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Sustainability May 29, 2017

Toronto pushes climate change to back burner

Toronto is taking an aggressive approach to tackling climate change with a new plan to transform the city into a green metropolis — or are they?

TransformTO, the new climate change policy being proposed to city council, was supposed to be discussed on May 24, but it was deferred until the July 5. This came as a disappointment to Toronto climate supporters, who would love to see the city embrace a plan that will actively decrease greenhouse gases in one of the Canada’s largest city.

The ambitious climate change plan would see Toronto reduce greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050. The city has already lowered greenhouse gas emissions by 24 per cent, which has exceeded the six per cent 2012 climate change goal. In order to meet this more strenuous climate change goal by 2050 though, serious action is needed. The plan will take aggressive action to lower emissions, including diverting 95 per cent of waste from landfills to recycling programs and 100 per cent of public use vehicles will use zero-carbon energy. There would be more focus on creating bike lanes, infrastructure related to low-carbon vehicles, and cycling parking.

The climate change plan also wants Toronto to focus on building green houses, condos, and apartment buildings in the future. The plan would mandate city structures to have near-zero greenhouse gases by 2030 and retrofit most other buildings by 2040. Retrofitting buildings will save 40 per cent of energy costs and the city also wants to use renewable energy that would lower the amount of heat that homes use to 20 per cent of the rate used in 2015. This goal would be achieved by collecting waste heat and converting it into power.

TransformTO is an ambitious move that will ultimately help support creating a greener and healthier city — if it gets off the ground, that is. The City of Toronto would benefit by taking the climate change plan seriously and pushing it through as a key item in the July 5 council meeting to ensure no more delays.

Health & Fitness June 15, 2016

10-year cycling plan “mostly” satisfies two-wheelers

The 10-year cycling plan was adopted last week by a landslide vote of 38-2 at Toronto’s City Council. A few amendments were made to the bike network, but many of the desired changes were kept in the 525 km plan to make Toronto the one of the best cycling cities in North America.

Corridor studies will be removed from the cycling plan until council members see the outcome of the Bloor St. pilot project. The Bloor St. pilot is a cycling path from Shaw St. to Avenue Rd. on Bloor St. that will allow cyclists to travel safely. A report on the much anticipated Bloor St. bike lanes is due to be released next summer and this could lead the way for cyclists gaining access to other major arterials. In the meantime though, no further studies or cycling paths will be built on major roads in Toronto. The corridor studies that were removed from the plan include Yonge St., Danforth Ave., Jane St., Kingston Rd., Kipling Ave., Midland Ave., and Lake Shore Blvd. W.

Though City Council killed plans for major roads in the cycling plan, a separate proposal for bike lanes on Danforth Ave. is set to be revived and reviewed after the Bloor St. pilot project comes to life. The Danforth study is set for the third quarter of 2017.

The plan that is passed will see City council commit $16 million per year, which was more than the minimum baseline funding of $12 million that was originally pitched to council. This amounts to $153.5 million over 10 years. The 10-year plan will be reviewed in 2018 to see how it is progressing, giving an opportunity to review the need for major arterial studies if the Bloor St. pilot project is a success.

An unexpected addition was approved by council when deputy mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong requested that seasonal cycling tracks be removed in the winter. This was approved by 25-15 council members. The cycling community was not impressed with this new regulation as biking in the winter is only possible with cycling tracks.

The 10-year cycling plan includes positive developments for the cycling community as well, including extending the Richmond and Adelaide cycling path across the Don Valley to bike lane at Eastern Ave. A tunneled cycling route will also be added below Highway 401 at Wilmington Ave. and Faywood Blvd. Cycling routes will connect to 12 subway stations, which helps transit commuters that want to bike part of their route. New routes were also approved on Palmerston Ave., Sumach St., Portland St., and Dovercourt Rd.

Overall, the 10-year bike plan is a considerable success because it doubles the amount of funding currently being put into cycling infrastructure and also addresses needed routes across the city. Dropping the major arterial studies is a disappointment since a few of the corridor assessments were reportedly already underway, but fingers crossed the Bloor St. project reviews this part of the plan.

Next up, get ready to bike on Bloor due to be ready this year, and let us know how it goes.

Health & Fitness May 11, 2016

Do you want an extra 525 km of bike paths in Toronto?

Cycling is all the rage in Toronto and City Council will potentially be hopping on the bandwagon at the June 7 council meeting with a 10-year bike plan that has cyclists soaring.

Cyclists can look forward to 525 km of bike pathways throughout the city! These pathways will involve new infrastructure at Kipling Ave., Yonge St., Bloor St., Danforth Ave., Jane St., Kingston Rd., Midland Ave., and Lake Shore Blvd. W. It also includes 40 km of trails that travels through the West Toronto Railpath and connects paths to the Don Valley Parkway and Humber Valley.

