Fall 2023

Welcome to our Fall Newsletter!

It’s been a busy summer, with our advocacy work reaching almost every corner of the city.

We’ve launched initiatives to improve safety in construction zones, performed bike counts, thrown fun events highlighting wasteful use of public space for parking, organized group rides, and enjoyed a few celebrations.

Read on for some highlights.

Bloor West Complete Street Extension

Exciting news: the Bloor bike lane has now been extended west an additional 3.7 kilometres deep into Etobicoke, the previously impenetrable home turf of Ontario Premier Doug Ford. The new bike lane extends from Runnymede Road to Aberfoyle Crescent (west of Royal York Road). This means it’s also time to bury old notions about cycling in the suburbs.

In fact, a July 2019 Nanos Research survey found that a whopping 41% of Etobicoke residents ride bikes for utilitarian purposes, including going to work, school, shopping, and/or visiting people. More such people will now be able to cycle - safely - on Bloor West.

On August 16, before the bike lane was installed, we did a 24-hour bike count – and we will repeat the count once the bike lane is fully in place, to measure the change in numbers, including the occurrence of cycling on the sidewalk.

In early July (see banner photo above) we celebrated the approval of the Complete Street Extension at Tom Riley Park, with special guests that included local councillor Amber Morley, a staunch supporter of the project. And on October 14, starting at 11 AM, we’re planning the first-ever group ride on the new Bloor West bike lanes (here’s the event page with details).

Road Safety and Construction Projects

While we have been working with the city to improve the safety of people on bikes and on foot, the on-road situation has yet to improve.

Shortly after the reconstruction of Bloor Street between Avenue Road and Spadina Avenue began in late July, we did a bike count to assess the impact. We noted some obvious dangers, beginning with a poorly marked merge zone where cyclists and motorists (in far heavier vehicles) jostle for space, with “single file” signs that are either not prominent or simply hidden to motorists.

Our count on July 26 showed that over 10% of cyclists took refuge on the sidewalk, to the potential detriment of pedestrians. At a reference point nearby on Bloor with no street construction, there were almost zero cyclists on the sidewalk.

We will continue to work with the city's transportation officials to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety at road construction projects, and ensure that new measures are applied - and respected - across municipal departments. We have also written Mayor Chow to engage her in the process.

Parking Day Event

On Friday, September 15, we held a parking meter party on Spadina to demonstrate both the massive amount of public space in our city that is devoted to car parking, and the opportunities for more productive uses.

The average curbside parking space is 130 sq ft, while the average parking lot space is 330 sq ft (because of access aisles). There are about four car parking spaces for each and every car, which means that the average car gets far more space in our city than the average Canadian gets in living space – on average about 648 sq ft.

With our turtles on hand, we encouraged people to “slow down, park your shell, and enjoy a coffee with us.” The Centre for Social Innovation’s Spadina location, located behind us, helpfully collaborated by providing supplies and encouragement.

In the two spaces we took over, we were able to place a table, chairs, sun umbrella, park our bikes, set up signs, and serve coffee and treats. That’s a lot more enjoyable than having one or two idle cars (that serve one or two people) occupy the space for hours on end.

Summer Social Justice Fellowship Student

This summer we had a wonderful opportunity to work with University of Windsor law student Luis Palacios; the result of a social justice fellowship from the university.

Luis helped us advance a number of key initiatives, including our upcoming report with recommendations calling on governments to address the greater danger to pedestrian and cyclist victims of crashes with pickups and large SUVs (i.e., pedestrians and cyclists are 3.4 times more likely to die in a collision with a pickup or large SUV than with a conventional car).

Our thanks to University of Windsor law professor Chris Waters, author of Every Cyclist’s Guide to Canadian Law, for connecting us with this fabulous fellowship.

Welcome Jessie

We recently welcomed Jessie Ye to our Steering Committee.

Jessie is newly graduated from McGill University, and has quickly taken charge of various group initiatives, including the aforementioned Parking Day event on Spadina Avenue.

Velo Odds And Ends

• Our coalition member Toronto East Cyclists (TEC) recently organized a successful ride to support MPP Joel Harden’s private member’s bill: The Moving Ontarians Safely Act. It’s essentially a version of the Protecting Vulnerable Road Users legislation that lawyer and cycling advocate Pat Brown has been pushing for years. A group of almost 75 cyclists left Scarborough’s Variety Village riding alongside the MPP, who cycled all the way from Ottawa.

• The gap in the Humber Trail near Lawrence West and Weston has been a longstanding problem for people enjoying an otherwise beautiful outing. To get from the trail’s south branch to the north branch, walkers and cyclists are forced to climb a steep set of stairs where they are greeted by speeding motorists on Weston Road, a wide and fast-moving arterial. The city finally approved closing the gap after completing an environmental assessment, only to watch Premier Doug Ford interfere - perhaps to appease golfers at a local club - by ordering a full environmental assessment. The city is even taking the relatively rare step of challenging Ford’s decision in court. In the meantime, we have called on the local councillor to seek installation of temporary, on-road bike lanes.

• The media continues to regularly seek our comment on a range of issues from protected bike lanes to real estate developments with cycling amenities. We were especially pleased to provide background for a piece on the “past, present, and future of safe bike lanes in Toronto” by a new cohort of students at UofT’s The Varsity paper. A comprehensive collection of our media appearances, including opinion pieces, can be found on our website.

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.

Wishing you safe rides!

Mary Ann, Ersan, Jonathan, Michael B, Michael H, Marc, Mark F x 2, Roger, Robert, Jessie, and Albert