The City of Toronto recently released a report examining the possibility of an east-west bicycle route along Bloor-Danforth. This is an exciting possibility, but unfortunately it’s also a chance to continue the lacklustre design of bicycle infrastructure in our city. Toronto needs an east-west route, but is Bloor the ideal solution?
Bicycle lanes on major streets are generally contentious, and often of dubious value. The College and Davenport bike lanes are excellent examples of poorly planned bicycle infrastructure. On both streets, the parking lanes are so narrow that even when parked snugly against the curb, an exiting passenger will certainly give a door prize to any cyclist unlucky enough to be riding by. College Street in particular is frequently filled with delivery vehicles and parked cars, to the point where the lanes become useless.
I’ve heard many cyclists argue for increased enforcement to prevent bike lanes from being blocked. This argument seems strange to me. It’s plainly obvious that increased enforcement won’t stop cars from idling in the bike lane, just as the thousands of parking tickets handed out every year don’t stop people from parking illegally. Of course they may discourage it, but increased enforcement only alleviates the problem, instead of solving it. Segregated bicycle lanes are the only real way to keep bike lanes clear. Montreal has learned this lesson: many of its bicycle lanes are physically separate from car traffic and often feature their own traffic signals.
Major streets are not necessarily ideal sites for bike lanes. Vancouver has constructed bike routes on quieter streets parallel to major thoroughfares, giving cyclists a convenient route away from car traffic. With this in mind, bike lanes along Harbord and Wellesley might be the ideal solution for the downtown area. Bike lanes could be created on Bloor’s east and west extensions.
Whatever the plan, radical changes need to be made to Toronto’s bike infrastructure. The mysterious gap in Harbord’s bike lane between Bathurst and Spadina is a typical indicator that the city is not serious about accommodating cyclists with a coherent network. Bloor West until Ossington is not nearly as congested and much of the Danforth already possesses a yellow-lined “no man’s land” in the centre of the road, which could provide space for bike lanes if moved to the side.
One easy step the city could take to improve conditions for cyclists is a drastic improvement of its signed routes—quiet streets designated as bike routes which sound good in theory, but in practice fall short of their potential. On a recent trip to San Francisco, I visited Berkeley and saw their Bicycle Boulevard network, which implements the principle much more effectively.
Instead of ascribing meaningless numbers to the routes as we’ve done in Toronto, Berkeley has taken the common-sense approach and simply named them after the streets they run on. In place of dinky signs indicating a signed route, Berkeley’s streets feature large cyclist outlines painted on the road, along with coherent signage. This not only reminds drivers to be on the lookout for bikes, but also eases navigation for cyclists. In San Francisco itself, many streets have signs reminding drivers that cyclists have the right to a full lane and to change lanes to pass.
Thankfully, Toronto’s bikers will soon have a dedicated, membership- funded advocacy organization to press the city to implement bike-friendly measures. The brainchild of David Meslin, the founder of the Toronto Public Space Committee, the Toronto Cyclists Union will launch next June. A so-called “CAA for bikes” will provide its members with services such as roadside assistance, but its primary mission will be to lobby city councillors to make changes in their wards.
Ultimately, any bike lane on a major street is better than no bike lane at all, but the city must become more creative and dedicated in its installation of bicycle infrastructure. City Hall also needs to recognize that measures to encourage cycling and walking will come at the expense of cars. And that’s a good thing, considering a recent report by the Toronto officer of health found that 440 Torontonians die every year from car pollution. Unless the city seriously changes its attitude towards cyclists, superficial changes will only create the illusion of safety while continuing the destructive, auto-centric status quo.
Alex Gatien is the coordinator of Bikechain, U of T’s free, educational bicycle repair facility.
