On Sunday September 23rd 2007 help us bring out the Bells on Bloor
To get involved, please email info@bellsonbloor.ca
Join hundreds of cyclists of all ages in celebrating car-free day with a pedal powered parade, ringing our bells all the way from High Park to the ROM.
Cycling protects our environment. So let’s protect our cyclists with more bike lanes. Fighting global warming has never been so fun.
Come with bells on, ring a bell along the route, or get a free bike bell.
Great Events on Sunday, Sept. 23!
Bells on Bloor and The Toronto Smog Hike are working together. Our bike parade ends at the ROM and will encourage riders to join forces with smog hikers at 1pm on Yonge. (Or participate in their opening at 10am, and meet us at NOON at High Park).
Comments
The EnigManiac
Bells On Bloor - What A Blast
Sun, 09/23/2007 - 19:02For those who missed the Bells on Bloor ride, you missed a terrific ride. About 800-1,000 cyclists rode along with about 20 friendly and supportive bicycle cops from High Park to Queen's Park and were met by mostly positive and encouraging groups on the sidewalk and passing motorists, even though corking of intersections was both permitted and often conducted by police. Most others just stared in awe as we all rode by making noise and calling for Bike Lanes on Bloor/Danforth. It was terrific weather, wonderful partnership with police and a sense of community among cyclists. Lots of families were out with children on trail-a-bikes, child-carriers or their own bikes and everyone appreciated the free bell. The NDP election offices were a loud and vocal group on sidewalks and in other areas, entire sidewalk cafe's or pub patios greeted us with standing ovations and cheers of support. If any motorists were perturbed, they kept it to themselves---perhaps the presence of police deterred any thought of trying to force their way through the large, slow-moving group. A number of pedestrians ran the gauntlet, however and a few only narrowly avoided being struck. Police were encouraging pedestrians to be patient, but some just had to get to the other side of the road (???). Overall, it was a great turn-out and a lovely way to spend a few hours on Toronto streets. Congratulations to everyone who participated, organized and helped with the event. Please petition your councillor for Bike Lanes on Bloor/Danforth.
anthony
An adventure
Sun, 09/23/2007 - 20:25I brought my older daughter on the ride with me today. We had a blast. She, understandably, liked the face painting best of all. But she did like the ride. And she also really likes the "Trumpet Man", Michael.
She called the ride "an adventure". It certainly was. Bells ringing, people waving and smiling. Lot and lots of bikes moving. People of all ages out for a wonderful Sunday ride on Bloor street. I'm really glad we made it our for the ride.
And a big "Hello" to all of you that I met today!
Aidan
Well done!
Sun, 09/23/2007 - 22:26Damn, a shame I skipped it. I have been less than impressed with the numbers and vibe of tooker rides and critical mass. I thought this would be the same. Should have known better when I saw the flyers attached to bikes last week. Am curious about the relationship between this ride and Tooker rides, or no relationship.
herb
Bells and Tooker overlap
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 00:43I'm not sure why there needs to be two organizations calling for bike lanes on Bloor - a good thing to ask the organizers. There could be a difference in methodology but there doesn't seem to be much disagreement about the result: many of the same people appeared in both. For instance, Angela Bishkoff, former partner of Tooker Gomberg, is one person to feature prominently in both the Tooker rides and the Bells on Bloor. Angela, on her bike with a wig and megaphone, was going up and down encouraging us the whole way down to Queen's Park.
vic
Bells on Bloor
Sun, 09/23/2007 - 23:21Yeah, it was a fun ride!
I posted all my photos here: http://vic.gedris.org/pics/2007-09-23-BellsOnBloor/
darren
more photos
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 07:40It was great to see so many cyclists, the support from people on the sidewalks and the police helping out.
Here are some more photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenj/tags/bellsonbloor/
anthony
one line
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 08:21One line is all the ride got in the Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/article/259689
geoffrey (not verified)
Re: Bells and Tooker overlap
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 11:55Although 2 groups attempting to get very similar things enacted may be confusing it is my understanding the TTT group welcomes the second as it has indeed succeeded in bringing more eyes (and bodies) to the demonstration. Also fresh faces involved in organising rides must be welcome.
