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.

On November 5th, 2008 the City of Toronto will hold budget hearings on the 2009 Capital Budget. This is your opportunity to comment on this year's budget and the funding of the Toronto Bike Plan. This year however Bike Plan supporters are not facing the uphill struggle of trying to get funds for the Bike Plan into the budget. This year can offer their support for significant measures already contained in the recommended budget that will allow for real progress on implementing the Bikeway Network and expand bicycle parking. That is not to say there are some areas for clarification and further improvement but after reviewing the budget documents released so far I have to say this budget marks a significant turning point in the implementation of the Bike Plan.

On October 30th Mayor David Miller and Budget Committee Chair Shelly Carrol introduced the City of Toronto's Capital Budget. Press Release: Toronto's 2009 Capital Budget supports growth and liveability. The Bike Plan figures prominently in this budget with an increase in funding for 2009 to $8 million and a commitment of $70 million to fund the building of the Bikeway Network in the 2009-2013 capital plan in order to complete the Bikeway Network by 2012 as promised by Mayor Miller. These funds will allow the building of 410 KM of bicycle lanes, 122 KM of shared roadways and 83 KM of off road paths. The budget also contains measures to provide more bicycle parking including funding for the first Bicycle Station - secure parking facility. A budget fact sheet has been released on the Bike Plan summarizes the budget measures intended to implement the Bike Plan: Fact Sheet: Transportation Services - Bike Plan Implementation.

Having the money in the 5 year capital plan does not mean the money is in the bank. Some of the funding to implement the 2009-2013 capital plan will have to come from the Province of Ontario. Page 4 of the Transportation Services budget Analyst notes indicate that

"The City will be seeking funding of $28.790 million from the Province in order to complete east-west links through the Finch and Gatineau Hydro Corridors that is vital to the completion of the Bike Plan."

Page 22 of the same document indicates that the City will ask for the money from the Province of Ontario's Move Ontario 2020 Program. It is good to see that the City is asking the province for funding for cycling infrastructure. In the past fund from federal and provincial infrastructure programs have been directed almost exclusively to road and transit projects. It is time that cycling infrastructure projects get a piece of the pie. Supporters of improving cycling in Toronto should get behind this proposal and work with the city to ensure these funds flow to the city for these worthwhile projects. Cycling infrastructure should no longer be ignored when transportation infrastructure agreements are negotiated between the city and federal and provincial governments.

This budget signals a change in approach towards implementing the Bikeway Network with the City's Transportation Services Division taking over most of the responsibility for building the three components of the Bikeway Network: on-street bicycle lanes, on-street signed bicycle routes and now off-street bike paths. This is also explained on page 22 of the Transportation Services budget Analyst notes and elsewhere in the document. Up till now the City's Parks Forestry and Recreation Division had the responsibility for building bicycle paths in Toronto's parks however implementation of these projects has been largely stalled due to a lack of funding in the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division (PF&R) capital budgets. To me there seemed always to have been a mismatch between the approach by the PF&R division towards park paths and the vision in the Toronto Bike Plan that the existing and future paths in parks are an important component in a city wide transportation network. The shift in responsibility for these projects to Transportation Services is a welcome change which I think should result in better coordination of these projects and better integration into the Bikeway network.

The Bike Plan Fact sheet also indicates that there will be an increase in staff to implement these projects. Last year's increase in staff in Transportation Services showed some results with an increase in the number of bike lane projects designed and approved. However the 37 km approved is less than the 50 km forecast so more staff are going to be needed if the city is to increase the number of on-street bike lane projects and to now take on the off-street park path projects.

There is further information on Bikeway Network related budget measures in the Budget presentation document: City of Toronto2009 - 2013 Recommended Capital Budget and Plan, and 2014 -2018 Proposed Capital Forecast.

• The 5 year capital plan for 2009 - 2013 has $70 million in it to complete 410 KM of bicycle lanes, 122 KM of shared roadways and 83 KM of off road paths. (pages 7 & 16).

There are other capital projects included in the 2009 budget that could contribute to the expansion and improvement of the Bikeway network. In some cases they definitely will include cycling infrastructure. For others there needs to be some followup to ensure this is the case.

• Complete Port Union and MimicoParks (2009 $1.700 M, 2009 -2013 $10.300 M) (see pg. 14)
  -These park projects do include bike paths that will extend existing waterfront trails.
• Construct an underpass to eliminate the Dufferin Street Jog creating a regular intersection to facilitate existing and future area traffic operations (2009 $24.770 M, 2009 -2013 $26.270 M) (pg. 9)
  -I think this project was to include bike lanes. The question is if the bike lane is included in this project
• Continue construction of a Bus Rapid Transit way (BRT) from Downsview to York University and continue development of a BRT via Yonge Street from Finch station to SteelesAve. (2009 $12.209 M, 2009 -2013 $40.256 M) (pg. 12)
  -This project was supposed to include a Bikeway alongside of the route thru the Finch Hydro corridor. This was to be the first leg of the Finch Hydro Corridor Bikeway. The question here is if this project will include that Bikeway.
• Maintain 420 kms of roads, rehabilitate 80 bridges and structures in a safe and hazard-free state and to minimize life cycle costs of the assets (2009 $173.193 M, 2009 -2013 $836.679 M) (pg. 9)
  -this budget pays for road reconstruction and resurfacing. Each of these projects could include adding bike lanes or bike friendly street measures as part of the reconstruction or resurfacing. The question is whether the process is in place to ensure that Bike lanes or bike friendly street principles are considered in the design of these projects.

