Bike parking on the Danforth

You may have noticed that we've been looking at parking in our ward.  Major infrastructure projects like bike lanes on Danforth aren't slated in the city plans for at least another year, so it's something we're working to improve in the interim.  Previously we did some work on auditing bike parking in local parks. 

Last week we started a more comprehensive audit of bike parking along the Danforth.  First up, the Danforth BIA the stretch between Broadview and the Carrot Common:


Zoom in, have a look.  In this BIA, 119 ring & posts. = 238 spots. Of which 6 (5%) are fully broken and unusable, and 8 (6.7%) are partially blocked with street furniture making them very difficult to use. Thus, total = 11.7% need 311's attention (broken or not accessible).  Look at some of the shameful ones!

Try fitting a bike between the ring and post and the garbage bin

Great place to store construction equipment, outside of Broadview Station

Winner.  Post butted up against planner bed, newspaper box placed in front .  

Orange spots are areas we thought could accommodate more parking, either racks or ring&posts.  Have some more ideas? please share in the comments.

We'll be working with the Councillor to figure out a plan to improve parking along the Danforth.  Stay tuned. Also, we'll be moving further east, Greektown is up next.

"I advocate for "Liveable Cities" Re-development; therefore I advocate for GREAT Bicycle Parking."

At development meetings I get into trouble advocating for bike parking.

What they want to demolish – 1327 Queen East (right) and 1329 Queen East. The houses to the east of this are included in this proposal. They would disappear as well. 
(Image via The Ashbridge's Neighbourhood | Meeting next Monday March 24 – 7 p.m. at Maple Cottage on development proposal 1327 – 1339 Queen East |  https://ashbridges.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/meeting-next-monday-evening-at-maple-cottage-on-development-proposal-1327-1339-queen-east/)

People think I'm one of those NIMBY's - just looking out for number one; the world's too complex - all you can do is express your own interest.

Enlightened residents think I'm just distracting from the 'Real' issues: the Character of the neighbourhood, the Enjoyment of one's property next to a big shadow-casting monster full of drivers with cars that will steal my Parking Spot. And not only parking - what about Parks!?

When I bring up Bicycle Parking people dismiss it - like many often do about cycling issues (a function I believe, of a subtle but oft repeated 'branding' in big car, energy and retail company advertising).

None of those impressions of what I'm about are even close to the truth of it.

I thought that before the next redevelopment meeting, I'd better explain myself.

I advocate for "Liveable Cities" Re-development; therefore I advocate for GREAT Bicycle Parking.

As a representative of Cycle Toronto - within all development proposal public consultations I support traffic calming and reduced parking on the streets - within an idea City Planners call 'Complete Streets' (which is Provincial and City of Toronto Policy).

Complete Streets tries to build 'Livable Cities'.

Planners have come to understand that 'Livable' means on major avenues we narrow or remove traffic lanes for cars in order to slow down the average speed of traffic through the neighbourhood; we take out parking so to widen sidewalks and add mass transit capacity (more and better) - and add Separated Cycling Infrastructure.

All this together encourages people who live in dense, urban places and who drive their cars everywhere, to change lifestyles from one dominated by car transportation, to one that allows people to choose a variety of ways to get around --- based on where they are going, and what they're doing.

So for example - with every street a Complete Street - parents with children could send their kids to school by bike. If the parent worked in the neighbourhood (or nearby - in a cycling sense that's considered a 7 km one-way trip - like from West Scarborough to Yonge & College) then parents could accompany their young children to school on bikes, or by walking - and then continue on into the core by bike or by walking, or catching a street car.

In a Livable City you would rather go shopping for food 3 times a week or more instead of driving to a big parking lot shopping Plaza and buy a whole weeks worth of groceries - spending an hour in the store, lining up at the cashier waiting for the person in front with a massive cart full; lugging a weeks worth of food in from the driveway, spending another hour unpacking and storing, and freezer bagging, and cupboard-ing all that stuff.

Instead in a Liveable City - on the way home from work you would rather park your bike just steps from the front door of a local vegetable place, right around the corner from where you live - and get just enough for 2 or 3 days (it's self-life anyway). The next night you might pick up meat (or beans and nuts) at the local store that sells those things - again just enough for a couple of days, right around the corner from your home.

