It’s been about 12 months since I purchased my Avenir folding bicycle, and while the head-turning novelty has worn off, the flexibility that a bicycle adds to my commute has not. Originally, the decision to buy a bicycle came out of a parking problem. My house is a 15 minute drive from Brampton GO station, but the parking lot tends to fill up by 7:15 am. If there were no spots remaining then the only other solution was to drive another 20 minutes across Brampton to Bramalea GO station. In order to avoid the parking lot altogether I would have to walk 20 minutes from my front door to the Orangeville GO bus stop for a 15 minute trip to Brampton GO. A bike would have cut the walk to 4 minutes, but there was no place I felt comfortable locking up the bike for the day and I had a desire to take the bike downtown to save on TTC fares. The solution was a folding bike, which are allowed on rush hour GO trains and could be folded, bagged, and placed in the luggage compartment of almost all GO buses. (more…)

Maybe you’ve seen them around the city before. Bikes with small wheels, tall handle bars and a tall seat post. Some have even called them clown bikes. But, there are more to these strange creatures than meets the eye…

Last spring my car died and though a complicated series of transactions my family replaced it with a mini-van. I was concerned about the ecological footprint left by a single occupant driving a van to the GO station every morning – and I was sick and tired of the soccer-mom jokes. Also, since my school schedule isn’t the same every day, I was concerned about the diminishing amount of available parking spaces at the train station after the peak hours. The solution was to try to get to the nearest bus stop for a one-seat ride to the train station – but in Caledon this isn’t easy.

It’s a 20 minute walk through the Highway 410 extension construction site to get to the GO bus stop, where I could take the Orangeville bus without having to pay an additional fare. This was perfect for the peak hours, off peak service was terrible. If I walked 10 more minutes along the rural highway I could reach a Brampton Transit stop with decent service for 50 cents on top of my GO pass – but service ended at 7pm made a drink after a tough midterm impossible. I would have to walk 40 minutes from my front door to a Brampton Transit stop where buses ran from the start to end of service all days of the week. Walking for 40 minutes to the bus stop, while great for the body, is unfeasible for commuting and all too common in the suburbs. A bicycle was the answer, but there were problems. (more…)

Should cyclists be allowed to use the elevators to bring their bicycles onto the subway?

I think so, provided they are not crowding out people who use mobility devices. Carrying a bike up or down stairs can be very difficult especially after a long ride, and sustainable, multi-modal trips could be just what the doctor ordered for this region.

Should subway stations be integrated into buildings where possible?

I also thing so. Subways stations should be placed close to planned and development, as stand-alone station buildings aren’t necessarily the best use of the land. Taking it to the next step and putting subway station entrances into malls and office buildings results in a synergy where the property management company gets guaranteed traffic in front of their retail spaces while the TTC saves money on building infrastructure and accessible facilities. This seems to have worked well in many locations, and passengers have enjoyed the ability to walk from the subway to their office indoors for years.

But, what happens when the property management company bans bicycles or other objects from their buildings?

Today, I observed what appeared to be a security guard for a downtown mall (I won’t say which one) escorting a gentleman with a bicycle out of the building. It appeared that the gentleman brought the bike inside in order to use the elevator to get to the subway. At this particular station there is barrier-free access to the station using only public property, but what about a station like York Mills, where the only barrier-free access from the street is through an office building – where it is their prerogative to ban certain items from their property.

On one hand, there is no dispute that the mall is private property and that the property management company has the right to welcome or turn away any visitor of their choosing (within reason, of course). On the other hand, aren’t they infringing on reasonable freedom of mobility?

In the gray area between private and public property, who has control and who should have control?

Image source: Flickr user “naturalkinds” and is licensed under Creative Commons

What gets a person to ride a bike?

This is the $6000 dollar question (the average annual cost of owning a car). Some people need some mentoring and encouragement from a cycling enthusiast to get them started.  Others need to have bike lanes or be fed information about best routes. Others, still, are so set in their ways that getting on a bicycle seems like a far-fetched notion. There are many motivations to ride: saving money, saving the world, saving one’s waistline, or simply enjoying the pleasures a bicycle offers. Conversely, there are many barriers that discourage people from choosing two wheels over four. Safety, weather, distance, health, and facilities are but a few. I aim to explore these motives in this and future postings.

I started riding to work three years ago. Let me provide some context and back up to 1994. When I was in high school, my bike was stolen from my parent’s garage. At the time I didn’t really think it was cool or safe to ride anyways, so for a period of 10 years I didn’t bother to replace it. In university, I was oblivious to the precious minutes of extra sleep I could have had if I cycled to class, in breezy style I might add, instead of making the 15-minute trek by foot. Worse, I drove a navy 1988 Cadillac DeVille around town, an eight-cylinder boat of a car that downed 15L of black gold for every 100 km travelled.

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On one day every year, Torontonians can experience the thrill of a ciclovia, a temporary road closure to cars for the benefit of other users such as cyclists. I am referring to the Becel Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart, a charity ride which allows cyclists and in-line skaters to travel the DVP and Gardiner Expressway free of cars and trucks.  I was one of the over 12,000 participants at this year’s event on June 1st. I have three observations I would like to share:

Cycling is for everyone! I saw people there of all ages and walks of life: training wheels, recumbents, tandems, trailers, third wheels, cruisers, racers, families, new love, old love, too much spandex, and a whole lot of smiling. For those new to cycling, it is a great place to learn. Plus, it gives our youth a crucially important impression about the fun and importance of this exercise. For the experienced cyclists, it is a great place to reconnect with the cycling community. For me, it was a breath of fresh air. I think H.G. Wells put it best: “Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.”

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To some people who have spent their whole lives downtown the 905 might seem like something out of M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Village.’ Stray too close to Steeles and the monsters in their SUVs will jump out and grab you…

In a recent discussion board thread about improving transit in Mississauga, one opinion about the improvements already in place was that “unfortunately, the political response has been with absurdities like creating HOV lanes on the 403 (taking away an active traffic lane from an already-congested highway), dedicated diamond lanes, giving consideration to bicycles and other such nonsense.” While this might not represent the opinion of the average 905er, my 15 year experience in the suburbs suggests that sustainable transportation, as a culture, may not be the default frame of mind.

The 905 isn’t the most sustainable place to live. It’s not the most walkable or transit-friendly place to live either. But, it is a place where many people have chosen to live, and many more will continue to make that choice. It’s not going away, and if we want to transform this region into a place where sustainable mobility is the first and best choice, then we have to work within the confines of the low-density, car-oriented suburb. (more…)