The Toronto Bike Plan (TBP) was made public today, June 28, 2001. It is titled The "Toronto Bike Plan - Shifting Gears" It was posted at the Toronto Cycling Committee web page on the City of Toronto web site. The page includes .pdf versions of all 10 chapters of the document as well as maps of the proposed Bikeway Network. You will also be able to get printed versions for a fee and they will be available at some Toronto Public Libraries. See the Bike Plan web page for details. The Executive Summary and a Staff Report are also included and are a good place to start to learn about what is proposed. They are online as .pdf files along with the TBP. You can also get a print version of the Executive Summary for free by calling 416-39CYCLE or emailing bikeplan@city.toronto.on.ca.

The Executive summary has a brief backgrounder and a listing of all of the recommendations from the plan. The Staff Report outlines specific recommendations and the initial implementation process for the TBP. The chief recommendation is that "The Toronto Bike Plan - Shifting Gears June 2001 be adopted by City Council as the strategic plan for implementing cycling policies, programs and infrastructure improvements over the ten year period 2002-2011." This first recommendation is then followed by a series of operational recommendations.

The TBP and the Staff Report will be presented to the City of Toronto's Planning and Transportation Committee on July 3rd at Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Second Floor, Committee Room 2. The Bike Plan is scheduled for 2:00 pm. The Agenda for this meeting can be viewed as a .pdf document. This meeting is open to the public and there will be deputations.

The members of this committee are:

Joe Pantalone, Chair councillor_pantalone@city.toronto.on.ca

Mario Silva, Vice-Chair councillor_silva@city.toronto.on.ca

Gerry Altobello councillor_altobello@city.toronto.on.ca

Brian Ashton councillor_ashton@city.toronto.on.ca

Joanne Flint councillor_flint@city.toronto.on.ca

Pam McConnell councillor_mcconnell@city.toronto.on.ca

Peter Milczyn councillor_milczyn@city.toronto.on.ca

Howard Moscoe councillor_moscoe@city.toronto.on.ca

If this committee approves the recommendations in the Staff report it will then be forwarded to City Council for its approval. If all of the Staff Report recommendations are approved by City Council, and the TBP is adopted, it does not guarantee all of the recommendations contained in the TBP will be implemented, nor, that the Bikeway Network will be constructed. The necessary policies and the budget items will have to be approved by Council and its Committees one by one as the plan is implemented over the ten year time frame. The good news is that we will be able to track the progress of the implementation as some of the recommendations in the staff report deal with the establishment of Bike Plan Co-ordinating Committee which will include staff from various city departments with Transportation Services Division heading up the committee. Each year it will present the implementation priorities and funding requirements from each department for the coming year and it will also report on the progress made in actually acting on those priorities in the previous year. This co-ordinating committee's work will be done in consultation with the Toronto Cycling Committee.

Now you have alot of reading to do. I will keep you posted as there is more news.

Martin Koob
tcc-rep@tbn.ca