Bikes, cars and people — the war heats up in Toronto

Coming to work during Wednesday’s morning’s rush hour, I drove across Wellesley St., then went south on Sherbourne all the way to the waterfront, then headed west along Queens Quay to Yonge St.

I saw only 15 bicyclists during the entire commute, even though all these roads have bike lanes and the weather was perfect for riding.

At work, I counted a total of just 17 bicycles locked up in the bike racks in our building’s parking garage, despite the fact that nearly 2,000 people work in the 24-storey office tower that houses the Toronto Star, a Canada Post sorting facility, LCBO finance offices and other companies.

I decided to count the cyclists after reading that the city plans to install “protected” bike lanes this summer along University Avenue, one of the busiest streets in Toronto.

Given how few cyclists I saw and how few are actually using the existing bikes lanes, it seems that mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi may be right when he calls the University Ave. plan “sheer madness.”

Indeed, the move to convert two lanes of University Ave., a major arterial street travelled by thousands of motorists every day, to bike lanes is the latest sign that the small, but highly vocal, pro-bike lobby in the city and at city hall is stepping up — and winning — the city’s “war on cars.”

If anything, the pro-bike crowd at city hall is being deliberately mischievous and provocative by pushing for the controversial bike lanes in the midst of the current mayoral election. Rossi, who opposes bike lanes on major streets such as Jarvis, Bloor and University, has made the issue a hot campaign topic, winning huge applause from motorists and infuriating cycling activists.

Under the plan, two lanes of University Ave. and Queen’s Park Crescent would be replaced for a three-month period from July through September by protected bike lanes from Richmond St. north to Wellesley. The road now has four lanes in each direction. Cyclists would ride in the lane adjacent to the median and be separated from cars and trucks by a metre-wide buffer and solid dividing posts.

City council would study the results of the three-month test and decide whether to make the bike lanes permanent.

Other bike lanes will be tested this summer on parts of Bay St., Landsdowne Ave., Rathburn Rd., York Mills Rd., and several other streets.

While more bike lanes are a good idea, putting them on major roads is ridiculous. They should be placed on less-busy routes.

The city staff report claims the impact on University Ave. traffic would be negligible. “Traffic capacity analysis indicates that University Ave. could operate with three travel lanes in each direction in the peak periods with little impact on the current levels of service,” the report says.

That’s just nuts!

Anyone who has been stuck in rush-hour traffic on University Ave. knows that’s not true.

University Ave. is meant to carry lots of cars and truck and removing one lane will likely make it more dangerous by pushing cars into fewer lanes and creating even more congestion, thus producing even more air pollution.

The city’s public works and infrastructure committee is expected to rubber-stamp the plan at its meeting next Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., in committee room 1 at city hall. The plan will then go to the full city council for final approval.

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Like it or not, the University Ave. bike lane trial will go ahead. There’s no way the current council will oppose it.

That’s why it will be critical that the pilot project be conducted openly and honestly.

The evidence can’t just be anecdotal, with cyclists yelling “Yippee, this is great” and producing highly questionable statistics about the number of bikers actually using the lanes.

Before this pilot project is put in place, everyone needs to know how it will be evaluated, what does the city hope to achieve, what will be involved in the evaluation, how will the city know if it is a success or failure, and who will be involved in the evaluation.

All of this must be determined in advance, otherwise it won’t be a true scientific study.

The staff report claims “key stakeholders” along University Ave., including hospitals, the fire department “and the cycling community” will be consulted about the plan and how it is evaluated.

I didn’t see any reference to consulting drivers.

Clearly, they are the losers once again.

Bob Hepburn’s column appears on Thursday. bhepburn@thestar.ca