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Ontario Moves Forward on Cycling Strategy

Read More: http://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2012/11/ontario-moves-forward-on-cycling-strategy.html

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A draft cycling strategy has been released for public feedback until Jan. 29, 2013. It outlines potential improvements to cycling infrastructure, public education and legislation, including:

• Creating a provincial cycling network to connect destinations and establish recreational cycling and tourism routes.

• Supporting municipalities in the development of local cycling networks, including making cycling infrastructure eligible for funding under the Municipal Infrastructure Strategy.

• Running public education campaigns with cycling safety partners such as Share the Road, the Canadian Automobile Association and EnviroCentre.

• Updating the Driver's Handbook to include better guidelines for cycling and sharing the road with other vehicles.

• Providing cycling safety and bike maintenance information with any new bike sold.

• Consulting with the public, cycling groups and municipalities on possible amendments to the Highway Traffic Act to support cycling.

.....
 
What would be the chances of getting PRESTO to work with Bixi, as part of one's commute?
 
W. K. Lis said:
What would be the chances of getting PRESTO to work with Bixi, as part of one's commute?
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That's an excellent idea. Unfortunately, Bixi uses a proprietary RFID key instead of a card. Aside from the software changes, every single bike dock would have to be modified with a presto reader, so it wouldn't be cheap.

I guess a Presto reader could be implemented on the payment station, to be used along with credit cards for 24 and 72 hour passes, but then there would be no real advantage.
 
M.R.Victor said:
I just rode on the newly-built separated bike lanes on Sherbourne last week. I find them extremely disappointing and many of the design choices are simply baffling. After not even a couple of weeks of existence the surface is uneven and bumpy, and the workmanship is visibly poor. Then, the bike lanes + raised bus station combo, the bike lane-eque raised portion south of dundas, the sharp turn halfway between Wellesley and Carlton, and the random breaks in the separation all seem like very odd design choices to me.

Finally, why have the Jarvis bike lanes been removed so early? I thought the deal was to remove them once the new Sherbourne lanes are done. As it currently stands, the work on Sherbourne is not even halfway completed.
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During the Jarvis/Pharmacy/Birchmount bike lane debate Councillor Wong-Tam put up a motion (one of many) to ensure that the Jarvis lanes would not be removed until Sherboune was completed, her motion did not carry. Vehicles parking (delivery trucks, taxis & cars) are also a very real problem in the bike lanes on Sherbourne Street already, I see it every time I'm there. Last night I read a tweet that a dozen or so cars were parked in the bike lanes for an event at the Pheonix Concert Theatre on Sherboune, just south of Wellesley. Epic fail.
 
The Sherbourne Bike Lanes are not really protected at all. I walked from Sherbourne & Queen, down to King Street and in that 5 minute walk, I saw 3 instances where cars went on the bike path. First I saw a guy park his car, right on the bike lane, to go to a store, then I saw a car drive around another car by driving half on the bike lane, and then I saw a taxi driver drive right on to the lane, just to let a customer out. So I ask you, how is the bike lanes safe, if cars still use them with that frequency? The whole point of the separate lanes was to make it safe for cyclists but I wouldn't feel safe driving on these badly designed lanes. There is no curb to prevent cars from driving on the bike lane, so of course, they will continue to do so.
 
What about the suburban or outer-416 arterial roads? No bike lanes for you.

Here's something that the current administration under Rob Ford and Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, I am sure, will NOT look at for suburban roads, unless...
[video=youtube_share;2bEwFvKAJKk]http://youtu.be/2bEwFvKAJKk[/video]

From bikeportland.org, at this link:
Michigan DOT gives bikes 12-feet of space on state highway

The Michigan Department of Transportation has done something pretty extraordinary for a state DOT. They've recently installed a 12-foot wide buffered bike lane on a one mile stretch of Northwestern Highway (Hwy 10). The new bikeway includes a five-foot bike travel lane and a seven-foot buffer from other traffic.

I find this project notable for several reasons: DOTs are not known for giving such ample width for bikes (much less on a state highway); it shows the power of having a good complete streets policy; it's more significant than anything I can recall ODOT doing; the 12 feet of was wider than even advocates had asked for; and since the space was already available (it was previously a paved shoulder) the cost was only about $22,000.

This project also made me think of the recent discussion we had about an ODOT project on outer Sandy Blvd. That project was a complete rebuild of the roadway and ODOT striped in six-foot, standard bike lanes (without a buffer). That was a very disappointing result and many people (including me) felt like it was missed opportunity to create even better bike conditions.

It'd be great to see ODOT do something like this on a future repaving/rebuild project. Anyone know of good candidates? M-bike.org says one of the reasons this came about was because people had contacted MDOT asking for it.

michiganlead.jpg

12 feet for bikes on a state highway.
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It bugs me when you have a road with lots of green space beside it, and they put a bike lane right on the road. If you want to make a real pleasant and worry-free ride, just move the asphalt over onto the grass and make a bike path. I can see these lanes being used when changing an existing road temporarily. But when a road is reconstructed, there's no good excuse. An example that frustrates me is Dufferin St in Vaughan. They totally rebuilt the entire corridor, with bus and bike lanes. But there's lots of room to have put the bike lane on the other side of the curb, between it and the sidewalk.

Here's what the Dutch do. Which would not really be any more expensive when rebuilding a road:

8256242823_d37a4f9e6e_z.jpg
 
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Sir Novelty Fashion said:
No.

What? Oh, sorry, saw the thread title, though I'd chime in.
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Ha, good one. I think it's one of those yes-and-no questions. Toronto is to some extent (or rather, some of Toronto is) bike-friendly, to a slightly smaller extent overtly hostile to bikes, but overall pretty much indifferent, unfortunately.

As for lanes on Richmond and Adelaide, I would prefer bidirectional ones for the sake of convenience, but I'll accept unidirectional lanes as long as they are properly separated as in brainfreezed's photo. At least with a one-way street you can keep some stopping/parking on the side that the lane is not on.
 
I haven't seen the bike lanes beside roads like Marlee or bike paths like Eglinton West ever cleared of snow, ice, or snow windrows, yet this year. The works department still consider bicycles to be recreational and not a means of transportation. Guess we'll all have to use the automobile travel lanes, if the automobile drivers let us that is.

At least the pedestrian sidewalks and walkways (like along Eglinton West) are cleared, but bicyclists may have to face the wrath of the walkers if the bicyclists attempt to use them as well.
 
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I saw that comment as well. I believe it was actually several days after the snowfall that the Sherbourne lanes were plowed, and certainly not before the street itself was.
 
Torontovibe said:
The Sherbourne Bike Lanes are not really protected at all. I walked from Sherbourne & Queen, down to King Street and in that 5 minute walk, I saw 3 instances where cars went on the bike path. First I saw a guy park his car, right on the bike lane, to go to a store, then I saw a car drive around another car by driving half on the bike lane, and then I saw a taxi driver drive right on to the lane, just to let a customer out. So I ask you, how is the bike lanes safe, if cars still use them with that frequency? The whole point of the separate lanes was to make it safe for cyclists but I wouldn't feel safe driving on these badly designed lanes. There is no curb to prevent cars from driving on the bike lane, so of course, they will continue to do so.
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taxis are allowed to pick up and drop off fares in the lanes, city and hydro vehicles are also permitted
 
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