Paving a better path for city cyclists

Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati fully accepts challenges as bike czar


Thestar.com
March 2, 2015
By Tess Kalinowski

When it comes to cycling, and more specifically the politics of pedaling, Mississauga might seem like another country entirely.

Still, Jacquelyn Hayward Gulati, 33, says working as the manager of Mississauga's Cycling Office since 2011 was excellent training for her new gig as Toronto’s manager of Cycling Infrastructure and Programs. She takes over from veteran Daniel Egan, who is retiring in the spring, and working on special projects in the meantime.

Gulati told the Star she’s excited about moving back to Toronto later this year with her husband and daughter, 8, and more eager than nervous about her new professional challenge.
This is an edited version of that conversation.

Are you a serious Spandex-wearing cyclist?

I'm not a Spandex crowd type of girl. But I've always loved cycling. I used to bike to school, I didn't get my (driver's) licence until I ended up moving to Mississauga. The main reason I got my driver's licence was so I could take (my daughter) to swimming lessons in the winter without putting her on the bus.

What is it about cycling that appeals to you?

When you're a kid it's about fun and freedom. You can go farther than anyone will let you go otherwise. It's actually a really great way to get places. In short distances it's often faster than driving, and it's healthy. When you put those things together it makes a lot of sense in a city to use a bike.

Are you keeping a bike at Toronto City Hall?

Right now it's here because I've had a couple of events I've been riding at. Generally when I'm biking downtown I've been using Toronto Bike Share.

What kind of bike do you have?

It's a step-through. It's a Norco city bike with a basket on the front, and fenders.

You have taken on a big job...

It's a challenging job but it's very similar to what I was doing in Misssissauga. In the last four years we built 60 kilometres of cycling infrastructure. Just under half of it was on-road and the rest of it was multi-use trails. It's taking the same relationships with other departments, in terms of construction and traffic operations and councillors and advocates, and just exploding it to a bigger level here. Certainly it's a challenge, but I think I'm up for it.

What are you proudest of in what you did in Mississauga?

This was the first Cycling Master Plan Mississauga had. I was involved in it but I didn't lead that plan. But when I took it to deliver that plan, we achieved a lot in a short period of time - starting a new staff team and building relationships and delivering a program that has been recognized. I'm really proud that the route I was biking to work was almost entirely bike lanes.
I'm most proud of the Bristol Rd. bike lanes, a 7-kilometre east-west stretch. There were challenging public issues (the original plan included no on-street parking at all on one section, between Hurontario and McLaughlin). There were several meetings the mayor attended, there were people upset. We worked through the issues, we resolved them, and at the end of the day most people were very happy with the results.

Is there anything about the Toronto job that makes you nervous?

I think the challenge is going to be achieving the cycling improvements in a way that gets the world-class cycling infrastructure, without impacting people's needs in terms of accessibility and on-street parking - because those are real needs. I think the biggest challenge is finding that balance between world-class infrastructure and providing for those site-specific access issues.

Q. I'm just going to say the words, "Bloor St."

A. Bike lanes on Bloor is something that people talk about and have talked about for years. It's kind of legendary in terms of the proposal of bike lanes on Bloor. What I'm excited about is councillors are starting to ask us, “What's the next step on studying this issue?” We're going to be looking at feasibility of bike lanes on Bloor and Dupont as a co-ordinated study. We have direction to begin a study in 2015. I don't know what that means in terms of implementation because I don't know what's feasible.

When you say world-class cycling infrastructure, what does that mean to you?

I've travelled to Vancouver, Portland and Montreal. Those cities have world-class cycling infrastructure, and Toronto does as well to some extent, but I think it's about connecting that network and making it safe for people of all ages. That doesn't mean every bike lane is going to be safe for an 8-year-old like my own daughter, but we want a network of facilities that are.

Is there more Toronto can do to marry cycling with transit and maybe foster a more gentle relationship between cyclists and motorists?

There's a lot going on to improve the relation between cycling and transit. That will be one of the focuses of the 10-year bike plan that Daniel Egan is working on and I'll be involved in. When we're talking about serving the suburban areas, partly it's about getting around those communities - but if people are trying to get from one community to another, it's probably a bike-to-transit relationship. We have staff on project teams for the Finch and Sheppard LRTs to make sure there's strong bike parking - in some cases bike stations, more cycling facilities leading up to those transit stops. It's about the route and the parking.

In the relationship between drivers and cyclists it's about changing the conversation. They're not two separate groups. Most drivers bike some of the time, and almost all cyclists drive some of the time as well. Recognizing that, but providing a safe network of dedicated cycling facilities, where drivers don't have to be worried about where a cyclist is going to go next, and ensuring a cyclist knows the rules of the road and follows those rules.