Winter 2023

Welcome to our Winter Newsletter!

Just when it appeared that our Political Engagement Committee could take a break, Mayor John Tory resigned.

He was less than four months into his third term.

While we recognize that the mayor took incremental steps on issues of climate, cycling, and road safety, the reality is that an “incremental” approach is totally out of alignment with the urgency of the problems we face. The huge advantage of incumbency and its resulting inertia means that the public is usually ahead of its politicians, which we believe is especially true for issues of road safety and climate change.

In this newsletter, you will find news about:

• our call for transparency on spending and foregone revenues for the Gardiner East rebuild;

• the approval of the Midtown Yonge Complete Street (and the question of whether we are winning battles, but losing the war); and

• the imminent beginning of public consultations to extend the Bloor-Danforth bike lanes east and west.

As well, our hearts go out to the people of Turkey struggling to recover from deadly earthquakes. Our Steering Committee member Ersan Ozon, who hails from (and has family and friends in) Turkey, suggests that those in a position to help can donate to the Canadian Red Cross and to ahbap.org

Gardinar East Rebuild - a Money Pit in the Sky

In collaboration with ClimateFast and Transport Action Ontario, we’re calling for transparency from City Hall with respect to the costs and foregone revenues of the Gardiner East rebuild (including the elevated ramps to the DVP and lost land sales), the total of which will likely exceed $1,000,000,000 – a figure so gargantuan as to be virtually incomprehensible.

Much has changed since city council narrowly approved the project in June 2015. Today, the worsening climate and housing crises, along with huge budget shortfalls all rank far higher in city priorities than in 2015. In fact, a number of shovel-in-the-ground transit projects that will benefit more people than the Gardiner East rebuild will soon be looking for customers instead of competition from cars.

What does the Gardiner have to do with cycling? Everything.

The expressway - a product of 1950s and 1960s thinking - gobbles up today’s infrastructure dollars while funnelling more cars onto congested roads where the war for space is never-ending. Furthermore, rebuilding an elevated expressway while the Earth burns is symbolically and literally out of touch with today’s reality.

Our letter calling for a full cost accounting of the Gardiner East rebuild already has over 35 community groups signed on. And thanks to an unrelated call for an “administrative inquiry” by Councillor Josh Matlow, we are gearing up for a hearing on the issue before the Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) on March 20.

Great News: Yonge Complete Street is Now Permanent

But are we winning the battles while losing the war?

We applaud Yonge4All and Cycle Toronto’s ward groups, especially Cycle Toronto Midtown, for their leadership in the fight to preserve the Yonge Street bike lane as part of the Yonge Complete Street pilot installed in July 2021. Indeed, we are also grateful to city staff, city councillors, and the many individuals and groups who played a quiet but effective behind-the-scenes role over several decades.

We were happy to continue our efforts to help secure the pilot’s permanence. TCBC member Robert Zaichkowski gave a deputation to the IEC, and TCBC sent a letter of support to city councillors

One down-side of the long public debate - in which the same arguments were repeated from previous debates (although the “landlocked neighbourhoods” one was a new wrinkle) - is that it exhausts both community and City Hall resources, thus slowing progress on other projects. Shouldn't the process begin with a recognition and acknowledgement that people on foot and bikes have an inherent right to be safe? We certainly think so.

In January 2023 we issued a press release about the slow pace of action on the current three-year segment (2022-24) of the city’s official Cycling Network Plan. In 2022, the city installed only 13.1 km (12.6 km according to the city's own numbers) of bike lanes, despite a goal of 100 km of newly installed bike lanes by 2024. City staff are projecting 25 km of new bike lanes in 2023, which would leave at least 62 km to be installed in 2024 - a figure that stretches credulity.

This is why we believed it important to raise the alarm with a press release in January (covered by CBC), with a view to righting the ship before it is too late.

Go West…and East (Extensions to Bloor-Danforth Bike Lanes)

We can now do more than simply dream of a complete east-west cross-town bike lane. In fact, we should soon see the beginning of public consultations on both westward and eastward extensions of the Bloor-Danforth bike lanes, which at a length of 16 km already comprise the longest continuous bikeway in the city.

