4 posts tagged “toronto”

A long long time ago, Bicycling Magazine voted Toronto the best city for cycling in North America. It slipped in the rankings quit a bit following that, but moves like this are a good way of getting that rating back.

I used to ride the Martin Goodman Trail in the snow quite a bit, and have fond memories of pedaling along the lakeshore while snow gently wafted around me illuminated by only the lights long the trail and the headlight on my bike. It was glorious.

Toronto plans to clear snow off major cycling routes Sidewalks also to get special attention in pro-active strategy
JEFF GRAY
November 19, 2008 at 4:50 AM EST

With up to four centimetres of snow expected to hit Toronto tomorrow morning, city officials - mindful of last season's near-record snowfall - were quick to say yesterday that they are ready for winter and are even pledging to keep a pair of key cycling routes clear this year.

Councillors on the city's parks committee will discuss a plan today to make special efforts to clear two east-west bike routes into the downtown, one along the "multi-use path" along Lake Shore Boulevard and Queens Quay from the east, and the other on the Queensway and King Street West.

The plan also calls for a study of how much it would cost to clear the waterfront Martin Goodman Trail for use by well-bundled cyclists all winter.

Parks committee chairwoman Paula Fletcher acknowledged that some residents of her downtown ward whose streets were left clogged with ice and snow last year might scratch their heads at the idea, but she said it is important to encourage all-season cycling.

Vancouver, incidentally, ignores cycling routes when it snows here. It doesn't happen that often, and side streets in general seem to be ignored not just bike routes.

The thing is, if people in Toronto weren't complaining about the rain they'd be complaining about the heat and humidity. It's always something out there.

I bet this doesn't last four months

TTC workers vote 99.2% to reject offer
AARON HARRIS/TORONTO STAR
Transit union chief had urged members to reject company's bid for concessions on benefits
Mar 13, 2008 04:30 AM

Toronto Transit Commission workers voted overwhelmingly yesterday to reject a contract offer, less than three weeks before reaching a legal strike position.

According to the Globe and Mail, cycling in T-dot is picking up at a pretty good pace.

Cycle mania hits high gear; good luck getting tune-up
Soaring gas prices, bad traffic and the TTC strike are getting a lot of people back on their bikes
SUSAN KRASHINSKY
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail May 7, 2008 at 5:43 AM EDT

For cycling enthusiasts in Toronto, it was the perfect storm.

Every year around this time, a stream of people bring their bikes in for tune-ups and repairs. Cycling is growing in popularity, and it's not easy to find a good mechanic. But this year, high gas prices, nasty weather and a traffic-choked downtown core meant tune-ups were in high demand. And when the TTC strike hit in April, a flood of desperate customers descended on Toronto's bike shops.

"The TTC strike just blew our minds. That was the busiest day of my life," said Eric Kamphof, a manager at Curbside Cycle near Bloor and Bathurst Streets. Curbside was so busy that it had to reject repairs. "To reject bikes is a horrible thing to do, it's nothing we want to do. But if you're a mechanic, you want to protect your level of quality.

The truth is, weather aside, Toronto's actually a pretty good city for cycling. The Don Valley Bike Path is a spectacular stretch of pavement with no cars that I used to use to get downtown from Scarborough. Streetcar tracks can be a bit of a challenge, but only on a few roads. The city is relatively flat (at least compared to Vancouver) and the Waterfront path provides a convenient way to move East=West along the Lakeshore through the Beach.

December is a whole different story, although I used to ride through the winter it would be harder to commute. Vancouver's rain can be relentless, but it's relatively...clean.

The biggest problem in Toronto is the seemingly endless sprawl. In a city where people have the longest commute on average in Canada, cycling is tough. Commutes less than 10 km are easy on a bike: commutes farther than 20 km are quite a bit harder.

Still, it's good to see.