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Diamond Lanes finally policed?

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In a few of the comment threads over the past two days readers have been excited about sightings of something most rare or even nonexistent Toronto — not a Spotted Owl or something fowl like that — but Toronto Police Services actually ticketing inappropriate vehicles in restricted diamond lanes. We are always excited when long dormant bylaws are suddenly enforced, and would like to commend the TPS, but need some evidence.

If you’re out and about and see a cop ticketing somebody in either a shared diamond lane (like the ones on Bay Street) or a bike-only diamond lane, snap a photo with your camera or mobile phone and either send it to us at the news email at right, or better, post it on your Flickr account and send us the link. We will be happy to celebrate the Toronto Police Service like Torontonians did The (other) Police a few nights ago at the Air Canada Centre as they reappeared triumphantly after a long dormancy (like diamond lane enforcement!).

If you don’t have a camera, commend them yourself. They probably don’t get enough of that sometimes. Show them the people who don’t read The Sun are behind them too.

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10 comments

  1. I once saw police giving a ticket to a cabbie parked in the bike lane on Runnymede at Bloor. Photo etc. here:
    http://toronto.mybikelane.com/post/index/1454

    Bike lane enforcement is pretty much ignored though. Take a look around the rest of http://toronto.mybikelane.com/. Nobody seems to care….there are always cars scattered throughout the bike lanes.

    I’m happy to hear that Dundas Street (west of Kipling) is being enforced too.

  6. On the other hand, I was just at a bike breakfast from Grassroots and saw more than a few biketypes blow through a red light and ride on the sidewalk.

  9. On College, east of Bathurst I walked by at night while a regular cop (not parking) was bitching out a cab for stopping in bike lane. Was a very surprising sight.

  10. I just came across this post, so I’m a bit late to be joining the discussion. I just want to mention that I actually saw a delivery truck getting a ticket back in May and took a picture of it. I spent about 5 hours riding up and down College to see how many violations I could catch. I got 60 (but saw many more). I posted them all on MyBikeLane.com

    Here’s the shot of the driver getting a ticket from TPS:

    http://toronto.mybikelane.com/post/index/1417

    Ultimately, in areas with heavy parking turnover and lots of deliveries, simply painting a bike lane on the roadway is insufficient and causes headaches for everyone. It’s a challenging problem, but I know there are more inspiring designs than what we’re stuck with along College.