In Liveable City you wouldn't think of traveling for an hour one-way to get to a Big Box store Theatre off the 401; instead you would ride with your family to a local theatre. Ten minutes after you left home after dinner you would rather park for free right next to the Theatre doors! After the film you might walk with your kids and grab a coffee and milkshakes around the corner from there - and perhaps walk back home too - walking your bikes and talking as you sipped your drinks.
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To this end, I propose *Great* Bike Parking facilities and amenities at proposed Mid-rise and 'doubling the density' project Developments in my neighbourhood - toward a Liveable City.

Right now the Bike Parking spots rules say 20% of the required (which in total number are adequate) are supposed to be at ground level. That usually means outside in a secure paddock - with a roof to keep rain and snow off.

80% of Bike parking spots usually end up in the basement parking garage. This in anathema to the culture of cycling as one's main means of transportation. Greasy, black soot, dark, dangerous, toxic - no well-lit healthy area to perform daily, weekly, monthly, yearly maintenance that is required when you ride every day.

I would like to see plans where 100% of Bike Parking is on the first floor and outside in a secure and pleasant naturally lit area. "Tiered Bike Parking" technology can make this a Very efficient in terms of use of space.

Architects should double-down on this vision of Liveable Architecture, and while designing ways to make space for 100% first floor Bicycle Parking - create a Cultural Space that would encourage cycling culture as well.

I imagine an area that has glass garage doors that can slide up to the ceiling in summer like many cafe's have - as part of a spacious, naturally lit, indoor space that is open to neighbourhood sight-lines. A space about the size of those amenity rooms you see gated off (because no one uses them - and they become places of mischief) - and that is outfitted with a work bench, stools, a fixed-in-place bicycle pump, a couple of fixed-in-place Bike Work Stands for working on one's bike; a washing-up sink, even perhaps a small kitchenette area for making coffee; a small bar fridge for storing cream in... .

The lifestyle of the cyclist has to be very much encouraged to get people to make the switch away from the greatly advertised fantasy of car transportation.

With great amenities for cyclists comes an identity, a cultural form unique to a neighbourhood ... it becomes that final straw that gets people to make the switch; a switch that makes good sense economically, ethically, towards one's own health and well being and for the state of the neighbourhood in general - physically, existentially and culturally.

Michael Holloway
Leslieville, Toronto
Captain, Ward 30 Bikes,
Cycle Toronto


Image: The Ashbridge's Neighbourhood | "Meeting next Monday March 24 – 7 p.m. at Maple Cottage on development proposal 1327 – 1339 Queen East" |  https://ashbridges.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/meeting-next-monday-evening-at-maple-cottage-on-development-proposal-1327-1339-queen-east/



mh

Bicycle Parking at 1075 Queen Street East Proposed Development

Ward 30 Bikes member, Michael Holloway's write up concerning bicycle parking in the planning documents for the proposed apartment/retail development at Queen Street East and Winnifred Avenue, Toronto.

Originally posted at Facebook Group: "1075 Queen Street East - Residents against the proposed development" - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1075QueenStreetEast/ (edited for clarity)

Image via: 1075 Queen East Limited - Cole Engineering Group Limited - Architectural Plans - "View looking north on Winnifred Avenue"

Having studied the Architectural Plans, and read the Traffic Impact and Parking Study I am very concerned that this development plan falls "17 bicycle parking spaces under the Toronto Green Standard(s)".

At the same time the study points to all the cycling infrastructure available already in place in the vicinity - it then uses these realities to downgrade it's responsibilities to the commons - rather than as a reason to augment the commons with at least the minimum standard of bicycle parking amenities.

From experience, if the planning of a building falls short in an area - one can assume that the finished product will fall way short of the intended outcome, that the guide-lines were intended to produce. I fear that this very much the case in this development proposal.

The plan does not meet the requirements - and on top of that - the authors of the Study try to mitigate the shortfalls with semantics. And in mitigating their "technical shortfall" - turn the whole idea of multi-modal transportation theory on it's head by for example - saying that - 'as the sustainable transportation culture gains acceptance, car parking spots will become unused; and then can be turned into bicycle parking spots in the future'.

But one of the fundamental understandings we have come to in city building is that if we don't build towards the future that we want - it will not come. As it is designed now in these documents - this building will be a drag on changing the very culture that it supposes will resolve its' shortfalls!

