Whether you’re thinking about biking to work this winter, or considering some fun recreational rides to feel like a “True Canadian“, battling the elements, we’ve put together some Winter Biking photos from the past few years of the Photo of the Day that you can look at and say “If they can do it, then *I* can too!”

Winter Viaduct

Winter in Tommy Thompson Park

Harbord Winter

Winter Blur

IceBike Race Blur

Surfing On Ice

Tricky Turn

Winter Bikelane

Snowy Morning

Frank de Jong in Winter

Winter MiniSkirt

Winter Courier

Tracks

St. George

Finding a Path

Winter on the Leslie Spit

Snowy Dundas

Pembroke Street

Snow Speed

Red Rider

Rider in the Storm

After a Storm

Starting Line

Portlands

Cycling on the Leslie Spit

Waiting

Polar

Sub Zero Spadina

Bike Path

Making Tracks

Return of the Bikes

Slushy at Spadina

Sunlight Crossing

St. George & College

College St. Winter

Visibility

Bloor and Brunswick

Snowy Street in the “South Annex”

Directions

Duncan

Fall weather is upon in Toronto and that means more rain, cooler temperatures and more reasons to carry more things with you. A change of clothes, a laptop, books, lunch… the list goes on.

While messenger bags are a popular choice many people prefer backpacks because they are less likely to shift and can feel more secure.

Here then a few “covet-worthy” backpacks to keep your goodies dry and with you through all seasons.

Read the full post on Duncan’s City Ride

Now our gut feelings have the hard data to match!  The City of Toronto has just released the results of a 2009 study with questions that matched those in a 1999 study (asking the same questions is *essential* for any meaningful trend analysis when working with stats):

The survey, conducted in 2009 by Ipsos Reid, found that more Toronto residents were cycling to school and work than 10 years ago. A total of 16 per cent said they used their bicycles to commute to work or school, up from 11 per cent in 1999. And many of those who commute by bike are riding more days a week than in the past.

In addition to there being more people on bikes, the survey has also indicated (as so many other surveys about cycling have in the past) that cycling infrastructure that improves safety and bicycle parking facilities are the most important wished-for items from Toronto’s cyclists:

Investments in the cycling infrastructure over the past 10 years are being recognized and the survey reveals that 72 per cent of Torontonians believe that the overall quality of cycling routes and facilities has improved compared to 1999. However, cyclists and non-cyclists alike agree that having more bike lanes on streets would have the greatest impact on improving cycling in the city. In fact, 66 per cent of non-cyclists, 77 per cent of utilitarian cyclists and 68 per cent of recreational cyclists believe that separated bike lanes on city streets would greatly improve cycling in Toronto.

In addition to a comprehensive cycling network, the importance of bicycle parking facilities is also articulated. The survey showed that secure bicycle parking at transit stations has the potential to increase combined cycling and transit trips. One third of cyclists reported combining biking and public transportation sometimes. The majority of these cyclists (74 per cent of utilitarian and 66 per cent of recreational cyclists) say they would combine cycling and public transit more often if secure bicycle parking was provided at subway stations.

You can read more about the results on the City of Toronto’s webpage.

Key Findings from the 2009 City of Toronto Cycling Survey (PDF)
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/reports/pdf/2010-survey-backgrounder.pdf

Full Survey Results and Comparison between 1999 and 2009 (PDF)
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/reports/pdf/cycling_study_1999_and_2009.pdf

Patrick Cain at the Toronto Star loves maps (who doesn’t?). He’s done a couple general commuting maps for the GTA, but has just released one just about Commuter Cyclists, organized by Census Tracts.

The map looks pretty much like you’d expect… higher levels of people using bicycles as their primary mode of getting to work in the downtown core (where car traffic moves slower and there are more bikelanes) and less and less as you move into the old boroughs of Toronto and the suburbs.

However, and you can see this in the screenshot above… some areas of Toronto are not only “hotbeds” of commuting by bike, but the census data also shows how many people identified “walking” and “transit” as their primary means of getting to work.

In particular, the area immediately west of the University of Toronto (which a workforce of 1815 people) is not only high in bike commuters (17%, or ~300 people), but also in those who walk to work (32%, or 580 people) and transit users (also 32%, or 580).

That leaves 19% of this census tract who get to work via automobile… just slightly more than by bike, and less than by walking or transit.

It’s good to think about things like this in an election year.

It’s nice to see so many people commuting by bike in Toronto’s core.

• Link to Map
• Article about Map
• BikingToronto Maps Page (has links to Patrick’s previous maps)
• Discussion in the Commuting Group