Cycling

Last TCAT News, we reported that City Council placed a number of conditions on BIXI, the public bike share program that is coming to Toronto. One of these is that 1000 membership pledges are required by Nov 30th.

Be one of the first to SUBSCRIBE this Wednesday at the BIXI Bash.

The BIXI Bash held at the Gladstone Hotel on July 28th 2010 at 7 pm will provide you an opportunity to be one of the first to subscribe to BIXI Toronto and help make public bikes a reality in our City!

Bike lanes are being added to Jarvis Street this week, between Charles Street and Queen Street East. To include bike lanes on both sides of the street, the centre reversible lane was removed last week.

City Council approved the installation of two bike lanes on Jarvis Street in May 2009 after considerable debate between providing cycling or pedestrian infrastructure. TCAT's position on Jarvis can be found here.

On June 16th, 2010 Waterloo City Council approved a Transportation Master Plan that features a Complete Streets policy as its "cornerstone" component. "As a result, Active Transportation becomes an integral part of the municipal transportation system." (The City of Waterloo Transportation Master Plan, "A City that is truly accessible to all", June 2010, pg 26). Read the full plan here.

This month, Vélo Québec released Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists. This 150+ page technical guide is intended for planning professionals as well as active transportation advocates. According to Vélo Québec:

“The information in Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists is drawn from Vélo Québec's expertise in the field of active transportation and from the contributions of experts in matters of local planning, design and mobility.”

In a recent Pembina Institute Foundation report of transportation case studies in 6 Canadian cities found that 43% of Toronto commuters occasionally choose to walk, cycle or take transit, second only to the City of Montreal (46%). The number of Torontonians regularly commuting by walking and cycling increased from 2% in 2001 to 9% in 2006. However, Toronto has the fewest bike lanes and bike paths per capita (on-street 250 km, off-street 168km) of all comparison cities.

What does “complete street” mean? Spacing Toronto’s Andrew Walsh attended TCAT's Complete Streets Forum and spoke with Barbara McCann from the National Complete Streets Coalition and New York City's Assistant Commissioner for Planning and Sustainability Andy Wiley-Schwartz and learned about the history of the Complete Streets movement and the potential for Toronto.

The City of Toronto is currently considering reconfiguring Front Street West from Bay Street to York Street to accommodate anticipated increased pedestrian traffic resulting from GO Transit’s expansion.

Ideas coming from the city include:

Toronto. Great news BUT City Council imposed several important conditions that need to be fulfilled by Nov 30th in order for the program to move forward. One of these is that 1000 membership pledges are required by Nov 30th.

The Toronto BIXI team has prepared the attached Q&A. Please have a look and get ready to sign up for BIXI Toronto as soon as memberships become available!

Last week, City Council approved the installation of “No Right Turn on Red” regulations at 5 downtown intersections. Prohibiting right turns on red at these intersections is required in order to install bike boxes and pedestrian scrambles, similar to those already in place at Yonge-Bloor and Yonge-Dundas.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) released their Mid-Campaign Mayoral Candidate Report Card last week. The organization ranked five of the mayoral candidates based on their commitment to the following six categories: