[kettal]

There's no practical way to make full bike lanes through this stretch of college. Sharrows are better than nothing.

 

[k10ery]

There's no practical way to make full bike lanes through this stretch of college. Sharrows are better than nothing.

Are you having an argument with yourself about this? Pardon me for interrupting if so. Anyway, I think you would agree that it should be possible to have dedicated cycling lanes on at least one E-W arterial, streetcars or not. And sharrows on Bloor St E have nothing to do with streetcars - they are about weak political will. Sharrows on Hallam Ave are insane!

Toronto's approach to sharrows is unprecedented and untested. In the San Francisco study, sharrows were shown to have (mild) benefits because they got cyclists out of the door zone on roads with a parking lane. In Toronto these markers are *underneath* the parked cars as you pointed out, or in some cases I have seen they are exactly *in* the door zone. (I predict that's what we'll see on Spadina.) Either the folks who designed them didn't do the research or they didn't care, as far as I can see.

 

[kettal]

Il agree completely that proper bike lanes are both warranted and possible on Bloor.

College is a difficult candidate specifically due to the streetcar tracks. Reconfiguring such a street is not as easy as painting some new lines; the tracks would have to be moved too.

I honestly believe that in some situations sharrows are better than a bike lane. If it were up to me, I would rather Vaughan Rd was sharrows with a wide lane instead of the current bike lane it has. Hallam street is also a good candidate for sharrows imo. When there is more than 2 lanes on a road, or the speed of traffic is high, bike lanes become more important.

As for Spadina, that white line which everybody seems to think is a bike lane needs to go, whether it is replaced with sharrows or not. I'm hoping at least the new symbols are intelligently placed, we shall see.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The Bike Rack Instructional Video that the TTC has on their website is terrible. No closeups, just a faraway view of both putting the bike on a rack and taking off.

Seattle (King County) has a better version:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=ZoE2MKHM7IA[/video]

The TTC could do better. Guess all the Canadian directors are busy. I'll be back... to the website next year to see if anything changes.

 

[TorontoArchitect]

Bogota Colombia example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fojZbK2m90g

 

[M II A II R II K]

City’s bike plan switches gears


May 31 2010

Tess Kalinowski

Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/article/816520--city-s-bike-plan-switches-gears

It’s the 1,000-kilometre question. Has Toronto’s cycling movement been tethered too long to a meaningless number — the 1,000 kilometres of bike routes touted for a decade as the path to a cycle-friendly city? The head of Toronto’s Cycling Committee thinks so. It’s time to let go of the round number that has taunted cycling advocates since it was enshrined in the bike plan nearly a decade ago, says City Councillor Adrian Heaps (Scarborough Southwest).

As he nears the end of his term, Heaps is advocating a new approach, one that focuses less on distance and more on connecting the city’s existing network of bike paths, lanes and routes, particularly downtown, with its high percentage of bike commuters. “I’m not going to go out there and pump paint to hit a quota,” he said. “Complete the circle, make it smaller, do it right. I’d rather have a smaller network that was fully integrated.”

A 2009 Ipsos Reid cycling poll for the city supports his position. It suggests safer cycling routes could help transform up to 44 per cent of Toronto’s recreational cyclists into utilitarian pedallers. A new city cycling report, being unveiled Monday for Bike Month, doesn’t even mention the elusive 1,000 kilometres. It simply notes that bike lanes, paths and trails grew to 418 kilometres in 2009, from 166 in 2001. Today, that number is closer to 500. A blueprint for the city’s active transportation priorities over the next two years, Changing Gears lists connecting bikeway trails and completing downtown bikeways as the top two priorities. It will be used as the basis for a review of the 2001 Bike Plan by city staff after this fall’s election.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Are less people getting a driver's license? How many just get a license for ID purposes?

There's an article called Youth Taking the Exit Ramp, where it discusses stats on less youths applying for driver's licenses. Click on this link for the article.

In 1978, nearly half of 16-year-olds and three-quarters of 17-year-olds in the U.S. had their driver’s licenses, according to Department of Transportation data. By 2008, the most recent year data was available, only 31% of 16-year-olds and 49% of 17-year-olds had licenses, with the decline accelerating rapidly since 1998. Of course, many states have raised the minimum age for driver’s licenses or tightened restrictions; still, the downward trend holds true for 18- and 19-year-olds as well (see chart) and those in their 20s.

If less people are getting driver's licenses, that means they are turning more to public transit and the bicycle to get around. No license required for those two modes of transport, at the moment.