Bloor and Runnymede

The Clean Air Partnership released a study today (PDF) about the attitudes of shoppers in the upscale Bloor West Village towards altering the street design of Bloor Street to allow for bikelanes and/or wider sidewalks.

As Duncan has already quoted on his blog:

The dominant mode of transportation in the Bloor West Village is walking, followed by public transit. Only 1 in 5 of visitors surveyed reported driving to the neighbourhood and parking there. The visitor survey data indicate that the majority (58%) support changes to the street use allocation. Curiously, cycling is the least frequent mode of transportation in this neighbourhood, and yet nearly 75% of those visitors who preferred a change in street use allocation would prefer the addition of a bike lane.

Visitor survey respondents who reported that they usually drive, were found to visit less frequently and spend significantly less money per month in the neighbourhood than those who did not drive. Visitors who preferred changes in street use allocation spend significantly more in the neighbourhood than those who prefer no change.

In terms of merchant perceptions of the impacts of changes in street use allocation, 54% of merchants in Bloor West Village indicated that they would expect no change or an increase in their number of daily customers as a result of either a bike lane or widened sidewalks, even if half of the on-street parking were to be removed in order to accommodate the changes.

This follows up last year’s study release of the same name “Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business” (PDF) that looked at the same kind of perceptions of shoppers and merchants in Bloor’s Annex neighbourhood.  The results are much the same – that most shoppers get to stores via walking or public transit, and that they tend to shop more often and spend more money than drivers do, and that both shoppers and merchants would like to see bikelanes.

So, what does this tell us?  It says the despite a media generated “war on the car”, what we are seeing from City Hall when they pursue transit-friendly, bike-friendly and pedestrian-friendly initiatives, it is a response to the residents and merchants of neighbourhoods who want more livable, breathable, and friendly streets.

After all, Toronto is a “City of Neighbourhoods”, not a “City of Highways”.  Don’t let anyone tell you that should change.

Via Paul Young of the South East Toronto Bicycle User Group:

Thursday, February 18, 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Location: EMS Academy , 895 Eastern Avenue

Leslie Street (between Lakeshore and Queen) will be reconstructed for the light rail line.

At our SET BUG (South East Toronto Bicycle User Group) meeting last week we thought that this presented a huge opportunity to make improvements to Leslie St. for walkers and cyclists currently dealing with a dangerous and chaotic roadway. The retail shopping (Loblaws Price Chopper, Canadian Tire) and the Leslie Spit ( Tommy Thompson Park ) are very well used destinations for walkers and cyclists on Leslie.

Please attend if you can and highlight the need for a safer “complete street” that meets all the road users needs with a priority on transit, walking and cycling. Tell a neighbour.

Thursday, February 18, 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Location: EMS Academy , 895 Eastern Avenue

Background:

The City of Toronto and the TTC are planning a New Light Rail Transit Vehicle Fleet Maintenance and Storage Facility to support the 204 new low floor light rail vehicles that the TTC is acquiring to replace the current fleet of streetcars and to enhance accessibility. The existing maintenance and storage facilities at Roncesvalles and Russell Carhouses cannot support the full maintenance requirements of the new LRV fleet. Therefore, the construction of a new facility is required. The preferred site is located at the southeast corner of Lake Shore Boulevard East and Leslie Street . New tracks are proposed along Leslie Street to connect the proposed facility with the existing streetcar tracks on Queen Street East. A transit museum may also be developed within this site.

At the upcoming Open House, City of Toronto and TTC staff will present details of the site selection process for the Fleet Maintenance and Storage Facility, as well as the evaluation of alignments considered for the connecting track.

Conceptual layouts for the facility will be presented and preliminary evaluation details will be provided.

More Info:

Paul Young, health promoter
South Riverdale Community Health Centre
955 Queen St. East, Toronto , ON
M4M 1W7

Tel. (416) 461-1925 ext. 241
Fax (416) 469-3442
e. paul@srchc.com
www.srchc.com

A little bit of breaking news for you…there were rumours about this floating around yesterday, but I wanted to make sure things were “concrete”, so to speak, before blogging about it for you.

Toronto’s plans to emulate the great success of bikesharing systems around the world, by using the Public Bike System company (the same people behind Montreal’s Bixi) is in danger of being scrapped (at least for 2010) due to the financing needed to start up the project.

