Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope you were able to enjoy the long weekend with lots of food, as well as some riding. With today being sunny and 10’C, I rode 25 kilometres to check out the progress along the East Don Trail, new cycle tracks along Ferrand, and improvements to the Leaside Bridge.
October 14, 2024
October 12, 2024
October 2024 Eglinton and Finch Check Ups
With Metrolinx refusing to provide an opening date for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT until three months from that time, the much-delayed transit line won’t be opening this year. The Finch West LRT celebrated a milestone recently with all stations and stops being completed, but also lacks an opening date and has even been subject to a recent lawsuit. But where do things stand with their respective bikeways? I did a couple of site checks this week after work to find out.
October 08, 2024
Dupont Complete Street Project
Apparently, a lot has happened for cycling in Toronto while I was on vacation in Uzbekistan. A complete street has been built on Eglinton from Avenue to Chaplin, a group ride from Willowdale to Downtown attracted 80 people, and the Ford government irresponsibly proposed restricting bike lane installations which remove traffic lanes. (Please sign Cycle Toronto's petition opposing this if you haven't already.) I was also informed about a complete street project happening on Dupont which the City is collecting feedback until Wednesday, October 30. Let's review what's being planned for Dupont, as well as some hotspots and background information.
August 31, 2024
Yet Another Cyclist Death in Etobicoke
As if this year wasn’t bad enough for Toronto’s cycling community with five cyclists killed as of July, news broke out that a 26-year-old female cyclist died today resulting from last Saturday's crash at Burnamthorpe just east of Kipling. This sixth cyclist death of 2024 also happens to be fifteen years to the day from when bike messenger Darcy Allan Sheppard was killed by then Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant. Let’s look at the street’s current condition and what the City’s plans are for improving cycling in this part of Etobicoke.
August 23, 2024
August 2024 West End Site Checks
Over the past few months, the City of Toronto has been very busy installing new bike lanes across the city. Since I had the day off work and had some errands to run before going on vacation in two weeks, I checked out the Portland-Dan Leckie and West Parkdale cycling connections, as well as the progress of the Bloor and St. George protected intersection.
August 17, 2024
Delays, Delays, and More Delays!
Regardless of whether we get around by walking, cycling, transit, or driving, we can all agree that nothing frustrates us more than delays getting things built. We are also aware that Toronto City Council can push to accelerate certain projects as they see fit. We saw that with the ActiveTO bike lane roll out during the pandemic and last month’s approval of a motion to accelerate construction of a stretch of the Gardiner Expressway, so it gets completed by 2026 instead of 2027. Let’s review four active transportation projects that have been subject to ridiculously long delays which are unacceptable given the record number of cyclist deaths this year.
August 09, 2024
Protected Intersection Watching and Jays Game
On Wednesday, my employer organized a post work Blue Jays game which I haven’t seen in at least five years. During this time, work on the protected intersection at Bloor and St. George is well under way. This post covers the intersection progress so far, as well as what it’s like biking to the Rogers Centre (or Skydome for you diehards out there). 😉
July 31, 2024
Memorial Ride for a 24-year-old Cyclist on Bloor
Unfortunately, Toronto’s cycling community had to gather tonight for the fifth time this year to pay their respects for a fallen cyclist. The latest victim was a 24-year-old female who was struck and killed on Bloor Street east of Avenue Road. While I wrote about the initial death and how to address some of the design fails at this site and others across the city, it was essential to write about tonight’s memorial ride.
By the time Helen, Mozzie, and I got to Matt Cohen Park, the park and sidewalk was already packed with people.
July 30, 2024
Addressing Bike Lane Obstruction Risks
As you probably already know, a 24-year-old female cyclist was killed on Bloor Street east of Avenue Road last Thursday; making it a record-breaking five cyclists killed this year so far. A likely cause of death was the placement of a construction bin at the end of the bike lane which forced the cyclist to exit the bike lane early to get around before being hit and killed. Since then, there have been a fair number of reports of motor vehicles blocking bike lanes which prompted me to write about how we can address such bike lane blocking risks.