Also very disturbing to me in these documents is the way the authors try to mitigate the bike parking shortfall by trying to add storage lockers to the bike parking count. This does not bode well for the design of the bicycle parking facilities themselves --- which are not included in the drawings.

To encourage people to use their bikes we have to imagine and build secure, easy to use, friendly spaces. Enough space in the bicycle parking area for example - that cyclists can do their bike maintenance in that area. Like perhaps, a complimentary fixed in place hand pump, a work bench area, a couple of bike stands for hanging a frame - to make it easy to work on.

I imagine a ground level space that has an open and friendly feel; a space that lets natural light in during the day; a space that becomes a culture-of-cycling residents' hub - part of the culture of the building - where cyclists meet and talk and do their bike maintenance; a place where parents teach their children how to do bike safety checks on their bikes before they head out to school - and so on.

Instead I fear the ground level parking indicated in the drawings are for cars - and the bike parking area will be underneath it in the basemant - forcing cyclists to walk their bikes through doorways; through the lobby; and then into the elevators at peak usage times in order to park and retrieve their bikes for their commute to work every day.

Perhaps as we negotiate the building height down towards this groups' desired 4 story maximum height - more space will open up in the ground level parking area for a state-of-the-art bike parking facility that will be a great for the tenants and great for the owners - as it will draw tenants, and become a talking point in the neighbourhood, and perhaps further afield as well.

Michael Holloway
Ward 30 Bikes

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Here's the copy of the section of the Study concerning Bicycle Parking:

7.5. Cyclist Facilities

The proposed site is located in a cyclist supportive environment with a dedicated bike lane along Eastern Avenue and Dundas Street East, a major and minor multi-use pathway (cyclist route #4 along Lakeshore Boulevard East and Woodbine Park), as well as on-street routes along adjacent residential streets.

Based on the conceptual site plan, a total of 38 bicycle parking spaces are provided. 30 bicycle parking spaces are designated for occupants/long-term bicycle parking, while eight (8) bicycle spaces are designated as visitor/short-term parking spaces.

Zoning By-law 438-86 sub-section 13 requires the provision of 38 bicycle parking spaces (30 residential occupants and eight (8) visitors) for the apartment rental component. As the proposed retail development is less than 2000 m², no parking is required under the current zoning by-law. Under the Toronto Green Standard 6, the development is required to provide 46 bicycle parking spaces (31 residential occupants and 8 visitors) for the apartment rental component and seven (7) bicycle parking spaces (one (1) retail occupants and six (6) retail visitor) for the retail component. The bicycle parking requirements are summarized in Table 7.5.

Image via: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/taimkogepq8jokm/x6YOq8hjKD/1075%20Queen%20St.%20E%20-%20Traffic%20Impact%20and%20Parking%20Study.pdf

Additionally, for comparison purposes, the bicycle parking standards contained in the New City-Wide Draft Zoning By-law have also been reviewed. Under the draft By-law the proposed development would have had to meet the following requirements: 50 bicycle parking spaces (45 long term and eight (8) short term) for the rental apartment units and five (5) bicycle spaces (one (1) long term and four (4) short term) for the retail component of the development.

The proposed bicycle parking provision of 38 spaces is sufficient as it meets the Zoning By-law No. 438-86 subsection (13) minimum bicycle parking requirements. While the proposal presents a technical shortfall of eight (8) and 17 bicycle parking spaces under the Toronto Green Standards and, New City-Wide Draft Zoning By-law respectively, it is anticipated that additional bicycle spaces will be provided in the storage areas within the building GFA. Additionally based on the site plan, the City of Toronto provides at least 14 bicycle parking spaces via post and ring bicycle stands located along the sidewalk fronting the retails stores which would also be beneficial to the proposed development.

With the noted non-auto supportive environment and infrastructure, the expected parking demand and supply pressure will likely continue to decline.

