Mayor Tory says he won’t rush Bloor bike lane decision

John Tory says he’ll wait until the Bloor bike lane study is done, “about 10 months from now,” and make a decision then.

TheStar.com
Oct. 24, 2016
By Ben Spurr

Mayor John Tory says he won’t rush to judgment on the Bloor St. bike lane, after some business owners complained that the new cycling facility is hurting their sales.

As the Star reported Monday, some store owners in Korea Town are blaming the separated cycle track for a drop in business, citing the reduction of on-street parking.

The lane was installed in August as a one-year pilot project. It required removing roughly 135 parking spaces on Bloor, but there are still about 860 spaces in parking lots adjacent to the route.

Speaking to reporters Monday morning at an unrelated news conference about the Green P parking app, Tory said that the city is “rigorously and continuously monitoring all aspects” of the bike lane pilot, and that he would wait until all the studies are complete before deciding whether to support making it permanent.

“We are doing this in a responsible manner. We are measuring everything that can be measured vis-a-vis the impact on pedestrians, cyclist, cars, businesses, and (neighbourhoods). And we will look at that information at the end of the time, which is about 10 months from now, and make a decision,” he said.

The mayor said that he has visited with local business owners twice, and that they had mixed opinions on the lane. While some reported fluctuations in sales, “none of them said it was a catastrophic decrease or a euphoric increase,” Tory said.

They mayor has yet to visit Korea Town, however, where some shop owners say their businesses are more dependent on drivers than their counterparts in the nearby Annex.

Tory did say that the Toronto Parking Authority could “do a better job” of advertising its lots in the area, however, and promised to speak to the head of the authority about enhancing signage.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize that those Green P lots are to the north of Bloor St., just to the north, right behind the stores, and that it’s a very convenient place for them to park,” he said.

The 2.5-km separated bike lane runs between Shaw St. and Avenue Rd. and cost $500,000. Cycling groups say it has nearly quadrupled bike traffic on Bloor.