Survey Results

Active Transportation

1. Increasing the role of walking and cycling in Toronto

Walking and cycling (Active Transportation) are the most affordable, healthy and sustainable forms of transportation. In order to seriously tackle the problems of smog, local greenhouse gas emissions, increasing traffic congestion and volatile gas prices, Toronto City Council needs to actively support programs and infrastructure changes that encourage walking and cycling.

Do you support increasing the role of walking and cycling in Toronto’s transportation system through improved programs and infrastructure?

2. Integrating cycling and pedestrian issues into city planning: road reconstruction & resurfacing

The most cost effective way of building bike lanes and adding pedestrian friendly features to roads is to do it when roads are reconstructed or resurfaced. Toronto spends millions of dollars every year reconstructing and resurfacing roads and most of these are done without making changes to the cycling and pedestrian environment. This is a missed opportunity. Every road reconstruction and resurfacing project and new road construction should incorporate design features that will improve conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.
More info: T-CAT Platform: Integrate - Road Reconstruction

Do you support a new process that will review road reconstruction and resurfacing projects, as well as development plans, to ensure that they include improvements to the active transportation infrastructure?

3. Increasing the use of cycling and walking to conduct city business

As the City of Toronto calls on its residents to make the transition to Active Transportation it should lead by example by incorporating cycling and walking into the delivery of its services. It could do this by: a) having more staff use bikes in the course of their duties such as bylaw officers, parking enforcement officers, police and other city employees b) using more bicycle and foot couriers c) improving bicycle parking facilities at city buildings to encourage staff to bike to work and residents to bike to access city programs and services.
More info: T-CAT Platform: Lead - Increase the use of cycling and walking to conduct city business

Do you support increasing the use of cycling and walking to conduct city business and to access city programs and services?

4. Exploring the creation of ‘Clean Air Corridors’ during smog days

Toronto is suffering from an unacceptable number of smog days during which the air is dangerously polluted, and Toronto Public Health reports that motorized transportation sources are a major local source of air pollution. Cities around the world have started to experiment with closing streets to motorized traffic on days when their air quality deteriorates. The City of Toronto should begin a study of the feasibility and potential positive health impact of instituting "clean air corridors" in Toronto on smog days, streets where motorized vehicles are restricted in order to provide citizens with travel routes where the air is cleaner and safer to breathe.
More Info: T-CAT Platform: Protect - Explore ‘Creation of Clean Air Corridors’

Do you support directing Toronto Public Health and Transportation Services to investigate the health benefits and potential routes for clean air corridors?

Walking

5. Developing the Pedestrian Master Plan

The city of Toronto has embarked a Pedestrian Master Plan to be developed by 2008. Ideally, this plan should address the pedestrian-related work of all city departments, and provide an ambitious, groundbreaking and detailed blueprint for creating a city that is a joy to walk in throughout its length and breadth.
More info: TCAT platform – Lead – “Pedestrian Plan”

Do you support the development of a Pedestrian Master Plan for the City of Toronto?

6. Coordinating pedestrian issues across divisions

Pedestrians are affected by and affect the work of almost all branches of the city government: Transportation, Planning, Parks and Forestry, Health, Licensing and Standards, Police Services, the TTC, social housing, culture, and tourism. Yet there currently exists no mechanism for coordinating the pedestrian-related work of these various divisions, which means that moving forward any kind of complex pedestrian initiative is very difficult. The city needs to establish a strong sys-tem for coordinating and leading pedestrian initiatives across city divisions.
More info: TCAT platform – Lead – “Pedestrian Plan”

Do you support the creation of a mechanism for coordinating pedestrian issues across City divisions?

7. Establishing and enforcing pedestrian clearways

Sidewalks are often blocked by a wide variety of obstacles that impede pedestrians. Often, these obstacles are placed in such a way that, between them, they leave little space for pedestrians to pass. These obstacles can include A-frame advertising boards, street patios, transit shelters and other street furniture. Such blockages are in contravention of the city’s accessibility guidelines, and often in contravention of bylaws, which are not enforced. The Harbord Village Resident’s Association has proposed a “clearway” concept where street furniture would be placed in such a way to allow an accessible, clear passage for pedestrians, and that bylaws governing sidewalk obstacles would be systematically enforced.
More info: TCAT Platform – Protect – “Improve bylaw enforcement”

Do you support the establishment of “clearways” for pedestrians on sidewalks?

