Nearly one million cyclists a year on the Bloor bike lanes

Our friends at CycleTO recently posted an analysis of city data on the number of cyclists that use the Bloor bike lanes, and came up with the fact that almost one million cyclists use them a year. This makes them one of the most heavily used pieces of bike infrastructure in Canada, despite the fact that they are only 2.4 km long.

Westbound on Bloor, approaching Shaw, do you ever get a sinking feeling when you know that the bike lane is about to end?

After the bike lane ends, you have no choice but to mix it up with traffic.

In the same blog post, CycleTO makes a strong argument to extend the bike lanes westward, all the way to High Park.

They also cite a bike count that was done in September of last year by Bells on Bloor volunteers. That data shows that between the hours of midnight and 9 pm on Sept 28, 2018, about 2200 cyclists cycled by Sweet Pete’s bike shop, just west of Bloor and Dufferin, a section with no bike lanes.

Here’s a closer look at the data.

Both lines show the number of cyclists per hour, westbound (blue) and eastbound (orange). It is interesting that the morning rush hour has a very distinct peak between 8-9 am, whereas the outbound evening rush hour is much more spread out. The data show a total of 1060 westbound cyclists and 1134 eastbound cyclists, totals that are roughly balanced.

There were also automobile counts done over the rush hour periods. During the morning rush between 8-9 am, the cyclist total was about 13% of the motorist total. During the evening rush, the number of cyclists was about 17% between the hours of 4-7 pm. These are significant numbers for a section of Bloor that is not bike friendly.

Let’s continue the push to get the Bloor bike lanes extended, and for bike lanes to be put on the Danforth as well!

 

 

 

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two articles on the Dandyhorse blog

Dandyhorse published two recent articles on the bike plan.

In the first, Robert Zaichkowski and Albert Koehl talk about how real progress on building new bicycle infrastructure is falling far behind the official bike plan.

In the second, Tammy Thorne outlines how unambitious the city’s plans are for 2019.

Tomorrow morning (Jan 17), the newly constituted infrastructure and environment committee will vote on whether or not to recommend that the Richmond and Adelaide bike lanes be made permanent, as recommended by city staff. The city’s own studies show that bike traffic along this corridor has increased by a factor or ten, and the number of bike/car collisions as decreased at the same time. This will be the first indication of how receptive the new city council is towards bicycle infrastructure.

Fingers crossed.

Making Bloor safe for cyclists is not as easy as you might think

 

An article by Albert has just been posted in Dandyhorse Magazine about the long history of fighting for bike lanes on Bloor.

(Note that the photo above was taken this past summer during the group commute, the one day when bicycles can take over Bloor in the downtown bound direction).

The small step that paved the way for Toronto’s waterfront trail

An article in the Globe and Mail about Winona Gallop, a cycling activist who started with getting the bike path along the Beach waterfront done, and then worked to extend it. The last broken link in the Waterfront Trail, at the foot of Leslie St. along Unwin Avenue, will be finished this year.

“Long before Bloor Street had a bike lane, before council approved its first bike plan, and even before the city had a mayor who was maligned for riding his bike to work, Toronto had Winona Gallop.”

Bloor bike lanes: one year anniversary

Image source.

What bells work in the rain?

As we head into a rainy fall, one discussion that came up recently on the BOB list was the question of bike bells not working very well in the rain. I recently bought a Crane Suzu bell, which was reported to work pretty well in the rain.

Does this photo remind you of any particular logo?

Since I also had a Spurcycle bell on the Brompton, it was time to do another comparison of the different bells I had. An earlier comparison looked at just the Knog Oi, an Incredibell, and a Cateye bell.

This video tells the tale:

When all the bells are dry, it is clear that the Spurcycle is the loudest and most resonant.

Once the bells are soaked, all are somewhat muffled, but the Crane is the loudest when wet, the Spurcycle still OK, and the other three are too quiet to be much use. The question as to why the Crane Suzu does the best in the rain is an interesting one, and probably has to do with the fact that it is relatively large and heavy, implying that it is not as affected by the damping effect of water droplets on the bell surface. However, the Crane Suzu is rather large, and takes up considerably more handlebar real estate than the others. Note that the Crane I tested was not one of their aluminum models, which I think would not do as well in the rain.

The other thing to keep in mind as the days get shorter is that you should have adequate lighting. I am one of the volunteers that is counting bikes and cars from a 24 hour video taken recently on the Danforth, and I was surprised to see that about half of the cyclists I saw between midnight and 1 am had no lights at all.

Be this person:

Not this one:

Ride safe, everyone!

Toronto Bike History Ride

This past Thursday (Aug 23), the Ward 28 group of Cycle Toronto organized a bike history ride, starting at St. James Park, going to the site of the Royal Canadian Bicycle Club, and then back to St. James Park for a special screening of the movie “Breaking Away”. As a special treat, the event was also attended by the Barry family, of Mariposa Bicycle fame.

