This is insane, we need to educate her and residents. More lanes for cars will never solve traffic
I broadly agree with the above..........and I support the cycle tracks here, period. but....
How many more years will it take to change car culture in Toronto... Especially on Bloor, there's a subway line all the way. From one of the comments:
A mother said: “I cannot get 3 kids to High Park for soccer practice during rush hour on a bike. My alternative is to choose a program that does not require me to drive along Bloor Street.”
See here's the thing........you seem to presume the woman in question is living right on Bloor or at least immediately adjacent. While that's possible, its improbable. Statistically, she's probably anywhere from 2-7 blocks from Bloor.
Three kids is a lot. Are they all wearing cleats? Not very practical on the bus/sidewalk/subway.
Don't get me wrong, I still unequivocally favour the cycle tracks, as I noted above. However, I think its important to realize that some trips are much easier by car, and if not impossible by transit and/or bike, simply wouldn't be made, for reasons of time and convenience. If this woman had to walk her kids 15M to transit, and for argument's sake take the subway, which was then competitive w/the car to the entrance of High Park, but you then needed to walk another 5M into the park to get to the field, you've just added 20 minutes after work, on top of the 15 she previously committed to this activity, that's now 35 minutes, except, she's probably not staying for the practice, most parents don't. So she then has to go back home, then back to retrieve the kids, then home again........... So you've just tacked on 1hr, 20M of travel, probably 2-3x per week.
Ugh, why driving along bloor? Take subway, and its free for kids! Almost every station now has an elevator in case of having a stroller. Too bad it will take another year to finish High Park station... But you get my point.
See above, I think there's an 80% chance this trip happens by car, or does not happen at all.
But that doesn't mean we nix the cycle tracks.
I just think you're going after the wrong complainer.
The reason she finds Bloor so congested is not all the moms/dads ferrying their kids to soccer. Its all the commuters, its all the grocery trips , its the local visiting etc.
The target then is get those people out of their cars............and yes, that does take time.
You will not shift a statistically significant portion of those over 45 who have been drivers for 25+ years out of their established habit quickly. They own a car (or two), they are probably more than a 10 minute walk to the subway, they may view the bus with suspicion and it may be crowded or infrequent, and their established, preferred habits don't align well with transit. They may also not be in shape to bike, nor own bikes for every member of the household.
Its not a sudden switch. Its an incremental process that mostly focuses on the young (teens and twenty--somethings), and it takes time to build up carsharing, bikeshare, cycle tracks, neighbourhood shops, more frequent, less crowded buses, amenitized stops, accessible, attractive subway stations..........with public washrooms and so on.
I mean lets remember, there were no cycle tracks here a year ago, would you have expected most people to cycle along Bloor without them? They weren't, and mostly still aren't. It will change, but definitely not an overnight thing.
I'm sorry, I just come across these people all the time. One guy said to me once: Adelaide and Richmond bike lanes need to be removed, it's impossible to drive anymore. Funny enough, he's driving to downtown to work every day from Liberty village! This is insane, why? I just can't understand.
I do. A very high proportion of residents of LV drive downtown. Why? Because we didn't build them a GO Station on the K-W line, there is no subway nearby, GO Service was hourly on Lakeshore when most residents moved in, King Street is a bit of a walk for many residents in the towers, and the King Car was notoriously unreliable, slow, and crowded.
That's not how we should have built this place. But its how we did build it.
Changing the mindset will take time and money.
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How do we change things a bit faster? Think in complete thoughts.
By which I mean, look at origin/destination for area residents, how do we make those trips more appealing on transit? Implement those changes as quickly as possible; I also mean facilitate carsharing, increased access to Bikeshare, make the nearby subway stations more appealing (aesthetics, washrooms, accessibility, drinking fountains/water-bottle filling stations, retail etc).
One must also address convenient access to grocery for more residents; that's a private sector matter, but there are ways for the City to both facilitate and induce this more quickly.
Push the change through, but add sugar to the medicine to make it go down more easily.
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