The matter of streetcar track and cycling will be considered by the Public Works Committee on November 14, 2012. How much coverage this will receive, considering that the first item on the agenda is the proposed ban of plastic bags, remains to be seen.
The report, in brief, says that streetcar tracks have been around for a century and the problem is how to improve cyclist safety. Removal or covering over of tracks would be done only for inactive parts of the system.
Most of the inactive track is listed for removal as part of planned road paving jobs in the next decade. The City’s report includes:
- 2013:
- Neville Loop tail track: A fragment of this long-disconnected track is still visible south of Queen. On an historic note, this street was the last place to have track set in wooden block paving, but that’s long gone.
- Richmond Street eastbound track from east of Yonge to York (*)
- York Street southbound track from Queen to Wellington (*)
- 2014:
- Wellington Street eastbound track from York to Church (*)
- 2019:
- Adelaide Street both ways from Charlotte to Victoria
- Not yet in capital program:
- Wychwood from St. Clair to south end of Wychwood Yard
- Kipling Loop tail track
- (*) The TTC capital program includes reconstruction of the track in these streets’ one-way direction
This list is incomplete because it does not mention:
- Church northbound from Wellington to south of King (obsolete due to no access from Wellington)
- Victoria northbound from Adelaide to Richmond (obsolete due to no access from Adelaide)
- Bingham Loop tail track (Kingston Road at Victoria Park): This may be removed as part of the TTC’s Kingston Road project in 2013, but it is not clear from the TTC capital budget exactly which special work at Bingham Loop is to be removed.
It is now clear that the TTC does not intend to retain the eastbound track on Adelaide Street which has been unusable due to various construction projects for years, and which is in very bad repair thanks to many pavement heaves, asphalt patches and utility cuts. I cannot help wondering why the TTC has included replacement of the overhead poles for this street in its ongoing program. Possibly they never got around to deciding until the cycling issue came up, or the electrical planners didn’t know what the track folks had in mind.
Adelaide has been out of service for so long that one could hardly claim that the TTC is losing flexibility because they have done without it for over a decade. In any event, there are many years before the scheduled removal, and if a case can be made for reactivating the track, it will still be around, albeit in appalling condition, for a while.
As for the cyclists, the report is basically saying “be careful”, and the issue is now one of finding ways to make the roads safer for cycling without removing active streetcar lines.
Steve Munro 
Steve, do you know why they did not do Neville Park the last time around about 6 or 7 years ago when they rebuilt everything east of Woodbine? I realize a budget is a budget but they took out about 50 feet of old track down Neville but left the remaining 15 feet at the end. No, they were not resurfacing the road or anything like that. They only took out the track and asphalted over it. Seemed really strange, another two scoops with the shovel and all of the track would have been gone. Now they have to treat it as a new project, probably costing more.
Steve: No idea.
LikeLike
In my opinion, as a cyclist, there are more dangerous things on the road. Tracks are static and can be avoided. However car drivers that turn without signalling and open doors without looking are more threatening to me. More effort should be directed at preventing these incidents that I would guess cause far more accidents than streetcar tracks.
LikeLike
It would be good if they took a look at specific solutions for difficult intersections – specifically line markings of the “suggested route” to take so as to make sure the angles people are taking are as close to 90 degrees as possible. Also there has been some examples shown online of rubber fillers (that compress for streetcars, but don’t for bikes) that could be put on heavily used routes or even just intersections.
It would also be great to look at advanced timings or signals for cyclists so they can get out in front of traffic. Removing parking in specific places where there is only two lanes. More sharrows, dedicated lanes or bike boxes on streets like Richmond that have tracks and lots of tour buses.
They also need to do something with Beverly/Queen/Peter/John St. area … having bike lanes end at a stop sign onto Queen with tracks is a disaster waiting to happen.
LikeLike
With regards to the inactive tracks, has anyone bothered to check if the “tar substance” they use to patch cracks on roads could be used to fill the flangeways until the rails are removed?
Steve: I suspect that this would only partly solve the problem as it would still leave the track itself and the skid problems of bare rail.
LikeLike
I’ve never quite understood this issue of streetcar tracks and bicycles being an issue, either in Toronto or in Seattle where I now live (and we have one streetcar line and more coming, the current line runs mostly on the right hand side of the road.) Is it really that difficult for cyclists to a) use other lanes if possible b) if necessary to ride in a lane with tracks, actually take the lane rather than pretending they are a non-vehicle and riding on the side (in the small stretch between the track and curb here in Seattle) and c) always cross the tracks at right or very oblique angles.