First some background… from Torontoist:

Last year, the City began exploring the possibility of launching Toronto’s own version of Bixi this spring. A staff report from last May [PDF] recommends the 2010 launch, and says that the rollout could be accomplished “at no cost to the City and without additional advertising within the street right-of-way,” because users would subsidize the service directly by paying membership fees to use the bikes.

According to the National Post, the Public Bike System is now asking for start-up costs of $15 million:

“At this point in time we can’t seem to operate a public bike system at no cost to the city, which is contrary to what council proposed,” said Mr. Welsh.

Mr. Welsh said negotiations continue, but the bikes will at the very least be delayed assuming they can reach a deal at all.

“This doesn’t mean the program is being abandoned, we’re still looking at the viability of the program and how we can enable it in the future,” Mr. Welsh said.

Because of this, the necessary discussion of this at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee and City Council have been postponed, as there are a lot of cost-cutting and budget hand-wringing in the media these days.  The item has been removed from the PWIC meeting of Mar. 2, which means the earliest it will be discussed will be April 20th, after which City Council will still need to discuss it.

Things are looking gloomy as it appears the City won’t spend any money seen as “discretionary” by the general electorate (even if they’re certain to get it back via Bixi user fees) during 2010 because 1) the City is supposed to be broke and 2) it’s an election year.

We can all help push the politicians and city staff to do the right thing though… like contacting them and letting them know that we want Public Bike Sharing in this city!

Send a note to the City Manager, the Mayor, and lots of councillors:

Addresses (copy and paste into your email “to” field:

jpennac@toronto.ca, mayor_miller@toronto.ca, councillor_heaps@toronto.ca, degan@toronto.ca, councillor_giambrone@toronto.ca, councillor_perks@toronto.ca, councillor_pantalone@toronto.ca, councillor_mihevc@toronto.ca, councillor_debaeremaeker@toronto.ca, councillor_mcconnell@toronto.ca

Subject: Please Support BikeSharing in Toronto

Body of Email (suggested, feel free to edit as you like):

Dear Councillors and Mayor Miller,

I’m very concerned that Toronto may be canceling or delaying plans to join the other great cities of the world in implementing a public BikeSharing system due to start up costs (that will eventually be re-couped through user fees).

I’d like to show my support for a BikeSharing System.  It’s essential to ease congestion and pollution in Toronto’s downtown, and helps the city meet our environmental goals.

During just the first 3 months of operation, Montreal’s Bike system accumulated over 8,400 members and over 77,000 users… all of whom paid to use their version of Bixi.  Over 3.6 million kms were travelled on Bixi bikes in just those 3 months, which eliminated 900,000 kg of greenhouse gases.

PLEASE support a Public Bike Sharing system for Toronto.

It will benefit our city, and users will pay for it.

Thank you.

[your name here]

Post photo from The Urban Country.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance, along with various environmental and advocacy organizations, including TCAT and the Bike Union, have released priorities that municipal election candidates should pay attention to if we want, as a city, to be greener, healthier, and more efficient.

“Below are 6 priority actions, in no particular order, that will build on 10 years of environmental success. Investments in each action won’t just improve our environment, they will lead to better health and save us money as we avoid some of the huge financial costs associated with traffic congestion, waste disposal, climate change, and illnesses due to pollution.”

1. Build Transit City & Fund It
2. Achieve 70% Waste Diversion by 2012
3. Buy & Support Locally-Produced Green Products
4. Build Transportation Infrastructure Everyone Can Use
5. Implement the City’s Sustainable Energy Strategy
6. Provide Tools to Prevent Pollution

Cycling and walking are important forms of transportation that contribute to a healthier population and reduce negative impacts on the environment. We need infrastructure built to accommodate bikes and pedestrians as well as transit vehicles and cars. In the U.S. this is happening through “Complete Streets” policies that ensure the planning and redevelopment of streets are done with all users (pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders of all ages and abilities along with cars and trucks) in mind.

While a “Complete Streets” policy is developed, key transportation infrastructure, such as bike lanes, need to be built, the Toronto Walking Strategy can be implemented, and all road users can be educated about road sharing and responsibilities.

To read about each of these in detail, visit the TEA site.

Toronto Star article: Go Green, Mayoral Candidates Told

What do you think of the recommendations?  Leave your comments below, or discuss it in the News Forum.