A blocked bike lane on Davenport at Bartlett on Saturday, July 27 |
July 25, 2024
A Record-Breaking Year for Toronto Cyclist Deaths
Just before 9:00 AM this morning, a 24-year-old female cyclist was killed on Bloor Street east of Avenue Road; making it the fifth cyclist killed this year with five months to go. If you refer to Toronto’s Vision Zero dashboard or Toronto Police’s fatal collisions dashboard, this year has been the deadliest on record for Toronto’s cycling community. However, Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists put up six ghost bikes in Toronto in 2018; two of which didn’t count per the City and Police dashboards. One of them was for a 60-year-old male who collided with a parked delivery van in March 2018 while 19-year-old Aaron Rankin-Wright’s death in June 2018 was targeted and involved stabbing. Regardless of which metric you used, the unprecedented number of cyclist deaths this year deserves some serious reflection.
Miguel Joshua Escanan's ghost bike from August 2021 was not far from today's crash site |
July 20, 2024
July 2024 Ride The Meadoway
This morning, about 75 people took part in “Ride the Meadoway” which was hosted by Toronto East Cyclists, Scarborough Cycles, and Regenesis Cycle UTSC. Bike Share Toronto provided some bikes for those who needed them, while Patty Time served some Jamaican beef patties and vegetarian samosas. Let’s reflect on what happened during the ride.
July 19, 2024
Avenue Road and Bloor Site Checks
Earlier this week, the City of Toronto started construction of bike lanes on Avenue Road from Bloor Street to Davenport Road. Since I had the day off today and had some errands to run, I decided to check them out on the way home, as well as provide an update on the Bloor bike lane construction between Spadina Avenue and Avenue Road which is in its final stages.
The City of Toronto's plan for Avenue Road from Bloor to Davenport |
June 28, 2024
June 2024 Bloor Site Check (+ Danforth-Kingston Consultation)
The last time I visited Bloor Street in Etobicoke was during a bike count with Community Bikeways (TCBC) which also happened to be the first day of bike lane construction from Aberfoyle to Resurrection. Construction has largely wrapped up since then including the installation of barriers, so I thought I would use my day off work to join TCBC’s “Koffee on the Kingsway” at Café de Flore and check out the newly installed bike lanes.
June 16, 2024
Uxbridge to Lindsay Rail Trail
One rail trail I wanted to do for a while is the Uxbridge to Lindsay Rail Trail. Back in 2020, I did a short portion of the Omemee Rail Trail from Peterborough to the Doube’s Trestle Bridge, though the trail continued all the way to Lindsay. Both are part of the Trans Canada Trail. Yesterday with the weather finally co-operating, I took GO Transit to Uxbridge to cross that trail off my bucket list.
June 11, 2024
Reviewing Albert Koehl’s “Wheeling Through Toronto”
While Toronto has had a magazine dedicated to cycling called Dandyhorse as well as books such as Yvonne Bambrick’s “The Urban Cycling Survival Guide” and Shawn Smith’s “Happy Trails”, there hadn’t been a book that gave an appreciation of Toronto’s cycling history. Albert Koehl’s book “Wheeling Through Toronto” was published last month and explores cycling in Toronto over the past 130 years starting with the bicycle craze of the 1890’s. Having finished reading the book this past weekend, let’s review it to see what parallels can be drawn to cycling in the present day.
June 07, 2024
Get Involved During Bike Month 2024!
Happy Bike Month to all who celebrate!
While I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s Bike to Work Day group commute – you can read Jun’s blog post about it here – there are a few things for Toronto’s cycling community to get involved with this month. These include the Oakridge Neighbourhood Streets Plan, the Avenue Road Study, complete street consultations for Trethewey and Danforth-Kingston, and the overall bike plan. Let’s take a quick look at these projects to see what they have to offer.
