Vote Bay-Bloor pedestrian scramble closer to dying
Toronto's public works committee says the Bay-Bloor pedestrian scramble is relatively underused, frustrates drivers and should be scrapped.

TheStar.com
Feb. 23, 2015
David Rider

A city committee voted to spend $26,000 to remove the pedestrian “scramble” at Bay and Bloor Sts. after staff argued relatively few pedestrians use it while drivers get frustrated and crash.

“I think it was a good experiment. It was well-intentioned,” said Councillor Stephen Holyday, one of five public works members who voted Monday to scrap the 5-year-old setup that periodically lets pedestrians cross in any direction, including diagonally while all cars are stopped.

But Holyday (Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre) said drivers are “frustrated” and so are the cyclists he sees “plow” through the intersection.

City council will have final say next month on the removal. Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, the lone committee member to oppose the removal, said she’ll fight for the scramble at council.

“It sends a terrible message — we’re trying to build a walkable, livable city and we are ripping out a pedestrian crossing,” McMahon (Ward 32 Beaches-East York) said.

“Sure, the (pedestrian) numbers weren’t equal to the other scrambles but that doesn’t mean we need to rip it out ...,” she said, adding the city could educate drivers on the value of scrambles and pedestrians on using it more.

“Yonge and Dundas (Sts.) is like the gold standard version (for scramble usage). I would argue that Bay and Bloor was the bronze so why rip it out — it’s still being used and we need to send that message that people who walk are just as important as people who drive and people who bike.”

McMahon expressed surprise and disappointment there was not a parade of residents telling the committee to leave the crossing alone.

Committee chair Councillor Jaye Robinson said councillors must consider evidence from staff and have the “chutzpah” to act on it. She quoted colleague Kristyn Wong-Tam, who whose Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale includes the Bay-Bloor intersection, as saying she will not fight the removal.

A Feb. 12 transportation services report states: “Compared to the other pedestrian priority phases in downtown Toronto, this intersection has the lowest volume of pedestrians as well as the lowest ratio of pedestrians to motorized users.”

A smaller ratio of pedestrians cross diagonally there than at the Yonge and Dundas and Yonge and Bloor scrambles, city staff said.

The report also argues the Bay-Bloor scramble does not cut corner crowding and pedestrian delay as much as the other two, but more than triples the delay for vehicles at evening rush hour.

Side-swipe collisions have doubled and rear-enders have risen by half since the scramble was introduced, “likely due to increased driver frustration,” the report says.