Toronto councilor pushes to get rid of bicycle lanes

[chennai]

My favorite quotes from this nimrod:

"This is an attempt by left wing councillors to slow down traffic and force people out of cars," he said.

"People won’t get out of their cars. It doesn’t happen. This isn’t that kind of city," he said.

http://www.towncrieronline.ca/main/main.php?direction=viewstory&storyid=5710&rootcatid=8&rootsubcatid=%23rootsubcatid

[ghettocruiser]

Whatever. This guy is a leftover artifact of the Lastman years. He's been going on and on about the social ills bikes create ever since then.... and he systematically votes against bike initiatives whether they come at the expense of motor vehicles lanes or not. Nobody ever listens to him.

[slagjumper]

Seems like the the city has done some kind of a traffic study. You might want to take a look at that and their methods. Has bike traffic increased since the bike lanes where put in? I suspect that more and more people are using the bike lane.

On the other hand Toronto advocates can give the affected home owners something to think about if you suggest that the city bearier off 1/3 of width of the residential streets and make them one way as a comprimise.

http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Cosburn+Ave+Toronto&ie=UTF8&t=h&om=1&z=17&ll=43.693259,-79.333059&spn=0.003545,0.0106&iwloc=A

[N_C]

Anyway to vote this moron out of office at the next election? If it is possible I would be campaiging to get rid of him. Find someone else to take his place who is in support of the lanes & traffic calming. Or does the election system in Canada not work like that as it does here in the U.S.? Here if the people do not like the views or positions or the way a politician votes on issues we vote their ass out of office at the next election. It is easier to do this in city govts.

Case in point a couple of years ago there was a move to decide whether or not Sioux City should switch to a commission style of govt. One of the city councilmen was in favor of this. The people voted it down. Then when it came time to elect/re-elect the city council the idiot who thought the commission style govt. was a good idea barely got any votes to keep him in office. The people, myslef included voted his ass out of office.

If possible vote this jackass out of office at the next election.

[Bikepacker67]

Staff compared how long it took motorists travelling on Cosburn Ave. between Broadview and Woodbine Aves before bike lanes were installed and after they were put in.

In October 2004 the average travel time was four minutes and 29 seconds travelling west in the morning rush hour.

That increased to five minutes and 27 seconds in June 2005 after the bike lanes were in place.



58 flippin seconds! The horror of it!

[DCCommuter]

There is a valid public policy question here, even if the guy raising it is not the most sympathetic figure.

One of the justifications for bike lanes is that channeling traffic causes it to move more smoothly and improves throughput -- which is a fancy way of saying that bike lanes get bikes out of the way of cars so they don't slow them down*. However, as this case shows, that's only true if the bike lane is in addition to the existing traffic lanes. Here, a traffic lane was converted to a bike lane, and vehicle throughput and speeds decreased by about 20%. The study doesn't say how much bicycle traffic increased, but it's unlikely that it compensates for the decrease in automobile traffic. Most likely, the route was chosen for bike lanes because it was already popular with cyclists, and the net effect of re-striping has been a modest increase in cycling traffic and a marked decrease in automotive traffic.

The public policy question that is raised: What is the best allocation of a scarce public resource? In a built-up city like Toronto, space available for roads is essentially fixed. Is it a better use of public resources to set space aside for the exclusive use of certain users, or to allocate it for all users? In this case, it seems clear that the answer is that the public is better served with a different kind of accomodation. This street is calling out for sharrows.

*In fact around here this seems to be the primary justification for bike lanes.

[ghettocruiser]

What the study doesn't mention is that all roads in the GTA having been getting slower and slower every year whether bikes lanes were added or not. There has been massive sprawl in all possible directions in this time period, and although some of the perimeter areas are well served by regional transit lines, many extra people are still driving downtown every year. There should be an eye-opening slow-down here next week when everyone goes back to school and work after Labour Day... the summer break gives everyone a false sense of commuting security.

Either way the point has been missed entirely, because I don't recall anyone ever declaring that the objective of every road in Toronto was to funnel as many vehicles as possible per hour down it's right-of-way. The city has no obligation to do this, and I can’t understand why Oates thinks people want more car traffic sailing through their hood.

Cosburn is a minor route to begin with, little more than a neighbourhood road. It's just among the many roads that have been expropriated by the ranks of motorists that refuse to wait on the DVP (the expressway a quarter-mile to the north).

Oates' anti-cycling B.S. grates enough on city council that he probably just shores up support against him for more cycling initiatives. Really, he doesn't matter.

[Wogsterca]

My favorite quotes from this nimrod:



http://www.towncrieronline.ca/main/main.php?direction=viewstory&storyid=5710&rootcatid=8&rootsubcatid=%23rootsubcatid

The article has several really big issues, first the comparison was done between October and June, traffic in October and traffic in June are quite different, to start with. Problem with these types of studies, is that other factors affect traffic as well, but it's assummed that they have not occured. October is the busy season for a lot of things, winter activities are in full swing. June, many things have already gone into summer hiatus, and routes people take can be quite different. Downstream construction can also cause people to take different routes.

Case Ootes is an old f**t, a throwback to the Reign of Emporer Mel (Lastman), fortunately Mel retired, and I think Case should as well. I think the biggest problem with bike lanes, for city politicos is they don't cost enough. You can add a bike lane for a little paint, and a guy to spray the lane on, maybe $500 a km. While, I like the TTC at times, it's a money pit for the city, especially with all those new hybrid buses at $750,000 a pop.

However bike lanes do require a public meeting be held, and members of the public who do not want the lane, can protest, at the meeting. Polling the people in the neighbourhood is an expensive way of circumventing the process that has already taken place, so that a politician can get his limo into his office a few seconds faster.

[bbonnn]

I also wonder if the drive time could be improved by changing the timing of traffic lights along the route. Perhaps cars, now in longer lines with fewer lanes, are getting caught at intersections that were timed for more lanes of flow.

[rajman]

Perhaps Councillor Ootes should ask his constituents who live on Cosburn (a series of 8-10 story buildings IIRC) whether they prefer their kids having to deal with 4 lanes of traffic or two. Oh yeah, I forgot, those people are poor, it doesn't matter what they want...

If you look at cosburn on google sattelite maps, the picture if from before the lanes were put in. I don't know what time of day it was taken, but the traffic on the street is minimal, almost non-existent if the cars in the right lane are parked (which they appear to be).

BTW N_C only people living in Ootes' ward can vote for him or a challenger. Councillors (except the Mayor) are voted on by people in a local ward.

[STEEKER]

Ootes , is a piece of sh*t he has alway's been a pain in the arse for every one in the city but OOHHH he takes care of the rich people he is also one of the low lifes that wants most of the city parks and green spaces to be paved over to make parking lot's he does not care when people are killed walking or using cross walks he does not care about drunk drivers killing people he does not care about kids being killed by cars. he is typical of the low life in Toronto's City Hall:mad:

[John E]

I would prefer travel lanes too narrow to share and the elimination of bike lanes if and only if the speed limit were reduced to 25mph-30mph / 40-50kph.

[pcates]

i'm convinced toronto is stuck on stupid some days

[Wogsterca]

I would prefer travel lanes too narrow to share and the elimination of bike lanes if and only if the speed limit were reduced to 25mph-30mph / 40-50kph.

Still too fast, I think speed limits should be reduced to 30-40km/h or 18-25MPH in cities, there is no reason that there should be 60km/h (37MPH) or faster city streets.