I want it known that the…

I want it known that the total absence of any credible evaluation of any of the bike lanes installed on Bloor Street West in the City of Toronto is an outrageous abrogation of responsibility of Council. Before approval of any bike lanes on any already-congested streets, responsible civic governance would have required a credible evaluation that includes:

1) Traffic counts of bike lane usage at a minimum of a monthly resolution, since it is glaringly obvious to even a casual observer that the lanes are woefully underutilized at all times, including during the best weather and expected peak cycling periods. The cycling usage data included to justify the expansion of bike lanes on congested streets to-date is incomplete and therefore inadequate.

2) Permanent (prior to and after installation) ongoing analysis of major intersection congestion levels (see attached image file for an excellent example of a single visual representation of key data prepared by the City of Toronto for media distribution regarding our status as bottom-of-the-pile in North America for congestion levels in major cities). How is it possible that this committee has not seen nor demanded an ongoing time series (quarterly/seasonal) of these maps to both assess the reasonableness of proposals that involve a worsening of congestion by design (such as bike lanes on congested streets)

3) Net environmental impact of additional congestion (some details in the attached questionnaire). Overall increased pollution levels from additional congestion should be obvious, but there are also local effects that impact pedestrians, and ironically, the cyclists using the lanes, who are stuck breathing additional noxious fumes from jammed traffic. This impact is so blatant that a professional analysis is not required—just ask any person who regularly walked (or ate in a sidewalk café) on these streets prior to and after the installations because they will be able to report directly from their nose and lungs.

4) Analysis of any induced demand and mode switching of cycling trips prompted by the lanes. A net impact analysis is required that demonstrates to what extent additional cycling usage is occurring versus simply diverting existing cycling trips from other pathways or accommodating cycling trips that are “not commuting” (since a sufficient number of long, daily recurring, two-way “commuting” trips would be the only possible rational for taking road traffic lanes out of service on what are already the most congested streets in the City).

5) Impact of any traffic diversion onto local streets or other arterial roads due to the lane restrictions caused by the bike lanes. Traffic doesn’t simply disappear in the absence of good public transit options. Only a tiny proportion of the general population is willing and able to commute by bicycle on any regular basis. Therefore, traffic that was using the already-congested main streets spills into adjacent neighbourhoods, deteriorating their quality of life.

6) Impact of increased pollution (emissions, noise) and congestion on the well-being of pedestrians and other users of main streets. The slapdash design of the bike lanes, as proposed and implemented to date) are a gross embarrassment and appallingly bad urban design. Aside from the visual clutter, they are dangerous for less-than-fully agile pedestrians who now have to deal with both cyclists whizzing by and vehicles traversing crosswalks while waiting to enter the main street because both views and access are now blocked by parked cars in the middle of the street as well as the bike lane hardware itself.

This is a brief list of issues—there are many more, including the emergency vehicle and TTC shuttle bus issues. Does any bike lanes evaluation (pilot or regular project) to date include even one of the 6 points listed?

I fully support their removal.

Resident
Etobicoke, Ontario