can't just close it to traffic without any viable alternative.

There is zero need for through traffic other than night and shuttle buses. There is a need for access for parking garages and deliveries. It could be mostly pedestrianized to calm vehicle speeds and volumes.