Glen Road Pedestrian Bridge Now Open

In late November 2021, the City of Toronto started construction of the Glen Road pedestrian bridge crossing Rosedale Valley Road which was originally expected to be completed by November 2023. As with many construction projects in Toronto, these timelines tend to get delayed. Today, I’m pleased to report the fences have finally come down and the bridge is open for pedestrians and cyclists as a quieter alternative to Sherbourne Street!

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.

Let’s Make High Park Car Free

On Monday, April 3, the City of Toronto will host a public consultation at Lithuanian House (1573 Bloor Street West) from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM to determine the preferred solution for the High Park Movement Strategy. For those who are not aware of this strategy, four options were proposed last summer which were the following:

1. Make High Park car-free.
2. Continue with the car-free weekends or other time-based vehicle restrictions
3. Permanently close off some roads of High Park to motor vehicles.
4. Revert to the pre-COVID unrestricted motor vehicle access.

Can't wait for the cherry blossoms to return! 😊

Expanding the Micromobility Discussion

Last month, I got a BlueRev X8 e-scooter which convinced me on how e-scooters can be a great last mile solution and made getting to work a lot easier. However, Toronto upheld its ban on this micromobility solution back in May 2021. I would like to take a deeper dive into this topic and make the case for why Toronto should legalize the use of personally owned e-scooters. For this post, I would like to acknowledge Jamie Stuckless – owner of Stuckless Consulting and former Share The Road Executive Director – for contributing to this discussion.

Observations Along the Humber

With the desire to escape the noise from the Caribbean Carnival on Saturday afternoon, I decided to bike the Humber River Trail all the way to Steeles and make some observations. A ride I used to do a few times before. This ride marked the first time I saw a deer while biking in Toronto, which happened south of Islington and Finch. A reminder of how cycling can lead to the most pleasant of surprises.

Bike Painting at Toronto Island

Until this past weekend, I never considered the idea of visiting Toronto Island during the winter. When Artscape Gibraltar Point organized a bicycle painting event called the Bike Island Mural Project, Helen and I felt we had to check it out. We set out on Saturday to Ward’s Island – the only destination open year-round – and were greeted by a vintage bus.

Habs vs Leafs Bike Showdown

One of the oldest and largest Canadian sports rivalries is the Montréal Canadiens (Habs) versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Until last week’s Winter Cycling Congress (see previous post), I never biked in Montréal which Copenhagenize and Biking Expert ranked as among North America's best. After getting a taste of Montréal’s infrastructure, let’s review their facilities and see how Toronto stacks up.

Bike box (sas vélo) at Avenue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville and Avenue du Mont-Royal

When Accessibility Becomes Inaccessible

After almost four years of writing, I am pleased to announce this is my 100th post! With a boneheaded motion to allow vehicles with disability permits to park in bike lanes coming to city council this week and I haven’t covered accessibility issues yet, this milestone post features interviews from two accessibility advocates and reasons why city council should reject this motion. Having two advocates for this post helps provide a glimpse on how diverse accessibility issues are.

Accessibility is a lot more than having elevators at transit stations!

The Pedestrian Take on Road Safety

During the three years I have been blogging, I covered transportation matters associated with cycling, public transit, and driving. There has been one perspective that has not gotten the attention it deserved and is one we are all part of; that of a pedestrian. Maureen Coyle is on the steering committee for Walk Toronto and offered to provide this critical road safety perspective.

Twelve Days of Bicycles – Twelve Tourists Touring

After over two months of covering a diversity of cycling topics from group rides to protected intersections, there remains one last post in the “Twelve Days of Bicycles” series. Since I recently returned from the Caribbean and found some cycling tourism inspiration there, let’s wrap up this series and kick off some new travel talk at the same time!

Bicycle tour in Sint Maarten

Making Toronto Politics More Accessible

While politics is supposed to be a two way street where both citizens and elected officials need to engage each other, the process can get as stuck as on the Don Valley Parkway at times! I was reminded by this fact while deputing at City Hall this past Thursday about cycling safety in construction zones. Before then, I only made one deputation on the municipal budget and it was because it was an evening session. Unfortunately, most committees at Toronto City Hall are structured so that making live deputations require taking the day off work. It is a shame this activity tends to be catered more towards experts and advocacy group directors because live deputations offer a greater impact than written submissions, allow councillors to ask you questions and get to know you better, and allow you to network with other concerned citizens.

Don Valley Parkway during the July 2013 flood