Another area of concern regarding the capital budget which is not covered in the documents released so far is the repair and maintenance of existing park paths. Last year budget documents indicated there was a $20 million backlog in State of Good Repair projects for Park trails and pathways. One question to ask will be if that back log will be addressed in the current budget and capital plan.

If you want to make a presentation to the Budget Committee to offer your support for the measures to implement the Bike Plan you can do so in writing or in person. The details of how you can do that are contained in the Budget Press Release. There will likely be some attempts by some Councillors to remove the funds for the Bike Plan from the budget. Letters and comments of support will assist the Mayor, David Miller and Councillor Adrian Heaps, the Chair of the Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee and other Bike Plan supporters on Council make the case for this significant investment in cycling infrastructure and an improved environment in our city.

Martin Koob,
bikeToronto

The clock is ticking down on the 2008 Operating budget and time is running out for those trying to get an increase in the funds for staff to operate the City of Toronto's cycling programs and services. The Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee (TCAC) has made a final effort to convince the Executive Committee of Toronto City Council to support the increase for some key programs. If this were a hockey game, the play started this past Monday March 17th, at the TCAC meeting was dump and chase. Step over the red line, fire the puck into the corner and skate like mad to get your stick on it then get it in front of the net to one of your sharpshooters to bang it home.

The 'dump' was a pair of motions passed at Monday's TCAC meeting. One was asking that the Executive Committee support an increase in the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division's budget, $80,000 to hire a Trails and Pathways Planner to coordinate the work of implementing the Bikeway Network in Parks. The second asked the Executive Committee to support an increase of $15,000 to go towards increasing the staff resources to organize and run Bike Month which has been expanded from Bike Week in past years. The base funding for cycling promotion has not been increased in spite of the expansion to Bike Month. $30,000 is currently budgeted for thoses costs, the TCAC is asking for $15,000 more. These motions are being fired off directly to the Executive Committee in time for their meeting on next Tuesday March 25, 2008 where they will make the final amendments to the 2008 Operating Budget before it goes off to Council for approval.

The 'chase' is the attempt to convince the Mayor and Councillors on the executive Committee to support the motions and increase the funding. Councillor Heaps cautioned against having much hope that the budget could be amended this late in the game, but this is the city of eternal hope when it comes to hockey. There are still people hoping the Leafs will make the playoffs. So now the task is to get the puck to the big guns. Councillor Paula Fletcher, Executive Committee member and Parks and Environment Committee Chair has the power to drive home the increase in funding for a Parks and Trails Planner. Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, fellow Executive Committee Member and Chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee can round out the 1-2 punch and net the second goal of an increase to Bike Month funding. Getting the puck to them means getting out the public support for these two motions. Phone these two Councillors, the Mayor David Miller and the other members of the Executive Committee to convince them to support these measures. Perhaps Councillor Adrian Heaps, TCAC Chair but not a member of the Executive Committee could get an assist working the corners of Committee Room 2 next tuesday. You can add your voice to the effort by contacting the members of the Executive Committee before next Tuesday's meeting. Their contact information is below.

• Mayor David Miller, Chair
• Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone
• Shelley Carroll
• Glenn De Baeremaeker
• Paula Fletcher
• Norm Kelly
• Gloria Lindsay Luby
• Giorgio Mammoliti
• Pam McConnell
• Joe Mihevc
• Howard Moscoe
• Kyle Rae

Fans of the Toronto Bike Plan, now is the time to come out and support expanding the programs and services that will ensure that it is completed. Oh, and GO LEAFS GO!

On Thursday March 6th, 2008 the City of Toronto's budget committee will meet to wrap up the 2008 operating budget. This is the budget that pays for the staff that run the programs and services that the city offers. Among those services are cycling related programs and services. For several years cycling activists have been trying to get increases in these areas without success. There have been success with the 2008 capital budget for cycling projects with an increase in the Transportation services budget from $3.0 million to $5.5 million for cycling infrastructure. It is now the cycling safety, education and promotion programs that need a boost.

The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) presented a list of recommendations for the 2008 operating budget in February 2008. Two that specifically related to cycling programs were the following:

• Doubling the current funding dedicated to cycling promotion, safety and education staff and programs - like Bike Month and Kids CAN-Bike Camps - from $164,000 to $328,000 in the City Planning operating budget.
• Funding a full-time trails and pathways planner to coordinate the planning, consultation, construction and maintenance of bikeway network infrastructure projects in Toronto's parks - approximately $80,000 in the Parks, Forestry and Recreation operating budget.

