Toronto's Cycling Strategy: A Road to Nowhere?

Will the City's plans for bikes leave cyclists out in the cold?

    Toronto’s plan to forge ahead with its official bike plan to encourage cycling has come at the cost of car lanes on several of the city’s arterial routes creating increasing tension between two and four wheel commuters.

      “There’s too much traffic wasting my time,” complains cabbie Rodger Sky, gathered with co workers at a taxi stand at Victoria Park and Danforth’s Shopper’s World. “These roads were designed 50 years ago for cars, bikes shouldn’t be on them, they don’t follow rules,” he said, his voice rising in frustration.

      Such is the lament of an honest working stiff whose time is money.

      Many commuters deem the city’s bike plan a ‘war on the car,’ while others see the city dragging its feet on the funding and promotion of a modern, workable cycling policy. In response to some public backlash to the program, Daniel Egan, the city’s manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, insists there is no hidden agenda:

      “We are just trying to make it more comfortable for cyclists,” he said. “We’re here to encourage cycling. We aren’t anti-car.”

      Building bicycle friendly street policies, expanding the existing bikeway network, improving safety, promoting cycling for everyday travel, providing secure bicycle parking and improving links between cycling and public transit have been the cities goals since it first introduced its bike plan in 1991. Thus far, improvements to over all bicycle infrastructure have been slow but noticeable. Beth Ford, who commutes daily through Toronto, East York and Scarborough, uses the new bike lanes along Dundas Street and Cosburn Avenue:

      “It’s more secure with the bike lanes, I’m not worried as much about cars cutting me off,” she said. “Cars don’t bully you and push you off the road, although (cars making) right-hand turns are still a problem.”

      In its clean air, climate and energy efficiency action plan, released in June 2007, the city sought to address the problem of cars turning right in front of bicycles by advocating the use of ‘bike boxes.’ These painted bike lane markings extend across the width of entire lanes of roadway at busy intersections allowing bicycle traffic to line up in front of cars at red lights. Bike boxes prevent cars from turning right in front of bicycle traffic, can accommodate higher volume and work well in cities such as Portland, Oregon. 

SAFETY MEASURES: Bike boxes, like this one in Portland, Ore., provide cyclists with a measure of safety by restricting vehicular right hand turns at busy intersections. The city plans to have them in place here for the spring of 2011 (Photo from Wikipedia)

      Other measures underway include pilot projects such as physically separated bike lanes, shared use lane markings (sharrows), time sensitive bike lanes and intersection markings.  Plans to install a permanent bike lane along the Bloor-Danforth corridor fell prey to residents and merchants’ concerns over parking interruptions. The city expects most of these projects to be in place for the spring of 2011 in targeted areas.

      The city’s initial bikeway network plan sought to provide all residents a maximum one-kilometre distance to a bikeway that in effect, would allow anyone to reach a designated bike lane or path within a five-minute ride from their home. 

     The city re-focused its priorities in 2007 to take into account the budgetary and geographical realities by focusing on expanding the bikeway networks where demand is highest. These areas include Toronto’s East York district where the Cosburn Avenue bike lane provides an easily accessible east-west route. The bike lanes on Dundas Street also became a priority.

      The city plans to spend $69.3 million between 2009 and 2013 on its five-year cycling infrastructure plan, including $28.8 million from outside sources, specifically to fund the proposed 49 kilometres of bikeway trails through the city’s hydro corridors. The two main hydro corridors proposed are the Finch passage, which runs just north of Finch Avenue through Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough, and the Gateneau corridor running diagonally through Scarborough. These two primary trails would form a ‘spine’ connecting existing bikeways in the areas. The city expects the outside capital to come primarily from the province, given it owns and oversees the land.

      One issue that remains salient to many potential bicycle commuters is the prospect of parking their bike at work or school only to return to an empty rack, leaving them stranded minus their significant investment. Bicycle theft remains one of the biggest deterrents cycling advocates, such as the Toronto Cyclists Union, have to overcome to convince people to take-up cycling as an alternate means of transportation. Many people simply refuse to risk the personal violation of becoming a victim of bicycle theft.

      The city’s response to people’s insecurity about bike theft is slow yet measured. One high-security bicycle parking facility currently exists at Toronto’s central transportation hub at union station. As part of the recent out-door renovations at city hall’s Nathan Phillip’s square, a second high-security bicycle parking facility will be in place by the spring of 2011. 

