Sarah Thomson's Bike City

We've all heard the terms "War on the Car" and "War on Bikes". I am tired of those terms being used to cover politicians' inabilities to come up with and implement a viable plan for shared road use.

Cars, motorcycles, cyclists, and pedestrians all use the same roads. Toronto needs to have a plan to make the roads safe and useable for anyone who has a right to use them.

Bike City is a reasonable proposal to lay the foundation for a strong cycling community in Toronto. I envision a Toronto where even a complete novice can pick up a bike and ride safely and easily from their front door to their place of work.

Opponents of the cycling community say that Toronto wasn't built for bikes. They're right, it wasn't. But a Sarah Thomson administration will transform our city into a world-class cycling city.

Bike City - World-Class Cycling for Toronto

Part 1: Safer Arterial Roads & Safer Downtown

My primary goal is to make cycling safer for cyclists and less nerve-wracking for drivers. There are too many near misses every day. With the launch of Bixi in Toronto, we're going to have more bikes than ever on our roads, and we have to reduce the hazards for both cyclists and drivers.

Upgraded Intersections

• All arterial intersections will have bike boxes for making safe two-part left turns ("hook turns"), with intuitive, consistent road markings.
• On­road markings will indicate the safe path for bicycles, away from the right­hand side of right­turning vehicles

Complete Streets

• Every street in Toronto (except expressways) must be a bike­friendly street,
  including arterials
• On­road shared­lane markings ("sharrows") on all arterial roads by 2012
• Indicate safest, most visible position for cyclists
• Instructs motorists to let cyclists ride there

Cooperation with Pedestrians and Cars

• With new infrastructure, cyclists should have no need to ride on sidewalks.
• I will ensure stricter enforcement of safety measures to keep our pedestrians safe by preventing cyclists from riding on our sidewalks.
• We are going to restore traffic light synchronization in places where it has been changed.
• Geared towards motorized traffic
• This measure will reduce congestion, stop & go frustrations, and help our environment

Downtown Bike Lanes

Complete the downtown portion of the Toronto Bike Plan by 2012

• Represents 13 km of new bike lanes
• One modification: Spadina bike lane moved to University Avenue instead. (Spadina no longer has room due to streetcar right­of­way.)

Physically Separated Lanes

Physically separated bike lanes on Richmond Street, Adelaide Street, and University Avenue.

• 9 km in total
• "Bike Highways" across the downtown area

Awareness

Bicycle stores will be required to hand out city­issued brochures on cycling laws and safe cycling practices

• Brochures will aler t cyclists to the CAN­BIKE training courses, and the Toronto Police's online bicycle registration service
• Similar to the existing Toronto Cycling Map

Part 2: Attract new riders

Cycling is a great, fun way to improve health and fitness. A 15­minute ride to work or the nearest subway station means 2½ hours of exercise a week, and fewer cars on our roads.

Mixed­mode bicycle–subway commuting needs to be a realistic possibility for riders of all experience levels, even the ones who don't feel comfortable on arterial roads.

Unfortunately, it's not usually possible to get to the nearest subway station using non­ar terial roads in Toronto. Often, it's not even possible to get from one neighbourhood to the next.

So I will make it possible.

Blue Routes: A Network of Secondary Roads

• ~1000 km of on­road bike routes, connecting every part of every neighbourhood
• New crossings built over/under obstacles
• Routes built for safe, convenient cycling ("Bicycle boulevards")
• Routes chosen for convenient crossing of main roads and obstacles

Blue Routes: Crossing the Obstacles

• 34 new pedestrian/bike crossings
• 4 freeway underpasses (427, 400, 2 x 401)
• 25 rail crossings (10 underpass, 15 level)
• 5 bridges (Humber, Highland Creek, 2 x Black Creek, Newmarket Rail Sub)
• ~225 new bike­activated traffic lights
• New easements through parking lots and commercial driveways

