October 3rd, 2006
Is Toronto a biking city or not?
By Tammy Thorne // 5 Comments
Christopher Hume waxes prophetic about the possibilities for pedal power in T.O. in Sunday's Toronto Star.
The story compares cycling in Toronto to urban Sweden.
Some of the interesting comparisons include:
- biking in Sweden is part of a larger strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- bikes are not considered a viable means of transportation in Toronto
- biking in Toronto has become dangerous
Toronto's smog plan does not promote cycling. In fact, a rep from Public Health told me that cycling on smog days is discouraged due to the dangerously high level of fine particulate in the air.
Shouldn't the City be telling people to leave their cars at home on smog days?
It would appear that there is no shortage of this kind of backwards thinking at City Hall. When I spoke to Councillor Rob Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) this summer about cycling, he said; "Roads are for cars..." And, that bike lanes are dangerous, so he doesn't support them. Biking in traffic is like, "swimming with the sharks," he said.
And, of course, the gold standard in anti-cycling rhetoric from City Council comes from Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), who is still trying to have the Cosburn bike lanes in his ward removed. (Did he suffer some kind of childhood biking trauma, I wonder?)
Ootes on why bike lanes don't matter: "People won't get out of their cars. It doesn't happen. This isn't that kind of city."
What kind of city is it then? Perhaps the better question is: What kind of city will it become if we continue to let people who think this way run it?
I'll leave the final word on cyclist safety to Hume:
By contrast, Toronto is full of people who would love to ride their bikes but don't because it's just too dangerous. More than lack of lanes or places to park, the problem in Toronto is drivers.
It felt really good to see that in print. Read the whole article, it has lots of excellent insights and comparisons.
The overall message is that in Sweden; bikes belong. The European Commission on the Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection released a document called: Cycling - the way ahead for towns and cities.
Perhaps this should be required reading for all of Toronto's City Councillors?
There are some more interesting observations on cycling culture in Sweden here on the Spacing Wire.
Update: There is a letter to the editor in the Toronto Star today, in response to Hume's article, titled; "Cycling's future hangs on election."
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No North American city is truely a "cycling city". It has more to do with the fact that Sweden's cities grew first through about 1000 years of no cars. This city ("city" being the urban bulit area) is designed for cars and cars only. Why else would we have a city that commuting from Richmond Hill to downtown is considered normal.
I agree David, BUT.... Stockholm did not make cycling part of their infrastructure until 20 years ago. It is relatively new in terms of access and safety.
So while they have a head start on us in lving in a dense urban setting (with goddamn beautiful artchitecture coming out the wazoo) they are not too far ahead when in comes to the smaller things. They just had guts to do it.
Robert - In Toronto in 1999 there were 939,000 cyclists over age 15 (that was approximately 48 per cent of the pop at the time). These numbers were from a Decima Research study done for the City.
I don't know for sure - but I think there are more of us now! Let's keep the pressure on.
Cycling makes ANY city great - old or new.
David - yes, yes, it's true... except some might argue that Davis CA and Portland OR are cycling cities... Oh yes, and what about, Montreal? I have to bike when I visit there. Quebec City - well, in the city itself you need strong gams...but you know how I looove the Route Verte! And, also, just bcs a city is old and European doesn't mean it is automatically a cyclists mecca (as is pointed out above - political will is what is lacking) ... my Scottish friends constantly bemoan the lack of cycling culture and infrastructure there and just think cycling in T.O. is tops. Go figure.
It's true that the City's support of cycling and cycling infrastructure has stagnated badly. Generally I'm opposed to state social engineering, but with cycling a real mind change is required. Without real incentives to cycle, people won't do so, and a bikeless city becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
There are signs of hope, if not from our elected officials. In the four years I've been biking concertedly (incidentally, the same four years I've lived within the city core), I've seen the number of cyclists increase steadily, at least on the routes I travel (between the Junction and downtown, mostly). I've also experienced increasingly good relations with cars on the road. More signalling, more care with lanes, and so on, and this has been a very positive thing. It seems to me that drivers (downtown) are increasingly aware of cyclists and not utterly bitter to share the road with us. That said, my husband bikes to York to teach (I gave it up out of terror and sloth) and I fret because there are no safe north-south bike commuting routes in this city.
What I would like to see is some organized and progressive activism from this increasingly large body of cyclists. It's something I'd be happy to contribute to. And this kind of activism is going to succeed not because we set ourselves up in opposition to cars, but as something more than an alternative.
Here are some of the things I'd like to see:
* Cycling encouraged (far more actively) as part of a healthy city campaign.
* Real incentives to those who bike. These should, at the very least, include rebates (say, an up-to $300 rebate for purchasing and using a bike). This could be done as a property tax rebate at the very least, with parallel rebates for renters.
* I'd like to see the TTC withdraw its prohibition of bikes on buses and the subway during rush hour. This could be effected by installing bike racks on front of *all* buses and perhaps by designating a subway car (front or rear) as the 'bike car' (where cyclists and non-cyclists could mingle). It is true that the bike racks on buses are not currently widely used, mostly because people aren't sure they can trust them, YET. Give this program time, and it will work.
* I'd like to see secure bike lock-ups in more places in the city.
* As a disincentive to bike theft, I'd like to see shops who purchase used bikes regulated like pawn shops, and have to obtain identification and similar information from people who walk in off the street.
* Needless to say, I'd like to see bike lanes on all major streets. The lack of bike lanes on north-south arteries is really appalling, especially on roads like Keele with a very wide road allowance dedicated to sidewalks that nobody uses and grass strips harbouring pesticides and old mufflers.
* I'd like to see legislate changes effected that would give more traffic rights to cyclists. Not to run red lights, but a right-of-way might be nice. It takes a split second for a bike to merge into a lane and get out of the way of a car. This alone would make the roads safer and more efficient. I agree with Christopher Hume's comment on inverting the current power dynamic on our streets, where cars currently have the default right of way. I wouldn't object to an automatic right-of-way for pedestrians, followed by cyclists. It works, in practice, in many parts of this city, including (for the most part) in Kensington Market.
Unoriginal ideas, but it would be nice to see them collected and acted upon.
And I'd like to add, at the end, that I'm not opposed to cars. I just think the city will work a lot better if more people bike, walk, and take transit.
That's a rhetorical question, right? Toronto continues to spiral into a cycling disaster. I'd hoped Miller and crew would make Toronto a more bike friendly city but less has happened under him than under Lastman! We have to find out how many people in this city ride bikes and in some way get them motivated to change the status quo.
Comment by Robert Ouellette
October 3, 2006 | 11:25 am