jyossarian

Councillors, cyclists gird up for one last skirmish in the Jarvis war

It's pointless to spend more money to remove bike lanes that have had minimal impact on car travel times when they've also decreased bike travel times and increased cyclist safety. But I guess by wasting money, they're creating waste Ford can cut later.

As for why they're building another bike lane one block east instead of putting some in the center and west, who knows. As it is, the bike lane network doesn't connect to each other and is just a hodgepodge of lanes scattered around downtown.

Has anyone here contacted their councillor to let them know where they stand on the issue?

SpecialJ

I've driven both the old and new Jarvis and can say I really don't see the difference. The lanes blocked by condo developments for months on end are screwing up traffic way more than a bike lane ever will. If it was a 'waste of money' to add lanes than surely the dough spent undoing for no real benefit is a waste as well?

The plus side to the lanes added on Sherbourne is they will have separated lanes, though it seems to me a lane like this is better served on Jarvis. For my bike commute I've been taking Jarvis but will be giving Sherbourne a go once they're done.

jyossarian

Drivers gain 2 minutes, cyclists lose safety. Looks like the effort to save the Jarvis bike lane failed. Back to swimming w/ sharks or inconveniencing yourself and riding over to Sherbourne.

Boudicca

The Jarvis lane was ill conceived at the start. It ends just where the traffic speeds up to head up the Mount Pleasant race track, so you either have to cross t the lights or dare two lanes of rapidly speeding traffic. It was potentially lethal.

But now they are making similar mistakes at Sherborne, where cars can still get into the 'divided' bike lane, but bikes can't get out of it.

Crazy.

cycleobsidian

How you can stand to live in Toronto with that Mayor is beyond me. I sure hope he gets turfed out on his ear in a couple of years.

jyossarian

I live in NYC, but spend enough time in Toronto to have a good idea about cycling in both cities. In NYC, they're building new lanes and experimenting w/ what works best. For ex., we have separated cycle lanes on some avenues, but they're often filled w/ walkers who use it as extra sidewalk space. (Fun fact: walkers are what zombies are called on "The Walking Dead" and you'd swear that's what people are when they step into the bike lanes w/o looking.) These separated lanes take a lane away from traffic. While many drivers protested, the city basically said TFB. On smaller streets, they have bike lanes or sharrows or no accommodation for bikes at all. NYC's mayor thinks riding will help drive down obesity rates and make people healthier, but it's actually the DOT commissioner that's pushing the implementation of NYC's bike plan.

In Toronto, it's a hodgepodge that seems geared more for leisurely recreational rides than actual commuting. The N-S lanes don't always intersect w/ E-W lanes. Some lanes just end (bike lane on Queens Quay ends at Spadina and doesn't resume til Yonge), and there's none on major N-S, and E-W roads in the center of downtown (Yonge, Bay, University, King, Queen, Adelaide, etc.) Toronto's mayor thinks cyclists are like fish swimming w/ sharks, and while there's a Toronto Bike Plan, there's no person clearly identified as pursuing its implementation.

rfielder

That is how it is in Brampton as well. One street with a bike lane, for a short distance going north-south. No bike lanes going east-west.

Many, many bike paths, most running north-south, but none connecting and no chance to use them to get to work. All recreational......so that those of us who want to leave our car at home have to either ride the sidewalks or stay on the road with no protection.

Having said that - I have not had trouble with the drivers in Brampton. They seem to respect bicycles, and I have never felt threatened. Still, if the local government would work to make room for bikes, we could get them off the sidewalks!

jyossarian

And so the bike lane dismantling on Jarvis begins: Hume: Toronto diminishes its future by killing Jarvis bike lanes

renton

I'll be so happy when Ford will no longer be mayor.

lucille

Amen to that!

DJ Shaun

He's almost out the door now after his conflict of interest conviction.

lucille

Almost is not good enough.

jyossarian

Who's to say his replacement will be friendly to bikes? If Olivia Chow replaced him, then maybe she'd be more bike friendly since her and Jack Layton used to ride frequently. Maybe Adam Vaughan too, but will the next mayor make cycling infrastructure a priority? Rampant speculation welcome!

lucille

It's up to us to choose who we will vote for, but of course we don't know if the new mayor will be bike friendly. But I don't think he/she can be any worse than the current mayor (maybe except if his brother runs and wins...shudder), so any improvement is *ehm* gravy.

lhbernhardt

I always take my coupled fixie on business trips, and have ridden in the Toronto area on a couple of occasions.

Although I've been riding over 40 years, mostly on the West Coast, but also in NYC/Manhattan, I thought riding in Mississauga was a joke! The streets are really wide and multilane, but there's no room for bikes! They have separated paths but they don't go anywhere! I found that the best way to get in a ride from Mississauga prior to work was to head towards Toronto at around 6 am, then turn around at Etobicoke and return at around 7 am. This seemed to avoid riding in the same direction as the busiest traffic.

I was able to ride into Toronto along the waterfront bike path, but once downtown, you have to ride pretty aggressively. And watch for the streetcar tracks. I pretty much avoided riding in Toronto, and I will avoid it even more with an unenlightened fool like Rob Ford as its mayor (if he still is). I thought TO voters would have been smarter than that... Toronto desperately needs its own Janette Sadik-Khan.

I much preferred the trips where I had to stay at a hotel in Hamilton, along with riding in that vicinity. I loved riding the back roads around Dundas and around the Niagara Peninsula. I think Hamilton is a really underrated Canadian city.

Luis

jyossarian

Yup. Toronto's Denzil Minnan Wong isn't exactly an advocate for bike lanes or pedestrian accommodations, nor does he have a background in transportation issues.