Results tagged “cycling”

What was advertised as a civic rally looked more like a mid-afternoon coffee break. On October 19, friends, colleagues, and supporters of Darcy Allan Sheppard—the cyclist who died after an altercation on August 31 with former Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant—mingled on the lower steps of Old City Hall at 2:30 p.m. with their coffee mugs and lunch boxes, but did little else.

Saying something like, "Hey, it's been a ridiculous year for cycling in Toronto" sounds like a bit of a cheap lead-in, but it's true. This year, already dubious for widespread Obamamania, then equally widespread Obamaphobia, and peppered each month with one tragic, horrifying aviation disaster after another, has sucked pretty hard for local cyclists. From losing one of its own at Bay and Bloor to being told, laughably, that a carbon footprint somehow rivalling that of the city's motorists is cause enough for a bike tax, Toronto's cycling community has a few too many reasons to shake its collective head.

If you're reading this, you've probably done some thinking about bicycle policy in Toronto. In the aftermath of this summer's struggles over shared roadways, culminating in last month's extremely ugly incident, many voices have joined the debate, some less successfully than others. There is, in the middle of all this, a group of cycling activists in Toronto that is resolutely ambivalent to all solutions. The organization is Bike Pirates, and it exists to address an issue that cuts through law and infrastructure, right to the heart of the daily cycling experience.

Though they only last for three hundred metres so far, this is no small victory for cyclists. Bloor Street East, between just west of Yonge and just east of Church, has just gained freshly painted sharrows on both sides of the street. From what we saw today on the recently renovated roadway, they seem to be doing their jobs already: motorists are giving cyclists a bit more space than usual, and cyclists have moved a bit more into the road rather than towards the curb. That the painted-on sharrows literally impress cyclists' place on the road will, as they spread around the city and along Bloor, hopefully go a long way towards changing everyone's attitudes towards who our streets belong to—the correct answer being everyone.

We all know that columns in the National Post will, by virtue of the publication they're in, have a tendency to be contrary for the sake of contrariness. There's nothing wrong with contrariness: playing devil's advocate for an unpopular idea can stimulate public debate and give us real ideas for positive change.

Streets are a big problem in Toronto lately, and not just because they're so riddled with potholes that they rate among the worst in the province. Beyond simple maintenance issues, they've become the battleground in an increasingly divisive struggle to define how their space is allocated and used: are streets primarily for cars to get from A to B unimpeded, or are they for the use of people, whether in cars or not? It's a worthwhile discussion, but ultimately, it's counterproductive to have the discussion every single time paint is laid to asphalt. Jarvis, Queens Quay, Bloor, Annette, The Kingsway, St. Clair, Cherry, Lawrence, Roncesvalles—these are just some of the roads where the same questions have been asked over and over and over again: should we accommodate bikes, should we have nice sidewalks, should we prioritize transit. But during any road rebuilding or redesign, the question shouldn't be whether we're going to accommodate any of the above, it should be how we're going to accommodate all of them. Enter complete streets, the idea that roadways should be designed "for everyone, whether young or old, motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchair user, bus rider or shopkeeper."

       

On Tuesday's World Carfree Day, a parade is gathering in Trinity Bellwoods park. The day is—according to the event's hand-drawn poster—"celebrated by 100 million people across the world." The contribution from this parade currently stands at around fifty people, mainly on bicycles.

Cameraphones aren't just for snapping incriminating photos that unwittingly end up on the internet anymore! Oh, wait—we guess this still applies: at 2:10 on Friday afternoon in front of 110 Spadina Avenue, this man was witnessed allegedly stealing the rear wheel of a bicycle belonging to Torontoist reader Dean Perlmutter. According to the witness, when the man was asked if he was stealing the wheel that he just removed, he allegedly threatened the witness and rode off. Perlmutter continues:

With rights come responsibilities. That was the refrain, over and over and over again, from councillors who spoke at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee yesterday in favour of a motion by Michael Walker (Ward 22) to develop a cyclist licensing program. According to Walker, "licensing would provide for more effective enforcement of the applicable laws and clarify collision situations" [PDF]. Though the debate was largely framed as stemming from concern about cyclists' well-being (given that cycling does come with dangers, said several, it is incumbent upon the City to do its level best to mitigate those risks through a programme of education and regulation), underlying it was palpable anger and frustration on the part of at least some councillors with regards to how cyclists comport themselves on our city's streets. "Licensing is a barrier to entry," protested Yvonne Bambrick, executive director of the Toronto Cyclists Union, and we got the impression that that was exactly the point.