Here is Albert talking about the history of Jarvis St, and how it related to cycling in Toronto.

Cynthia Waye in front of the Royal Canadian Curling (formerly Cycling) Club that dates to 1891.

Mike Barry, founder of Mariposa Bicycles in front of his former store Bicyclesport on King St. Arthur Klimowicz, Ward 28, is on the megaphone (he was one of the organizers).

A quote from Cynthia Waye, Collections Curator: “What a pleasure to meet new faces and old at the Royals.  I cannot tell you how exciting it was for me to see 30 cyclists biking down the alley to the club as ‘our boys’ did over a hundred years ago to attend gatherings at the Royal Canadian Bicycle Club. Still makes me smile.”

For those that are interested about the history of cycling in Toronto, there is a special exhibit “Bike City: How industry, advocacy and infrastructure shaped Toronto’s cycling culture” until November 17 at the Market Gallery in St. Lawrence Market.

Life-saving solutions for Toronto streets already exist – and it’s time to implement them

article in the Globe and Mail by Albert Koehl and Nancy Smith Lea

Reaction to the city’s announcement of additional funds made available this week to implement Vision  Zero.

 

Bells on Danforth

This past Saturday was the annual Bells on Danforth ride, the sister ride to Bells on Bloor. It was also a day to remind ourselves about the joy of cycling, after a brutal week when four cyclists died in the GTA.

Bells on Bloor organized a small ride to the ride starting from Bloor and Spadina.

Albert pulling a bike trailer with signage.

Across the viaduct.

A brief detour south as a portion of the Danforth was closed off at Broadview for a street fair.

The ride starts at Withrow Park.  Here is a panorama of the hundreds of cyclists gathered for the ride.

Tom is our emcee today.

Liz from CycleTO and Janet Joy from the Reading Line.

First speaker was Peter Tabuns, newly reelected MPP. He read out the acknowledgment of lands, and then apologized for not being free to ride with us.

Next: Janet Joy Wilson talked about the upcoming book ride on August 26 that is themed around the Prince Edward Viaduct. She was raffling off a signed copy of “In the Skin of a Lion”.

As Bells on Danforth is a non partisan community organization, they did not allow anyone who is running for office to speak. However, Mary-Margaret McMahon is not in that category as she will be stepping down in the fall due to a self imposed two term limit. She talked about how she will continue to press for better bike infrastructure, partially through her efforts on PWIC.

Janet Davis announced just this week that she is also not running this fall. With the loss of her and Mary-Margaret, we have lost two strong proponents of cycling, and the two champions of the Woodbine bike lanes. She said that she and MM will continue to press for a corridor study to be started before the election as part of a continuing push for bike lanes on the Danforth. She reminded us that not only should we be talking our local councillors; we should also be putting pressure on the mayor’s office.

Liz Sutherland announced CycleTO’s new campaign: #BuildTheGrid, which is an update of the “minimum grid” campaign.

Just before the ride, the draw for the book was done.

Regrettably I did not get the name of our happy winner.

Mark from CycleTO.

One thing that was noticeable to me was the large number of families with kids, many more that I have ever seen on the Bells on Bloor rides. Here is the most elaborate kid bike set up I saw today.

Now time to line up on Logan.

Our leaders head off with the banner.

Here we go.

Lots of kids.

Our own Albert Koehl.

I was impressed that Danielle’s friend could ride slowly enough in full aero tuck position.

Jess Spieker from Friends and Families for Safe Streets.

Warren “pool noodle” Huska.

Martin de la Rue waves to the crowd as he corks a side street.

Approaching Woodbine.

Turning north on Danforth Rd.

Arriving at the Oakridge CRC.

Janet Joy with Sarah Climenhaga who is running for Mayor. She is fully engaged on active transportation issues.

Scarborough Cycles and the Ward 32 group.

Some fellow Bells on Bloor members.

One last reminder about the new campaign. I forgot to ask CycleTO to smile.

Here is my brief video of the front half of the rider pack.

Another video:

and here is some drone footage of the start.

Overall, a perfect day for a bike ride, with lots of families present. Starting and finishing at Community Centres was a smart idea. Thanks to all the organizers for a wonderful event.

The hope is that with the continued success of the Bells on Danforth event, we can keep up the pressure to get bike lanes on the Danforth, to accompany the bike lanes on Woodbine.

 

Toronto cycling advocates worry bike-lane progress has stalled on Bloor St.

Story in the Toronto Star.

Quote from Albert Koehl:

“Koehl said there had been hope the success of the Bloor project would lead to similar projects in other areas, including an extension of the Bloor lane farther east on Danforth Ave. But cycling advocates have been told by city staff there is no follow-up action planned for this route, and any new updates will be announced after the upcoming Oct. 2018 municipal elections, he said.”

Let’s keep the pressure on for bike lanes on Danforth.

The Bells on Danforth ride is June 16. Save the date!