A throwback to the 2018 Bike to Work Day group commute from High Park |
June 03, 2024
June 2024 Trail Connection Follow Up
Last June, I wrote about the need to connect various trails in southern Ontario. Since then, I have identified a fair number of developments which warrant a follow up. These include the Orangeville Brampton Railway trail conversion, the Simcoe County Trails Strategy, and the Humber Trail in Vaughan. Let’s go through these developments to see how they will address these trail gaps.
May 26, 2024
May 2024 Danforth-Kingston 4 All Ride
This morning, about 100 people made it out for today’s Danforth-Kingston 4 All ride in support of a safer Danforth Avenue and Kingston Road in Scarborough. It was a short four-kilometre slow roll from East Lynn Park to Scotia Parkette east of Warden Avenue. It was the first ride held in support of bike lanes on Danforth since COVID-19 pandemic and was made more urgent given the Danforth-Kingston project – originally proposed for the 2022-24 Bike Plan – was recycled into the one for 2025-27.
Here’s a photo of the ride when I first got to East Lynn Park.
May 24, 2024
May 2024 Bloor Bike Lane Construction
Yesterday after work, I took my scooter – which city council unfortunately voted to continue banning that day – to Bloor Street in Etobicoke to check the progress of bike lane construction west of Aberfoyle Crescent which officially started. Here are a few photos I took from this latest site check.
May 22, 2024
Toronto's Bike Plan Recycling Act
Yesterday, the City of Toronto released their 2025-27 Bike Plan which will go to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee next Tuesday. Despite extensive consultation and the fact four cyclists were killed in 2024 so far, this plan is one that road safety advocates need to slam as a big disappointment. Let’s go through the bike plan documents to see what it has and what’s missing.
Map of 2025-27 Bike Plan (via City of Toronto) |
May 17, 2024
Kingsway Koffee & Finch West LRT Spotting
While I was originally going to do a longer ride today for my day off work, the rain in this afternoon’s forecast prompted a change in plans. Even so, I got an almost 42-kilometre ride in this morning by The Kingsway and the Finch West LRT line which led to some unexpected surprises.
May 09, 2024
April 25 Cycling Research Meetup
On Thursday, April 25, University of Manchester PhD candidate Thomas Van Laake hosted a cycling research meetup at the University of Toronto to showcase not only his findings while studying cycling in Manchester, Toronto, and Mexico City, but also presentations from three other researchers. These were done by Sarah Giacomantonio, Alec Khacatryan, and Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher. Let’s dive into this research and see how the findings are relevant to Toronto’s cycling community.
May 07, 2024
Memorial Ride for Ali Sezgin Armagan
Tonight, Toronto’s cycling community took part in their fourth memorial ride in as many months; this time for 39-year-old Ali Sezgin Armagan who was killed at Avenue & Elgin on Tuesday, April 30. With eight months to go, this year has already become one of the deadliest for those who bike in this city per Toronto's Vision Zero dashboard, though it hasn’t been updated for the most recent fatal crash.
April 30, 2024
Another Avenue Road Tragedy
This afternoon, an e-bike rider was killed at Avenue Road and Elgin Avenue; making it the fourth cyclist killed in Toronto this year. To add insult to injury, this isn’t the first time a cyclist was killed in an area where bike lanes were proposed but never acted upon. The same thing happened to Miguel Joshua Escanan in August 2021 at Avenue and Bloor. Let’s recap where things stand with Avenue Road, as well as demand action to get these safety improvements done urgently.
April 25, 2024
eglintonTOday & Micromobility Strategy Headed to IEC
Next Thursday's Infrastructure and Environment Committee (IEC) meeting will feature two items that will affect cycling and micromobility. The first item is Phase 1 of the eglintonTOday Complete Street project from Bicknell Avenue to Mount Pleasant Road and the second is a Micromobility Strategy for Toronto. While it’s unfortunate the Avenue Road Study didn’t make the cut, let’s review what these two items have to offer and some suggestions on what to advocate for with your written submission or live deputation.
