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Two New Electric Bike Stores in Town
Police Bust a Bike Thief and BikeShop Owner
Elsewhere: Bike Polo Hits New York City
The Toronto-Niagara BikeTrain Rides Again
New sticker program will help prevent bicycle theft
8 Secrets To Cycling In Traffic (Complete Series)
7-Year-Old Girl on Bike Dies After Being Hit By Car
Rachel McAdams Loves Biking Toronto
Ellen Page: Halifax Actor, Oscar Nominee, and Cyclist
3000+ Stolen Bikes on Display
I am blown away by the coverage that the Kensington motorist-cyclist altercation is getting. Spacing.ca reports that the story was on the front page of the Star (along with an article about the incident along with sometimes mean and cruel remarks aimed at both the motorist and the cyclist). To be frank and honest, I did nickname the motorist "CrazyDriverGuy" in my post about the incident... and that was even before I knew that Leah, the courier, didn't key his car on purpose, but that her bike key (which was attached to her wrist) scratched the car as the motorist was trying to stomp her and her bike.
Other things this story has made me think about:- Is Canada stricter than the U.S. regarding anti-littering by-laws?
- Is this story a good example of how drivers and cyclists interact with their environments? Are cyclists more inclined to care about litter and the urban (or rural) environment because they are more a "part" of it than drivers are?
- Was it unreasonable for Leah the bike courier to return the food to the driver after it was thrown out the window? If, for instance, a driver accidentally dropped a glove, or a hat, or a CD, or a package of (new) diapers out of their car and a pedestrian or cyclist could help them out with the return of their property, shouldn't the same extend to food and cigarettes and their cast-offs? When someone buys a cheeseburger, they buy the packaging too. Was Leah simply giving back to the driver what was legally his?
- Should we all throw a big Good Citizen party for Leah?
Anyhow on to another topic: the "Big Event" today is the screening TONIGHT of "The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the collapse of the American Dream" at the Bloor Cinema at 7 pm. Admission is $9 and is sponsored by the good people at the Toronto Public Space Committee. This is obviously for everyone who advocates a "car-free" or "less-car-dependent" lifestyle. I will try and make it myself because other than the odd rental car to visit some crazy friends in the suburbs, my fiance and I are car-free, happily depending on the TTC and our bikes and walking to get around Toronto. I suppose it's perhaps mean of me to get happy when gas prices go way up, but I get over any guilt pretty quickly.More details about the film (and the question period afterwards) are available on the always dependable Spacing Wire website.
The image was so disturbing, I clicked through and viewed them all -- comments too. I just accepted a contract job that would allow me to bike to work for the first time ever. Now I am scared.
Don't worry about it Teri. Your first couple of times on the roads may be nerve-wracking (it was for me), but you get used to it quickly. If you want my advice, try and start with roads with bikelanes, even if you have to go a bit out of your way... then slowly start altering the route bit by bit to incorporate more non-bikelaned roads. You'll get used to sharing a lane with traffic that way. Finally, don't follow temptation by riding on the sidewalk... it's not only really dangerous for pedestrians, but it's the leading cause of car-bike collisions because they don't expect something the speed of a bike coming from the sidewalk at an intersection. Where is the new job and where do you live? Maybe I can help you plan a route? Feel free to email me if you want more advice.
By 
bikingtoronto, at
3:39 PM
Frost Dome
photo taken by: Cap'n Canuck
Oooh, that is way cool.
Dammit. I forgot to quote my very favourite part of the "Time is Money" article I linked earlier today.
Heath has a more radical, and unpopular solution to cure traffic congestion. He advocates placing tolls on highways such as the Don Valley Parkway. "Roads are congested because they are free. If we gave away cheese for free, too many people would eat cheese."
I was going to write a post about the four upcoming (this weekend and next week) public consultation meetings regarding the 2006 City of Toronto operating budget. Since biketoronto.ca has already done a good job of why these meetings are important, I'll suggest you go there. BikeRefugee also writes about it with a very funny American Idol analogy.
There was a very interesting article in the Business section of Toronto Star on Saturday entitled "Time is Money" and was about how so much productivity is lost due to traffic congestion.... almost 4 billion dollars annually across Canada, according to Transport Canada.That's $10,958,904 every day... $456,621 every hour... $7,610 every minute... $127 every second.
Holy Crap! Almost 11 million dollars every single day!