Additionally up here it’s actually legal for cyclists to ride on sidewalks, so that’s a fourth option, albeit not a legal one in Toronto. Any time I’ve seen an accident occur it’s always been a result of not following these precautions.
LikeLike
Gary asks,
There are no other lanes. Queen, King, Dundas, College: they all have a curb lane with parked cars and a centre lane with streetcar tracks. “Taking the [centre, i.e. only open] lane” doesn’t work because there’s no easy way to get into the lane, or to pull off it, without slowing down to a crawl and crossing the tracks at right angles.
Seattle has one streetcar line, I understand. Toronto has many streets with tracks, and there are curves at intersections where they cross. It is impossible to cross all the tracks at a grand union such as Queen and Spadina at right angles.
And there can well be no reasonable alternatives to streets with streetcar tracks. If you are heading west from downtown, you’re pretty much stuck with King or Queen once you get west of Bathurst. Even if you jog way north to Harbord, you’re stuck after Ossington. As for a bike route on Bloor-Danforth, which is actually the best through route we have other than Queen, we can dream.
LikeLike
Steve said:
However, in September you reported this from Brad Ross:
I can understand why the Adelaide track might be totally removed (though I think this is unfortunate as it would surely make a good detour route) but I am not too sure from these conflicting signals (and the new poles being put in) if the TTC has actually “decided” to give up on Adelaide.
If they have, I really hope they will work with the City to remove the track before 2019 (which probably means 202?) as the street is really quite dangerous in places, and not only for cyclists. Lots of the track has heaved.
Steve: I think we are seeing a classic left hand, right hand problem at the TTC where something that really isn’t a pressing issue gets different treatment from different sections. I will write to Brad to ask for clarification on this.
LikeLike
The incident at Wychwood was with the bicycle wheel getting caught between the rail and the concrete (I don’t believe there is flanged rail at this location, but I could be wrong). Having a slippery surface on the rail probably wouldn’t have had the same result, and putting some cold patch either in the flange, or between the rail and concrete (for non flanged rail) could potentially alleviate part of the concern at minimal cost (for abandoned track) and yes, would need to be maintained from time to time until the rail was removed entirely.
Realistically speaking, the abandoned track constitutes such a small portion of the overall track mileage that if you had to spend the same amount of money, it would be better spent buying helmets for those who ride bikes. As for resilient material in the rail which compresses for the wheel flanges, good luck having that last. In order for it to be sufficiently compressible, it would need to be somewhat porous. (Such high levels of strain cannot be easily accommodated by a homogenous elastic material.) Porous materials eventually become saturated, and frozen saturated porous materials can derail streetcars.
Interestingly, if you look at Neville, it appears as if the visible track at the north end is only the tip of the iceberg, with buried, paved over track, extending almost all the way to the south end of the street (the tracks are reflected in cracking on the asphalt surface). The outbound track at Luttrell was paved over, and is starting to show through, so the argument that paving over existing rack doesn’t last ‘long enough’ doesn’t really hold water in my mind, but is simply not sensible from an economic perspective.
Painting ‘suggested’ crossing paths at intersections makes the most sense to me (if we have to do something for active track). Judging by the condition of the Adelaide track, there is no way that it can stay in place until 2019. I suspect that is a placeholder to give the TTC enough time to install the eastbound track once this debate passes, and to show something on the books for this (very obvious) large stretch of abandoned track.
Steve: I can assure you that the track on Neville ends where it does, and does not go south to the lake. This was originally a wye at the east of the line before Neville Loop was built. Tracks that did go further south were on streets further west, and they led to the carhouse and amusement park at Scarborough Beach.
There is antique track paved under all over the city and, yes, that argument about how we can’t do it rings rather hollow. Track on Sherbourne at Front, unused since the 1950s, is peeking through.
The track on Wychwood is mainly tee rail with only a concrete flangeway, but the track in front of the carhouse is a mixture of both types of rail.
LikeLike
Steve:
True. However, as the cyclist death on Wychwood illustrated, a partial solution that only deals with the flangeways on inactive tracks would still be an improvement in safety.
Steve: Yes, but I think the deeper issue here is that the amount of unused track as a proportion of the entire system is quite small, and the real issue with safety is to decide on how road space will be apportioned. As long as cyclists are squeezed between parked cars in the curb lane and streetcar tracks in the centre lane, there will be problems.
LikeLike
I can understand why it makes sense to remove track that will never be used again. For most of the track in question however the rails really are the least of a cyclist’s worries as riding in these particular lanes on wide, busy one-way streets is literally suicidal and completely unnecessary. If left turns are the issue then it is generally far safer to just dismount at the far corner and wait for the opposite green. The two-phase indirect left at Dupont/Dundas/Annette is a good example of how this has been formally incorporated into a dedicated bike lane.