* Kei cars are street legal in Canada, and can be purchased right here in the GTA from a few dealers including this great little place out in Scarborough.

Earlier this afternoon, hundreds of cyclists converged on the stretch of Bloor Street West outside of the Sephora where, two nights previous, bike courier Darcy Allan—Al—Sheppard was killed. Many had just come from a mass ride that had started on Bloor at 5 p.m., picking up the crowd of about one hundred cyclists waiting at Bay and Bloor, and another crowd waiting at Bloor and Yonge, before riding together down Yonge, then along Queen, then back up University, escorted and gently directed by bike cops the whole journey.

Now finished, our second live discussion co-hosted with the Globe focused on an especially timely topic: cycling in Toronto. For an hour this morning, we fielded your cycling-related questions with Spacing's publisher, Matt Blackett; if you missed it, you can replay the whole conversation below.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, cyclists took to the stretch of Bloor Street West between Avenue Road and Bay Street (above), an impromptu mourning of Darcy Allan Sheppard, the bike courier killed along the stretch the night before. A much larger pack is expected to descend on the area on Wednesday at 5 p.m. to do it again. For a community whose more enthusiastic members took over the Gardiner on a whim last year, that stretch of Bloor should be an easy temporary conquest; activists have long wanted bike lanes there, going so far as to create the lanes there themselves.

Toronto Police have just announced [PDF] that they have formally charged former Ontario Attorney General (and new Invest Toronto head) Michael Bryant with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, charges directly related to the horrific death of a cyclist—identified by CTV as bike courier Darcy Allan Sheppard—last night. Bryant will appear in court at Old City Hall on October 19; police, meanwhile, continue to solicit witnesses or tips to police (416-808-1900) or Crime Stoppers (416-222-TIPS).

James Redekop loves to cycle. Between 2004 and 2009, he estimates that he's cycled for six hundred and fifty hours and covered more than eight thousand kilometres. Using the GPS data from these rides, Redekop created the Etch A Sketch–style animation above (the red lines represent five minutes of his cycling and the red arrows indicate rides outside of Toronto). But turning his riding into a cool animation wasn't always his intention.

Sure, Toronto, you heart your bikes, but there are other cities just as cycle-centric as you are. Tonight at CineCycle, the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation presents a screening of VEER, a critically approved documentary that examines Portland’s (at times) wacky bike culture and shows that for many, two wheels aren’t just a choice of transportation; they’re a way of life.

Starting soon—Monday, in fact—you'll be able to take your bike on the VIA train between Toronto and Montreal without boxing it up: the Bike Train has just announced a new twice-daily service to Montreal starting August 24 and continuing six days per week through October 8. For seven weeks stretching into the autumn, one morning and one evening train running in each direction will include space in the baggage car for six bikes.

With the strike over, it’s finally easy to visit Centre Island once again. While the park is often associated with picnics and bike rides, in the summer it’s also home to two interactive art installations.

When photographic artist Leanne Eisen left the Scotiabank Theatre on Monday following a screening of Ponyo, she was surprised to find this piece of blue paper wrapped around the handlebars of her vintage bicycle. At first, she only saw the words, "Your bicycle has been ticketed because…"

On-road bike lanes have been in the news quite a bit recently: the battle over Jarvis Street, the ongoing crawl toward lanes along Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue, and a patchwork of lanes approved earlier this month all have cyclists applauding. But Toronto's plans for the Bikeway Network consist of more than just bike lanes on roads: off-road routes form about a quarter of the proposed network [PDF]. A significant portion of those off-road paths won't pass through traditional parks, but will follow rail and hydro corridors.

