we ask that the Bloor bike lanes be extended to Six Points

It has been wonderful that the Bloor bike lanes were extended west as far as Runnymede. However, just past that intersection, cyclists are often confronted by a sight like this.

From that point in Bloor West Village and points further west, you are on your own, mixing it up with traffic.

At the same time, the city has put in some beautiful bike lanes as part of the Six Points redevelopment.

Sadly, they are not connected to any other bike infrastructure. The Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition is addressing this issue in one of their campaigns which is focused on extending the Bloor bike lanes to Six Points, and also to put bike lanes along Dundas W to the same intersection. As part of this effort, volunteers have been distributing postcards in the neighbourhoods along Bloor between Jane and points west. You can read about the first postcard drop here. Since that time, the distribution has been broken up into a series of smaller drops.

Today was the fifth such drop, centred on an area a little west of Royal York. I met Rob Z on the way. It wasn’t fun biking along the Kingsway, and there were plenty of close passes by drivers hurrying home.

Albert arrives with bundles of postcards. Here we are about to branch off to our different distribution routes.

The postcard looks like this.

Here is an uncropped version of the photo, taken back in March, showing how a cyclist can really be hemmed in by cars.

I cut my route short for the evening due to rain. I hope the other volunteers managed to stay dry!

At any rate, an extension of bike Bloor bike lanes as far west as Royal York is under study, and we shall see whether that actually leads to anything.

In memoriam: cycling advocate Wayne Scott

In late January, long time cycling advocate Alan Wayne Scott passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Albert Koehl and Alan Sheppard have co-authored an article in NOW Magazine in his memory.

Here are some pictures of Wayne sweeping glass particles from the Bloor bike lane just a few days after initial installation.

Here he is with another long time Bloor bike lane advocate, Hamish Wilson, at the opening of the Bloor bike lane pilot.

Here he is at one of the many gatherings that he organized in memory of Darcy Allan Shepard.

Extending the Bloor bike lanes to Etobicoke and beyond

Rob Zaichkowski has written another one of his excellent articles, this time about the potential of extending the Bloor bike lanes westward to Kipling, where it could potentially connect to a proposal BRT route all the way to Missisauga and beyond to Hamilton.

He also wrote a recent article for Spacing Magazine about the progress made in the cycling related issues across the city in 2020.

Much progress has been made, accelerated by initiatives such as ActiveTO. However, it is still important to understand that in some respects, the city is still well behind in its Bike Plan, particularly with regards to the spending of the capital budget allocated to the installation of bike infrastructure.

• Finishing the job on Bloor; (two wheeled politics blog)
• Progress during a pandemic – a cycling year in review; Spacing Magazine
• City backpedals on $100 million bike plan; NOW Magazine

A few notes on the Danforth bike lanes

Today I had the opportunity to bike over to the Danforth with a few friends. I had not been over there since the removal of the CafeTO patios, so I was anxious to see the changes. I met up with fellow bike advocate Janet Joy Wilson in Bloor West Village.

Just a reminder that even though it is wonderful to have bike lanes all the way to Runnymede, the sections under the two railway bridges between Dundas St W and Symington are still not done, and in fact may not be done until late 2021 due to hydro and metrolinx work on both the Barrie and Kitchener GO lines.

Meeting up with Albert, Donna, and Arthur at Sherbourne.

Passing this fine example of utility cycling on the viaduct.

Crossing the onramp to the DVP just before Broadview is always going to be one of the most dangerous spots on Bloor-Danforth for cyclists.

With the removal of the CafeTO patios, the bike lanes are now a straight shot. However, I would still like to see the patios back next summer. They were a great addition to a revitalized streetscape. Hopefully they will also reduce opposition to the bike lanes from the Greektown BIA.

A brief stop in Greektown.

Another stop at Mofer Coffee which was highly recommended as a good source for coffee and well as beans. In these pandemic times, it is vital to shop local, and to show merchants that cyclists are good customers.

Dave of @TorontoCycleChic has been renting an e-bike from zygg on a monthly basis, and he has been very satisfied. He says it’s a good way to check out e-bike ownership before making an investment.

Regrettably due to time constraints, I had to turn back at this point. I did check out some of the intersection treatments on the north side on the way back.

The green boxes for left turning cyclists at Greenwood and Danforth seemed too small to be effective.

There were other intersections with some traffic calming with painted bumpouts and bollards, particularly at intersections with less busy streets like this cul de sac.

This treatment at Woodycrest was interesting. I’m wondering if the large hatched area was intended as a loading zone for the pizza pizza.

The intersection at Logan had treatments on both corners, probably due to the proximity to the Alexander the Great parkette.

The city just finished a survey about Destination Danforth. One hopes that community feedback is sufficiently positive to make the bike lanes on Danforth permanent.

Progress on Yonge St

There have been some positive things happening on Yonge St. In December 2020, city council voted in favour of REimaging Yonge which will reduce the number of car traffic lanes between Finch and Sheppard in favour of bike lanes and wide sidewalks. (It should be noted that there is no funding for the project at the moment).

There was also a vote to install temporary bike lanes between Lawrence and Bloor as part of the ActiveTO initiative.

The next Yonge related vote at City Council will be a reconstruction of Yonge between College and Queen.

Bells on Bloor advocates Albert and Michael have written a piece in the Toronto Star called “Don’t fear a car free Yonge St“.