Anyhow, the article goes on to mention that to be a viable alternative, the TTC needs more money to expand service (re-inforced by tons of articles about overcrowding recently...), but doesn't mention biking at all, although the point that living relatively close to where you work is infinitely smarter than sitting in traffic for large chunks of your life.Living close to where you work and biking "to and fro" is smart for all kinds of reasons. It's healthy, it's cheap, it doesn't pollute, there's no chance of killing pedestrians, and best of all you're always on time for work (provided you don't ignore your alarm clock) because traffic jams don't effect cyclists... we just weave through all of the stopped cars. Weaving isn't recommended if the cars are moving. Haha.
I found a fun little cycling game on the weekend... it's on the front page of the U.S. "Bike to Work" website. It's simple, but a whole lot of fun. You get to jump desks in an office!
You may have noticed that I've been featuring cool bike photos from around Toronto by awesome Flickr photographers. I've featured 10 of them so far, and thought I'd stick all of them in one post for you to see before I find some more of them.
Visit the flickr pages (linked in each entry), and tell the photographers how cool they are! They love hearing that. Haha.
Kids having fun in High Park!
Life in the Toronto Islands
Photo Deleted. Booo!
Queen West Classic
Two Cyclists at College and Spadina.
Ikea Bikeposts on the UofT Campus?
Locked up on Queen West
Dundas and McCaul
The Worker, the BikePost and the Redhead
Bicycle Fence on Queen
Happy Sunday to you. It's rainy as hell (assuming hell is rainy) in Toronto today. Warm, but rainy.
I posted on Friday about the importance of working with "the powers that be" to further cycling issues and adoption by Toronto residents. I'm not saying that events like Critical Mass need to be less anarchic, because holding up traffic for a minute or two as the group passes through an intersection is no big deal, and speaks more about driver impatience than anything else.
It is weird that since I posted that on Friday, we've seen the now-infamous photos of the courier-driver confrontation in Kensington Market (which I've now seen linked on both MetaFilter and BoingBoing, which basically means it is "internet famous" now...), and now there is news out of New York that cops watching Critical Mass there did something silly and one of them got hurt.
In an article entitled Critical Chaos: Two Cops Hurt, 17 Arrested at Mass Ride, the Village Voice reports that:...a pack of about 100 bikers was moving south on Third Avenue when a line of 14 scooter cops patrolling alongside abruptly veered left to cut off the ride. One scooter cop slammed into another scooter, throwing the cop several feet from his scooter. He landed hard on the pavement, hitting his shoulder and head...A bunch of cyclists stopped (the ones that weren't chased by police) and one who is also an EMT took care of the hurt cop until ambulances arrived.
Amazingly, although the 14 cops on motorscooters veering into the bicycle group are clearly at fault... "Cops on the scene were clearly pissed. "He landed straight on his head," said one scooter cop who asked not to be identified. "It's not fun and games any more."" It's a clear example of the strong and blatant animosity between these two groups.I admire the EMT cyclist who stopped to help the cop, and I admire all the NYC Critical Massers, because their motto is "Still We Ride", although a lot of them have been arrested (for riding a bike!) and they have to deal with cops driving into them. I'm thankful that here in Toronto we have relatively good relations with the police, and we should work to keep it that way.
One thing I've learned: never underestimate the importance of automobiles to Americans (and yes, Canadians too.) Cars are not just tools. They are the ultimate symbols of personal wealth, status, success, and freedom in our society, as well as economic prosperity for the country. Anyone seen as wanting to limit the influence of cars in our society (no matter how good their intentions) is going to face harsh, harsh opposition from many fronts.
Very good point Gary. You are completely correct. I sometimes wonder how sooo many people can buy into that mindset with seemingly no second thoughts. I guess we are some of the lucky ones. :) Joe.
By bikingtoronto, at
3:40 PM
Bicycle Fence on Queen
photo taken by: Brandy Whyne
The big cyclist news in Toronto today seems to be a confrontation between a cyclist and a motorist in Kensington Market. There's a whole lot of photos taken by one of Toronto's great photobloggers over on citynoise.org. I first saw the story over on BikeRefugee and have since seen it on Torontoist and the Spacing.ca Wire.
Details seem to be fuzzy, but it sounds like it went down like this:- CrazyDriverGuy threw garbage out his window (that's bad).
- MessengerGirl picked it up and put it back in his window (yay MessengerGirl!)