(mh)

Documents: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/taimkogepq8jokm/c_ZAIvgmBO

 

References:

Documents - Drop Box - 1075 Queen East Files:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/taimkogepq8jokm/c_ZAIvgmBO 

Architectural Plans:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/taimkogepq8jokm/U3N-s23lcT/1075%20Queen%20St.%20E%20-%20Architectural%20Plans.pdf 

Traffic Impact and Parking Study:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/taimkogepq8jokm/x6YOq8hjKD/1075%20Queen%20St.%20E%20-%20Traffic%20Impact%20and%20Parking%20Study.pdf

Images:

Top Image: "1075 Queen East Limited - Cole Engineering Group Limited - Architectural Plans - View looking north on Winnifred Avenue" (page 21 of 22) - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/taimkogepq8jokm/U3N-s23lcT/1075%20Queen%20St.%20E%20-%20Architectural%20Plans.pdf

Bottom Image: "1075 Queen East Limited - Cole Engineering Group Limited - Traffic Impact and Parking Study - Table 7.5 - Bicycle Parking Requirements" (page 19 of 87 ) - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/taimkogepq8jokm/x6YOq8hjKD/1075%20Queen%20St.%20E%20-%20Traffic%20Impact%20and%20Parking%20Study.pdf


mh

The Tale of the Giant Boulder

I got my bike when I was living in Edmonton in 2010. I went to the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters’ Society (EBC), a great non-profit that sells and helps people fix up bikes. Someone had just donated a “Giant” brand mountain bike with an aluminum frame in good shape. My friend Adam helped me assess what was needed to fix it - pretty much just a new back wheel, some pedals, and a tune-up. After a bit of elbow grease and about $150 for the frame and the parts, it was ready for the road. 

I didn’t commute by bike in Edmonton, as I worked a fair bit outside of the city, but my house was just about perfect bike riding distance from the shops and bars on Whyte Avenue - a bit too far to walk regularly, but too close to justify driving or taking the bus. Although a mountain bike wasn’t necessarily my first choice, it was a good bike to have to ride the extensive trail system along the North Saskatchewan River valley. It was also a useful bike to have on some of the side streets, which were often in rough shape in my area of town. Despite a lack of bike lanes in Edmonton, especially on main roads in the core, there are lots of quiet residential streets to ride through to explore different neighbourhoods.

Some people name their bikes, but I never did, mostly because mine was already branded a “Giant Boulder.” This seemed to me to be a suitably ironic and self-effacing name; it makes the bike sound like a big, heavy hard-to-ride lump, when in fact it was a perfectly speedy, functional machine.

When I moved back to Toronto a couple of years ago, my bike came with me. Pretty soon I had a job that was a just-about-right 7 km, half-hour ride away from my home, from east to west through the core of the city. I’d usually take the Dundas East bike lanes, then head slightly northwest toward Harbord and Spadina. I often took Jarvis, before the city decided to tear out the bike lanes. When the Sherbourne cycle tracks were finished, that was nice, but my favourite ride was cutting through the side streets of Cabbagetown, riding past the Victorian houses, sometimes stopping at Riverdale Farm or the Necropolis cemetery on my way home.

This past summer, I ventured further than ever before on my bike on the weekends, taking regular rides with my friend Rich through the Don Valley, out to the Beaches, along the Leslie Spit, the Beltline, and out west to the Humber River. One weekend, I rode all the way from my house near Queen & Pape along the Waterfront Trail to my Dad’s house in Oakville. Riding my trusty Boulder, I took my love of bike riding to a new level. 


For most of this time, I kept my bike locked on my front porch. When my landlord had a new front porch built this summer, however, it made it more difficult to lock it there. Instead, I installed a metal loop to the fence behind my house, and locked my bike to that. I thought it was secure - but I was wrong. On a warm sunny Sunday in October, I was ready to take a good long bike ride along the Don Valley, and went behind my house to find the metal loop cut, and my bike gone.

Although I’d thought about getting a new, fancier bike, it was only after my Boulder was gone that I really realized how much it meant to me. After riding it for so many kilometers, fixing it up and replacing parts (including a few visits to Bike Sauce), it became far more than just a possession or a means of transportation. I’m now thinking about fixing up a frame of a friend of mine, and it should be an excellent bike. But my Boulder changed my relationship with not just bicycles, but my city and how I relate to it. I miss it, and I will remember that bike always. I hope this story encourages others to hop on a bicycle for the first time, think about riding more often, or more importantly, appreciate their bike just a little bit more.

Story and photos by Brandon Quigley

Do you have a story to share about your bike, either past or present? What does your bike mean to you? Send your story to ward_30@cycleto.ca or add a comment below.

