TTC, or TTTC?

This photo shows a demonstration bike lane unfurling on Bloor St. It’s a photo from the DIY – The Revolution Starts With You exhibit showing on the TTC subway platforms this month. Both photos by Martin Reis.

Congratulations, Montreal!

It’s encouraging that in Montreal that City has put in a spectacular bike route along deMaissoneuve, which is above the subway in the core. They spent big bucks on this long route, and named it after Claire Morissette with words miltante ecologiste! It now has been extended further west another few kilometres and gets about 1 million riders a year.

Bike to Work Day, 2011

Bloor and Yonge – showing the type of traffic that really should be occurring over two subway lines! It was nice to have the smooth asphalt of this part of Yorkville/Bloor to ride on, but it remains a travesty that the City and the merchants failed to provide adequate process and bike safety – though yes, the sharrows are better than zilch, and there is now some bike parking along Bloor again.

But quite a nice showing of bikes, including at City Hall!

Bells on Bloor 2011

Bells on Bloor is back!! This fun and empowering ride is happening on Sat. June 18, meeting at High Park and proceeding again to Queen’s Park. Join a large throng of young and old cyclists for a joy ride along Bloor in support of Bloor bike lanes. A police escort makes it safe for children, and while this is later than in past years, we still hope for good weather. Please join us, and please tell friends/neighbours and other cyclists about this good event.

A cyclist that chooses not to ride in a rough patch zone at Bloor and Spadina is barely missed by an overtaking cab last summer. We have to have a consistently rideable road and drivers who won’t brush past and endangering us.

An Open Letter to Rob Ford

Dear Councillor Ford

Thanks for being at the Levee, and for a few words with me about biking issues. I’ve put a lot of time into promoting better biking over the last 15/20 years, and we still have far to go.

I was very pleased to have a few words with your brother about climate change and hear that it is something real to him, and that he doesn’t deny its existence.

Transport emissions are salient problems – and while bikes don’t work for everyone all the time – they are exceptionally viable for urban environments and have a lot of co-benefits. This includes not burning money for fuel, and some personal fitness and a high degree of mobility control.

But there are real dangers at times, and not just from the cars, but from the roads, which are sufficiently rough at times that we need to either swerve or get our butts and bikes abused by bad problems, one eg. being here – – and it has not been patched up c. before Christmas!

The parts of Bloor west of Dundas St. W are now smooth again, and may well be getting bike lanes, some thanks being due to Councillors Perks and Vaughan and local community support.

But we don’t need the bike lanes where it’s easy and wide as much as where it’s really tight and narrow – like the parts of Bloor east of Dundas St. W. heading over to Spadina. It’s especially important to get bike safety under the two rail underpasses of the west end near Dundas St. W. – underpasses are noted as being unfriendly and hazardous in the Bike Plan, and it these two are one of the real hazards of Bloor biking in the west end, yet there are very few reasonable alternatives in proximity.

It’s especially dangerous when the low points of these underpasses are grossly dangerous and abusive to bikes as this picture shows one of the eastbound lanes to be. The City really needs to be fixing this up right away, and also for the cheap paint and signs, make it clear that cyclists can take the curb lane with less fear of being run down from behind. Cheap sharrows and cheap signs should have been put up years ago, and not signs that cluck at cyclists who ride on sidewalks fearing for their lives on the road.

The parts of Bloor west of Dundas St. W are now smooth again, and may well be getting bike lanes, some thanks being due to Councillors Perks and Vaughan and local community support.

But we don’t need the bike lanes where it’s easy and wide as much as where it’s really tight and narrow – like the parts of Bloor east of Dundas St. W. heading over to Spadina. It’s especially important to get bike safety under the two rail underpasses of the west end near Dundas St. W. – underpasses are noted as being unfriendly and hazardous in the Bike Plan, and it these two are one of the real hazards of Bloor biking in the west end, yet there are very few reasonable alternatives in proximity.

It’s especially dangerous when the low points of these underpasses are grossly dangerous and abusive to bikes as this picture shows one of the eastbound lanes to be. The City really needs to be fixing this up right away, and also for the cheap paint and signs, make it clear that cyclists can take the curb lane with less fear of being run down from behind. Cheap sharrows and cheap signs should have been put up years ago, and not signs that cluck at cyclists who ride on sidewalks fearing for their lives on the road.

Take The Tooker Bike Rally

50 politically motivated cyclists took to Bloor today (Oct. 23) to say “We Bike We Vote”. En route they were greeted by Mayoral hopeful Himy Syed who redirected cyclists to the car drop-off loop across from Trinity Bellwoods Park, jumped on a table, and passionately articulated his desire for a bicycle-friendly city. The mass then took their message for bike lanes on Bloor to the offices of Councillor Vaughan, and Mayoral hopefuls Joe Pantalone and George Slitherman. 

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1139/5108181203_1858f99f6b_z.jpg

Vote on Monday, Oct. 25th for bike friendly Council candidates! To find out where candidates stand on cycling issues: http://bikeunion.to/news/2010/10/05/election-2010-where-candidates-stand-cycling-issues

Thanks Martin Reis for the photo