Take all Traffic off of University

...outside of tight bike shorts, is the rationality of some of Toronto drivers, regardless of where they are from. Their only solution to downtown traffic congestion...is to bring more cars downtown. Decades of congestion, and they can't seem to get it that it's the cars that are doing it. Too many downtown.

To take a position behind them, I wouldn't want to ride the TTC either.

Actually, I'd like to comment on that great pic of 4 cops on bikes (cobs?) going the wrong way in a bike lane (not sure if it loads the same for everyone).

Even cops demonstrate in this picture that stuff like this is appropriate in the mindset of a cyclist. If there were no traffic on that street, something like this would be right in line with the recent Netherlands cycling "rush hour" videos. I've done this in my decades of biking in this City. I know it's illegal, but I do it, because I think it makes sense.

Oh, I had another favourite %$#head 905 resident cop moment yesterday. I passed on the left of one jerk in a rush-hour no stopping zone, during rush-hour; half a block later I passed another. Who was in the middle of the two? No word of a lie, a cop pulled over eating a doughnut. ^%$%%^ *&&&%!!!

fabulous picture - and I really should try harder to share more pics myself....
With University Ave., one thing that tends to be ignored in the discussion is that there is a big subway underneath Univeristy Ave, so that people who want to go fast, or who might think they are a bit constrained for a bike lane, well, maybe take the subway as an option?!
Maybe that's too logical a concept to squeeze cars a bit alongside or above a subway - but odds are it's done in Yurop eh?

that is when it reached it's carrying capacity for cars.

Until then expect taxes to rise, city services to dwindle and infrastructure to erode.. you can't have the density(tax income) required to move forward until you can accommodate more people getting around the city... in short, gridlock in the end really could strangle Toronto's income. Next time an option appears to put in a bike-lane or something to increase density and use of the roads Toronto city council should drop trough and say YES!!

Toronto is too scared to take the next step, and it is becoming a huge problem. I find it funny in a sadistic/masochistic way.

As a cyclist, I hate cyclists who ride through red lights, they seem to think they'll never run into another cyclist. Breaking the road laws for convenience, whether in a car or on a bike is selfish idiocy.

Having commuted in London, U.K. on a bike, I found the added infrastructure for cyclists at lights made the motorist cyclist relationship much more amenable to both parties, particularly for left hand turns. If entire grade separated lanes are too psychologically imposing for motorist commuters, then maybe we can settle on improved intersection markings and infrastructure.

I still think the real solution lies in planning of another scale of magnitude, the suburbs need to build properly scaled business cores and allow for some higher density developments near those cores. Toronto won't survive if it continues to be a city about the edge and the centre, it needs to become a polycentric city. This will reduce commutes more than anything.

As someone who is visiting China right now, I find it amusing how much we complain in Canada about EVERYTHING. Here in China, the only vehicles that are required to stop at red lights are cars. Motorcycles, bicycles, scooters and the like, are allowed to proceed.

People on the roads here don't complain about anything, and there is no such thing as road rage here. In fact, there is no such thing as being rude here either. The roads here are like a river flowing - it just keeps flowing, and you just make your way through it.

When people honk here, it is just to let the person know to watch out - nobody ever gets angry - even if someone appears to blatently cut someone off. When someone on a motorcycle rides the wrong way on the road, people will beep but nobody will get upset.

And I love cycling here too because cars drive slower and give you lots of space when they pass. Yes, cars do have the right of way, and you need to do your best to stay out of their way, but they won't run you over if you are in the way - you'll just get a beep to warn you that they are coming.

I haven't had any drivers come close to the brushes that I get in Toronto very frequently at high speeds - especially during Toronto's rush hour when Queen/King/Dundas have all 4 lanes in operation.

I think we can all take a page from the Chinese culture and just relax a little and stop being so uptight about everything.

I too have seen bike cops going the wrong way in a bike lane, but they were covering a protest in front of CAMH at Spadina and College. I don't mind if there are bike cops anywhere; suddenly drivers are a lot more tame around me :)

Good comparisons with the UK and China. To be honest, the letter of the law is not what guides my behaviour on my bicycle; statistics, ie, most dangerous and fatal crashes, and experience guide how I ride. I have written here before about how out-of-date the Highway Traffic Act is, for instance. I am also tireless in insisting to all my friends who bike that they should never, ever cycle on the sidewalk. Statistically, it's a death trap; cars just don't see you at intersections and driveways.

For me anyway. Sure I'd like to see a dedicated bike lane on University if it meant more cyclists, but for a cyclist who rides like a car? Not so good. University is a wide, sweeping, fast road. It is fun to ride. A dedicated bike lane would force me into it. Maybe a minor point in the grande scheme of a more bikeable Toronto, but the goal should really be better bicycle drivers in general.

One of the main problems I see is seemingly local cyclists who have no idea how intersections work in the city. At a stoplight: see that dotted line on the pavement on the left side of the bike lane? That means right turning cars are allowed to use the lane if it's clear. How many times have I been sitting behind the turning car and watched bike riders get all upset, start ringing their bells and do that one-foot-on-the-curb scooter push to get to their precious pole position, which they squander with a weak start??

For me the best streets to ride on have no bike lanes. Downtown that means University south from Bloor to the lake, Bloor between Spadina and Bathurst, all of Yonge street, Richmond, Adelaide, Queen.

...and that photo of the police going the wrong way up the bike lane? C'mon guy. Everybody does that all the time. Would you rather the police take the long way 'round to the crime scenes??