As cities worldwide prioritize sustainable transportation, Ontario’s administration seems intent on pedaling backward. Instead of expanding bike lanes, they’re proposing their removal. After a summer biking through Toronto, I’ve observed firsthand how these decisions impact the city’s transportation network—and what could improve it.
A Maze of Half-Measures
I think the best way to understand Toronto's clouded vision is to look at their myriad of traffic calming and safety improvements:
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"NEW" Stop Signs: As if it’s something to get excited about.
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"Safety Zones": As if we only want to be safe in some places, everybody else, GOOD LUCK.
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No Turn Restrictions: In some streets you can't turn left OR right ... instead of redesigning the street to actually prevent unwanted traffic patterns, they've just put up signs that basically say "don't do anything here" while still maintaining it as a fully car-accessible street.
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"No Idling" Signs: Finally identifying the correct problem, but offering not much of a solution.
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X-Marked Crosswalks: A massive infrastructure investment, shining a light on the crosswalk all night long with the hopes that a person speeding by will see pedestrians and slow down. This one is the craziest IMHO and very common in Toronto. They could have cut the road width in half, naturally halving the crosswalk length and forcing folks to drive slower too.
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The community is desperate: I have never seen this in any other city - a desperate plea for folks to drive more slowly, draw by hand - in CHALK, possibly by children who need a change they can’t wait for the city to enact.
Frustration city
People all over the world like to say that traffic and people driving are the worst in their cities. I found folks in Toronto tend to be quite careful in their cars, and Canadians famously polite outside their vehicles ... but ... never have I heard so many folks shouting out of their windows directing other folks how to move their vehicles. You know the situation is rough if ordinary Canadians are shouting at strangers. Nothing exemplified this more than this one day biking downtown which I caught on video.
"This is typical actually" a local man told me, after I had been biking for almost three minutes though stand-still traffic (2:45). Another person said she had been essentially stuck for 1.5 hours (45 seconds in the video).
The Streetcar Paradox
Toronto boasts one of North America's most extensive streetcar networks, with very high levels of service. Yet, these magnificent beasts often sit trapped behind rows of single-occupancy vehicles. This is more serious than you might think; illustrated by the picture below. This streetcar has been stuck in that spot for an entire light cycle. The reason is - when the lights are red, the cars from the side road turn in and stack up. During the green phase those cars move a bit - but not enough to provide space for the whole streetcar, and so it is forced to wait for the next light cycle; as more turning cars clog up the space ... and the cycle repeats. In general people driving are constantly passing the streetcars - only to block their path a few meters down the road, saving a few second and delaying the streetcar full of densely packed Torontonians.
There is a surprisingly good solution that dramatically decreased tram travel times; discouraging through traffic by forcing people driving to turn on or off at every block. Thereby keeping the roads fully open to cars, and parking too, but removing folks who were just passing through. From what I heard - Toronto stopped enforcing it, and then it was scrapped.
Highway horizons
The city is crisscrossed by massive highways that dominate the skyline and divide Toronto neighborhoods. Despite this extensive network, Toronto still ranks among North America's most congested cities. Some have so many lanes the directional signs look like cartoon characters.
They paved paradise to put up a parking lot
Casa Loma, a grand 1914 castle and one of the most beautiful historic buildings in Toronto. Surrounded on all sides by parking for cars, an odd choice for anyone familiar with the tranquil splendor of European castles surrounded by green lawns. This of course is only one example.
Islands unpaved paradise (if you can get there)
The Toronto Islands represent everything the city could be: car-free, people-friendly spaces where children can roam freely and people biking don't fear for their lives. But accessing this urban oasis requires waiting for limited ferries, that cost almost ten dollars.
And the worst part - there’s already a pedestrian tunnel to the islands! And a free, ferry too, that takes only a minute. Only a distance of about 0.5 km (0.35 miles) blocks the 3 million people of Toronto from visiting the massive beautiful car-free park their taxes pay for.
A society that builds elevated highways that look like this (below) ... and can build a pedestrian tunnel under the lake for airport access ... can't find the will to build a 0.5km tunnel or 1km pedestrian pathway around the airport.
$22 for Cars, $156 for Transit
While monthly street parking permits are only $22, a monthly public transit pass is $156. This encourages more people to buy cars and drive. Transit speeds are dinged the worst by traffic so the cycle becomes a particularly vicious one spiraling into gridlock for everyone.
Missed opportunity
Perhaps most frustrating is what Toronto could be. The streets are wide – typically one lane dedicated to driving (sometimes shared with trams) and an extra wide lane for parking and sometimes driving. The extra wide side lane encourages speeding everywhere on the road. Despite the numerous signed protests - people ultimately will drive according to the design of the road.
In the shot below you can see that even areas without designated parking maintain an extra-wide right-hand lane.
Every single main road I came across would be a perfect candidate for protected bike lanes buffered by parked cars. Here is a little visualization of how it could work (check it out yourself over on 3dstreet). This kind of change could be implemented overnight with a little paint and could instantly transform the streets.
Conclusion
Toronto streets don't have to be this way. Prioritizing alternative transport will make them safer, more efficient, and more enjoyable for everyone – even including people driving. But first, Toronto needs to acknowledge that the problem is the cars and commit to comprehensive solutions, no more of these weird ideas applied at random. Let's hope the good people of Toronto can overcome the car-brained premier of Ontario and select a better future.