8. Improving pedestrian crosswalks

The city has developed a Crosswalk Improvement Program to make crosswalks on major and minor arterial roads safer, and convert dangerous ones into traffic signals. The combined cost of major and minor arterials will be $10.2 million dollars over four years.
More info: City of Toronto – Pedestrian Crossover Review Proposal (Major Arterials) (PDF) and City of Toronto – Pedestrian Crossover Review (Minor Arterials) (PDF)

Do you support the completion of the Crosswalk Improvement Program within four years?

9. Maintaining sidewalks to an adequate standard

Sidewalk maintenance in Toronto has fallen far behind schedule because of budget cuts. Crumbling sidewalks are not just an issue of aesthetics – they reduce accessibility, are a danger to public health, and discourage walking as a form of transportation. The city needs to direct the necessary budgetary resources to sidewalk maintenance to get it back on a reasonable schedule.
More info: TCAT Platform – Integrate – “Improve maintenance”

Do you support directing additional budgetary resources to eliminate the backlog in sidewalk maintenance?

10. Increasing the funding of the Civic Improvement Program

The Civic Improvement Program, managed by the Urban Design Group of Planning, makes significant and visible improvements to the pedestrian environment by expanding, designing and beautifying public spaces. Unfortunately, because its funding is limited, it can only work on a fraction of the potential projects it identifies. If the city is to achieve its goal of becoming a beautiful city that draws pedestrians onto its streets, the work of the Civic Improvement Program must be greatly expanded. TCAT recommends increasing the budget by $400,000 a year over four years, allowing the program to work on two additional projects a year.
More info: City of Toronto – Civic Improvement Program

Do you support increasing the budget of the Civic Improvement Program by $400,000 a year over four years?

11. Increasing pedestrian unit staffing

The Transportation Division currently only devotes one full-time staff position and half of a managerial position to pedestrians. As a result, those pedestrian initiatives that the city begins are often delayed for years in their execution because of a lack of available staff time and expertise. If Toronto is to make walking an essential part of its transportation policy, as indicated in the official plan and envisaged in the Pedestrian Plan project, then it must provide the requisite staff resources.
More info: TCAT platform – Build – “Increase staff resources”

Do you support increasing the number of full-time staff positions dedicated to pedestrian projects?

Cycling

12. Streamlining the Bike Lane Approval Process

One of the issues holding up the construction of the Bikeway Network is the lack of an effective bike lane approval process. In 2005 only 1 km of bike lane was built even thought 16 km were proposed. In 2006 only 6 km of the 30 km of funded projects were approved. Councillor support is crucial to ensure bike lanes are built in the year that they are proposed for construction by city staff. Councillors need to expedite the bike lane approval process by consulting with all stakeholders in a timely manner and still ensuring bike lanes go through the Council approvals without delay.
More info: T-CAT Platform: Integrate - Bike lane approval process

Do you support a new streamlined bike lane approval process that will ensure bike lanes are constructed in the year proposed for their implementation by city staff?

13. Building links between cycling and transit

Active transportation is crucial link in any public transit system. If people can't comfortably and safely walk or cycle to the bus or subway they won't take public transit. Combining cycling and transit can increase ridership by making transit more accessible and effective for people giving them door-to-door convenience. This can be done by funding the expansion of the bus bike rack project to all TTC routes by 2010, installing a full Bike Station that includes supervised bike parking and change facilities at Union Station as part of its reconstruction and by providing enhanced bike parking such as bike lockers or bike stations at all TTC subway stations and transit hubs by 2010.
More info: T-CAT Platform: Build links between cycling and transit

Do you support funding the following programs to build links between cycling and transit?

• Funding the expansion of the bus bike rack project to all TTC routes by 2010
• Providing enhanced Bike Parking or Bike Stations at all TTC subway stations and transit hubs by 2010
• Installing a full Bike Station that includes supervised bike parking, change facilities and other services at Union Station as part of its reconstruction.