Blue Routes: Safety & Convenience

• Low traffic volumes and speeds
• Yield signs in preference to stop signs
• Bike­activated signalized crossings across arterial roads
• Lights synchronized where possible
• Contra­flow bike lanes on one­way streets
• On­road navigation markings
• Snow removal and priority road maintenance

Off­Road Trails

• 40 km of trails through utility corridors
• New routes through government­-owned lands
• Connections between the York Beltline, the Kay Gardiner Beltline, and the Don Valley Trail
• An easier way over the escarpment via improvements to Roycroft Park

My plan is called Bike City, but I could also call it "Walk City" because this will make it easier to walk from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, re­connecting neighbourhoods that were split by highways or rail lines.

Part 3: Ending the War on Cars, Ending the War on Bikes

Most of the cycling discourse in Toronto is about bike lanes. And yet, there's been very little progress.

Animosity between drivers and cyclists couldn't be higher than it is right now. This is hurting Toronto.

We need to end the road wars.

Problem 1: Political grandstanding

• Right now, politicians score points by proposing new bike lanes that aren't part of the Bike Plan, like Jarvis, University, or Bloor West.
• The result is a haphazard and overly politicized approach to bike lane
• Drivers perceive this as a War on Cars
• Meanwhile, pre­planned bike lanes (like Richmond & Adelaide) remain uncompleted

Solution 1

• I will get Council to agree to a 4­-year plan upfront.
• After that, Transpor tation Services can move quickly to build these much needed lanes, without interference. This will end the posturing and grandstanding.

Problem 2: Lack of Consensus

• The Toronto Bike Plan insists on a further 375 km of suburban bike lanes by 2012. But it can be hard to get support for suburban bike lanes, due to lack of space, lack of cyclists, or local opposition.
• The result is that we're getting bike lanes that are narrower than the safe minimums, e.g. Royal York and Davenport. Sub­-standard bike lanes don't help anyone.

Solution 2

• My plan will include bike lanes only on streets where there is a sufficient volume of cyclists to justify it. These are the places that are most likely to get consensus for bike lanes.
• Right now, that means bike lanes downtown, but not outside of downtown.
• Bike lanes must meet minimum safe widths. If we don't have consensus for a standard­width bike lane, we don't have consensus for a bike lane.

Problem 3: Bike lane tunnel vision

• The majority of accidents occur at intersections, not along straight sections of road where you would put a bike lane.
• Many cyclists don't feel comfortable riding on arterial roads, even if there is a bike lane. Those cyclists need to get to work too, and we should make sure they can.
• Bike lanes, in the absence of other improvements, can even increase the rate of accidents by guiding naïve cyclists to the right­hand side of turning cars.

Solution 3

• We must not forget that there are other ways to improve cycling and boost ridership. I will concentrate on building sharrows, upgraded arterial intersections, and a network of secondary roads.
• These are the quick wins. They will have a greater overall benefit to cycling in Toronto than bike lanes would, and they can be implemented within 4 years with little political opposition.

The Future

• Bike City will greatly increase the number of cyclists in Toronto in the next 4 years.
• Going for ward, we can build more bike lanes on arterial roads when the volume of cyclists justifies it.

Part 4: Costing

Bike City Costing

• $45 million for traffic lights
• $17 million for rail underpasses
• $12 million for freeway crossings
• $15 million for trails
• $5 million for curb painting
• $5 million for easements, level crossings, bridges
• $2 million for physically separated bike lanes
• Total: $101 million

Council has already approved [News Release, Dec 8, 2009, City of Toronto] $101 million [2010 – 2019 Executive Committee Recommended Capital Budget, City of Toronto] towards completion of the current bike plan.

My plan is no more expensive, but it is better value for money. The existing plan would spend $30 million just to paint lines on roads. I'm going to build bridges.

Part 5: My Promise

"I am Sarah Thomson, and I will make Toronto the greatest cycling city in North America."