July 11, 2016

Mobility Thinking In Toronto

I like following changes in opinion and shifts in the conversation.  Here’s a sign of such a shift in the conversation underway in Toronto, and we can hear major echoes of it here in Vancouver.  Clearly, our battle goes on, with rancor galore from those who oppose the changes in how City land is used for transportation by what mode.
Oliver Moore writes on Urban Transportation for the Globe and Mail.

About one quarter of Toronto’s land area is streets and sidewalks, and how the city uses that enormous resource will help determine how it develops in the decades to come.

At a time when cities are recognizing that mobility is no longer primarily about cars, Toronto is preparing to select a new leader for the transportation department. It’s one of the most important roles in the bureaucracy, with the ability to shape the city, and the choice will send a message about the future Toronto wants to build. . . .

. . .  In an earlier time, roads were for moving cars and the main job of city bureaucrats was to make sure motorists weren’t slowed down. But cities are changing. Mobility is changing. Toronto has made initial steps in this direction, with the introduction of some protected bicycle lanes and dedicated transit corridors. And the prospect of bigger change looms, from the emergence of driverless cars to carving out space for pedestrians on Yonge Street.

In Vancouver, I understand that some 32% of its land is devoted to transportation, so changing priorities affects a lot of land. And new priorities need to be a prominent part of the conversation.

Bike lanes

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  1. Keep in mind the weather, folks. Vancouver almost never has any snow, for example. Toronto has snow for 2-4 months of the year AND in the summer it is often unbearably hot and humid.
    One size does not fit all. Even the subway stations in Toronto often are unbearably hot.
    There is a reason why there are more indoor malls or airconditioned houses or cars in Toronto.

    1. It does snow in Amsterdam and they manage to deal with that. Also, if snow is so bad, how is it that cars get around in snowy cities? In Vancouver, snow clearing is a priority on many high use bike routes. In Bourlder, Colorado, people cycle all winter and this is probably due to the fact that it is city policy to clear bike routes before roads. Snow is not the issue – it is how you deal with it.

      1. Denver is more sunny than Ontario, and it being further south, and snow drier, has far LESS snow than Toronto’s thick gooey stuff. Also not as hot in summer.
        Amsterdam weather is like Vancouver’s, basically hardly ever any snow ! Plus it is flat flat flat unlike Vancouver.
        Topography and climate matters.
        Ontario is also running out of money due to their failed green energy diktat.

        1. Super quick google search turns up Denver at 55 inches a year in snowfall. Toronto at 115 cm. Presuming we can all do the conversion. Thomas — you make blanket statements that are patently untrue after a quick fact check and it really starts to affect your credibility (for me at least).

  2. The new Transportation Director isn’t as important as a new mayor for Toronto. Acceptance of the newer streetscape context espoused by the likes of the (US) National Association of City Transportation Officials is going to be a base requirement for any candidate of the position. Toronto will get a well-trained, well-versed expert in urban transportation politics. The problem is John Tory, a man with little-to-no political courage. Janette SK worked well in NYC because she did her homework and because the mayor had her back. Does anyone think that Tory is going to risk angering a neighbourhood group -or any group whatsoever – to support complete streets? He was not elected for his brains or his cojones. He was elected because his last name is not Ford.

  3. That big green patch appears to be an uncontrolled intersection,
    with bikes coming towards you and cars travelling to the left towards the stop sign.
    Who has right-of-way?
    Looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

    1. It is marked as a crosswalk, or in this case a crossbike, so bikes in the marked crossing have the right of way. The green paint is just there to draw attention to conflict zone, it is the elephant feet that desfine the crossing.

      1. Neither the elephant feet markings nor the green carpet infer any right of way for bike riders entering the crossing from the bike lane. All that the elephant feet provide is that they allow people to ride across the road, though in this case, walking the bike would probably not be allowed. In any case, these markings are not even defined in the motor vehicle act. The best they do is to indicate that bikes may be crossing the street here.
        The only way I see this fitting into Motor Vehicle Act rules is that it is a weirdly shaped uncontrolled intersection of two one-way streets. The first person to enter the intersection has the right of way and if two people arrive at approximately the same time, then the bike rider (being the person approaching from the right) has the right of way. Lawyers would certainly have fun when attempting to establish fault in case of a crash.

      2. If you compare to the Burrard Bridge northbound bike path where it cross the northbound vehicle right turn verge/ramp, the cyclists clearly have a stop sign.
        So in that case, there is clear allocation of right-of-way.
        Here, it’s a crap shoot – and an accident waiting to happen.

  4. This intersection is also amusingly pointless. Since they closed off Union then next block over, the traffic going this direction is almost none.
    I don’t know why they even bothered keeping this section of road open, let alone making it one of the most overly complicated sections of bike lane in the city. They should have just made Union and Columbia a roundabout, and made only bike lanes come off the west side.

    1. There is a lane or some other car access in this block of Union if I remember correctly.
      Union east of Main isn’t ‘closed off’ (not even to cars).

      1. No lane here, that is east of Quebec.
        Union is closed at a few points to through car traffic, so cars from Main can’t reach this block.

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