       

The annual World Naked Bike Ride, celebrating all that is naked and bike, turned heads as they rode through downtown Toronto yesterday. In countries all around the world similarly de-clothed convoys take place every year to draw attention to the vulnerability of cyclists and the dangers of vehicle pollution. Torontoist caught the riders in the buff as they came along Queen, and a gallery of photos—which (obviously) contain nudity—is above.

The opportunities for cyclists to get out of the city with their bikes—and without their cars—are multiplying. The Bike Train will be kicking off its third season on Friday June 26 with trains running from Union Station to St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. It'll be the first of eight weekends of service to Niagara, with travel dates stretching into October. Last year's experiment with Friday departures from Toronto proved popular, so there will now be Bike Trains leaving Toronto on Friday (or Thursday) every weekend on the schedule, in addition to the regular Saturday and Sunday trains. Return tickets are a little more expensive this year—up to $62 from last year's $59—but one-way tickets for those embarking on longer tours or finding another way home are down from $35 to $31.

The next time somebody tells us that Toronto is in the midst of a war on cars we are going to buy them a plane ticket to Copenhagen. Or possibly Bogotá. New York if they want something closer to home. We will send them to one of the growing number of cities that are actually demonstrating the nerve to redefine their planning priorities in favour of liveability and environmental sustainability and dare the auto-obsessed malcontents to say that they aren't all the better for it. For all the recent controversies over Toronto's Bike Plan and Walking Strategy, over our notions of just talking about taking down one portion of one disastrous highway, and converting one traffic lane on a road that is not used to capacity [PDF] to allow five times the number of people to use it on their bikes, Toronto's initiatives are piddling, tentative, nibbling-around-the-edges sorts of things when compared with what is happening elsewhere in the world.

Ever wonder what distinguishes a good bicycle rack from a bad one? Or what the optimal buffer is between a bike lane and a parked car? If so, then last week's Bike Summit was the place for you, as active transportation activists, transportation planners, urban infrastructure experts, and assorted cycling gurus came together to consider these and other such questions. Organized by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT), the second annual conference was a day-long extravaganza devoted to everything on two wheels.

On May 29, 2008, the Toronto Cyclists Union was launched. And much as he had done to kick off his earlier group, founder Dave Meslin called on his Torontopian indie-rock buddies to put on a show at the Bloor.

City Council is wrapping up its monthly meeting (extended to a third day to accommodate a full agenda and some election-laced rhetoric), one which has been particularly action packed. In addition to banning new bars and restaurants on Ossington for a one year "cooling off" period, and passing a precedent-setting green roof requirement (the first in North America), Council has considered several proposals for addressing the balance—or redressing the imbalance—between the different modes of transit on our city streets. The Jarvis lane reallocation grabbed Monday's headlines, and today Council has voted to install sidewalk, transit, and cycling improvements on Roncesvalles, and also passed a comprehensive Walking Strategy which will (among many other excellent measures that have garnered almost no press) introduce pilot no-right-turn-on-red restrictions on ten especially pedestrian-heavy intersections. Given that the city has approximately 2,100 signalized intersections, this represents the smallest foray, an experiment really, in redistributing roadway space.

Remember Igor Kenk? He's many things to many people. The world’s most prolific (suspected) bike thief? Check. Alleged drug trafficker? Affirmative. Raging hothead? Yup. Stellar recycler? Sure, that too. But movie star? Now there’s a new one.

     

Toronto is getting the first of what are planned to be several new bicycle stations this morning, aimed at making cycling a more comfortable option for commuters. Nestled into the pedestrian underpass on York Street right by Union Station, the station provides secure, monitored storage for bicycles, as well as changing facilities, a repair stand, and a few other thoughtful amenities, like a vending machine that dispenses tubes and lights.