The City of Toronto is in the process of debating and approving the 2009 Operating budget and on February 18th the public has their chance to add their voice to the debate. Public hearings are scheduled for 9:30 that day. You can sign up to make a deputation or you can send your written comments into the Budget Committee. You can sign up for a deputation by calling Merle MacDonald, the Budget Committee Administrator at 416-392-7340. You can e-mail your comments to the budget committee at buc@toronto.ca. There are initiatives in the budget that cycling advocates should voice their support for to counter the predictable attacks that will come from the few Councillors who don't see the need to adequately fund cycling programs. There are also areas that cycling advocates can point to that still need attention in order to fully realize the goals of the Bike Plan and to truly create a great cycling city.

The Toronto Bike Plan figures prominently in the 2009 Operating Budget as 'completing the Toronto Bike Plan by 2012' is one of the priorities of the Mayor and Council that is listed as a challenge and opportunity for the next three years for the Transportation Services Division. To meet that challenge the budget proposes to 'Dedicate staff resources to complete the Bike Plan by 2012'. This commitment to increase funding for staff in the Operating Budget complements the actions taken in the 2009 Capital Budget, which was approved last December, to dedicate funds in the 5 year capital plan to build cycling infrastructure to complete the Bike Plan by 2012.

The details of how the staff resources will be increased can be found in the Transportation Services 2009 Operating Budget Analyst Briefing Notes. There will be a increase of $210,000 for three additional staff. The funds for this increase will come partly from the 2009 Capital Budget and partly from user fees from the Bike Locker program and from new Bike Stations. The documents also state there will also be a fourth new staff position to work on cycling initiatives which has been achieved by reassigning a postion to the cycling unit.

Bike Plan Cycling Positions ($0.111 million gross and $0 net)
Funding of $0.111 million gross and $0 net for a permanent Senior Traffic Field Investigator and a Traffic Field Investigator position is recommended in order to undertake the field investigations, traffic and parking studies necessary to increase the amount of bike lanes designed and approved from 50 kilometers in 2008 to an average of 103 kilometers over the next four years in order to complete the Bike Plan by 2012. The full cost of this new and enhanced service priority in 2010 will be $0.163 million gross and $0 net. These positions are being funded through the 2009 Approved Capital Budget.

Project Lead and Assistant Planner for Cycling Infrastructure ($0.099 million gross and $0 net) Funding of $0.099 million gross and $0 net is recommended for two permanent positions which include a Project Lead and an Assistant Planner to be responsible for enhancing delivery of cycling promotion programs including Bike Month, bicycle lockers and the development of a new Bike Share program. The Assistant Planner position is intended to replace the existing Mail Clerk position which will be eliminated resulting in an increase of one position. These positions will enhance program delivery as part of the Bike Plan and will be funded from recoveries from the 2009 Approved Capital Budget and user fees from the Bike Station and Locker program. The full cost of this new and enhanced service priority in 2010 will be $0.149 gross and $0 net.

This change to the budget demonstrates a further consolidation of the responsibilities for completing the Toronto Bike Plan within the Transportation Services division. In the past the Planning division was responsible for Cycling Safety & Education and Cycling Promotion programs. These programs have suffered from a lack of funds since the inception of the Bike Plan in 2001 with only nominal increases since that point. If these are new positions in addition to the 2 existing staff who were transferred from the Planning Division to the Transportation Services Division, this will mark the first real increase in staffing to deliver these important elements of the Bike Plan. The focus of these two staff appears to be, however, on Cycling Promotion. There is still a need to enhance the funding for Cycling Safety and Education programs.

As Toronto Bikeway Network expands there will be the need for increased maintenance for the growing number of on-street bike lanes. That is recognized in the 2009 budget as one of the reasons given for increases in the base budget in years 2009, 2010 and 2011 is the increased maintenance for newly created bike lanes.

Winter maintenance of Bike Lanes is also addressed in the 2009 Operating Budget One of the items mentioned as an initiative funded 'Enhanced winter maintenance for bike lanes including the Martin Goodman Trail, and increased provisions for snow removal.' Details of this initiative to clear the Martin Goodman Trail and for enhanced clearing of snow in bicycle lanes are outlined in the breifing notes for the Transportation Services budget:

• Increased priority for cyclists to clear on-street bike lanes located on main roads. For a period of 48 to 72 hours after a storm, ploughs are sent out again on the roadway to clear curb lanes, where the majority of bike lanes are located, with instructions to operators to move the snow as close as possible to curb without blocking the public sidewalk in order ensure at least 1 metre of bike lane is open for use.
• For the first time in 2009, there will be winter maintenance on parts of the Martin Goodman Trail providing two bicycle routes into the downtown core from the east from Northern Dancer Boulevard to Sherbourne Street and from the west from the Humber River Pedestrian Bridge to Bathurst Street.

While maintenance of the on-street bike lanes and the Martin Goodman Trail are getting attention in this budget there is still one large part of the Bikeway Network that is not addressed. While much of the responsibility for building new trails through Toronto's parks has been transferred to the Transportation Services Division from the Parks Forestry & Recreation(PF&R) Division the PR&R is still responsible for the maintenance of trails that are part of the Bikeway New and for repairs and upgrades to those trails to keep them in a State of Good Repair. Looking through the Parks Forestry & Recreation Analyst Briefing notes maintenance of these trails does not get a mention. There is a need for improved maintenance on the trails that make up the Toronto Bikeway network, this includes cutting of the grass along the trails, trimming trees and shrubs along the trails, cleaning of debris on the trails and patching potholes in the trails. Just as trail maintenance was highlighted in the Transportation Services budget, trail maintenance should be given heightened attention and increased funds in the Parks Forestry and Recreation Operating Budget to support the Mayor's and Council's priority of completing the Bike Plan by 2012 to ensure all parts of the existing Bikeway Network are in good shape and rideable. Also, just as the Transportation Services division recognizes the need to increase the funds for bike lane maintenance as the number of lanes increases over the next 4 years, Parks Forestry and Recreation needs to build into this year's and future year's budgets the funds needed to maintain the new trails built as part of the project to complete the Bikeway Network by 2012. In the next 4 years both divisions also have to build up the capacity to continue to carry out the maintenance on the entire 1000 km plus network in the years beyond 2012.

The State of Good Repair backlog is another issue that needs to be addressed by the Budget Committee. There are many park trails that need to be repaved and upgraded to current trail design standards. According to the 2008 Capital budget there was a $20.48 million dollar backlog to 2006, a $20.075 million dollar estimated need in 2007. Adding to that in 2008 and 2009 was an estimated need of $1.62 million and $2.06 million respectively. That amounts to a $44 million dollar backlog of repairs that should have been done at this point to trails and pathways. (This includes not just Bikeway Network related trails but they make up a large portion of that.) In 2009 only $1.375 million is being spent to address these needs. While the funds for State of Good Repair projects comes from the Capital Budget there still needs to be funding in the Operating Budget for the staff to plan and coordinate those projects.

As the Federal Government and the City of Toronto are looking for "shovel ready' projects for infrastructure spending under the federal government's stimulus program they should seriously look at the parts of the Bikeway Network that have already been identified by Parks Forestry and Recreation as in need of repair. An injection of cash to repair this important component of Toronto's cycling infrastructure would go a long way to supporting the implementation of the Bike Plan. The City should clearly state their attention to do so and a clear way to do this would be to earmark funds for staff to focus on coordinating these projects and state their intention to request the capital funds to complete these projects from the federal infrastructure funding.