Cyclists filled Council Chambers during the two-day debate on the future of cycling in Toronto.
Last month, City Council voted to remove the existing bike lanes on Jarvis Street, Pharmacy Avenue and Birchmount Road in front of a full Council Chambers showing its support for safe infrastructure. Despite attempts by bike friendly Councillors to
allow for public consultation prior to the removals, the motions to get rid of the bike lanes passed without allowing any public input. Mayor Ford and his allies on Council argued
the removals are necessary due to congestion problems. However, the City's own transportation staff are on record stating traffic is flowing well on all three streets. The only thing
the Ford administration has succeeded in by removing these bike lanes is endangering thousands of Toronto bike commuters. In doing so, the Ford administration sent a strong signal that people in cars matter more than people on bikes.
Mayor Ford chose to ignore the facts and the community while making decisions based on an ideology that bikes do not belong on arterial roads.
Now there is much work to be done to get Toronto back on track to green and safe streets.
While we agree with Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong that Toronto needs a network of protected bike lanes, we strongly oppose the notion that they emerge at the cost of infrastructure elsewhere.
Though protected bike lanes will make cyclists in the downtown safer, this cannot come at the expense of safety on Jarvis, Pharmacy or Birchmount.
Yet, this is the path the administration has chosen.
Despite losing the bike lanes, we won a small, but important, victory. The Jarvis lane removal will be delayed for one year. This delay will allow us to gather a greater
amount of supportive data on the street and challenge the decision in a year's time.
The bike union will continue to fight for Jarvis and other streets for safer cycling, but we need your support to do so. Please join our movement for safer streets.
While we fight City Hall, we urge you to keep cycling safely on Jarvis, Pharmacy and Birchmount. Whether there is a bike lane
or not, cyclists have a legal right to the road.
Over 1,000 cyclists took to the streets for the Ride for Jarvis, Ride for Toronto event to protest the Ford Administration's removal of bike infrastructure. Photo: Martin Reis
In response to City Council's decision to remove existing bike lanes on Jarvis Street, Pharmacy Avenue and Birchmount Road, the bike union held a rally and ride on July 20 called Ride for Jarvis, Ride for Toronto.
Approximately 1,200 Torontonians attended the rally and ride, which kicked off at Allan Gardens Park and ended at City Hall. Councillors Paula Fletcher and Mike Layton were in attendance as well. Together,
cyclists rode primarily on Jarvis Street before turning onto Queen Street West to end at City Hall.The ride was peaceful and successfully showed a united community.
Cyclists were greeted by many supportive drivers and pedestrians as well. We would like to thank everyone who attended the ride to show their support for safe streets!
Due to the ride's success, we will continue to hold similar events as we continue to mount the Save Jarvis! campaign. So remember to stay tuned!
Protected bike lane in Vancouver. Photo credit: Paul Krueger
In the same meeting as the bike lane removal vote, City Council also decided to move forward with protected bike lanes in Toronto. Sherbourne Street, the Bloor Street viaduct and Wellesley Street were
voted on in favour of protected bike lanes. City staff were directed to commence the necessary detailed design and public consultation processes. However, it's important to note
that implementation of these protected bike lanes are subject to the 2012 and 2013 City of Toronto budgets since the vote did not involved funding approvals. As City staff begin
the public consultation and detailed design process for protected bike lanes on Sherbourne, Wellesley and the Bloor viaduct, we will be working at City Hall to
ensure the projects receive the necessary funding for implementation.
Of the numerous streets proposed by Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong for protected bike lanes, the bike union saw Richmond Street as a priority given its status in the
bike plan for over 10 years. We were disappointed when protected bike lanes on Richmond Street were further delayed in the 2011 Bikeway Network Update report.
As such, we recommended that the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee direct staff to report back on a pilot project for protected bike lanes on Richmond Street and/or
Adelaide Street to inform the larger overall transportation operations study of the area. We are happy to report that the Public Works Committee approved of our recommendation
and passed a motion which will have staff report back on this pilot project in October 2011!
In June, the bike union launched a campaign to expand the BIXI Toronto program. We had an initial "win" at the June Public Works and Infrastructure Committee when, at our request,
Councillor Layton introduced and passed a motion for staff to develop a framework for how the BIXI program can be expanded. We'll make sure to keep you informed as the
"We Want More BIXI" campaign unfolds. In the meantime, please sign our petition if you support a BIXI expansion!
A busy Tune-Up Tuesday at the Linux Caffe on Harbord in early July.
In early July, we launched Tune-Up Tuesdays, setting up our Bicycle Service Station at busy cycling routes every Tuesday of the month. From Linux Caffe, to Jones Library, the Prince Edward Viaduct Parkette and the Martin Goodman Trail, we crossed the city to talk about the big cycling issues and offered free tune-ups and advice to passersby. A special thanks to our partners Sweet Pete's, Evergreen Bike Works, Bicycle Commons and Urbane Cyclist who provided their mechanical expertise, as well as our Bikewatch team for their hard work and dedication. Over the 4 events, we spoke with over 400 people and worked on 150 bikes. Check our Tune Up Tuesday schedule for more on where you can find us in August!
The bike union has been on a roll over the last 2 months. Since May, we've added an astonishing 400 members and now have over 1,400 members. Through regular weekly events like Tune Up Tuesdays and Bike Valet at the Open Roof Festival, as well as partnering with other events and festivals such as the Eco-Wheels Show, MEC Bikefest and Luminato, our exposure continues to grow. We're adding to our Member Discount Program and building more value into being a member of the bike union. We also held the Ride for Jarvis, Ride for Toronto, which demonstrated our ability to mobilize Torontonians over issues important to them. Over the next few months we plan to launch in-store member card sales, add Club and Business Members to our organization and kick off our exciting Refer-a-Rider campaign!
We're on our way toward our goal of 2,500 members by early 2012. Why 2,500 members? It's clear that the more Torontonians we represent, the louder our voice becomes. Your contributions directly impact the work we do at City Hall, enabling us to push the City to create safer streets for all Torontonians.
Toronto has strong potential to become a world-class cycling city. It's an uphill climb and we can't do it without you. If you're not a member of the Toronto Cyclists Union, please join today. Membership dollars are key to the continued success and growth of the Toronto Cyclists Union. Reaching our 2,500 membership goal will ensure robust financial health of the bike union and our capacity to advocate on your behalf at City Hall will continue to grow by leaps and bounds.
We've created a lot of momentum this summer - let's keep working together to create safer streets in Toronto!
