ING Direct Canada's lion will appear on the BIXI Toronto bikes next spring, as they've signed on as the primary sponsor of the bikesharing program. Mayor Miller and Public Bike System Company reps announced ING this morning.
Mayoral candidate George Smitherman's office put out a critique of mayoral candidate Rob Ford's stance on cycling. Witness the video where Ford state's that his "heart bleeds" for cyclists who are hit, but that in the end he feels that it is "their fault" for being hit, presumably because they shouldn't be on bikes at all.
Toronto transportation staff has been planning new bike-specific traffic control signals to go along the 30 km of new trails in our suburbs, and for downtown is planning bike boxes at five locations downtown on College, Bloor and Harbord.
After Councillor Howard Moscoe's prodding, City Council has released the previously confidential manual which explains who can get their parking tickets cancelled. I am glad that they did this, and it helps make things much more clear to everyone in this city. Many thanks to Councillor Moscoe, and the other councillors, who made this happen.
Before this manual was released, I had though that more enforcement would help to diminish the number of vehicles found parked in bike lanes. I had also thought that on-street separated bike lanes should be used sparingly and strategically.
Join a group of cyclists for a fun, friendly, and casual ride from traditional car-centric suburbia (Don Mills Centre) to Downtown City Hall.
Date: Monday May 31st 2010
Departure Time: 7am (be there before 7am for a brief intro and speeches)
Meeting Location: Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East Southwest Corner
City of Toronto Councillor and Budget Chief Shelley Carroll has confirmed her attendance, and has been warming up for the ride recently. So get ready for a beautiful cycling week in the sun!
City Council debated late into the night on the bikeway network plan for 2010, which was passed 26-8, with one caveat: it was amended by Councillor Hall (Ward 1) to remove the pilot University Ave bike lanes from the motion. The vote to amend was 15-13, but apparently Councillor Fletcher, who has been quite pro-bike lane, made an error in her vote (or some have said there was a technical glitch).
Tomorrow is do or die. Either council approves the loan guarantee and contract with Bixi, or it will be a long, long time before Toronto gets its own bikesharing program. Please go to City Hall at 10 am with your bike helmet on to show your support. The Mayor is making a special push for it!
Is Councillor Adrian Heaps going to try sabotage Bixi Toronto at City Council next week? Given his recent performance at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting, I'm a bit concerned. Does he want a public bike program that could be flourishing by next year, or does he want to delay it a few years just so his favourite company, Astral Media, can run it? And does Astral Media even want it?
The public works committee approved today the pilot separated bike lanes on University. I had to duck out of the meeting early in order to do some real work, but the room was full of citizens and media, waiting for the decision on this and the public bike proposal.
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