Existing conditions on Eglinton east of Winona during Sunday's Earth Day Ride |
April 21, 2024
Earth Day Ride to Eglinton + Beltline Riding
Earlier today, Cycle Toronto’s Midtown ward group hosted their Earth Day ride which about 20 people attended. The ride started at Davisville station and rolled along Yonge, Davenport, and Winona before arriving at Ben Nobleman Par where Cycle Toronto had an engagement tent to promote the eglintonTOday project ahead of the May 2 IEC meeting.
April 15, 2024
Memorial Ride for Vlad Zotov
Last Monday, 59-year-old Vlad Zotov with the Morning Glory Cycling Club was killed on Bayview Avenue just south of Evergreen Brickworks. This latest tragedy marks the third cyclist killed in Toronto within the past three months with the other two happened in Scarborough at Brimley & McNicoll and near Warden & St. Clair. By the time Helen and I arrived at Bloor & Spadina, Matt Cohen Park was packed unlike any of the other memorial rides I could remember. During the ride, someone mentioned over 400 cyclists turned out tonight, while there was a lot of media present.
April 07, 2024
East Don Trail Part 2 & The Meadoway
On March 16, I visited the southern half of the East Don Trail from the Forks of the Don to a dead end where a tunnel will be installed under the Richmond Hill GO line. Being curious to find out what the other side is like – as well as how it will connect with The Meadoway – I did a 56-kilometre ride yesterday to check the northern half of the East Don Trail, as well as newest segment of The Meadoway that opened last fall.
March 26, 2024
March 2024 Public Consultation Overload
This year has been a crazy one when it comes to catching up on all the cycling related public consultations happening in Toronto. For this update, there are six consultations to review and a seventh we need to demand for. These six are the Wallace Emerson Neighbourhood Streets Plan, the Peanut Streets Plan, Steeles Avenue Eat Complete Streets, Steeprock-Bathurst Manor Cycling Connections, Beltline Gap Connections, and the Centennial Park Cycling Connections. Let’s dive in to see what they are all about!
March 20, 2024
Eglinton Catch-Up for March 2024
On Sunday, I wrote about the East Don Trail and had mentioned the eglintonTOday Complete Street project was expected to go to the Infrastructure & Environment Committee next Wednesday. Upon reviewing the agenda released this morning, it turned out the item will not be debated and will instead be dealt with in May. However, Motion IE12.4 covers several cycling projects such as Ferrand Drive, Galloway Road, Portland-Dan Leckie, Silverthorn, Weston Cycling Connections, and the Jones Street upgrades. Advocates are encouraged to e-mail iec@toronto.ca by Tuesday, March 26 at 4:30 PM to show their support for any items that are relevant to them. Now, let’s get back to discussing last weekend’s site check along Eglinton.
March 17, 2024
March 2024 East Don Trail Visit
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everybody!
Yesterday, I did a ride along the Lower Don Trail, checked out the East Don Trail, and checked the progress along Eglinton Avenue. Since the eglintonTOday Complete Street project is expected to go to the Infrastructure & Environment Committee on Wednesday, March 27, I will focus this post on the East Don Trail and discuss Eglinton separately when the final report comes out on Wednesday, March 20.
March 15, 2024
An Engineering Perspective with Matt Pinder
While Jun Nogami may be the only other Toronto based bike blogger today, there is another blog that started in Toronto ten years ago called “Beyond the Automobile”. The blog’s author – Matt Pinder – is a transportation engineer in Ottawa who has been exposed to cycling in the Netherlands, started the BIKE MINDS storytelling series in Toronto and Ottawa, and has been calling for improvements to a suburban development in Ottawa called South Keys. I spoke with Matt on February 9, 2024 to reflect on his advocacy and professional journey over the past decade.
