Hey-o,
First post here for me since 'operator' told me about this forum. (proper introduction to follow)

Everybody know about Take The Tooker? Yah, the initiative to get a bike lane running across Bloor/Danforth. Well, the folks behind it are throwing a street party this afternoon (3-5PM) at Bloor & Yonge, with a drumming troupe, and we're hoping to get lots of cyclists to show up with their craziest bikes. This is being put on with PS Kensigton, TCAT, CBN and a bunch of other bike advocacy groups in hopes that you will vote (today!) for councilors who are pro-cycling.

See you later today!
PS. I'll be there with the huge 'chopper' bike from Bikechain.

Tovi

Bike lane on Bloor? eeewww
Some arteries have sooo much traffic and parking on it that a bike lane IMHO would be counter productive...... Bloor-Danforth is one of those roads.

The whole idea is to remove the parking lane and make it a bike lane. At least the thinking goes like this: Bloor St. makes the MOST sense for a bike lane b/c the subway runs right underneath it! There's simply (almost) no excuse for NOT taking the TTC for travels across Bloor/Danforth.

I'm going on a 80-100k ride today if anyone wants to come. Probably leaving in about 30-45 minutes with a quick voting stop on the way. post or call me 416-886-6364

I'm with Jammer on this one, Toronto does need bike lanes but on secondary roads. Having a bikelane on a primary road is foolish unless its completely separate from the road a la Beijing. It would just be too dangerous to have a mass of bikes so close to a mass of cars. I barely ever ride along bloor because there are so many better routes (harbord, college etc) We need to have a complete plan for the city and I don't think that the piecemeal addition of a bike lane to bloor and the reduction in parking that would go along with it is in that vein.

Anyways there's my two cents.

Shiznaz, what's your route? And what's your pace?
I got up early today to do a long ride, but my legs are tired from doing the Donut ride yesterday on my fixie, so I wimped out.

harbord and college are pretty piss poor in my opinion though... I avoid college more than I avoid bloor; at least theres no streetcars on bloor. I only take harbord because there is no better road, but the onstreet parking on college, bloor and harbord is bad, as well as the road conditions, and they are all very busy with cars. Toronto doesn't really have any small east-west corridors (north south isn't so bad), so you have to choose between the major ones like bloor, college, dundas, queen, adelaide, richmond, king etc. most of which have streetcar tracks, on street parking and are very busy.

tovi:
my route, I was thinking going out west on burnamthorpe, or head north on keele or dufferin or something and play it by ear. relaxed pace. I'll be on my cx bike.

and where will parking from 9-5 be moved to?.... I'm sure local businesses the length of the street will have an opposing view of that.

Hmmm, if you're going northbound I'll join you if you like, but I'm supposed to be at Bloor/Yonge for 3, so I might cut out early.

Yeah businesses hate bikes but they are wrong in their fears of losing business over less parking spaces. Small business owners are in precarious financial situations and can and will freak out at anything they perceive could be potentially damaging for their business. Whether removing/reducing parking would reduce business is up for debate though, and in most historical cases has only improved local business... Even so I won't lament the loss of a few shops or retaurants if it means having a more bicycle friendly city.

which is why you see stuff like this:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3...0/PICT4051.jpg

I saw the Tooker guys with their signs along Bloor on Saturday afternoon. I have to agree with the others, Bloor is one of those streets that wouldn't make sense to have a bike lane on it. Where would all the cars park if you got rid of the parking lane? The neighbourhoods off of Bloor are congested enough and there are tons of Green P parking lots already full all along Bloor.

I think that what you guys are doing is admirable though and I hope that you get some attention to the subject of bike lanes on streets and the need for respect for cyclists when driving. It would also be great if someone could get all the construction companies to be sure to pave everything nice and flat once they are done. Has anyone been through Korea Town lately? There was a ton of costruction over the summer and the company that did the job paved it so poorly that it is almot unrideable. Must have been a budget issue or something.

I'm all for the imposing a huge toll on cars travelling in the downtown core idea.

403 Forbidden

I don't know man, when Spadina was all no parking because of the construction, small businesses there tool a huge hit, some disappeared. I feel Bloor is a more arterial than most and not the best idea for a lane. There are many passages east/west that could utilize BL's more effectively. Ban cars in the core? Impossible as well as pointless. The whole idea is to reach happy medium between the two. I still think teach both riders and drivers how to interact with one another is still the best way. Hate those lanes.

It's not that business hates bikes but rather loathes not being able to have cars park near their store when they drive by. It becomes a hassle to pull over find a green P or side street parking and walk to the store, and I have to agree with them.

Huge toll would be awesome, it returned cycle messengers to a dominate position in London. It would be a bonanza for the industry here if they did that. The whole korea town thing has me flaming mad, I talked to the two major candidates about it and was told it was the utility contractors not the city who were responsible. As soon as vaugh or kennedy takes office I'm starting a campaign to have it fixed because its bloody dangerous.

All the major east/west routes south of bloor have streetcar tracks, and therefore make traffic design a nightmare if you want to throw bikelane's in the mix. Bloor connects scarborough to etobicoke, is flat, has the subway underneath, already has tons of cyclists on it...

Not that I actually use bike lanes (many reasons), but I like them being there.

I do like the tolls for those coming from the 905 and beyond to work ....the ones that pay nothing into our infrastructure vis-a-vis property taxes, yet drive on our roads and smog our air on their way to and from work. Good point about the streetcars on other E/W routes. hmmmm. Bloor though, that's a major passage.

Jeez, what a lame 'protest' ad. How much more vague could it be. If you can't be more specific, don't waste the paper.

Alright, I'm taking the plunge and finally buying a messenger bag. Not just a messenger bag, a PAC Ultimate. Our man, Sr20Det, has access to a screen printing setup, mine was part of her half (which I still think was more like 3/4s). He has offered to screen print the flap on this bag and I'm looking for art as we speak. So now I'm looking for comments, opinions and other such tom foolery. I must preface this by saying I retain the right to not take anything you say into account for the final product.

I'm thinking about a Lord of the Rings theme, maybe just a simple geometric pattern, maybe a bike on my messenger bag. I really don't know but I want something simple and, hopefully, unique. All ideas welcome.

It'll look good initially I'm sure, but from a bagmaker perspective;

If it's a simple geometric letting Pat @ PAC do it for you will render the best result guaranteed, more complex pattern, same result, her embroidery/applique will look much finer than any screen print job on a bag flap. If it's uber complex, no problem, Pat has digitized machine embroidery available to her. The only way to get more complex than that is thread painting, more than you'd likely want to spend. All those options will age at the same rate as your bag, screenprinting will fade, flake & go away real quick on nylon

Damn it Sam why must your logic be so logical. Your point is well made but I don't have that much extra money to spend on getting something cool done right now. Thanks for the insight it is much appreciated.

BTW I'm drooling uncontrollably: http://toronto.craigslist.org/bik/234274145.html

^^^damn my size too.....

You think you're drooling, try spending a day around that bike when you need to get **** done.

*must not build up gorgeous frame and hammer ..."

Wow looks like you had fun, fun & more fun. Nice bikes as well.
Welcome back to the dark @ 5:00 coldish rainy weather!
Cheers

Paging cavernmech ... pm for you.

Just a question, is it a lady that's selling that bike?