It would be incredibly stupid to permanently remove the eastbound track from Adelaide while retaining Richmond. In the grand scheme of things the loss of one would likely mean the eventual loss of the other followed by much of York and some of Victoria. I await better news from Mr. Ross.
LikeLike
Google Street view
shows a rather distinct pattern of cracking conspicuously co-linear to the streetcar track. There is a paved section south of where the exposed track ends where the cracks are not present, but continuing further south, it sure looks like there is ‘something’. Realizing that this was a wye, would they have laid track down the entire street for the purpose of having storage space for a few cars? (in the early years) -and perhaps paved over the majority of that prior to the last years of that wye being connected?
Steve: That looks like a trench for water or gas main construction. Old photos of this street don’t show any trackage extending south from the wye, nor is there any mention of this in histories of the TTC and TRC. I have known the area for over 50 years and can attest that in my time, that’s as far as the track went. Another giveaway is that there are no poles on the lower part of Neville Park of the type that would have held up overhead wiring.
LikeLike
Are Canadian cyclists incompetent? There is a lot more track, tangent and special work, in Amsterdam – and universal bike lanes. They coexist quite easily. This is true in many other European cities. The laws of physics are the same on both sides of the pond. It’s not the tracks in TO; it’s the cyclists.
LikeLike
In the 60’s I used to ride my bike all over Toronto and never had an incident with street car tracks. Of course I wasn’t dumb enough to ride across street car tracks in intersection. I walked across and remounted. I think there is something to be said for letting Darwin sort out the problem.
Bicycles may have the right to make their left turn from the left turn lane like cars and trucks do but remember they are bigger and you may be right, dead right.
I would be willing to bet that many of the cyclists who insist on their right to use the lanes according to the law are the same ones who run red lights and stop signs, nearly hitting pedestrians or go the wrong way on one way streets because it is more convenient than stopping or going over to the other street.
LikeLike
I ride my cargo bike for a living, mostly in the core; I’ve had a few slips and one loss of control from the tracks but nothing major. Policy-wise I’d prefer the city implement the cycling plan and make more and better cycling infrastructure as an overall path to better safety.
The one specific (and easy, in theory, to deal with) issue that did get passing mention in the report was parked cars: I’d target especially illegally parked cars at track intersections. McCaul south-to-west Queen, and Parliament south-to-west King are particularly bad. It’s impossible to proceed safely through the intersection when a vehicle is stopped immediately west of these curves. The behaviour is dangerous and also usually blocks streetcars; there ought to be aggressive, immediate towing and heavy fines.
As for surface transit in mixed traffic, give me streetcars over buses any day. Can you imagine buses weaving in and out of the bike lane on College St on a sunny July morning? It would be mayhem.
LikeLike
There is plenty of room on Toronto’s streets for streetcars and cyclists to safely coexist. We simply need to make the downtown car-free and construct infrastructure that guides people to cross streetcar tracks at right angles.
Here is a video from Utrecht showing the right way of doing things. Notice from the overhead shots how everyone is guided at right angles across the streetcar tracks.
Steve: I noticed that despite the relatively uncontrolled intersections, the pedestrians and cyclists seem to co-exist. Very few of the cyclists were madly trying to fly through crowds of their fellows or treating pedestrians like bowling pins.
LikeLike
Why does the track end at Neville Park Blvd.? The old border of Toronto was there, but no longer. Extend the tracks eastward to Victoria Park Avenue, Blantyre Avenue, within or at the east end of the RC Harris Water Treatment Plant, or even Fallingbrook Road.
Steve: Actually the old city ends a bit further east, and there was a brief time when there was track down from Kingston Road to “Victoria Park” which was where the water plant is now. I suspect the grade east of Nursewood is a tad steep for streetcars, and the expense of an extension not worth the cost. I don’t think you can put a loop on the R.C. Harris lands as I believe there is a reservoir under that big “lawn” out front.
LikeLike
David wrote:
I find a large number of cyclists are incompetent – I notice this almost every day – cyclists who drive on the road and do not follow the rules of the road (for example, driving through red lights and stop signs without stopping, indicating turns, etc.) So, it is not always the streetcar tracks that are the problem, but the cyclists themselves.
On a side not, why are some tail tracks (like on Kipling) around? I have never seen the tail track at Kipling used, so why not just remove it?