     In addition, under a potential partnership with the TTC, the city is studying the feasibility of installing high security bicycle parking at some subway stations, providing a link with public transit. Yet until such measures become reality, many will simply leave their bikes at home.

      “I recently had my bike stolen while I was in a coffee shop,” said Ford. “I replaced it with a much cheaper model. If I couldn’t bring my bike inside at work I probably wouldn’t risk riding anymore.”

Toll Roads: You pay for what you drive for

BY: ROGER TRAN
Mitch Rajmoolie drives on Hwy. 407 every day. From the eastern edges of Scarborough to the western boundary of Mississauga, he pays close to $400 a month to use the only toll road in Ontario. But it’s a sacrifice he’s willing to make.

"In terms of time, (it would take) probably an additional hour if I had taken the 401,” Rajmoolie said.

The city’s road repair backlog is $280 million, and as ridership increases, TTC subways and buses keep overflowing. A Toronto Board of Trade report ranks Hogtown last in commuting times, compared to 18 other cities around the world.

YOU PAY WHAT YOU GET FOR: Roads and highways are expensive to repair, and the backlog continues to grow. Steve Johnston of the city of Toronto says the road repair backlog is $280 million. Transport Futures director Marty Collier says road pricing would help pave the way for smooth roads. (Photo by Roger Tran)

But Kamal Hassan says there may be one solution to solve all these problems. He’s the CEO of Skymeter, a metering company that’s proposing to charge motorists based on where and how long they drive.

Hassan compares a driver using the road like someone being able to walk in a grocery store and grabbing items for free.

“I can also promise you that if all the stores in Toronto gave away free groceries, all the shelves will be empty,” Hassan said. “We give away free roads and they jam up. It’s not a surprise, we should be shocked if we didn’t have traffic jams.”

Skymeter would use GPS technology to accurately track drivers. The system also uses various factors, such as parking and time of day to determine pricing. A 5 p.m. trip on the Gardiner Expressway would cost more than at 5 a.m . Skymeter was one of 10 companies that received $500,000 through Ontario’s Investment Accelerator Fund program.

But he says it’s not his job to tell Torontonians what they should pay for. And so far, there's no politician even willing to touch the subject.

"If we pay for what we use, traffic jams will go away. If we don't pay for what we use, traffic jams will be with us forever,” Hassan said. “Every road you charge for, you’ll have better traffic.”

STOP AND GO: Traffic jams are frequent on Highway 404 and many other roads in Toronto. High occupancy lanes are used on the busy freeway to alleviate congestion. Toll roads may also be the key to stop the gridlock.  (Photo by Roger Tran)

Marty Collier also supports road pricing in Toronto. He’s the director of Transport Futures, a think-tank group that hosts various transportation conferences. The conventions bring up discussions for solving traffic congestion, including toll roads.

Collier wants to see the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway, the only two highways maintained by the city, uploaded to the provincial government. He says it would allow Queen’s Park to set prices on its 400-series highways. And it prevents Toronto from being the only region in the GTA with toll roads, along with Highway 407.

“You have to make (the network) as comprehensive as possible,” Collier said.

Derek Luk, a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne, says the province currently has no plans for future toll roads.

But Collier believes someone needs to take political charge for implementing toll roads.

Sarah Thomson was the only major mayoral candidate in the recent municipal election who suggested tolls on the DVP and Gardiner.

“People know that (toll roads,) they’re everywhere,” Thomson said. “The time was right to introduce them.” Large cities around the world such as Hong Kong, New York City, Tokyo and Sydney have some toll roads on their highways.

She doesn’t agree with Skymeter’s system, saying the model taxes Toronto residents too much.  But the revenue from drivers using the Gardiner and DVP would fund her new subway lines across the city.

“I think we need a regular source of income to fund transit,” she said. “And the minute we rely on government handouts, we keep getting short-shifted, as in the $4 billion that the province pulled back (from Transit City).”

She believes her performance in some polls, as high as 12 per cent before dropping out, show her ideas were good.

“A lot of people outside Toronto didn’t like it. But people inside Toronto seem to be very supportive of it,” she said. “I think I was resonating with people. People were saying, ‘you know, we need toll roads.’”

Collier believes Toronto’s transportation system is 20 years behind. He says cars still have a place to go.

“I’m not sure if cars will be with us in about 100 years. Some say cars will always be with us,” Collier said. “But in the meantime, we should just have a system that’s based on economics 101; you pay for what you get.”