- CrazyDriverGuy gets out of his vehicle and dumps hot coffee on MessengerGirl (that's assault, which is very bad)
- MessengerGirl keys vehicle (also bad, and stooping to CrazyDriverGuy's level, but understandable if she just had coffee dumped on her)
- CrazyDriverGuy proceeds to stomp on MessengerGirl's bike, and then rough her up too.
Now, setting aside that fact that CrazyDriverGuy looks absolutely insane and probably needs counselling of some kind, this kind of incident is a perfect example of the general animosity that exists between cyclists and drivers in Toronto. [update - Leah (the Messenger) has written her version of events (probably pretty accurate... haha) in the comments of the citynoise article... it's down a way and labeled as Leah: 27th Jan 2006 - 22:45 GMT]I'm not sure what the solution is, but the more people we have cycling on the roads, the better chance that a driver who gets impatient with a cyclist (even if it's someone reminding them that the world isn't their trashcan) may realize that their sister is a cyclist, or their mother, or their best friend, or that pretty girl/guy who works in their office...
.. and then they may not honk or yell things out the window at the person biking nicely around Toronto.
The Worker, the BikePost and the Redhead
photo taken by: Brandy Whyne
Critical Mass Toronto is rolling tonight. If you're interested in attending this "organized coincidence", people meet up between 6:00 and 6:30 pm at the south-east corner of Bloor & Spadina, with departure shortly thereafter. The route is usually determined "on-the-fly", but generally stays downtown, within Bloor, Parliament, Front and Bathurst. If you don't live in Toronto, but another major city in North America (or elsewhere), there is a great collection of global Critical Mass information over here, all broken down geographically for you nice people.
Since the aim of this website is to have as much Toronto cycling / biking information as possible... for both established cyclists and beginning bikers, I was thinking about how to summarize the benefits of Critical Mass.It's true that philosophically speaking it's an "organized coincidence". Sometimes biking in to work I'll be in a stretch of road where a lot of other cyclists happen to be too, and we form our own little, linear Critical Mass - cars using the same stretch of road instinctively give us more room as they are passing, since we have more of a presence, although none of us know eachother or arranged to be there all at the same time.
I've often been "buzzed" by cars passing me quickly and within a foot of me (the law says they have to give cyclists 3.3 feet / 1 metre of room here in Ontario), but it's always been when I'm on my own... it never seems to happen when there are a few other cyclists on the same stretch of road.Group Rides like Critical Mass are all about showing non-cyclists that there is a quick and efficient mode of transportation other than the automobile. As more people take up biking, more of the mini-Critical Masses I mentioned above will occur, effectively calming traffic, and showing yet other people that cycling is an option.
Critical Mass has had a lot of problems in places like New York City, where there have been arrests for "parading without a permit" (the courts have since ruled that this is not applicable to cyclists), but I think Toronto's cycling community should head towards a more co-operative rather than confrontational model of cycling activism. For instance, in Portland, Oregon, "Cyclists and cops even have regular get togethers to figure out how make the ride work better for everyone". [from bikeportland.org]It's probably the best way to work with "the establishment" to make cycling an accepted and viable transportation alternative for everyone living in Toronto.
Hey Joe, thanks for the interesting blog! I'm wondering who set up the critical mass Toronto site? Do you know?
I've had a lot of the same thoughts about mini-critical masses. In fact, CBN had a speaker last year from New York who provided economic and safety numbers of the benefits of large numbers of cyclists. Safety in numbers.
My idea (but not really original) is to have a website where cyclists in Toronto can more intentionally create these mini-critical masses. I've got a beta website ready, but no URL yet. I'm trying to drum up help and perhaps you'd be interested.
Please contact me through my main website form: http://nubeli.org/contact.html, and I can give you a peak - I'd love to hear what you think.
By , at
5:05 PM
Dundas and McCaul
photo taken by: urbanjames
It's really cool seeing that there are plans for a transit, cycling and pedestrian-friendly re-constructed New Orleans. Mayor Ray Nagin's "Bring New Orleans Back" Commission has released a report which, amongst the long-term plans lays out that::New roads will be designed with the wide median (neutral ground) model for pedestrians, bicycles, transit, and open space.
