[the lemur]

I'd argue that's a problem in inner city neighbourhoods. The roads, aside from the main arterials, are not in perfect grids (being developed at different times as the Park Lots were individually parcelled). How many east-west side streets are through? The ones that are usually alternate as one-ways in different directions with the intent of keeping out through traffic, the same as cul-de-sacs and crescents of the suburbs. Cyclists either have to follow the same meandering paths as cars, or (as most do) go the wrong way on that one-way street for often a single block.

But in the inner cities the side streets are usually at least parallel to the main streets; the problem is that the grid is sometimes incomplete within a city block or, as you said, the alternating one-ways prevent legal cycling along the full length of some streets. I would really like to use Huron in its entirety at least southbound from College as an alternative to St George/Beverley, but the flipflopping one-way sections make that impossible.

 

[junctionist]

I'm looking forward to Transit City for bringing long bike lanes to suburban arterials. It might be transformative in terms of cycling in the suburbs. But I wonder how on-street bike lanes will be designed on fast suburban arterials like Eglinton or Sheppard. Perhaps there will be a buffer strip like on York Boulevard in Hamilton, but a buffer strip would take up precious space where space will be limited. Sidewalk-level bike lanes or cycle tracks could also be the way of achieving the cycling infrastructure that's supposed to be a part of Transit City.

 

[Hipster Duck]

There are a lot of suburban cities - particularly in the US - which have decent bike infrastructure but next to no bike culture and the overall effect is that biking rates don't really rise and biking is only a tiny bit safer.

For example, in many suburban settings, drivers exiting from strip malls will treat the bike lane the same way they currently treat the sidewalks: as a ramp for them to use to make turns into traffic lanes. Often they will drive right onto a bike lane without looking, which poses a hazard.

A better way to improve cycling in the suburbs is to designate quiet, suburban feeder streets as 'bike boulevards', and then have bike and pedestrian-friendly approaches that cut from subdivisions to the back of strip malls. In a way, Toronto already has a lot of these, but they are often poorly maintained and are too narrow for both pedestrians and bikers. Moreover, they often lack things that would be useful to cyclists like curb cuts and ramps. Having more bike parking in suburban strip malls would be really handy too.

Another thing we have to realize is that navigating a bike through a giant intersection of two suburban arterials is a very sketchy experience. If the bike lanes were mid-super block (so, using roads like Huntingwood, or Pitfield-Invergordon instead of Sheppard, crossing roads like McCowan or Kennedy would be a lot more pleasant.

 

[the lemur]

I'm looking forward to Transit City for bringing long bike lanes to suburban arterials. It might be transformative in terms of cycling in the suburbs. But I wonder how on-street bike lanes will be designed on fast suburban arterials like Eglinton or Sheppard. Perhaps there will be a buffer strip like on York Boulevard in Hamilton, but a buffer strip would take up precious space where space will be limited. Sidewalk-level bike lanes or cycle tracks could also be the way of achieving the cycling infrastructure that's supposed to be a part of Transit City.

My understanding is that the configuration of Eglinton is still at the planning/consultation stage but there is definitely a desire to see bike lanes included since they were not part of the St Clair project. I think you're right about a buffer strip being seen as taking up precious space, even if Eglinton is to be widened where the LRT is at grade. A separated lane like the one currently going in on Sherbourne would be good.

 

[MisterF]

I'm looking forward to Transit City for bringing long bike lanes to suburban arterials. It might be transformative in terms of cycling in the suburbs. But I wonder how on-street bike lanes will be designed on fast suburban arterials like Eglinton or Sheppard. Perhaps there will be a buffer strip like on York Boulevard in Hamilton, but a buffer strip would take up precious space where space will be limited. Sidewalk-level bike lanes or cycle tracks could also be the way of achieving the cycling infrastructure that's supposed to be a part of Transit City.

They could look something like the bike road on Major Mackenzie in Markham. It's basically an asphalt strip next to the road and it gets a decent amount of use considering how fragmanted the bike infrastructure in Markham is. As a cyclist it does a decent job providing a buffer from the traffic, which moves at 80+ km/h. It has its problems though - no signage, no road markings, no separation between pedestrians and cyclists, and poor intersection design. The suburbs have a long way to go.