HELP FIGHT BIKE THEFT - Check, Register, Report.

Check
Before you buy a used bicycle, first check its serial number at isthisbikestolen.com. This will help ensure the bike you purchase is not stolen, and makes it harder for thieves to sell stolen bikes.

Register
Register your bicycle with Toronto Police. You can do this online at www.torontopolice.on.ca/bike. It will help ensure you can effectively report your bike stolen to police, even if you don’t remember the serial number.

Report
If your bike is stolen, report it to Toronto Police by calling (416) 808-2222 or online at www.torontopolice.on.ca. In the event your bike is found, police will return it to you. Recording your serial number and registering it with Police in advance will improve your chances of getting your bike back.

Information adapted from cycleto.ca/theft

Bike Infrastructure BIG Talking Point at Public Consultation for Dundas/Carlaw Corridor Planning Study

There was lots of 'Bike Amenities' talk at last nights' initial "Dundas/Carlaw Corridor Study" Public Consultation.

The meeting was held at 326 Carlaw Avenue in the buildings' 3rd floor Amenity Room - a spacious, open room which looks out through three floor-to-ceiling patio doors onto a large, wooden roof-top deck.

Ward 30 Councillor, Paula Fletcher introduced the meeting by putting the study into context for everyone. She noted that this study is one of five area planning studies being undertaken right now by City Planners at her bidding - as Leslieville and South Riverdale and Riverside are experiencing a tremendous growth in the rate of development.

An over-view of the planning process and the history of recent planning in the area was then outlined by City of Toronto Planner, Heather Baron - who then set us to work at our facilitated working group sessions at five tables spaced around the large room.

Each table had 8 to 10 citizens along with a representative from one of the various City departments involved in the study - working as facilitators. Over 45 minutes we went through a list of items prepared by the organizers related to Councillor Fletchers' motion at Toronto and East York Community Council, and our opinions about Public Amenities in the study area.

The categories listed on the big discussion papers that organizers had placed on each table (along with a selection of maps, artists' street-scape renderings, and other documents from Planning) were so broad that they simply acted as a starting point for what people already had on their minds - but also worked as a guide so that we were all addressing basically the same issues.

("Public Amenities" I should note here, as far as I understand it in a Planning context, has a very broad meaning. Public Amenities are any tangible, or intangible thing about a public space that make life easier; more comfortable; nicer; more beautiful; more organized; more intuitive; more effective - for the people using it. In other words, stuff that Helps as opposed to Hinders the culture that we collectively are - and that we are becoming.)


I noted right away there was no mention of bicycles, bike lanes, bike parking or cycling as a transportation choice, anywhere in the documents or the introduction.

After the facilitated round-table discussions - someone from each table presented their groups' notes to the entire meeting.

All five tables noted cycling issues in the study area. Cycling it seems, is an essential element in a discussion of quality of life in public spaces.

I was shocked - by the time the fifth table began reporting I was waiting for the cycling mention like one anticipates a hit late in a ball game. Then, Wham-o! Table five talked more than any other about cycling issues!

After the reports were done people were encouraged to take the floor and say whatever they wanted. A conversation broke out that went on for some time. About what you may wonder? ...

Bike parking of coarse!


The times they are-a-changing. It appears that there are a lot of people in the neighbourhood who are using their bikes on a very regular basis. The bike - and the amenities one needs to use a bicycle as a primary transportation mode - are apparently integral to this evolving neighbourhoods' life-style choice.

As a ward group representative for Cycle Toronto's "Ward 30 Bikes" at these meetings - I'll represent this point of view as this public consolation process continues, with another Public Consultation meeting scheduled for January.


References:

Toronto.ca TIMMIS | Agenda Item History | Dundas/Carlaw Corridor Study | http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2013.TE22.84

Councillor Paula Fletcher web | Community Planning in Ward 30 - Carlaw Dundas Study | http://paulafletcher.ca/discover-ward-30/community-planning/#carlaw




mh


N.B. The acoustics in that room made it very hard for some people to hear. Two other people mentioned it during the meeting. I, for example have frequency hearing loss in one ear that has the effect of turning reflecting acoustic waves into white noise. I had to step out of the room for most of the five-table facilitation process because the voices of all the people talking all at once bounced around for me, like light does in a house of mirrors.