Gotta give some props to the Toronto Star for their cover story on cycling in Toronto. It includes a big fat feature by Leslie Scrivener and a cycling manifesto by Jennifer Wells.
Toronto may be decades away from being North America’s Amsterdam — (half of that city’s population cycles every day) or years away from catching up to Portland, Oregon, where instead of ticketing cyclists who biked at night without lights, police give away bike lights and help install them.
Now halfway in, Toronto is woefully behind its ambitious and visionary 10-year bike plan. The city was to double the number of cycling trips, build a 1000-kilometre network of paths and cycling lanes, and ensure no one is more than a five-minute ride away from some kind of bikeway. There is now scant hope that the plan will be in place by 2011.
Best part is the 10 improvements Toronto could implement to make this city a leader in urban cycling. There are also bike features on Jack Layton & Olivia Chow, city councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, CBC reporter Kevin Sylvester, bike guru Mike Barry, and screenwriter Jason Sherman.
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“Councillor Case Ootes, of Ward 29, contends that bike lanes are fine for people who live and ride downtown but are not practical for the city as a whole.
“I’m concerned about the overarching strategy of these activists in promoting bicycle lanes,” he says. “They want to make it as difficult as possible for people to drive. I don’t think it will catch on.”
He sees cycling as a seasonal and recreational pursuit and says people are most comfortable travelling in their own cars. “Motorists are suffering more and more frustration. There’s no way you can encourage motorists to get out of their cars to use a bicycle to commute to work. It’s just not going to happen.”
The idea of cyclists and motorists sharing the road has a nice ring, he says, but usually leads to greater traffic congestion.”
-Now that’s leadership and an understanding of good city buildng, no wonder our city is circling the drain.
Councillor Case Ootes is a complete douche and I know him personaly so his comments are not surprising.
Also covered in the Globe and Mail is a review of the Bicycle History exhibit in the Market Gallery (3rd floor of the St. Lawrence Market) — highly recommended!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060527.BREARTON27/TPStory/?query=bicycle
Hey Cyclists, didn’t see this page / website until just now, but followed the bike week stuff pretty seriously.
Check http://tucorides.blogspot.com
it’s the account of my attempting to commute from T.O. to Oshawa via bike.
Take care.