Once upon a time, I would have labeled this a “Friday Rant.”
Perhaps I’m older and wiser?
Or maybe I’m just older and slower…
Once upon a time, I’d have filmed this video while extremely agitated, ranting, and with no room for anybody’s opinion, other than my own.
The truth is: I have no idea what this city is going to look like in twenty years, so while I personally think it’s insane to take away a lane of traffic on a major street to install planter boxes, I might be in the minority here. I remember when they installed planter boxes on King Street East so that cars couldn’t move around those obsolete, decrepit streetcars that congest the downtown core more than a car ever could. I just about blew a gasket when that happened.
In a perfect world, maybe there would be no cars.
Or, in a perfectly logical and functional world, there would be cars, but they would all be electric.
But as this city evolves, I will no longer seem surprised when I see a lane of traffic has been removed to install planter boxes, even if I don’t agree with it.
Don’t get me wrong: I don’t believe that any city councilor member has a “plan” for a decade down the road, let alone three or four. I believe that every decision is made with tomorrow in mind, and not next year. And while I would like to think that the decision to take away a lane of traffic to install planter boxes had absolutely nothing to do with a green city councilor lamenting, “This city doesn’t have enough ferns,” I just can’t be sure.
But I’ll keep an open mind going forward. Er, a more open mind…
Have a great weekend, everybody!
RPG
at 7:49 am
Toronto city councillors aren’t visionaries. They’re mainly people who have flamed out of other industries and fell into politics. You’re looking in the wrong place if you expect these people to lead us into the future.
Eddie
at 8:28 am
I live in Davisville Village and am very familiar with the stretch of road in the video (Yonge St. just south of Davisville). I ride my bike quite a bit, and personally was delighted when they set up the bike lanes on Yonge from Davisville to Bloor – it allowed me to ride my bike from my house all the way downtown along Yonge in relative safety. I also enjoy riding in the bike lanes along Bloor/Danforth. That being said, I will admit that I feel guilty when I see very few other bikes using these lanes as compared to the number of cars driving along these streets, often in heavy traffic as shown in the video.
Road space is a limited resource and valuable, especially along the midtown and downtown arterial roads. I have visited and lived in cities in other countries (Europe and China) where the large volume of cyclists justifies allocating some of the limited resource for bike lanes. But we don’t have this volume of cyclists in Toronto, so I am really not sure if it makes sense to have bike lanes on some roads in Toronto. Perhaps the bike lanes should be set up on some of the smaller roads?
There is also the argument to be made that “if you build it, they will come” i.e. you set up the cycling lanes now, and this will result in more people using their bikes instead of cars – well, maybe, but I think this is a weak argument since North American cities are more spread out than in Europe/Asia and very people are going to ride in the winter. I think setting up bike lanes is driven more by political ideology than practical considerations. As Dave said in the video, we should invest the money in public transit rather than bike lanes.
And it goes without saying that having planters on Yonge St. is just plain dumb.
Appraiser
at 8:50 am
I don’t see it as an either / or issue. There should be more and better public transit, as well as more bike lanes. In fact the two are complimentary.
TokyoTuds
at 10:21 am
It looks like the planters are there to prevent drivers from using the parking lane to pass.
Kyle
at 9:26 am
I’m a driver and i don’t bike, but i’m all for these changes, because removing that lane and adding the planters makes the bike lane much safer, especially since there’s a pretty steep grade, where both bikes and cars can easily pick up a lot of speed making any kind of contact far worse.
I also feel like anyone who has ever used an on street parking spot has zero right to complain about a lane being “wasted”.
TokyoTuds
at 10:22 am
Yes, and in this video there is actually a parking lane not mentioned.
JF007
at 9:38 am
Has anyone paid attention to the Housing related legislation about to be introduced next week…Conservation Authorities reduced to commenting agencies..NIMBYism thing of past govt to override municipal authority and allow multi-unit dwellings..hoping we will see a deep dive from David on the legislation some point of time once it is introduced on Tuesday next week..
TokyoTuds
at 10:17 am
David, I count 6 lanes: bike lane, parking lane, vehicle lane // vehicle lane, parking lane, bike lane.
You cherry picked a short stretch of Yonge where there are no commercial storefronts but immediately south and north of there it is classic pre-war, dense urban street-front.
I measured it on Google Maps and from Merton St. in the north to the York School to the south is merely 550m. You can’t remove the bike lanes in that stretch and ignore everything south and north of there.
And again, there are in fact now six lanes with much, much more utility.
I live in Greektown and love the bike lanes there although I never bike. Why? Because although there used to be four vehicle lanes, the kerb lane was ALWAYS blocked by stoppers & standers in cars or by delivery trucks …. even in rush-hour. Effectively there were NEVER four lanes. But now I can park at the kerb during rush hour to do a 5-minute errand and there are NEVER and cyclists in my vehicle lane. Much, much safer for all.
cyber
at 10:53 am
This was part of “ActiveTO Midtown Complete Streets Pilot” (https://www.tcat.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ActiveTO-Midtown-Complete-Street-Intercept-Study-FINAL-Accessibility-Checked.pdf), effectively testing out similar approach as was done on the Danforth. I hope they make the Yonge Street one permanent, and cannot wait for the permanent version on Eglinton West (“EglintonConnects”/”EglintonTOoday Complete Street”) in my new ‘hood. These are meant not only to shift more trips to active transport modes, but also to support neighbourhood businesses with more foot traffic.
