[spider]

Yesterday I drove on Pharmacy Avenue from Eglinton to Danforth, There were exactly zero cyclists using the couple of miles of dedicated bike lanes in the early afternoon of a beautiful spring day.

 

[W. K. Lis]

My question would be does the destination have bicycle parking facilities? Or does one have to lock the bicycle up to a post, pole, tree, fence, or fire hydrant? If there is no where to lock it up securely, one would be reluctant to take the bike.

 

[CDL.TO]

Yesterday I drove on Pharmacy Avenue from Eglinton to Danforth, There were exactly zero cyclists using the couple of miles of dedicated bike lanes in the early afternoon of a beautiful spring day.

Frankly, on a residential through street like Pharmacy bike lines are probably more about traffic calming than cycling.

 

[kettal]

Yesterday I drove on Pharmacy Avenue from Eglinton to Danforth, There were exactly zero cyclists using the couple of miles of dedicated bike lanes in the early afternoon of a beautiful spring day.

because they were at work? some people don't have time for pleasure rides in the middle of a weekday.

 

[spider]

Yesterday I drove on Pharmacy Avenue from Eglinton to Danforth, There were exactly zero cyclists using the couple of miles of dedicated bike lanes in the early afternoon of a beautiful spring day.

Not being judgemental or biased, simply an observation.

because they were at work? some people don't have time for pleasure rides in the middle of a weekday.

There were lots of cyclists on Danforth Avenue at the same time of day.

My question would be does the destination have bicycle parking facilities? Or does one have to lock the bicycle up to a post, pole, tree, fence, or fire hydrant? If there is no where to lock it up securely, one would be reluctant to take the bike.

So, by that logic, no one should ever ride their bike anywhere that does not have such facilities? Bike lanes alone are not enough, parking facilities must be provided as well at the end of every bike lane?

 

[kettal]

There were lots of cyclists on Danforth Avenue at the same time of day.

I agree, bike lanes on Danforth should be a priority.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Would you take a bike to work if you know this is at the end of your ride:

or this at the end of your ride:

or this:

 

[spider]

The bike parks in the European locations pictured are never going to happen here so you would give cyclists two choices, valet parking or the Craigslist bicycles for sale listings?

 

[reaperexpress]

Would you take a bike to work if you know this is at the end of your ride

Yes, that is the reason I don't commute by bike, but I don't think parking facilities are as big an issue as having cycle-friendly streets. Though I hesitate to lock up my bike outside all day, I don't think twice about it if I'm going shopping or something, since I'm not away from the bike that long. Overall, having bike-friendly streets would affect every biker, but parking facilities only affect a smaller fraction.

I also think that bike parking is much easier to implement then improving the roads, since it has absolutely no downside. It's in employers' best interest to have good bike parking facilities, since it saves them some expense of maintaining a larger parking lot. I think all subway stations should have bike lockers as well (if they don't already).

 

[kettal]

So, by that logic, no one should ever ride their bike anywhere that does not have such facilities? Bike lanes alone are not enough, parking facilities must be provided as well at the end of every bike lane?

Out of curiosity, do you often drive your car to destinations which have no car parking spots?

 

[reaperexpress]

Out of curiosity, do you often drive your car to destinations which have no car parking spots?

Except that you can lock your bike to just about anything, though you can't just park your car anywhere. So it's not exactly a fair comparison.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Except that you can lock your bike to just about anything, though you can't just park your car anywhere. So it's not exactly a fair comparison.

Unless all the bicycle spots are filled.

And if cars park on the bicycle paths, it also discourages bicyclists from using the lanes by being forced to move into traffic.

 

[kettal]

Except that you can lock your bike to just about anything, though you can't just park your car anywhere. So it's not exactly a fair comparison.

Well, yes in most cases you are right, that's one of the benefits of bikes over cars.

Though today I had to run an errand at Oxford Tower, and I was scolded by the security guard for locking my bike at a light post in front of the building on Adelaide street. For some reason bikes aren't supposed to park in that area, and incidentally there is no bike ring-and-posts on that frontage either. Parking in some form is indeed an essential component of facilitating bikes.

 

[reaperexpress]

Well, yes in most cases you are right, that's one of the benefits of bikes over cars.

Though today I had to run an errand at Oxford Tower, and I was scolded by the security guard for locking my bike at a light post in front of the building on Adelaide street. For some reason bikes aren't supposed to park in that area, and incidentally there is no bike ring-and-posts on that frontage either. Parking in some form is indeed an essential component of facilitating bikes.

I wonder what on earth the guard's problem was? I guess that the parking issue is much different in the city than here in the suburbs. I've never had any problems.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Cycling Rises 28% in New York City

From Infrstructurist:

We’ve addressed New York City’s increasing focus on cycling on the policy side. And man has it worked. As Gothamist reports, biking and public transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has released an annual estimate on bike ridership using DOT data. They found that the number of cyclists in New York City has increased a whopping 28% in the past year. According to the report:

* 236,000 New Yorkers are riding bikes every day.
* 51,000 New Yorkers started biking in the just last year alone.
* One out of every 24 vehicles in motion on city streets is a bicycle.
* New Yorkers travel 1.8 million miles by bicycle every day.
* Bicycling is New York City’s fastest-growing mode of transportation.​

As Gothamist notes, the cycling boom, which is in its fourth year of growth, is largely due to the NYC government’s commitment to increasing the city’s bike lanes, with more than 200 miles of lanes installed over the past three years, including 5 miles of physically-separated lanes. Granted, there’s also the possibility that subway cuts — which mean more crowded trains and worse service, not to mention the elimination of some lines entirely — are leading more commuters to turn to biking. Still, it’s safe to say that New York is emerging as a model of how policy initiatives can drive urban commuters to switch to cycling.

Granted, this is all assuming that “Bike-Gate,†aka the recent confiscation of hundreds of bikes in downtown Manhattan as a security measure for Obama’s visit to Cooper Union, is and remains an anomaly.

Wonder if the G20 meeting will also result in similar security measures with bicycles.

Anyways, I hope that someone is recording the number of bicycles.