Steve: It costs money to dig up the track if there is no other reason, such as the every 25-year or so maintenance. Kipling sees comparatively little traffic, and it will take a long time to wear out that facing switch. The only time I have seen a car on that tail track was on a charter trip, and then during the era when it had overhead. Hillside Wye was a more popular spot for photos, but it’s long gone, the last wye on the system.
LikeLike
When I was a summer student at the High Park School for Outdoor Education I took cycling as often as I could, and one of the most important things we learned over the week of the course was cycling safety.
We got a safety handbook from the City of Toronto that specifically said to slow down and “flick” your front wheel out when crossing over parallel or curved streetcar tracks … not necessarily 90 degrees but close to it. We practiced these techniques driving in High Park, as well as along the Martin Goodman trail. On the Thursday we rode to Humber Bay Park, crossing the Queensway Streetcar tracks at Colborne Lodge Dr. On the Friday we rode to Toronto Island, crossing the Queens Quay Streetcar tracks, or we rode to the Humber River via the Lakeshore, then up as far as James Gardens (south of Eglinton Ave). One year (when I was working for the school as a TA) the teacher decided to take the students along Bloor St. to enter the Humber Valley trail system just north of Old Mill station.
If 9-13 year old kids can be taught to cycle safely on streets & bike paths in less than one week, then I think adults should be able to cross streetcar tracks safely.
The big issue is not the track itself, but the situations where a cyclist is unable to react in time … car door opening, car running a red light, cyclist running a red light/stop sign etc … that shoves the cyclist into the path of another vehicle or into the flange of the streetcar tracks.
The only solution for that is better training for cyclists … but frankly, we don’t make a great effort to train cyclists to ride properly in Ontario, so what more can be expected?
Cheers, Moaz
LikeLike
Kristian said:
Except that I was riding on Adelaide on Wednesday, and because of construction, parking and stopped delivery trucks, I mostly had to ride in the second (eastbound streetcar) lane, with occasional movements into the third (westbound streetcar) lane. Traffic wasn’t abnormally difficult to deal with, but it’s very tense trying to shoulder-check a lane change while approaching an obstacle and watch out for the rails. Especially since you have to steer with one hand while signalling. (Normally, I could bail on a lane change at the last minute – say if someone entered the lane from further left – by just straightening out and hitting the brakes, but that would be almost guaranteed to drop me into the tracks.)
LikeLike
Robrt Wightman said:
And you’d probably lose that bet. I’ve seen a lot of bad cyclists, but my impression is that they’re far too ignorant of the rules to insist on their rights. The cyclists I know, like me, who insist on their rights tend to follow the rules (I even stop at Stop signs crossing the base of a T intersection) so that they can’t be called hypocrites. We yell at the moron cyclists – they endanger us too.
LikeLike
David says in response to my posting on unsafe cyclists:
David, you are not the cyclists that I am referring to, you obviously know how to behave safely and legally. Unfortunately there are enough out there who will pull into the left turn lane of an large intersection and turn with the cars. While this is probably legal I doubt that it is smart. They are too small to be easily seen and too many motorists will rush through the turn and fail to see them.
Insisting on a safe route that is not blocked by idiots who park illegally and a decent bike path network is not the problem; it is actually the solution to many of our transit problems. The major problem with cars is where to store them when not being driven. As long as we allow the roads to be used for storage it is impossible to provide decent bike and transit routes.
I have been nearly run down by the “idiots fringe of cyclists” who do not believe that they have to stop for passengers getting on or off street cars or pedestrians crossing with a green light. The worst are the ones who ride on the wrong side of the road and don’t stop at stop signs. I have nearly hit a few of these at 4 way stops because I look right for pedestrians then left for traffic. They are not close or large enough to register as a problem when I look right, but they are moving fast enough to be in front of me when I start moving.
We can eliminate many of the hazards to cyclists and pedestrians but the one we cannot eliminate is stupidity. This applies to motorists also. Perhaps we would all be safer if we removed the mayor from the streets. Safe cycling and walking Dave.
LikeLike
Steve wrote:
Kevin’s comment:
That is typical for car-free areas where cyclists are the mainstream road users. There are usually few to zero traffic lights or other traffic control devices, and yet everyone gets to where they are going in an easy, safe manner.
This is not just in European car-free zones. Travel over to the Toronto Islands. This is North America’s largest car-free urban residential area. See the children cycling to school every morning car-free. See the adults cycling everywhere they are going car-free.
Notice how this is the only part of Toronto where the number of traffic deaths is zero. Notice how there are no traffic lights, stop signs or any other traffic control devices. Those things are only needed to control cars.
See: theurbancountry website
I believe that Toronto’s downtown should be car-free in the same way that so many other cities around the world have car-free downtowns.