As part of the campaign to get bike lanes along Yonge, the Community Bikeways Coalition also staged a ride with Santa down the length of Yonge St. that was very well received.

Albert also has these ten tips for the cycling advocate.

Bells on Bloor asks for enforcement of bike lane rules

From the Gleaner:

“Over a six week period, the Gleaner photographed active daytime deliveries along Bloor St. West in order to give a snapshot of which companies respect the bike lanes and which don’t. Most do. Some Sysco truck drivers obey bike lane rules, while others do not. Brinks trucks must deliver via the front door of their customers, and seem to actively ignore the rules while doing so.“

Full article is here

Taking the Tooker

Today was Tooker Gomberg’s birthday, and so it was more than appropriate that we celebrate the extensions of the Bloor/Danforth bike lanes. Angela put out the call last week for a ride from Christie Pits to East Lynn Park.

Richard and I rode over from High Park. BIke lane markings have been painted down from High Park almost all the way to Dundas W. Here you can see the intersection with Parkside, where the bike lane hugs the curb, and the right turn lane for cars remains to the left of the bike lane. In the original design, the bike lane crossed over the right turn lane.

Curb with bollard protection is slowly working its way west from Shaw St. Word is that all of the protective elements won’t be in place until the end of September, which is a bit of a slip from the original plan. Probably the delay is at least partially associated with some road work that is being done just west of the underpass for the railpath.

Lots of cyclists gathered at Christie Pits.

Angela greets us and offers us bike shaped cookies in ginger, and more ginger.

Casey is one cool pup.

The banner is here.

Angela tells us a little about Tooker Gomberg’s vision for a bike lane spanning the city from east to west. After his passing, a group of friends got together and decided that pressing for bike lanes along Bloor/Danforth would be an appropriate way to memorialize Tooker. After several years, this also lead to the formation of Bells on Bloor, a group that organized an annual ride down Bloor St, which was also eventually joined by Bells on Danforth. Finally, in recent years, these groups worked in parallel with Cycle Toronto. The Bloor bike lanes were approved as permanent infrastructure several years ago, and the westward extension to Shaw was approved earlier this summer. In the interim, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the deployment of temporary bike lanes, including bike lanes on Danforth, and the filling of the gap between Avenue and Sherbourne. So here we are, just on the edge of having 15 km of continuous bike lanes along Bloor/Danforth.

Hamish Wilson spoke next, and asked why it has taken 15 years to do the obvious. He pointed out that there is still a need to have bike lanes along all of the subway routes, especially Yonge St.

Now we get ready to depart.

Gerry corking

across the viaduct

at Broadview

Once on the Danforth, it was decided to turn the banner around so that it read “Take the Tooker” from the front.

Here is an example of the integrated of CafeTO curb space with the bike lanes.

Exiting Greektown.

Martin Reis

Janet Joy and John from Ward 4

Arriving at East Lynn Park.

Thanks to Angela for organizing the ride, to all those who helped cork intersections, and all those who rode with us. We’ll have to do this again in the fall once everything is done along the entire stretch.

Throwback Thursday: back to 2012

Back in 2012, Bells on Bloor and Bells on Danforth participated in the Cycle and Sole Rally at Queen’s Park, calling for better infrastructure and safety for both pedestrians and cyclists.

Here is a video of Avigail and Adelaide Humphreys calling for bike lanes on Bloor/Danforth. (click on image to launch)

and here is a photo of the girls today

Signs of the coming extension to the Bloor bike lanes

Albert posted this on Twitter this morning:

And now what we’ve been waiting for (for a very long time) … first signs of a Bloor West bike lane — part of an east-west spine for people on bikes. Installation starts next week. pic.twitter.com/F7nsm8fFym

— Bells On Bloor (@BellsOnBloor) July 28, 2020

Looks like the new bike lane markings are being outlined, even in advance of the official August 4 start date for construction. I had to go check this out this evening.

The new markings start just west of Dufferin.

Here you can get a sense of the width of the bike lane and the adjacent buffer.

The protection along most of the westward extension will be curbs topped with bollards like in this artist’s sketch.

The buffer gets considerably wider as the bike lane goes under the bridge. Hoping for more robust protection in this section.

The buffer gets really narrow as you go up the hill towards Symington.

As of early Tuesday night, the markings only went as far as Symington. There is nothing marked under the second bridge at this point.

Very exciting to see even these small signs of what is to come.

Bloor bike lane westward extension coming in August

There has been a lot of activity along Bloor/Danforth this summer. There are new bike lanes between Avenue and Sherbourne, and construction has started on the bike lanes on Danforth.

🚧Construction has already begun for #DestinationDanforth. Want to know the timeline? What it will look like when it's completed? What the next steps are?

🚲Read: Danforth bike lanes are coming… now. Let’s make them permanent: https://t.co/CJlrY2G6Cy#BikeTO #ActiveTO pic.twitter.com/mKA26LJcwp

— Cycle Toronto (@CycleToronto) July 16, 2020

With all the activity around the new bike installations as part of #ActiveTO, there was some concern that installation of the westward extension of the Bloor bike lanes would be pushed back.

However, fear not: the construction notice has been posted, and these lanes will be installed in August, just as planned in the original timeline.

Construction will start at the Shaw end of the extension. Phase 1 is from Shaw to Dundas St W.

This means that at the end of August, at long last we will have continuous bike lanes along Bloor/Danforth for 15 km.