Support for University bike lanes in unusual places

There is support for the University bike lane in unusual places. Royson James makes a great case that the bike lanes will change the flavour of the whole boulevard, turning it much more into a livable street where people will be happier to use the "gardens down the centre". I didn't expect this of James, who's been critical of Miller and his projects.

And Councillor Karen Stinz, known for her right-wing views, makes a surprisingly supportive case for the lanes in her National Post editorial "Give bike lanes a chance". She commends Toronto for borrowing the good bike lane techniques from NYC, Chicago and elsewhere. See below for quotes.

Royson James:

There is much to gain from bike lanes on University Avenue, and so little to lose, that the prospects excite.

Along this, our city’s most European-flavoured boulevard, an attractive street aching for a few transformative tweaks to make it great, there must be room for the wonder of mobility, the two-wheeler.

A pedestrian-friendly city, a green city, a city with a burgeoning downtown population that is the envy of North American cities, and a city that cares about the quality of life for its citizens is a city brave enough to encourage safe cycling on one of its most prized drags.

University Ave. is best experienced from the gardens down the centre. Not nearly enough people enjoy a summer lunch among the canna lilies, break bread with the cascading potato vines, or sip a beverage among the whispering fountain grass. The lunchtime spread is protected from the cars whizzing by, four lanes in each direction, but the idea itself must be intimidating because not many make use of this treasure.

Councillor Karen Stinz:

The most recent example is the proposed bike lanes on University Avenue. After obtaining the approval of the Public Works Committee on Tuesday, proponents of the lanes claimed them a critical "tipping point" in sharing Toronto roads. And yet, the media has roundly dismissed them as an "ingenious way to compound gridlock" and downright "nutty." The mayoral candidates almost collectively went apoplectic.

This charged dialogue places an interesting project at risk. After attempting to lay down bike lanes two kilometres from the door of every city resident for the past eight years, city staff did a major rethink and said it was time to "complete and intensify" the bike lane network in the downtown core. This is where bike lanes are most frequently used and will also be the area served by the much-anticipated Bixi bike rental program.

In addition, during the snail's pace implementation of the bike network, other major cities like New York, Montreal and Chicago were busily installing bike lanes but using new lane marking strategies. Swiping some of the best ideas, the bike lanes on University will physically separate cyclists and motorists with bollards. Not only does this work best in other cities, but it reflects the wishes of Toronto's cycling community and the "wanna-be" cyclists who say they would bike if they felt safer. Without trying some of these initiatives, we won't know how to make our transportation system more attractive to current and future users.

It's also worth noting that the lanes may prove to be a logical way to improve the transportation options of university students and the increasingly dense residential neighbourhoods that are being built up to the west of University Avenue.

A related update: it appears that some I Bike TO commenters fears can be allayed as transportation staff plan to prevent cars from making left turns on University while the pilot bike lanes are in place. And in order to facilitate right turns, they also plan to install "bike boxes" which would allow cyclists to cross the lanes of traffic at red lights.