Cars are nothing but a lethal hazard that blights cities. The lethal poisons in car pollution kill 440 people in Toronto each year and injure 1,700 people so seriously that they have to be hospitalized. Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to being poisoned by car drivers. Every year, car drivers poison children and cause 1,200 acute bronchitis episodes. 68,000 asthma symptom days are experienced by children in Toronto every year due to being poisoned by car drivers.
Source: Toronto Public Health
This poisoning by car drivers is the equal of a major terrorist attack. Our response should be appropriate to the body count of dead and injured people who got that way by being poisoned by car drivers.
Our response should be a car-free downtown and proper Dutch style infrastructure everywhere else so that walking, cycling or public transit are the fastest, easiest and most convenient ways of going from A to B for almost all destinations in the City.
LikeLike
Isn’t it telling that streetcars have been running in this city for more than 100 years and this whole discussion of the hazard they supposedly pose to cyclists has only sprung up during the most pro-automobile, anti-transit (and especially anti-streetcar) administration we have had in decades? No, I am not fond of conspiracy theories, but I do not believe in coincidences either.
Steve: I think what we are seeing is more the aggressive, contentious nature of traffic debates generally and a refusal of cyclists to simply accept things “because they have always been that way”. On Wychwood, if that had been an active carhouse (compare to track on Connaught), the discussion would have been very different. With it being an inactive site, the question of an unnecessary risk (compare to a long-lived pothole for motorists) is valid. The difficulty arises if the specific case and the tragedy of the death are exploited to argue a general anti-streetcar position.
Regarding streetcar tracks on Adelaide, I noticed that they are already pretty much gone between Bay and Yonge. I am not sure if they are physically removed or merely paved over, but if the street will not be rebuilt until 2019, maybe paving over the remaining tracks in problematic places and temporarily fix the pavement heaves is not such a bad idea after all. Interestingly, the TTC rebuilt the track on Adelaide between Bay and Yonge in 1995 (although I do not think streetcars ever made use of that stretch since) as well as the special trackwork at Adelaide & Victoria and Richmond & Victoria intersections in 2002 in such a way that they clearly intended (at that time) to preserve Adelaide as a diverison route. A waste of money as it stands now.
Steve: The problem with Adelaide arose from the construction occupancy of the street for the Bay-Adelaide tower that stood unfinished for a decade. The “temporary” removal of overhead was never reversed, and over time other construction projects have treated Adelaide as a non-transit street. Those projects, also I suspect, were used as justification for indefinite deferral of the road reconstruction leading to the situation we have today.
And speaking of project coordination, a hoe-ram was busy breaking up the freshly poured concrete in the northbound track on McCaul just north of Queen around 6 PM yesterday (Friday). I am sure there is a wonderful explanation for that.
Steve: I saw that hole yesterday and given its location I suspect it’s Toronto Water fixing something with the work they did. It will be amusing to see if everything is put back together in time for service into McCaul Loop to resume a week Monday.
LikeLike
Streetcar track hazards are not new – for the city, nor for some of us. My dad warned me of their hazards from a tumble he had in the 30s; and in 1938 a courier succumbed from a fall. More recently, I’ve vexed about them: one eg. being a Sept. 16, 2003 long letter to then-Chair Moscoe and other times since.
The hazards are primarily from getting a wheel caught and being thrown; slipperiness is another issue, but far less so.
The City and the TTC have been in denial for a few reasons.
– Doing something/ anything will cost some money, and it’s much cheaper and easier when there are lawyers on paid retainer to keep on with willful blindness – they’re only cyclists. So there aren’t even stats kept on how many cyclists get tossed and harmed, but if we did have such stat-taking, the main east-west roads would be thoroughly black with dots of harm, representing bloody streets that wouldn’t be tolerated if it were in any other setting.
– Doing something/anything will involve headache and controversy – as pointed out, getting rid of the parked cars for bike lanes/safety would be a solution, but in all likelihood, those who use/live/work on King/Queen/Dundas/College will be less keen on “roadical” change, as it is Caronto the Carrupt. Streetcar tracks dictate lane place: it is not a cheap repainting job to re-arrange travel lanes with the BIG EXCEPTION of Bloor and the Danforth. The Fordkers killed off that EA study of a Bloor/Danforth bikeway last summer to save $500K they said, a sum coincidental with the severance to Mr. Webster, and we’ve been spending about as much in removing bike lanes. The TTC does have some liability and moral obligation to begin to deal with these hazards and the Commissioners could provide leadership on a Bloor/Danforth bikeway, but despite nudgings thus far – nope. This is despite it being a cheap way to ease pressure on the B/D subway as if it became safe to ride a bike parallel to this transit, I’m sure more than a few people would get into bike riding given costs and “service”. To re-do a key part, from Dundas St. W. to Spadina, would only be $100,000 (4kms@$25K) and with the repaving of much of it next year, it’s a Golden Opportunity, and B/D has only been best for east-west since merely 1992…
– Another reason for avoidance of action is that the bike actually provides competition to the core trans*it: there is a ve$ted interest in keeping things hazardous to keep up the revenues, to subsidize suburban service. If bike riding really was safe – and there are scant opportunities in the west end core due to the streetcar tracks hogging the best routes – the TTC and the City wouldn’t make as much money. It’s not just me: John Sewell is quoted in Straphangers about how biking is the better way.
