I try to scan the local press to see if any of the papers are covering cycling issues. There is not often much. The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail both have weekly sections called 'Wheels' and 'Mega Wheels' respectively, the coverage is generally of the 4 wheel gas propelled kind. The local community papers may have the occaisional story on a local cycling issue but there are so many out there it is impossible to even get ahold of them let alone have time to read them. Now, however thru the magic of the internet the task has become alot easier.

Google has a new News service that allows you to search 4000 news publications and services. You can go to their site and type in "bike or cycling Toronto" and you can find stories printed in the last 30 days by any of the 4000 news outllets.

Generally the search does not turn up much of interest but last week there were a couple of stories. One was in the Globe and Mail. Municipalities grapple with transit woes. It sumarizes some of the work being done to promote cycling as a transportation mode. It also has some interesting stats on the costs associated with walking, cycling, taking transit and driving.

Another is a more local story from one of the community papers. The Beach-Riverdale Town Crier published a story called Bike trail gets upgrade And street named after cycling proponent. It talks about the reconstruction currently taking place on the Martin Goodman Trail between Leslie and Coxwell. It also covers the story of a street being named to honour Dan Leckie, a former Toronto City Councillor who was an advocate for cycling.

Hopefully the commercial press large and small will start to cover cycling issues more often and in more depth as we press on into the second year of the Toronto Bike Plan. If you see any stories in the news, especially in the local community papers send me an e-mail. Not all of the local papers have an online version and even if they do a search may miss some cycling related stories.