It's a lofty goal, and as is mentioned in the comments of this OilDrum story, similar plans were proposed for south Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew a few years back, but there wasn't any money to build anything different than what was there before.But let's assume that New Orleans becomes sustainable, transit and cyclist-friendly, and a walkers paradise. It may prove to be ironic that the old-fashioned and unsustainable ways of most of the rest of the western world will continue heating the atmosphere and the oceans, eventually destroying "N'Awlins" once again.
Also in the news recently is Salt Lake City's plans to provide free parking for fuel-efficient vehicles (info courtesy of spacing.ca), similar to programs in other cities such as Austin, Texas who gives $100 worth of parking credits to owners of cars with excellent gas mileage or are powered by alternative fuels.
While Toronto has a by-law allowing motorcycles and scooters to park free on major streets (sidestreets still require permits), but it would great to be something rewarding hybrid owners as well. Anything that gets gas guzzlers and pollution out of the city works for Toronto cyclists.
Update: This map has been updated! - Feb. 1, 2008One of my main ideas for this site when I started it was having an interactive Toronto BikeShop Map that would not only show all the bikeshops in Toronto, but be clickable so anyone could find addresses, phone numbers and website addresses, if applicable.
Nice map! I've just been creating some maps on platial.com - including a bike stores of Toronto map, favorite cycling spots, Bikeshare hubs... They also use Google maps for their API.
Herb - nubeli.org
By , at
12:49 AM
Ah, the Ontario Chapter of the Sierra Club of Canada. "They're nice people who care about the environment!"
By , at
8:40 AM
Cool project! Looks alot like google maps. A useful resource. Funny strange how McBrides looks like it's on Osler Ave, tho.
By , at
9:26 AM
Yeah, some of the addresses are a bit off on the map... I've been fixing them as I find them. :)
Mountain Bike Madness at 7717 Yonge in Thornhill is no longer in business, at least at that address.
West Hill Cycle & Sports in eastern Scarberia has gone 'Bye bye': no longer in business.
By , at
8:18 PM
Locked up on Queen West
photo taken by: Lex in the City
Another beautiful thing about all this relatively mild weather we are having (the graphic to the right is the two-week outlook from the WeatherNetwork... that white line in the middle is the normal daily high... -2 degrees) is that there is no doubt in my mind that Critical Mass Toronto will be alive and kicking this Friday (the 27th).Everyone meets at the south-east corner of Bloor & Spadina from 6:00 to 6:30, with departure usually shortly thereafter. Remember to dress for the weather (the current forecast for Friday is +6 degrees), and make sure your bikes have lights, since it gets dark early these days.
There's nothing quite like cruising through downtown with sometimes a couple hundred other cyclists... it's a great time, and gets people thinking about bikes and how they are a very reasonable alternative to car travel in the city. Nevermind the energy savings...
Speaking of energy (what a smoo-ooth segue)...
Bicycle Universe has a great page about energy consumption, with stats such as 100 bikes could be made with the energy it takes to produce the average car, and that "Bicycling actually uses fossil fuels, if you consider the fossil fuels that go into producing the food to fuel the cyclist."
If you've ever wondered how much energy you use biking around our great city, DarrenJ of Bike Refugee can probably tell you in terms of Apple Juice. In one of the most creative posts I've seen so far this year (which is still young, so I won't be crowning you just yet Darren... haha), Darren has figured out that the food energy he uses each time he bikes to or from work is about the equivalent of one litre of apple juice. Compare that to the 62 litres of juice energy that the same trip consumes when he has to drive his car to work, and you start seeing the huge difference between car and bike travel. Darren also compares things like burning a regular incandescent lightbulb for a day (7 litres of juice) versus a compact flourescent (1.8 litres of juice).
Personally, I think this energy analogy should be forwarded to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, because then we'd see a humourous story entitled "How Do You Like Them Apples? The Juicy Energy Waste of the Iraq War". That would be pretty cool. They could also promote cycling in North America. That would be okay too.
You're going to get me on the Daily Show?! I'm sure Rob Corddry would be laughing with me, right?
Thanks for the compliments Joe. I've already cleared a spot on top of my head for that crown.
That would be pretty funny. I can picture Cordry interviewing you... you surrounded by stacks and stacks of cans of apple juice, of course!