Yes, some of us cyclists are disrespectful and dangerous and “law”-breaking, but it is a carrupt carist and dangerous near-suicycle city – so that some of us try to get ahead to smoother road in greater control of road positioning away from doors and ruts. Of course, these “passholes” are notable, and it is hard to advocate for better biking as a result, but since the City didn’t build a Queen St. subway or Front St. transitway or a DRL, there isn’t any safe, straight, smooth east-west route – at least that we’re allowed to ride on e.g. Gardiner, though the road is smooooth!
People shouldn’t let this just pass without pressure. Points to insist upon are:
– starting to tabulate just how many spills and harms occur each year along each line
– insist upon moving forward with a Bloor/Danforth bikeway, especially in the tight segment between Dundas St. W. and Spadina – there’s SCADS of parking atop the subway for the on-street spaces needing to be shunted outnumbering on-streets.
– insist that the Parking enforcement people start ticketing parked cars for being too far out into the roadway, with a 6-inch gap being the threshold.
– get all the Pay and Display machines to have a warning about NOT opening your door into a cyclist ie. look first you @$@#$%$!! (I’d like a $1,000 fine if a cyclist gets hurt, and an automatic 9-month sentence, impoundment and sale of the vehicle for funeral costs if a cyclist is killed – it has happened!)
– yes to some markings for crossing zones
– use of some new urethane-type fillers in unused tracks, even try blacktop
– pressure on the TTC Commissioners especially the Councillors to bridge silos, and respect cyclists’ lives/well-being as much as other citizens.
These pressures and hazards are not going away between intensification, greening, the sharper costs of declining service, going to be worsened with the new streetcars which because they are larger, are going to come less frequently as it’s the same uh, “service” with cattle carrying capacity.
Thanks Steve for posting this, and the comments, though some I disagree with, and we do actually have the right, even obligation to get to the left turn lane for left turns as is taught in the Can-bike.
LikeLike
The Canbike 2 course specifically includes training (and practice!) riding over streetcar tracks. Not surprisingly, those who lived outside the city were the most apprehensive in this part of the course. As a year-round cyclist, I believe it’s best to take your time whenever approaching or cycling beside streetcar tracks, especially when it is wet or dark. In some places such as when riding westbound on Gerrard east of Broadview, it’s best to ride down the middle to avoid being doored by cars parked on the north side.
LikeLike
Kevin Love said:
It’s funny, two things jumped out at me. First, I saw no one wearing a helmet. Second, the cyclists seem to be moving relatively slowly and looking out for other cyclists and pedestrians.
Steve said:
Both pedestrians and cyclists appeared to have a ‘critical mass’ (I know that’s the wrong use of the term) in that there are just so many of each that they slow each other down and encourage each other to be aware. Even the few scenes where cyclists cut each other off (for example, at 0:19-0:21) show patience & courtesy.
Cheers, Moaz
LikeLike
Interesting, on the map shewn in Appendix 1 on Steve’s link, there are car tracks on Dundas between Broadview & K.R.
Steve: Fascinating! That’s not the only error on the map, but then the TTC’s track maps are notoriously inaccurate. Track on Dundas east of Broadview has to rank as the most flagrant mistake I have ever seen.
LikeLike
The transit system doesn’t have anywhere near the capacity required for such a shift to physically be carried on the system right now. Many infrastructure projects are needed before that could ever happen. Remember, the DRL is projected, assuming a conventional 6-car subway, to have at least half of its theoretical capacity consumed by 2031 while still handling a comparable volume of cars.
This is not something that can be done by snapping one’s fingers. Huge lead times and huge investments are required first. That’s to say nothing of sorting out issues of service and business vehicles.
LikeLike
Steve wrote,
What make this even more flagrant is that the tracks hit Kingston Road at a perfect 90 degree angle – no curves showing any connections. One would think that whoever was drawing the lines along Dundas would have discovered the track didn’t exist when there was no answer regarding how they connected to the Kingston Road tracks.
