Winter 2024

Welcome to our Winter Newsletter!

We have lots of exciting news to report since our last publication, including events stretching from North York to Scarborough and Etobicoke.

Read on for the details, plus a sneak preview of what’s in store for 2024.

Planning for the Future: The 2025-27 Near-Term Bike Plan

We were eager to engage in the planning process for the 2025-27 segment of the city’s bike plan. In fact, we previously urged City Hall to undertake just such a public process.

In the first two years of the 2022-2024 Near-Term Implementation Plan, the city installed an annual average of about 17 km of bike lanes, which is much better than the dismal pace of pre-pandemic installations, but far below the 33 km per year set out in the current plan, and far short of what the city says is necessary to achieve our climate goals.

During the past year, some of the city’s bike lanes dating from the 1990s and 2000s, including College Street and Dundas Street East, were also upgraded. Let’s hope the new College lanes will soon be extended westward. We were also pleased to see the new cycling underpass on Finch Avenue at Highway 400, which will bring us a step closer to a complete city cycling loop.

Bloor West Bike Lanes

The Bloor West bike lanes are now fully in place from Runnymede Road to Aberfoyle Crescent. A short westward extension of the bike lane to the Six Points intersection has already been approved for installation this year. In the meantime, our opponents didn’t wait for the paint to dry before calling for the bike lane’s removal, conscripting to their side the province’s scandal-plagued premier, and Etobicoke resident, Doug Ford.

At an October press conference, Ford made the buffoonish claim that “we see one bicycle come through there every single year.” His comment provided the opportunity for amusement, with claims by many cyclists to being “the one.” Almost 250 cyclists turned out for the November 5th ride, clogging the new bike lane. A counter protest failed to materialize.

Our article in Spacing provides a summary of the issues, including the overwhelming council support for the project and the NIMBY backlash.

The full cycling potential for Bloor West remains largely untapped. In early December, we met for a walk-about with Councillor Amber Morley and her staff, and the city’s cycling unit manager Becky Katz to discuss a short, safe connection between Mabelle Avenue - and its thousands of residents - and the Bloor West bike lane, as well as the possibility of a bike hub in Islington Village. Councillor Morley was very receptive to our proposals.

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

The World Day of Remembrance, which in Toronto began at the Kipling Subway Station, reminds us of the vital importance of our road safety advocacy.

Among the event participants was MPP Joel Harden who is carrying on the work of lawyer Pat Brown, founder of Bike Law Canada, in pushing for an act to create more meaningful penalties for motorists convicted under the Highway Traffic Act in cases involving the death or serious injury of a pedestrian or cyclist.

Bill 40, which proposes a Moving Ontarians Safely Act (formerly the Vulnerable Road Users Act), was the subject of a news conference at Queen’s Park in November attended by a number of our members. Sadly, the bill has again been rejected by the provincial Legislature.

4th Annual Cycling Good Cheer

This year’s Cycling Good Cheer ride began, as usual, from the North York Pole, including among riders, local councillor Lily Cheng with her son, and assistant, Kin Seong.

The Scarborough ride was led by The Grinch, who didn’t manage a smile but did bring along a contingent of smiling cyclists. And this year, we also had a ride from Etobicoke, thanks not only to the Etobicoke Snowperson but to the new Bloor Street bike lanes.

At Yonge and Davisville we were joined by Councillor Dianne Saxe and a Kidical Mass ride organized by Bicycle Mayor, Lanrick Bennett and Robin Richardson. After enjoying croissants in front of the LCBO Rosedale we ended our ride at Lake Devo at Toronto Metropolitan University. Our thanks to Happy Fiets for supplying Santa, the Snowperson, and Councillor Cheng’s office with spiffy electric bikes that were especially appreciated when ascending from Hoggs Hollow.

Looking Forward: a Sneak Preview of 2024

In the new year we will continue to advocate in our three priority areas: holding City Hall to account for its cycling, climate, and road safety plans; supporting grassroots organizations; and lifting public spirits with cycling fun. Here are some of our planned initiatives:

• ensure that the city reaches its bike lane targets in the Near-Term Implementation Program, and push for clarity on why the city continues to fall short;

• carefully monitor and engage in the 2024 budget debate, while pushing for adequate funding for road safety;

• undertake an audit of schools to determine the extent of parking in bike lanes (during student pickup and drop off) – an illegal activity that undermines road safety, public investment in bike lanes, and the safety interests of children who cycle to school;

• release and publicize our C.R.A.S.H. report and recommendations aimed at addressing the over-sized danger to pedestrians and cyclists from pickups and large SUVS; and

• hold our Bloor-Danforth FIFTY Ride! Why 50? Because it’s taken almost 50 years of advocacy to get here, namely 50 km of (double-counted) bike lanes on Bloor-Danforth.

We’re also looking forward to the anticipated late Spring publication, by the University of Toronto Press, of Albert Koehl’s book: Wheeling Through Toronto: A History of the Bicycle and its Riders.

Velo Odds And Ends

• Scarborough Southwest election results: The election to replace long-time councillor Gary Crawford took place on November 30th. There were bicycle-friendly candidates on the slate, including second place finisher Kevin Rupasinghe, a former Cycle Toronto campaigner who started his volunteer advocacy with Bells on Bloor, a predecessor group to Community Bikeways. The winner in the bi-election, Parthi Kandavel is going to need some encouragement to come around to appreciating the need for bike lanes and improved road safety.

• Humber West gap: In the last newsletter we reported on the capricious intervention by Premier Doug Ford on closing the short gap in the otherwise fabulous Humber Trail. The province, bizarrely, ordered an environmental assessment even after the city had done its own comprehensive assessment. On the eve of the city’s court challenge to the province’s meddling, the province backed down, with the result that the last barrier to action has been cleared.

• Gardiner and DVP upload: Our previous newsletters highlighted our calls for the city to reassess its decision to rebuild an elevated portion of the Gardiner East – an outdated approach given current priorities, including the climate crisis. In view of the city’s deal with the province that uploads the DVP and Gardiner expressways, the city has lost its decision-making authority. The deal, in the context of the city’s major budget shortfall, makes financial sense (albeit undermining an election promise) but losing authority over the shape of our city, and our future, stings.

• Micro-mobility consultations and licensing: We engaged in these consultations to determine the rules that govern the various types of vehicles - in addition to muscle-powered bikes - that use bike lanes, including (illegally) mopeds. There are many important issues at stake, including one councillor’s proposal to licence food couriers on e-bikes, an idea fraught with issues that we discuss in this oped.

Support Community Bikeways

Our refusal to accept corporate or government funding allows us to be fiercely independent, which we consider vital to our work in holding government to account for its climate, cycling, and road safety plans.

We do, nonetheless, gratefully accept donations from the general public. If you are in a position to help, please email us at community.bikeways.toronto@gmail.com.

Best wishes for 2024!

Steering Committee: Mary Ann, Ersan, Jonathan, Michael B, Michael H, Mark F x 2, Roger, Robert, Jessie, Bob, and Albert

Webmaster: Marc