We simply cannot add more roads within city limits due to physical limitations, and with more and more people living in the city the only “math” that works is for greater % of us to take public transit and active transportation modes (cycling, walking etc.) Having an option of a complete, connected network that actually feels safe – including being protected from cars, properly cleaned in the winter – is the first step. Winter cycling is not THAT big of a deal if the paths are clear and one is dressed properly, if Norwegians can do it so can we… plus there’s a public transit option along Yonge Street 🙂
Plus, despite your anecdotal experience, the actual data released by the city has shown an average increase of 1-1.5 minutes in the Davisville to Bloor stretch: https://www.toronto.ca/news/city-of-toronto-releases-activeto-midtown-complete-street-pilot-data/
There’s barely any driveways or gas stations in Manhattan, and that’s what we’re (slowly) evolving into. Just like a detached home has already turned from a basic good single-income immigrant families can afford into a luxury good, so will vehicle ownership over a somewhat longer time horizon.
TokyoTuds
at 11:49 am
cyber is very rational in linking this excellent research.
David Fleming
at 6:10 pm
Yes, I was also hoping Cyber would comment!
Now, we just need TO Planner to chime in with her thoughts….
J
at 11:14 am
That stretch of Yonge is unique, being surrounded by the cemetery on one side and an above-ground section of the subway on the other. There’s probably room to put 3 lanes in each direction. But traffic would be slower with more lanes. It’s not feasible to extend multiple lanes south to St. Clair or north to Eglinton and onwards, so multiple lanes could only exist within this short stretch. Cars merging in and out of the temporary lane would cause the traffic to be worse. It might feel good to quickly zip past that section, but after a few hundred metres you’d need to slam on the brakes and fight to merge back into the original lane.
Mike
at 12:31 pm
David I feel like you only posted this today to solicit conflicting arguments. Sometimes I think you’re a glutton for punishment.
Daniel
at 11:04 pm
I have been reading this blog for years. I’ve learned that David Fleming is the best in the world at lighting a match and dropping it next to a pile of oily rags, then running away. Debates like this are popular and they result in a lot of comments. The guy is no dummy. He knows what he’s doing.
Kerry-Anne
at 1:55 pm
I wouldn’t take such ghastly view on the “war on cars” in this city if we truly had world class transit. One subway on Sheppard and one subway on Eglinton in a half-century span isn’t exactly getting the job done. Just my $0.02.
Ace Goodheart
at 2:41 pm
Qualifications required to be a Toronto City Councilllor?
None really. You, or someone you know, has to be able to read and write, so you can fill out the forms.
My personal beef with how Toronto is set up for cars and transit (and planter boxes I guess?) is the way they design the mass transit systems.
If we are looking at downtown, they want street cars. Large, bulky vehicles that run on rails, down the middle of narrow 18th century streets originally designed for horses. One of these things stops, it blocks traffic for miles.
I always think “why not bury these things?” What is wrong with having an inner city subway system in Toronto? Why insist on all of the inner city, downtown transit being surface rail, when there is literally nowhere on the surface to put it?
Then we look at transit projects outside of the downtown core.
Where you would expect surface rail, right?
But no, that is not what the do. They build subways. Some of them, through empty fields, with subway stops in green meadows and in locations where there is literally no pedestrian traffic (look at the University line extension up to Vaughan – it goes under green fields and empty spaces, and stops like Black Creek Pioneer Village open up to areas where no one ever walks).
That would have been an ideal surface rail line. There is nothing in the way. But they have to bury it.
They are doing the same thing right now on Eglinton West. Burying a street car line under a four lane road with wide green banks of grass on either side of it. The “cross town west extension” I think they call it? Lots of subway stops, up in an area where there is no foot traffic. Who do they expect will ride this? The busses up there already run empty. And why bury it? What was in the way, on the surface?
Billion dollar subways in the suburbs, where no one uses them and there was nothing in the way on the surface.
And downtown? On narrow, single track roads which are already loaded far beyond their service capacity and are basically fully gridlocked already? We need surface rail! Packed street cars, inching along in heavy gridlock.
Because building a subway underneath all of this, so people can get swiftly from one place to another in the downtown core, would not make sense, would it?
A Grant
at 3:24 pm
“The truth is: I have no idea what this city is going to look like in twenty years, so while I personally think it’s insane to take away a lane of traffic on a major street…”
As counterintuitive as it is, study after study has shown that road diets can actually improve traffic flow, reduce speeds and increase safety for everyone.
TokyoTuds
at 4:07 pm
There is an old joke that says trying to solve traffic congestion by adding lanes is like trying to lose weight by loosening your belt.
Alexander
at 6:44 pm
I was really surprised to find out a few years ago that Yonge St. is limited to one car lane in one direction. And I agree with Eddie that most of those bike lines in Toronto are simply not used – no one is there. 200 cars and one biker? And in winter 2000 cars and one biker? Did anyone actually do bike lines usage research – when they were built and now? Planters are just simply dumb, one lane on Yonge and 50 km speed limit on major roads are dumb and I am shudder to think what will come next. Whoever pushes this agenda needs reality check.
Alexander
at 1:11 pm
Actually, now that I think it over , maybe those who are limiting one car lane in one direction are having multiple agendas 1. push people to bike more because of the constant traffic jams and 2. now they may produce data backing up the rise of bike rides ( comparative to car rides ) because of the traffic jams. This agenda also applies to keeping trams on the streets – that someone mentioned here! – it just makes more congestion and is used for the same purpose. Bingo! I think it would be even better for the bike numbers to permanently close all streets for traffic? And then Cyber and TokyoTuds can proudly report the mission accomplished?