March 07, 2024
Leaside-Danforth Consultation (+ Other Upcoming Events)
Tonight marked the second cycling consultation I attended this week after the West Parkdale bikeway one on Tuesday which was also well attended. There was some security present at this consultation; probably because of last week’s event in Etobicoke. Even so, I didn’t see any protest signs tonight and there wasn’t a petition against this project as far as I know of, while there were still some concerns to be had. I already discussed the project in an earlier blog post, but wanted to take this opportunity to provide some additional information, as well as highlight some other projects coming down the pipe.
March 05, 2024
West Parkdale Cycling Connections Consultation
Earlier this evening, the City of Toronto hosted the West Parkdale Cycling Connections public consultation which I covered in an earlier blog post. Sometime before this meeting, I found out from the Parkdale Community Updates Facebook group that a petition was being circulated to pause this project (which was closed off this evening due to the heated debate). Given that opposition was brewing for this project, I attended to show my support and encouraged others to do the same. However, I will also discuss some legitimate concerns that were raised.
March 02, 2024
Calling Out Etobicoke Opponents on Bloor
When we advocate for safe streets, there will always be some people who will oppose them for a wide range of reasons whether it be loss of parking, perceived increased traffic congestion, and a bunch of frivolous arguments such as “violating charter rights”. Some public consultations and committee meetings have gotten a bit spicy, but never in the eleven years I have advocated for safe streets that I have seen things gone as bad as the campaign from the opponents of the Bloor West Complete Street Extension; the first phase of which was installed last fall to Aberfoyle Crescent. They even used a ridiculous name called “Balance on Bloor” when we know it’s the complete street extension that has brought balance to the street away from the dominance of private automobiles. Given the hostile February 28 meeting hosted by Councillor Stephen Holyday – one of the last consistent bike lane opponents in this city – we need to call out Cody MacRae – who started that petition – for his responsibility in promoting this and other events which have put city staff in undue danger.
You can watch the 30 second video shared by Dave Shellnutt here |
Per several sources including Jun’s blog, a YouTube video by rootbrian, and discussions on Reddit and Facebook, the February 28 meeting – which was supposed to be focused on the 2025-27 Bike Plan – had quickly turned into chaos with city staff being constantly interrupted and cycling supporters being heavily outnumbered by opponents. Some supporters felt unsafe and left early, while one opponent openly said “Personally, I’d like to run them over to get them out of my way”. This incitement of violence should never be tolerated and only serves to discredit their cause, while Councillor Holyday bears some responsibility for refusing to condemn the violent behaviour as Dave Shellnutt's letter highlighted. It was also picked up on BlogTO.
Below is a letter I addressed to Cody MacRae (cody@rinomato.com) and copied Councillor Stephen Holyday (councillor_holyday@toronto.ca) which I encourage you to do the same to condemn this violent behaviour.
February 29, 2024
A Call to Action for Scarborough
All right, folks! We need to talk about Scarborough’s dangerous streets.
On Sunday, February 11, a memorial ride was held for a 66-year-old female cyclist killed at Brimley & McNicoll. If that wasn’t bad enough, another crash in Scarborough this month killed a 47-year-old male cyclist on Monday near Birchmount & St. Clair. While it didn’t happen right on Birchmount – which had bike lanes removed in 2011 – the consequences of refusing to build safe streets still apply across Scarborough. Finally, despite the Danforth-Kingston complete street being part of the 2022-24 Bike Plan, there still has not been a public consultation held which had been delayed due in part to last year’s by-elections for Mayor and for Council in Scarborough Southwest.
