[Amare]

Beautiful re-railing of the thread, well done sir.

Speaking of Crosstown West, the multitude of contracts to build it have been getting finalized at a steady pace to get it to Renforth, but has there been any chatter about the airport connection?

If only I had the capabilities of re-railing the mess that is the original Crosstown project as well.

There's no timeline, funds, or firm alignment corridor set for the airport section. I wouldnt expect to hear anything about it for at minimum a decade (that's being optimistic). Especially since it would involve the GTAA figuring out what they want to do with that Pearson Hub, and for now it seems like they are prioritizing some sort of Terminal 1 expansion.

 

[robmausser]

Metrolinx never took "Smart Track" over, it was always a pie in the sky made up idea by an old man wasting our time because it was always really under GO Transit's jurisdiction per se. The city is on the hook for a larger share of these "Smart Track" stations now because John Tory idiotically volunteered the city to pay up the funds, something that probably wouldnt have been the case had he just pressed the province to build infill stations in Toronto.

But since we're talking about the Crosstown in this thread, let's not forget he did the same thing the Crosstown West LRT until the province took control back.

Show me a single document prior to the Smarttrack plan that had any of the stations being paid for by the city being created or even thought up by Metrolinx. There isn't one. This is revisionist history by leftists. Metrolinx had 0 interest or planning to create a station at Liberty, St.Clair, Finch or East Harbour. The "50 stations" project was created by Metrolinx as a reaction to the Smattrack plan. If anything, the Smarttrack plan kicked off other ideas that Metrolinx is now taking on, including the Spadina/Front station (this station specifically was planned by GO years prior, but im still putting it here because ST helped procure it into existence), Woodbine and Park Lawn.

Smarttrack was a very flawed plan, especially the segment that is being replaced by the Crosstown West extension, but it was not without merit. And I think what actually is being built is the best part of it. And none of these stations the city is paying for would have been built by Metrolinx. And don't say "oh they would have done it anyways" you have no proof of that. Lets stick to reality. Thanks.

 

[Amare]

Show me a single document prior to the Smarttrack plan that had any of the stations being paid for by the city being created or even thought up by Metrolinx. There isn't one. This is revisionist history by leftists. Metrolinx had 0 interest or planning to create a station at Liberty, St.Clair, Finch or East Harbour. The "50 stations" project was created by Metrolinx as a reaction to the Smattrack plan. If anything, the Smarttrack plan kicked off other ideas that Metrolinx is now taking on, including the Spadina/Front station (this station specifically was planned by GO years prior, but im still putting it here because ST helped procure it into existence), Woodbine and Park Lawn.

Smarttrack was a very flawed plan, especially the segment that is being replaced by the Crosstown West extension, but it was not without merit. And I think what actually is being built is the best part of it. And none of these stations the city is paying for would have been built by Metrolinx. And don't say "oh they would have done it anyways" you have no proof of that. Lets stick to reality. Thanks.

The stations weren't thought up by Metrolinx because the city never requested or pressured that Metrolinx look into building these stations. Of course we dont know for sure if the stations would have been built, but you think Metrolinx is going to say no to free money to build extra GO stations? Just look at what the province is paying for the whole thing compared to what the city is paying. John Tory put the city on the hook for money, that may have very well been coughed up by the province ultimately simply because he never requested/pressured Metrolinx to build additional GO stations in the city. There's no Left/Right politics about it. It's simply fact.

Park Lawn is being built because the city pressured Metrolinx for years to build the thing, prior to that Metrolinx was using flawed "analysis" to justify not building it. And guess what? Metrolinx finally relented and the city isnt paying for the lions cost of it. Woodbine is being built to justify the Woodbine development plans and to close down Etobicoke North, Smart Track had nothing to do with it's planned creation. Spadina/Front is part of another development scheme by Metrolinx.

 

[flonicky]

The number of training vehicles seems to be steadily increasing. I saw a whole bunch of them today.

They way people drive on Eglinton, you do not want to use that bike lane.

 

[Natika33]

They way people drive on Eglinton, you do not want to use that bike lane.

View attachment 603037

Guess that explains why an e-bike honked for me to move from their path while I was waiting on the sidewalk for the bus around there the other day

 

[fanoftoronto]

View attachment 603035

The number of training vehicles seems to be steadily increasing. I saw a whole bunch of them today.

View attachment 603036

They way people drive on Eglinton, you do not want to use that bike lane.

View attachment 603037

They really should have raised the bike lane to the sidewalk level and made it wider instead of this god-awful gutter lane. It's not possible to enforce this and you'll get so much vehicle use on this lane making it so much more dangerous.

This project is so delayed that the bike lanes are built to a standard that's a decade old!

At least I'm happy seeing so many training LRTs on the road tho! Enjoy the wins while I can. Though few and far between with this project!

 

[Amare]

They really should have raised the bike lane to the sidewalk level and made it wider instead of this god-awful gutter lane. It's not possible to enforce this and you'll get so much vehicle use on this lane making it so much more dangerous.

This project is so delayed that the bike lanes are built to a standard that's a decade old!

At least I'm happy seeing so many training LRTs on the road tho! Enjoy the wins while I can. Though few and far between with this project!

Or they could just add in barriers like this (but longer of course):

I'm actually way more in favor of these kind of barriers, over raised bike lanes. It's easier to maintain over the long run and when the streets need to be teared up, it wont take ions to fix like with the raised lanes we're putting in all over the place now.

 

[cplchanb]

They really should have raised the bike lane to the sidewalk level and made it wider instead of this god-awful gutter lane. It's not possible to enforce this and you'll get so much vehicle use on this lane making it so much more dangerous.

This project is so delayed that the bike lanes are built to a standard that's a decade old!