Was it just easier to dead-end them rather than to erase them?
Steve: When I see things like this, I have to wonder how many more important issues around the TTC are left to someone who at a minimum does not check their work, or worse doesn’t know the system well enough to spot the error. I particularly liked the sort-of-curves that appear to link Richmond westbound to Adelaide eastbound via York southbound. I hope that after the various weekend shutdowns for trackwork we don’t find subway trains veering off into terra incognita.
LikeLike
Hamish said:
If Can-bike teaches this then I have to wonder if they ever studied physics. A cyclist is going to lose most battles with cars and getting into the left turn lane maybe legal but I doubt that it is wise. On downtown streets where there is a controlled intersection it might be safe but not at a intersection of two 6 lane roads with double left turn lanes. If I ride on one of these roads I will always ride across the intersection then wait for the light to go across the other road. I want to arrive alive.
As for your comments on parking I fully agree with you. Too many motorists think that they have the right to park almost anywhere because there only going to be a moment. Parking will not improve until it rigorously enforced with major fines. [Steve adds: and ruthless towing.]
Opening a car door when there is passing traffic is, I believe, an offense under the highway traffic act and cyclist should report it as a personal injury accident and demand the police come. Probably won’t get action but if the stats keep building the police will eventually have to take notice, unless Ford puts a bounty on cyclists. When I park on a narrow street I always check the rear view mirror, then the side view before opening my door an inch while looking in the mirror, if I have missed seeing someone I can usually hear them screaming at me. I haven’t doored any one yet.
As for the TTC taking all the best cross town routes for their street cars, unfortunately they have taken the only crosstown route except for Bloor Danforth. The only way to put cycle lanes on these streets is to eliminate parking and while I would go for that the local BIA’s would scream.
Steve: At the risk of pointing out the obvious, the TTC’s predecessors “took” the major east west streets long before there was significant cycling traffic, and the condition of the roads then does not bear thinking about.
Good luck in the fight for better cycling infrastructure but if you don’t keep the demands within the possible you will only come across as a crazy fringe group. I think changing Jarvis back to reversible flow lane was dumb.
LikeLike
RE: Robert Wightman
In Taras Grescoe’s book, Straphanger, he states that in many European countries drivers are trained to open their door using their right hand, this way your body naturally pivots so you can see oncoming traffic. Starting now the Ministry of Transportation, Young Drivers and other driving schools can be training new drivers to do this. As well someone like the Toronto Star’s Ian Law could promote this as well.
LikeLike
Robert Wightman wrote,
Not only is it an offense, but an accident arising from this action is deemed, with very few exceptions, to be at the fault of the driver opening their door. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only situation where a collision involving something moving and something not moving where the operator of a vehicle that is not moving is at fault.
Robert also suggested,
Not really a matter of the police noticing or not, a reported accident will require a police report. What will really make a difference is what happens when the insurance companies start getting the claims that should be occurring for each and every one of these incidents: careless drivers’ premiums will rise.
LikeLike
Robert Wightman wrote,
Perhaps a better solution would be to use the centre lane as a reversible lane for automobiles only during rush hours (southbound 6-9 am, northbound 4-7 pm, for instance). Prohibit automobile use outside of those hours when it would be a wide bi-directional bike lane.
LikeLike
Today, the mayor says he was bullied for being fat. In the Toronto Sun, he say’s he’s happy the Jarvis bike lanes are being removed today. Who’s bullying who? I dread the future headline, “Was 2 minutes worth a life?”
LikeLike
I believe that traffic on Jarvis would flow better if the put in left turn lanes or right turn lanes at intersections instead of the reversible centre lane. I can remember many times when I used to be dumb enough to drive in Toronto when the centre lane was blocked by a driver making a left turn while the right hand lane was blocked by someone making a right turn. Three lanes of traffic were effectively reduced to 1 lane.
When I drive in Toronto I try to use roads like Greenwood, Harbord or Lansdowne that have been reduced to 2 through lanes with 1 parking lane and hopefully 2 bike lanes. These roads usually have a left turn lane at intersection and usually move faster than when they were 2 through lanes in each direction.
The ultimate example of speeding up traffic flow by reducing traffic lanes has to be Spadina, North of King. Does anyone remember what it was like when there was angle parking and god knows how many traffic lanes in each direction. Believe that one of the big complaints against the Spadina Street Car Right Of Way was that it would reduce parking, slow down traffic and cost the merchants business. Most businesses seem to be surviving quiet well and if they can’t I don’t think that it is the responsibility of the city to subsidize their existence to the detriment of the majority.
