Two years in, Toronto’s ambitious plan for new bike lanes is falling behind, advocates say

Thestar.com
July 18, 2018
May Warren

A city where it’s possible to cycle from North York to the waterfront, and Etobicoke to Scarborough, where cyclists can get wherever they’re going safely and efficiently, along major routes like Bloor and Yonge Sts.

That’s the dream of Toronto’s ambitious $153.5-million, 10-year cycling plan that aims to double the existing network of cycling infrastructure in the city.

Traffic on Harbord St.on a busy afternoon, Monday. Two years in to an ambitious plan for up to 560 km of new bike lanes and cycle tracks, the city has installed 28.5 km total -- about 5 per cent of what was promised.
Traffic on Harbord St.on a busy afternoon, Monday. Two years in to an ambitious plan for up to 560 km of new bike lanes and cycle tracks, the city has installed 28.5 km total -- about 5 per cent of what was promised.  (LUCAS OLENIUK / TORONTO STAR)

In June 2016, city council committed to building up to 560 kilometres of new bike lanes and cycle tracks (lanes physically separated from cars), as well as up to 110 km of sidewalk-level boulevard trails that allow people to cycle along busy streets.

Two years in, and the city has installed 28.5 km of bike lanes and cycle tracks -- including the separated lanes on Bloor St. W. from Shaw to Avenue Rd. -- about 5 per cent of what was promised.

Cycling advocate Albert Koehl called the pace of the plan “dismal” especially in the face of continued deaths on Toronto’s roads. By the Star’s count, four cyclists have died in 2018, already matching the total for 2017.

“It’s painful and heartbreaking to look at these deaths ... seeing it year after year,” said Koehl.

“Because we know what’s lacking.”

Cyclist deaths have hovered between one and four over the last 10 years, according to police data.

According to transportation services, more than 70 km of new cycling infrastructure has been installed since June 2016, including 13 km of multi-use trails, 23 km of sharrows (street markings) and 5.8 km of “contra-flow” lanes, which run opposite to traffic.

Just 17 km of that total are physically separated cycle tracks, and 11.5 km are painted bike lanes -- the kind of infrastructure advocates say give cyclists more protection from cars.

It’s not money that’s needed, Koehl said, noting council pledged to spend $16 million a year, but rather political will “right from the top,” especially from the mayor and members of the influential Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.

Councillor Jaye Robinson, chair of the committee, declined a request to speak Tuesday, through her office, citing a busy schedule.

Mayor John Tory’s director of communications, Don Peat, sent an emailed statement in response to an interview request about the plan, saying it is “moving forward thanks to Mayor Tory and a majority of city councillors dedicated to improving cycling infrastructure in our city.”

He added that in addition to the plan, as part of the Vision Zero road safety initiative, the city is “enhancing” 12 of the busiest cycling corridors through measures such as refreshing zebra markings and adding bollards and planters where possible to separate cyclists from cars.

While some improvements have been made through the master plan, including contra-flow lanes on Queen St. W., Koehl said what’s really needed are the connections along major roads from north to south and east to west across the city.

They’re not only “the most dangerous” but also “the most useful in actually getting from place to place.”

The original staff recommendation to council in 2016 called for studies of eight major roadways.

Council voted to downgrade that plan, committing only to possible future studies, except for along stretches of Yonge and Bloor, and the Danforth, but the kilometres of lane are still included in the overall plan.

“The plan itself was undermined by the council vote to take out the main streets,” said Liz Sutherland, interim director of advocacy and government relations at Cycle Toronto.

“It is a matter of political will.”

Council voted in March of this year to defer consideration of a plan that called for bike lanes on Yonge between Sheppard and Finch Aves., to 2019.

Other parts of the master plan, such as the second phase of the Bloor St. bike lanes between Church and Sherbourne Sts., have also been delayed.

Sutherland said it should be a “a top priority,” especially running up to the 2018 municipal election.

“It’s important that we get more people riding because we don’t have space in the city for more cars,” she said. “The infrastructure is what makes that possible.”

Complicating the situation even more is that while city counts things like sharrows and signage as cycle infrastructure, advocates like Sutherland say they don’t go far enough to protect riders.

“There are some weak links in those chains even that they’re putting in this year,” she said, naming sharrows near York University as an example.

“And they’re the less ambitious projects, there’s nothing happening on main streets.”

Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, acting director of transportation infrastructure and management at the city, said the plan was not at a “detailed design level,” and each bike lane requires bylaw amendment.

“The process to design and consult and get council approval on cycling infrastructure is quite extensive, as you see in some of the political discussions that happen on these projects,” she said.

“So we obviously need to do our due diligence in going through that design process.”

Just because the public may not see shovels in the ground on a project, doesn’t mean process and design work isn’t happening behind the scenes at city hall, Gulati added.

Koehl said he fears the city is repeating “a pattern” of falling short.

Toronto promised 495 km of on-road bike lanes in a 2001 bike plan, but only 114 km were built by 2014.

“If they actually did what they keep promising to do we’d be in a very hopeful or positive place,” Koehl said adding cyclists are still battling the idea that they are just “out for a ride.”

“Some politicians have never gotten their heads around this idea that cyclists are doing exactly what motorists are doing, trying to get to particular destinations, but just using two wheels instead of four.”