At least I'm happy seeing so many training LRTs on the road tho! Enjoy the wins while I can. Though few and far between with this project!

they wasted all that money on useless bike lanes c/w curbs and marker posts on ferrand yet neglected to deal with eglinton which will have 100x more traffic. big fail on city planning

 

[robmausser]

Or they could just add in barriers like this (but longer of course):

View attachment 603076

I'm actually way more in favor of these kind of barriers, over raised bike lanes. It's easier to maintain over the long run and when the streets need to be teared up, it wont take ions to fix like with the raised lanes we're putting in all over the place now.

Yes barriers like this would be easy to implement on Eglinton, still can be done.

 

[zang]

Guess that explains why an e-bike honked for me to move from their path while I was waiting on the sidewalk for the bus around there the other day

Cyclists usually ring a bike bell to let others know they’re passing by and make you aware they’re near so that you don’t make any abrupt movement that might end up with both of you getting hurt. Some don’t realize it’s not because you might be in the way.

That said, my guess is that e-bike rider was a delivery person and it likely was someone being an a-hole. I don’t consider most delivery people legit cyclists. They’re opportunists, who’ll brazenly take whatever route they deem absolutely necessary to get where they’re going the fastest; most often the sidewalk. Even on streets with (semi-)separated bike lanes (see the Yonge & Bloor area, around lunch or dinner time). They can often be spotted a mile away by the fact they often don’t even have their feet on the pedals, preferring to keep them hanging a couple of inches above the ground like they’re on some kind of hobby horse.

If they could manoeuvre a car like they can a bike and get away with using them on the sidewalk, during crosswalks or even through buildings, I’m sure they’d be preferred vehicles.

And this folks, is why we never order delivered food from DoorDash, Uber, Fantuan, etc. — they’re just middlemen taking a cut from both the restaurant and the client, and incentivizing a whole bloody lot of people to act like jerks in the name of a better rating and tip.

 

[kev1n1m]

they wasted all that money on useless bike lanes c/w curbs and marker posts on ferrand yet neglected to deal with eglinton which will have 100x more traffic. big fail on city planning

Sorry but separated bike lanes that protect me and my family from entitled drivers are never useless. No matter how little YOU may use them.

 

[cplchanb]

Sorry but separated bike lanes that protect me and my family from entitled drivers are never useless. No matter how little YOU may use them.

i invite you to spend a day at Ferrand drive to count how many bikes that use these bike lanes which include:
-concrete curbs throughout the entire stretch
-custom painted curbs on rochfort
-bendy markers throughout the entire stretch
-painted lanes including a bike LEFT TURN LANE

i agree we can have painted lines or markers to slow traffic down but to have ALL of the above in a neighbourhood that barely bikes let alone has much vehicular traffic, where meanwhile Eglinton merely has painted lanes shows how mismanaged priorities are. my office overlooks the entire ferrand stretch so i can see first hand how little its used. its simply a lobbyist exercise gone too far.

 

[reinventingthewheel]

i agree we can have painted lines or markers to slow traffic down but to have ALL of the above in a neighbourhood that barely bikes let alone has much vehicular traffic, where meanwhile Eglinton merely has painted lanes shows how mismanaged priorities are. my office overlooks the entire ferrand stretch so i can see first hand how little its used. its simply a lobbyist exercise gone too far.

I understand your perspective on the low usage, but also consider the low (non-existent) usage of the nearby Science Centre LRT station – they’re heavily correlated. I argue that the cycle infra priorities would be inverted had this opened more timely (the cycling infrastructure folks certainly couldn’t forecast these delays).

Cycling routes parallel to rapid transit are still useful, but cycling routes that branch out from rapid transit stations are even better. They increase the catchment area of stations by making them more accessible in less time.

With the LRT in service eventually, Bikeshare will likely be rolled out in the area too.

 

[cplchanb]

I understand your perspective on the low usage, but also consider the low (non-existent) usage of the nearby Science Centre LRT station – they’re heavily correlated. I argue that the cycle infra priorities would be inverted had this opened more timely (the cycling infrastructure folks certainly couldn’t forecast these delays).

Cycling routes parallel to rapid transit are still useful, but cycling routes that branch out from rapid transit stations are even better. They increase the catchment area of stations by making them more accessible in less time.

With the LRT in service eventually, Bikeshare will likely be rolled out in the area too.

time will tell... there actually is a bike share station right at the intersection. we will see how it will turn out in the next few years but imo they still went way overboard from one extreme to another on this stretch

 

[zang]

i invite you to spend a day at Ferrand drive to count how many bikes that use these bike lanes which include:
-concrete curbs throughout the entire stretch
-custom painted curbs on rochfort
-bendy markers throughout the entire stretch
-painted lanes including a bike LEFT TURN LANE

i agree we can have painted lines or markers to slow traffic down but to have ALL of the above in a neighbourhood that barely bikes let alone has much vehicular traffic, where meanwhile Eglinton merely has painted lanes shows how mismanaged priorities are. my office overlooks the entire ferrand stretch so i can see first hand how little its used. its simply a lobbyist exercise gone too far.

They likely wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t a study showing a number of cyclists already using the route. Toronto has rarely been (or even able to afford to be) an “if you build it, they will come”-city. Almost everything the city does seems to be reactionary.

Besides which, drivers seem to expect bike lanes to look and act like car lanes; that if the cars are packed and moving slowly, the bike lanes should be the same. The fact is, because bike lanes flow so well, and because bikes are so small relative to cars, the same amount of cyclists will never seem the same as the number of drivers. It very much creates the illusion that bike lanes are “barely used”.

Frankly though, if people don’t like waiting in traffic, they should really bike.