My next goal is to restore the sidewalks on Avenue Road to what they were before it was widened to 6 lanes. Let’s have 4 lanes with left turn lanes at intersections, wider sidewalks and bike lanes. I propose putting in a cable to aid north bound cyclists to get up the hill or else to put in way stations where they could rest up before continuing up the hill. I know it may sound stupid but I bet it would have very little impact on travel time for cars. We need to limit the accessibility of downtown Toronto to cars. I at one time had a neat acronym like Society To Restore Avenue road Pedestrian Services or STRAPS or something equally stupid but I believe that it will happen one day, probably after I am dead.
LikeLike
J. MacMillan says:
I can sympathize with the mayor on that one, the bullying, and can understand his love for football. I was (am?) over weight, though not to his level. Football was the one sport where my size actually was helpful and I loved it. I played for 10 years and coached for 20 years. I can remember many players and parents thanking me for giving them an outlet where they could compete and feel included instead of excluded.
While I may disagree with most of Ford’s actions, including coaching while Mayor, I can understand why he loves doing it. Football allowed him to feel part of a team and he wants to help others feel the same way. Maybe he should resign as mayor and take up coaching high school football full time. Unfortunately high school coaches in Canada, unlike the States, are paid nothing, but I am sure he could afford to do it.
Steve: But all the tugging on the heartstrings about Ford’s experience being bullied does not excuse his own behaviour and that of his brother toward city staff and members of Council. This whole business has a smell of historical revisionism about it.
LikeLike
Karl Junkin wrote about a car-free Toronto downtown:
Kevin’s comment:
It is not just public transit but also walking and cycling that must be considered. Allowing private cars into the public streets downtown is a tremendously inefficient use of this public space. The exact same street can carry approximately 18 times the volume of traffic on bicycles as it can in cars. Which is why even the largest of cities rarely have traffic congestion in their car-free zones.
But the most important consideration should always be safety. Every internal combustion engine puts out lethal poisons. For example, one of these lethal poisons is fine particulate matter. Every one of those particles that we breath in is like a lottery ticket. A lottery whose “winners” get lung cancer.
The only safe dose of these lethal poisons is zero. By no coincidence, that is exactly the amount of tolerance I have of car drivers poisoning myself and my loved ones by driving cars in downtown Toronto. Zero tolerance.
LikeLike
Robert Wightman said:
You know, that’s the sort of thing that illustrates how much of a joke Jarvis has turned into. I mean, here was an opportunity to look at how the lanes on Jarvis were laid out and work out how to maximize traffic flow on it. Instead, the mayor and his supporters were in such a rush to turn back the clock that they put back in all the mistakes; including on street parking.
LikeLike
It sounds like you’ve forgotten that we have winter here; don’t let a record-setting November Sunday fool you. Most people aren’t inclined to get on their bikes in sub-zero temperatures, so bikes do not present a year-round solution and therefore a transit system that can meet the demand without bikes out in force in a car-free downtown would be essential. It WILL be virtually all on public transit’s back in winter for anything greater than walking distance.
I guess you want a bus-free city, too, then, no intercity buses, no intraregional (GO) buses, no local TTC buses, and more than that, you want a city/province with no VIA trains, or no freight trains that get trucks off the roads? These vehicles all emit fine particulate matter. Do you have zero tolerance for these modes that help keep the streets less congested than they otherwise would be? (Note that I’ve left GO trains out because those trains need to be electric to meet future demand).
True, it is technically feasible to make any of the modes I mentioned electric, but that applies to cars as well. I’m not opposed to electric cars, but I don’t have much interest in them as they don’t solve congestion. While the alternatives still pollute, it’s far less per passenger on average. It’s a large scale of infrastructure to electrify everything though. Getting the money to electrify GO trains alone is a challenge.
LikeLike
That’s a pretty difficult arrangement given the reversible lane is in the middle of the road, but also because it would not be a “wide bi-directional bike lane.” In the 5 lane configuration, Jarvis’ lanes are abnormally narrow. I don’t know the exact dimensions, but it is obvious even looking at them that they are skinnier than lanes on other roads in the city. I recall riding TTC buses on Jarvis that could not pass cars in the lanes beside them because there was not enough space.
I still wish we had gone with the original plan to cut Jarvis to four lanes to have wider sidewalks with trees, rather than the bike-lane plan that hijacked this plan at the last second.
Steve: Yes, it’s odd that the purpose of the original Jarvis redesign seems to have been lost in the shuffle.
LikeLike