External Links 

Fun Facts: Busiest and longest highways - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway#Statistics

The Sheppard Line: Subway or Stubway?

BY: ROGER TRAN
The city of Toronto and Queen’s Park spent almost a billion dollars to finance the project. Under six kilometres long, some would call it a “stubway.” Ridership is about the same as when it carried buses.

Eight years later, the Sheppard subway still looks brand new. The tunnels inside are still mint and bright. The artwork along station walls hasn’t degraded like its Spadina counterpart. New shops and condos are slowing springing up along the line.

However, since its opening on Nov. 22, 2002, it’s become a major transportation topic for municipal politicians.

In fact, in 2007, when city council deferred David Miller’s vehicle registration and land-transfer taxes, the TTC proposed mothballing the entire Sheppard subway to reduce costs.

The Sheppard subway carries just over 45,000 people on a typical weekday, fewer than 5,000 people during rush hour and peak direction. In comparison, the Yonge line carries 34,000 while the Bloor-Danforth line has 27,000.

“It was originally conceived to be a whole subway that went somewhere,” Paul Bedford. He’s on the board of directors of Metrolinx, the provincial governing body for public transit.

Like many new rapid transit lines in the world, the history of the Sheppard subway line is a controversial one.

END OF THE LINE: Passengers board the train at Don Mills station, one of five new subway stations from the Sheppard line. Carrying volumes much lower than subway load standards, some would call it a 'stubway.' (Photo credit: Roger Tran)

In the 1980s, Metro Toronto released Network 2011, a plan detailing future subway lines for the city. The Sheppard subway was one of four approved by the Bob Rae’s NDP government and cancelled by the Mike Harris Conservatives government.

Network 2011 would have been completed next year, but only a small portion was built. The recession in the early 1990s and the change of government derailed the plan. When the Harris government was in power, it cancelled the Eglinton subway but the Sheppard subway continued. Construction began in the mid 1990s, however, the original plan of building the Sheppard line from Downsview to Scarborough Centre stations was scrapped. And it was truncated to its current state from Yonge Street to Don Mills Road.

“The only reason they allowed that much of the Sheppard subway to be built was it was already well under construction,” former TTC chair Howard Moscoe said. “The Eglinton line, they had much less done. The Sheppard was much farther advanced.”

The momentum for new subways and system expansion grinded to a halt and slowed expansion even more.

However, Bedford says former mayor Mel Lastman was the reason the Sheppard line got built.

“The politics of the day is that Mel continued to lobby hard for Sheppard,” Bedford said. “Nobody lobbied hard for Eglinton, so they had enough money and Harris decided to just do Sheppard, but only that ‘stubway’ as I call it.”

What to build on the remaining portion of Sheppard Avenue is the question at City Hall. Both sections of Sheppard Avenue west of Yonge Street and east of Don Mills Road are left without any form of rapid transit. However, construction began on the Sheppard East LRT, continuing where the subway left off.

There’s also the plan to extend the Sheppard subway east from Don Mills station to Scarborough Centre station, despite the low ridership it has today and the LRT already under construction. Today, building subways cost nearly $300 million per kilometre. In comparison, the Spadina subway extension to York University and Vaughan is estimated to cost $2.6 billion.

Bedford says there’s not a case for it at all.

“The fact is if you’re going to build a subway, you (have) got to have the density,” he said. “I don’t think those ideas about extending Sheppard subway east make any sense, from a planning perspective.”

Both Giambrone and Bedford say light rail is the best option for Sheppard Avenue east.

“The subway travels at 32 km/h. On average, the LRT will travel 24 km/h,” he said. “So for one-fifth the cost, you get 75 per cent of the benefit.”

Giambrone questions if city hall can cancel the Sheppard LRT in favour of a subway extension.

“Construction started already, so of course you’d have to stop construction and the contracts,” he said. “(Reorganizing) will take years, and most people just want to see some rapid transit in Scarborough actually get built.”

OR

FORK IN THE ROAD: The debate is on, whether to build the Sheppard East LRT (first above) or the extension of the Sheppard subway (second above). Former mayor David Miller planned for light rail, but current mayor Rob Ford wants a subway on Sheppard Avenue. Sheppard East LRT map by the City of Toronto and Sheppard East subway extension map by Yllianos, Wikpedia user)

External Links

Transit City network - http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects_and_initiatives/Transit_city/index.jsp

Rob Ford transportation plan -  http://www.robfordformayor.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Transportation-Plan4.pdf