The Bloor West Complete Street Extension is currently being designed, with public consultations slated to begin in March. The city's loading survey has been circulated to local businesses to further inform design work. We've been hard at work mobilizing community support for almost two years as part of our We Belong on Bloor campaign. Our community letter already has 75 signatures from local businesses and community groups.

Once public consultations are completed, redesign will take place (as needed) and the matter will go to City Council for approval. We are happy to have the support of local councillors Gord Perks and Amber Morley, part of their commitment to our road safety calls to action.

The city’s 2022-24 Bike Plan includes implementation of the Runnymede to Royal York segment this year, and from Royal York to Kipling in 2024. Given that the total distance of the two projects is less than 5 km (a 400m portion between Resurrection Road and Kipling is already in place), we remain hopeful that city staff will consolidate the two projects into one for completion this year.

Our partner Bells on Kingston has been working with city staff to ensure fulsome public consultations on the eastward extension of the Danforth bike lane. The current plan, for which consultations are scheduled to begin in March or April, has two phases. The first phase would see the bike lane extended 5.7 km this year from its current terminus at Victoria Park along Danforth Avenue and Kingston Road to St. Clair Avenue. Coincident with this work, a short bike lane would be built along Birchmount Avenue from Danforth to the Waterfront Trail. Phase 2 next year would then see the bike lane extended further east along Kingston Road to Scarborough Golf Club Road, just east of Eglinton Avenue.

The result of these improvements, scheduled to be in place by the end of 2024, would be to allow a person to cycle along a Bloor-Danforth-Kingston bike lane from Kipling Avenue to Scarborough Golf Club Road – a total distance of 30 km.

These installations would then almost complete - 33 years after the first Bloor bike lane was installed (across the Prince Edward Viaduct) - a continuous cross-town bikeway, save for the sections west of Kipling to the Mississauga border, and east of Scarborough Golf Club Road to the eastern city boundary.

Vélo Odds and Ends

1. Our third annual Cycling Good Cheer ride along Yonge, held on December 18, was a joyous success. In fact, even the Grinch who Stole Scarborough's Bike Lanes was a cheerful presence. Santa managed to make it up the hill from Hogg's Hollow without breaking a sweat, thanks to an electric bike (and trailer) supplied by Happy Fiets.

   Rudolph and the other reindeer, the elves, and the Indomitable Etobicoke Snowman all joined us for a ride. Yonge4All organized a Kidical Mass ride beginning at Davisville and Yonge, where we were joined by Councillor Dianne Saxe. We stopped at the former North Toronto Station for croissants and hot chocolate. Riders from Scarborough, led by the Grinch, joined us at Bloor and Yonge for the ride to City Hall. Our friends Pier and Heather from Bromptoning did their usual, beautiful video and Jun Nogami added another splendid write-up in Biking in a Big City.

2. We completed a half day strategy session on January 28, emerging with a renewed TCBC focus on reaching all parts of the city and further building capacity to carefully monitor City Hall and the fulfillment of its climate, cycling, and road safety plans, as well as its budgetary allocations and how, and if, that money is actually spent. Meanwhile, our coalition member Toronto East Cyclists (TEC) went through a similar exercise with 20 participants to map out its plan moving into 2023.

3. We are monitoring public consultations on a project known as eglintonTOday to run a cycle track, as part of a Complete Street initiative, between Weston Road and Keele Street, along the soon-to-be-completed Eglinton Cross-town LRT.

4. Our annual community road safety awards will be announced in April. We are accepting nominations in the categories: Wayne Scott Community Service Award, Advocate of the Year, and Road Safety Champions: a. Emerging (group or individual), b. Suburban, and c. Business.

A Final Note

Our group will henceforth be known publicly as Community Bikeways, though we’ll retain our formal name, Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition, and acronym, TCBC.

As always, new supporters and volunteers are welcome. Please email us at community.bikeways.toronto@gmail.com.

Wishing you safe travels!

Mary Ann, Ingrid, Robert, Michael H, Ersan, Jonathan, Michael B, Mark F, Roger, Marc G, and Albert