More participation is likely to increase visibility for our elected representatives and more likely to get things done. I'd welcome Mississauga and Durham Region counterparts to join the fray as well and I hope both TTT and Bells support the efforts of all groups where their aims overlap. Could there be rides to Oshawa and Hamilton in our future? I hope so!
herb
groups should join
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 14:43Take the Tooker is not a very clear name for a group trying to get a bike lane on Bloor. At least Bells on Bloor is much more explicit - people can more easily make the leap from Bells to bikes - though their aim is not clear from their website: are they just trying to encourage cycling in general or are they petitioning for a bike lane on Bloor in particular?
And why was Councillor Heaps there? Is he going to push for bike lane on Bloor? Who wants to do some investigative journalism?
hamish (not verified)
bloor bike lanes, groups and names thereof
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 20:07It was a Funtastic turnout - lots of new people and diversity so thanks to all who were there and promoted it.
It's nice to hear/read the varied comments too.
Personally, I've not really been keen on either the taketheTooker or the Bells on Bloor names, but in a group dynamic there are group opinions,
And there is some overlap with each group, yet I think it is helpful to have two groups, and the theory goes that the Bells on Bloor was more focussed on reacting to the Bloor Annex Visioning exercise of the City, which at latest "vision" saw doubling the size of the sidewalks on the north side after removing parking, but doing f*all for cyclists. That's not okay. It's wrong. And it's the same sorta deal as the BYBIA renewal east of Ave. Rd. where they can take out the parking to widen the sidewalks but do nothing for cyclists.
TTT is renewing - it's hard to be tilting at windshields at times and there's about 8kms of Bloor in the inital segment - Sherbourne to High Park. Sure it'd only take $200,000 to repaint the street beside the subway for bike lanes, but it crosses over multiple ward boundaries and my(ward)opia prevails, except for tax hikes.
Talk it up though, please.
(the TTT site was server-challenged as of Sunday - let's hope the TTTech wizards have fixed it).
And it was a fun ride - including trumpet man!
Major Bell E Ache (not verified)
Groups should join
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 22:13No investigative journalism is needed. We invited all of the Bloor St. and Danforth Ave. city councillors, Mayor Miller, as well as councillor Heaps, as head of the cycling committee (and the provincial candidates in Trinity Spadina where many of us live).
The only ones that accepted our invitation were Heaps and Dan King (the provincial green party candidate). It was good for Heaps to see how much support there is for bike lanes on Bloor. So it was good for us to have him there.
Bells on Bloor is a coalition of cycling groups. Every new ally we can recruit to the battle for bike lanes on Bloor and across the city will bring us closer to our goal. Bells on Bloor attracted non-traditional allies and supporters, which was one of the objectives in the presentation and organization of this event.
Annie (not verified)
Great day for the ride
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 12:55My daughter and I had a great time - couldn't ask for better weather. We loved the trumpet guy at the August Critical Mass (he lends a fun party atmosphere to the whole thing) and were glad to see him again and to now have a name for him. Hopefully Miller and the city councillors will get swamped with lots of messages this week! (In addition to bike lanes on Bloor and Danforth, I threw in a request for 'bicycles excepted' signs to go along with 1-way signs on side streets...). Here's a link to contact info for City of Toronto councillors:
http://app.city.toronto.on.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp
The EnigManiac
One way streets
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 13:49I spoke with a few of the cops during the ride. They were very ammenable. One, in particular, said their attitude was that this is our city (most of them don't live in Metro at all) and they let us do our thing, though they weren't terribly fond of couriers. When asked about one-way streets, he even said 'we don't care. Bikes are never in the way on a one way street.'
I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have one-way streets exempted for cyclists officially anyway and while they're doing that they can officially stipulate stop signs as yield signs for cyclists.
herb
petition the province for HTA changes
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 14:35Both one way street exemptions and changing stop signs to yields for cyclists need to be made at the provincial level. So you need to petition your MPPs and candidates now that it is an election period.
darren
Toronto Smog Hike
Mon, 09/24/2007 - 16:30I just sent a text message to the Toronto Smog Hike. I was thinking of riding home on Yonge to see if I could find them. I got this message:
-dj