Memorial ride held at Brimley & McNicoll on Sunday, February 11 |
February 24, 2024
Finally … A Much-Needed Parkdale Connection
Having used to live in Parkdale and Roncesvalles for more than a decade, I can vouch for how common wrong way riding on Seaforth Avenue is given there isn’t a safe (and legal) way to bike west of Brock Street in Parkdale without using Queen. Members of the former Cycle Toronto Ward 14 group (and the Parkdale High Park Bikes group that replaced it) have called to have this situation fixed for years. Finally, the City of Toronto plans to host a public consultation about the West Parkdale Cycling Connections on Tuesday, March 5 (5-8 PM) at The Parkdale Hall (1605 Queen Street West) to address this gap in the cycling network. Let’s go through the project by dividing it into three segments.
Map of West Parkdale Cycling Connections (via City of Toronto) |
February 22, 2024
Fixing the Bloor and Castle Frank Intersection
On Sunday, February 18, a 19-year-old woman was biking eastbound on the Bayview – Bloor ramp where she was hit by drivers of two motor vehicles. While it is technically illegal to bike on this ramp, the sign saying no pedestrians or cyclists allowed is not apparent as soon as you turn right. You have to complete a U-turn in order to see it given drivers could use this turn-off to turn left to get onto to Castle Frank Road. Let’s take a look at how this intersection can be improved to make it safer for everyone.
A Google Maps view of the existing conditions at Bloor and Castle Frank |
February 17, 2024
Revisiting the East End Grid
Last year, the City of Toronto announced plans to upgrade existing bikeways on the Leaside Bridge to cycle tracks which were approved by City Council. However, there was still a big question mark on providing an additional north-south connection from there to Danforth Avenue. The City recently announced a public consultation scheduled for Thursday, March 7 (6 – 8 PM) at 816 Logan Avenue to address just that.
The City of Toronto's proposed bikeway connecting the Leaside Bridge to Danforth Avenue |
February 14, 2024
Addressing Food Courier Train Crowding Concerns
Recently, there have been photos circulating on social media about food courier bikes crowding GO trains along the Kitchener GO line, including on dedicated bike cars used on the Niagara trains during the summer months. This has unfortunately been the latest round of criticism towards food couriers with last year seeing accusations of them hogging Bike Share Toronto’s e-bikes prior to the pricing changes and Councillor Dianne Saxe’s motion calling for e-bikes and e-scooters used by couriers to have “unique identifiers”. These incidents of blaming food couriers are unacceptable and must be called out. Instead, we road safety advocates need to work with the couriers and groups like Gig Workers United to come up with some solutions to remedy the situation. Especially since we should be encouraging deliveries by bike over those done by motor vehicles in order to pursue meaningful climate action.
A crowded GO train bike car on February 2, 2024 (via Janice Jim) |
February 11, 2024
Memorial Ride at Brimley & McNicoll
Unfortunately, it seems Toronto can’t get by a single year without a cyclist getting killed. On Monday, January 30, a woman in her 60’s was struck by a driver at Brimley & McNicoll and died of her injuries on Saturday, February 3. Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists hosted a memorial ride for the fallen cyclist earlier today which started at Kennedy Station.
February 10, 2024
2024 Coldest Day of the Year Ride
One of my favourite things to do during the winter months is to take part in Cycle Toronto’s “Coldest Day of the Year” Ride; an event aimed to promote winter cycling. However, this year’s event was unusually mild with temperatures around 10’C which can be very worrying from a climate change perspective. About 150 to 200 people joined us at Tom Riley Park to ride the recently extend Bloor bike lanes east to Christie Pits Park, which was almost as many as last November’s Bloor bike lane rally.
February 02, 2024
Know Your Rights with Dave Shellnutt
Over the past five years, Dave Shellnutt has become the new legal voice for Toronto’s cycling community. During this time, he has held numerous “Know Your Rights” workshops across Ontario, started the Bike Brigade early during the COVID-19 pandemic, and expanded his advocacy to cover anti-racism matters. I spoke with Dave on January 23, 2024 to learn more about his bike-focused legal career.