14. Improving road maintenance in curb lanes and bike lanes

Cycling is a year-round mode of transportation. The hazards that cyclists face on the road vary according to the season. In the spring potholes in the road make navigating bike lanes and the curb lane tricky, in the summer and fall it is dirt and debris that accumulate along the curb, in the winter snow piles up in the bike lanes. The City of Toronto needs to give priority to routine maintenance in the bike lanes and curb lanes of the road where cyclists ride.
More info: T-CAT Platform: Integrate - Improve Maintenance

Do you support prioritizing routine maintenance in high volume cycling corridors such as road patching, street cleaning and snow removal from bike lanes?

15. Promoting cycling as safe, sustainable transportation.

The Toronto Bike Plan in 2001 recommended several new programs to promote cycling and provide cycling education and safety programs to cyclists. However, City Council has not yet increased the budget for these programs. The Toronto Bike Plan 3 year Implementation Strategy report (2005) stated that a doubling of staff was needed to implement the programs recommended. To do this would require adding $270,000 to the Planning Division’s cycling programs budget.
More Info: T-CAT Platform: Promote - Increase funding for cycling safety, education and promotion programs

Do you support doubling the funding for the Cycling Safety Education and Promotion programs offered by the City of Toronto by adding $270,000 to that budget?

16. Implementing the recommendations of the Regional Coroner’s Report on Cycling Fatalities in Toronto (1998)

In 1988 the Regional Coroner published a report on Cycling Fatalities in Toronto. It made a number of recommendations to improve the safety of cyclists most of which have yet to be implemented. Some of these require the cooperation of the Federal and Provincial governments but others are under the jurisdiction of the City. The Mayor and Councillors need to ensure that the city implements these recommendations. They also need to demand that the province and federal governments follow up on the recommendations that apply to them.
More Info: T-CAT Platform: Protect - Implement recommendations of Coroner’s Report

Do you support implementing the recommendations of the Regional Coroner’s Report on Cycling Fatalities in Toronto (1998) that apply to the City of Toronto and working with the Provincial and Federal Governments to ensure that they do the same?

17. Increasing funding to build the Bikeway Network

Construction of the Bikeway network has lagged well behind the schedule set out in the Toronto Bike Plan. Part of the reason is that capital funding has been less than half of what was recommended in the Bike Plan. The Toronto Bike Plan 3 Year Implementation Strategy that was presented to Works Committee in August 2005 sets out a budget plan to get the Bikeway Network construction back on track. To see the bike plan implemented Council needs to approve these budget amounts and ensure that the requisite staff are in place to work on implementing these projects.
More info: T-CAT Platform: Build the Bikeway Network

Do you support adding 285 kilometers to the Bikeway Network by 2010 by supporting the budgets outlined below?

18. Increasing staffing to build the Bikeway Network

The Toronto Bike Plan recommends increasing the level of funding available for building cycling infrastructure. This will require a corresponding increase in the level of staff time to plan, design and implement these projects. Part of the reason that there has been a backlog of bike lane projects is the shortage of staff to work on them. To get these projects back on track the City of Toronto needs to dedicate more staff to building the Bikeway Network.
More info: T-CAT Platform: Build - Increase staffing

Do you support increasing the number of staff working on planning designing and implementing cycling infrastructure by:

• adding 4 staff to the Transportation Services division to work on cycling infrastructure.
• adding a senior position of Cycling and Pathways Planner to the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division

19. Eliminate delays in building the Bikeway Network

Active Transportation requires a network of bike lanes and paths that span the city. To enable this to happen each bike lane project should be approved and built in the year that it is proposed for construction by city staff. Transportation Services staff have proposed projects for 2007 and 2008. Projects for 2009 and 2010 have not been determined yet. There is still a backlog of projects proposed for 2005 and 2006. If the backlog of projects is to be cleared up and the future projects are to be built on time the Mayor will have to play a leadership role to ensure that the issues plauging the implementation of the Bikeway Network, as recommended in the Toronto Bike Plan, are resolved.
More info: TCAT – Bikeway Network projects by Ward

How will you show leadership and what measures will you take over the next 4 years to to deal with the delays plaguing the implementation of the Bike Plan to ensure that the bike lanes proposed over the next 4 years go through the approval process and are constructed on time?