Okay, it's not exactly good news that the Conservatives won the election last night, but we can take solace in the fact that it's a minority government, meaning that Harper will have to find consensus with at least one other party to get anything passed in the House of Commons. Harper and the Cons have notoriously bad environmental and transportation policies, noted in an excellent pre-election Star article by Tyler Hamilton:If you drive a Hummer to the corner store, chances are you couldn't care less. If you have children suffering from asthma, if the stink of the city makes you ill, or if you long for snow in January, it's certainly something to think about as you choke on car exhaust on the way to the polls.The good news for those of us "biking Toronto" (like how I put that in there...? Haha) is that Jack Layton (of the Toronto-Danforth riding), the leader of the NDP, is now being joined in Ottawa by his wife, Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina).
For anyone unfamiliar with Toronto municipal politics - Jack and Olivia were Toronto city councillors for many years, and were by far the most outspoken about cycling and environmental issues (which are now being championed most notably by Joe Mihevc and Adam Giambrone at the municipal level). They could often be seen taking transit to work, or even cycling together on their "bicycle-built-for-two". The sick feeling I have in my stomach about Harper taking up residence at 24 Sussex is tempered by the warm feeling in my heart that comes from knowing Jack and Olivia and their love of cycling now has a national forum.
Who's this Stephen Harper? Huh? Wha?
No, I'm kidding. I'm actually one of three Americans who's actually heard of him and Martin. They even made page 3 of the local paper this morning.
Hey Fritz. Sorry about the delay responding. I'm wondering what has been heard south of the border about Harper. We keep hearing that the Republicans and people like Bill o'Reilly love him like finding Michael Moore voodoo dolls on sale at Walmart... ;)
By bikingtoronto, at
1:40 PM
That photo of Jack Layton and Olivia Chow just made my day! My co-worker and I were hoping a bike store in Ottawa would step up with a tandem for them to ride around on, but it looks like they already have one!
Definitely makes me feel good about my vote!
Hey! Got your email this afternoon. In the winter I bike train at home ... we bought a computrainer (www.computrainer.com) that has changed my feelings about indoor riding for the better! But I still commute to work via bike pretty much every day (unless I feel the snowfall is too heavy, then I walk)... so if you want to add me to your list, please, feel free! I put you in my google reader to be sure and keep up. I am pretty sure alot of TO bike bloggers will gain some readers with this crazy (and unfortunate) bike courier road rage thing.
Ikea Bikeposts on the UofT Campus? ;)
photo taken by: David Wyman
Yes, Joe...I like it. This group blog is one HOT idea. Bikes are a part of Toronto the same way they are a part of Kyoto -- only in a very different way! Really gives you lots of fodder for great images around town, you could even have a photo contest (but I don't know how Blogger would manage submissions), you can also address important issues for bike riders here. Frankly, I can't believe no one else has done this in Toronto yet. Would be so cool to see other Cyclist/City blogs in the sidebar...I'm putting your new team blog in my personal travel/expat blog margins.
Oops, what a BIG dummy I am. I posted too fast. All the links are there!!! Maybe one or two of the individual cyclist bloggers in Toronto would join your team blog? I figure, if you're part of a team, that way you don't have to post every day. Four or five people can post once a week. Much easier.
A recent story from the BBC (and picked up by The Toronto Star) talks about how automobile traffic "corridors" create a "tunnel" of pollutants.The Star article points out that the contributors and health detriments of this are widely known in the scientific community:
All of us travelling in cars, vans, trucks or buses add to the problem. "You can demonstrate as you move away from a highway, pollution levels drop off dramatically. By the time you are 100 metres away from the highway, you can actually measure the difference in health effects.. I've noticed that almost all cycling websites, blogs and groups are very environmentally conscious, and I suspect the reason for this is that we cyclists breathe in all this pollution every day.
Last spring and summer, when Toronto had a ton of "Smog Alert Days", I became extremely pissed off that my non-polluting, fitness-centric mode of commuting was most likely going to result in lung cancer one day because of the people around me who were either too dumb or lazy to consider alternatives to private automobile travel. As "green" as I was before I started cycling, I've become more extreme in my environmental beliefs, because my lungs deal with the short-sightedness of others every day.Spacing Wire also has a great post (which is where the "no-smogging" graphic is from) written by Chris Hardwicke (of Velo-City fame) asking why second-hand smog is okay, but second-hand smoke isn't.
Regarding cyclist awareness of air pollution, you're probably right. I think the fact that we're more exposed to the elements factors in a great deal.
Hi Fritz... Exactly... it's more personal for us. We're not seperated from it by glass and steel... we're right there in it.
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