There are a lot of suburban cities - particularly in the US - which have decent bike infrastructure but next to no bike culture and the overall effect is that biking rates don't really rise and biking is only a tiny bit safer.

For example, in many suburban settings, drivers exiting from strip malls will treat the bike lane the same way they currently treat the sidewalks: as a ramp for them to use to make turns into traffic lanes. Often they will drive right onto a bike lane without looking, which poses a hazard.

A better way to improve cycling in the suburbs is to designate quiet, suburban feeder streets as 'bike boulevards', and then have bike and pedestrian-friendly approaches that cut from subdivisions to the back of strip malls. In a way, Toronto already has a lot of these, but they are often poorly maintained and are too narrow for both pedestrians and bikers. Moreover, they often lack things that would be useful to cyclists like curb cuts and ramps. Having more bike parking in suburban strip malls would be really handy too.

Another thing we have to realize is that navigating a bike through a giant intersection of two suburban arterials is a very sketchy experience. If the bike lanes were mid-super block (so, using roads like Huntingwood, or Pitfield-Invergordon instead of Sheppard, crossing roads like McCowan or Kennedy would be a lot more pleasant.

I'd argue that the arterials are where the bike infrastructure is needed the most, especially as density increases in intensification corridors. Residential side streets are already safe to ride on for the most part but the arterials are very hostile and a major barrier to cycling. I don't see drivers using bike lanes much in the suburbs - I think cycling awareness is better in the GTA than in some of the American cities you're talking about.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

My iPhone 4 battery is near dead, waiting for my iPhone 5 to come in so I couldn't get any shots. I was over on Sherbourne Street yesterday, the bike lane design looks really good. The lanes are raised, have a 5 or 6" rounded curve separating it from the roadway and cuts every 15 or 20' for pedestrian crossings or perhaps taxi/Wheel-Trans transfers. No painting has been yet, I saw the early stage of the bike lanes/road reconstruction by the No Frills store.

 

[PinkLucy]

If this is true, what a kick in the head -- the cost of removing the Jarvis bike lanes is coming out of the budget established to install bike lanes! http://meslin.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/salt-in-the-wound/

 

[calimehtar]

There's a need for greater continuity of the bike network, and lanes in places where people will ride their bikes whether bike lanes are present or not. Here are some ideas, politics and feasibility aside.

Brock and Shaw both get a lot of bike traffic going both directions because they cover a lot of distance and don't have a lot of car traffic.

Shaw goes all the way from Queen to Davenport making it an especially useful route. Shaw should have a two-way bike path on its entire length. North of Dupont that would be easy. South of Dupont space is very tight unfortunately.

On Brock one lane of traffic would have to be sacrificed (it is a 2-way street, unlike Shaw which is one way south of Dupont).

A good way of crossing the 401 is desperately needed. Right now, Bathurst and Yonge are the best candidates. Later on bike lanes may be attached to the Allen Rd.

Bathurst has the additional advantage that, aside from the stretch right around the 401, it would be pretty easy to add bike lanes on the entire length of the street. I noticed last time I was on Bathurst that south of Davenport there seems to be enough room for two lanes of parking, two lanes of cars, and two bike lanes without moving the curb. To get a proper bike lane across the 401 at Bathurst, however, would require either losing a minimum of one lane of cars, or carving the tunnel under the 401 wider.

Yonge street nearly has a good way of crossing the 401, except it is a sidewalk. Granted, there isn't a lot of pedestrian traffic, but it's still not quite safe to encourage cyclists to use it.

Finally, there needs to be some serious thought given to Queen and King streets. The problem here is that there are four modes of transportation using these streets (including pedestrians) and it's hard to imagine removing any of them but the situation is pretty bad for all of them. You could say that there isn't room for bike lanes so we should focus on Richmond, Adelaide or other nearby parallel streets. But realistically people will continue to ride their bikes on King and Queen.