The types of cycling lanes will vary: 280 km of cycle tracks will be directly on fast and busy streets, 55 km of the bike lanes will be sidewalk-level trails on major streets, and the remaining 190 km will be along quieter streets. Within the network, 100 km of the cycling routes will be on major arterial roads and studies will be undertaken to evaluate the best streets for the bike lanes.

The Bloor St. bike lanes that were approved in the last city council meeting are one of many feasibility assessments that would be required for this new cycling plan to go forward. It will decide if the cycling network should be placed directly on Bloor St. or other major arterial roads in Toronto. The pilot project from Avenue Rd. and Shaw Rd, will assess whether the busy street can manage cycling traffic safely on the street and will use a mix of sidewalk bike lanes and routes directly on the street.

The 10-year cycling plan will cost about $153 million from 2016 to 2025, representing a $56.5 million increase in the Capital Plan for Transportation Services. The cycling network plan for 2016 was estimated at $13.5 million with an increase of $4 million in the budget.

Transportation Services has developed five funding concepts to support the program and they range from $8 million per year with 122 km of cycling routes being laid out on Toronto’s streets to $25 million per year with 247 km of track. As the annual investment increases, the amount of buffered bike lanes, which are cycling routes on lifted sidewalks, would increase as well. The last three scenarios have substantially more track built in the timeline and several more buffered bike lanes, but will cost more.

City council had a bike plan in 2011 for 495 km of bike lanes, but failed to meet this goal, only completing 495 km of the bike lanes by the allotted timeline. Cycling is fast becoming a higher priority in the city, but it remains to be seen if the new plan will be adopted. Bike lanes are essential because they help the city relieve congestion and keep people safe.

Hopefully, city council will work harder to meet cycling route goals within the 10 year plan if it goes forward and Toronto may just be put on the map for the best city for cycling.

Do you agree with the 10-year cycling plan? Share in the comments below.

Health & Fitness April 14, 2016

What happened when I cycled to work

Now that the weather is warming up (with small bursts of snow-filled fury), I decided to pull my bike out of the cobwebs of storage and starting cycling to work.

The first step was to plan a safe bike route so that I would have as little interaction with vehicles on the road as possible. Luckily, I found a cyclist’s dream: a nice cruise along the waterfront trail and then north on Sherbourne to Bloor. The route is about 20 km and would take me about 40 minutes each way. Sherbourne has a well-placed bike path and it appeared to be the perfect journey.

I checked over the tires and brakes before setting off and made sure to wear spring appropriate weather gear. I wore harem pants, and a tank — what I hoped would be appropriate for work and comfortable enough for my commute. I started my ride and all seemed well. The waterfront trail was relaxing and not as packed with bikes as it always is in the summer. This route is quite flat and, besides a windy portion at Ontario Place, it is a nice ride into downtown. It also feels satisfying cruising past all of the vehicles stuck in traffic on lakeshore while taking the environmentally-friendly and healthier commute option.

All was well until I reached Sherbourne St. The bike path itself is well-engineered and cyclists can only travel one direction on either side of the road. This limits collisions with other cyclists. The lifted curb keeps motorists from entering the bike lane and cyclists are safer. I believe lifted curbs on bike lanes are a must-have and a relatively inexpensive solution to sharing the road.

Going up Sherbourne, the treats I had consumed in my winter hibernation caught up with me. I began huffing and puffing as I slowly ascended the street and my legs began to ache. Soon, I was in fiery pain and I decided to disembark at Carlton St. I walked my bike for a few blocks, shamefully hanging my head as other cyclists whizzed by as if they were going for a casual uphill stroll. I rode on to my destination after a break and was proud I had succeeded, even if it was a struggle.

On my ride back, I rode downhill as if cruising on a cloud. It was almost worth the struggle on the ascent, although my aching knees would disagree. Then the weather hit and it began to snow when I got to the waterfront. The wind nearly blew me off my bike and I slowly made it across downtown to my destination. My spring gear was not sufficient for this change in the weather.

Though my first journey to work on my bike had its tribulations and moments of difficulty, I look forward to continuing my cycling adventures. A few tips from my first day: always stretch prior to biking a long distance and bring weather protectant clothing in case of a spring blizzard. Eventually, I hope the huffing and puffing will stop and I will cycle blissfully to and from the office.

Toronto January 6, 2014

WATCH: Can Toronto learn something from NYC’s new outlook on streets?

What a difference a few years and a determined attitude can make.

This video, put together by Clarence Eckerson at Streetfilms, shows the transformation of some of New York’s busiest roadways to best accommodate tourists, pedestrians, bicycles, cars, and public transit.

The metropolis’ reputation for mean streets may have to be reviewed with all of these scenes of smiling and happy people co-existing in the same space. The inclusion of separated bike lanes, public spaces, green spaces and more as part of the urban landscape seems to have all but supplanted the cliche of the gridlocked, honking, angry streets New York was once known for with a much more serene alternative.

Can Toronto learn something from New York’s street revitalization?