So let me dream for a minute: there should be separated bike lanes on both King and Queen streets. The first thing to sacrifice is street parking. Provide good parking in nearby lots on and side streets. There should be no street parking at all on either street. The next is cars - Richmond and Adelaide are nearby. One lane of traffic going on way on each of King and Queen streets is enough for the parts of these streets covered Richmond and Adelaide. Give King and Queen dedicated streetcar lines since these are the most efficient modes of public transportation currently available on these streets, and despite the near-total gridlock during rush hour they are still very popular. So, on both streets: two lanes of streetcars, one lane of traffic and split one lane into bike lanes going both ways.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

It's over, Councillors vote today to remove the Jarvis bike lanes 24-19 despite Councillor Wong Tam's last ditch effort. Those who voted to scrap the lanes are Paul Ainslie, Ana Bailão, Michelle Berardinetti, Josh Colle, Gary Crawford, Vincent Crisanti, Mike Del Grande, Frank Di Giorgio, Doug Ford, Rob Ford, Mark Grimes, Doug Holyday, Norman Kelly, Gloria Lindsay Luby, Giorgio Mammoliti, Peter Milczyn, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Ron Moeser, Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio, John Parker (Chair), Jaye Robinson, Karen Stintz, Michael Thompson

In protest I encourage every cyclist in Toronto to "take a lane" from today onward and ride down the middle of the lane where no bike lane exists. No more cycling along the curb with vehicles flying by one foot away, take a lane and cycle safely. Gridlock the city and let's see how fast these bike hating City Councillors move to build a network of proper, separated bike lanes for the thousands of cyclists downtown alone. Under the Highway Traffic Act it is your right as a cyclist to take a lane when riding on a bicycle. As always, be sure to obey all the rules of the road whenever you get on your bike.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=188911

 

[Dan416]

W t f

 

[reaperexpress]

Although I am vehemently against removing the lanes, I have to point out that there are far more logical ways of increasing car capacity and speed on Jarvis than reintroducing the reversible lane.

Re-stripe it with 5 lanes, with the middle lane being a left turn lane at intersections. You get almost almost all the benefits of the reversible lane (which would just get clogged with left-turning cars anyway), without any of the wiring costs. Plus it's much safer than the reversible-lane setup.

Until now, I was glad they hadn't thought to simply re-stripe the street with 5 lanes, since it would have reduced the opposition to removing the bike lanes which is based on cost. But now that the lanes are gone for sure, I would like them to think of the cost-effective option here.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Re-stripe it with 5 lanes, with the middle lane being a left turn lane at intersections. You get almost almost all the benefits of the reversible lane (which would just get clogged with left-turning cars anyway),

Eliminate left turns on Jarvis and you've solved that issue.

Left turns should be limited or prohibited on all major streets in the absence of a dedicated left turn lane. I used to drive up Mount Pleasant to Lawrence for work, and a left turning person could hold up 20 cars while they waited to turn.

 

[M.R.Victor]

It bothers me how stupid this is... and to think I was starting to like Karen Stintz. I'm so utterly disappointed

 

[rbt]

In protest I encourage every cyclist in Toronto to "take a lane" from today onward and ride down the middle of the lane where no bike lane exists.

While this is a great idea (I encourage cyclists to take their full lane and call for police escort if in a group and drivers are actively hostile), I think cyclists would be better spending their time working on Yonge instead with whomever the next mayor is going to be.

At some point the pedestrian situation of Yonge will need to be dealt with just from a safety standpoint and has significant commercial value. If you take out 1 lane of traffic on Yonge for sidewalk space, you can take out another for delivery parking overnight and bicycle lanes during the day between Bloor and Queen.

Far more valuable a corridor for cyclists than Jarvis is and much less likely to cause rath of boomer drivers from midtown who have been commutting along that route for decades. In 10 years most will be retired and you can get Jarvis lanes back then; perhaps even up Mount Pleasant too.

 

[W. K. Lis]

By removing the bicycle lanes on Jarvis, the cars will no longer have lanes for their own use. Now they will be forced to share with bicycles, e-bikes, and other slower moving vehicles.

Since there are hazards, such as sewer grates, litter, potholes, weeds, and other debris, bicyclists will be forced to move more into the center of the lane. The cars will be forced to use only one lane for themselves. While not written into law, it is generally suggested that a one metre safety zone should be allowed for motor vehicles to pass bicycles and other slow-moving vehicles.