You can see the full letter for TCAT here TCAT 2008 Operating Budget Letter. There is an opportunity for the Councillors to add these funds at Budget Committee meeting this Thursday. You can add your voice to TCAT's in urging the Councillors to ensure these parts of the Toronto Bike Plan are fully funded by e-mailing the Councillors on the committee. Their e-mail addresses are listed below. Click on the link to the Budget Committee to get links to their web pages for other contact information.

This will not be the last opportunity to make changes to the 2008 Operating budget. Once the Budget Committee finalizes the budget on Thursday it will be forwarded to the Executive Committee for its approval on March 25th and then on to City Council for final approval on March 31st. As the budget goes through the various stages of approval it will get harder and harder to change it. This Thursday is the best opportunity to make these improvements to the bike related operating budgets. Now is the best opportunity for you to encourage the Councillors to do so.

As the budget setting process moves to its next stage at City Hall, cycling community members, lead by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) www.torontocat.ca, are continuing to press City Council for a commitment to accelerate the implementation of the Toronto Bike Plan to ensure its completion by 2012. The push to increase funding for cycling infrastructure continues!

On November 14th, 2007 Councillor Gord Perks proposed that the Budget Committee move funding for the Parks Forestry and Recreation Bikeway Network Projects forward from the 2013 - 2017 time frame into the current 5 year plan. The following two amendments to the 2009 - 2012 capital plan were proposed at that meeting but were not supported by the Budget Committee.

c. approve, in principle, the addition of the following amounts to the Five Year Bike Plan
2009 - $1.66 Million
2010 - $4.815 Million
2011 - $4.740 Million
2012 - $6.700 Million

d. Deputy City Manager Sue Corke and the Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer be requested to report through the 2009 Budget process on how the proposed additions to the Five Year Bike Plan can be facilitated.

Budget Committe Decision Document - Nov 14 (see pg. 2)

This would have allowed the City to complete the remaining bike paths in Parks by 2012. Despite this not passing Toronto residents have continued to press to get a tangible commitment to complete the Bikeway Network by 2012. This effort has been lead by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) with support from many community organizations and individuals who want to see the role of cycling enhanced in Toronto's Transportation system. These efforts have been having some effect.

On November 21st, the Budget Committee held its wrap up meeting on the 2008 Capital budget. On of the motions passed was the following: ...(more)

The Bike Plan got a lot of support at the Capital Budget hearings today, November 13th, and it came from both sides of the table, from the people making the deputations in the morning and from Councillors who worked later in the day to respond to the points raised in the deputations earlier.

I was not there first thing in the morning but when I arrived in the afternoon I heard that in the morning several people showed up to make deputations to the Budget Committee in support of putting the funding in place to ensure that the Toronto Bike Plan can be completed by 2012. The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) submitted their deputation which included an analysis of the Capital Budgets of the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division and the Transportation Services Division. It found that the 2008 - 2012 five year capital plan as proposed would not achieve the goal of completing the Bike Plan by 2012. You can read their deputation on the TCAT website: 2008 Capital budget submission. In the afternoon as I watched the budget meeting deliberations it was clear that the deputations of TCAT and others did have an effect.

During the day Councillor Gord Perks Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park, a member of the Budget Committee, worked to ensure that the funds to complete the capital projects in the Bike Plan were in the 2008 - 2012 time frame. This work took the form of questions to staff regarding the points raised by the deputations, request for formal reports from staff to get more detailed information on the climate change related budgets, and a request that all the funding for bike plan related Parks Forestry and Recreation trail projects be moved forward from the 2013 - 2017 5 year plan into the 2008 - 2012 time frame. ...(more)

October 29th, 2007 marked the official start of the 2008 Capital Budget approval process. The City of Toronto's Budget Committee unveiled the 2008 Capital Budget and presented a schedule of Committee and Council Meetings that were approved at a previous Budget Committee meeting. This is an important time for those wanting to see the Bikeway Network of bicycle lanes, park paths and signed bike routes completed by 2012 as this budget setting process will result in a plan for capital spending in 2008 and a 5 year plan for spending from 2008 - 2012. The capital budget provides the money for cycling infrastructure so it is extremely important for the cycling community to examine what the city is proposing in this area and to offer its input on what needs to be changed to allow the city to achieve Mayor Miller's stated goal of completing the 1105 km Bikeway Network by 2012.

In the past the Toronto's cycling committee would offer its advice during the budget process but there will be no opportunity for the newly formed Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee to be consulted directly on the budget or give official comment as it will not meet again till December 10th, 2007, just one day before the capital budget is due to be passed by City Council on December 11, 2007(Capital Budget Schedule). However, there is opportunity for individuals and cycling organizations to have input into the budget. Hearings on the capital budget will be held on November 13th, 2007. The lack of formal consultation makes it even more important for Toronto residents to get involved in the process. To have input into the process you can write to the committee, speak in person to the committee or write your councillor. The following news release from the City of Toronto explains how you can have your say as to how Toronto's Bike Plan can be accelerated. Participate in the City's 2008 Capital Budget Process . ...(more)

The process for setting the 2008 budget for the City of Toronto is about to begin. 2008 has the potential to be a banner year for the Bike Plan. The Mayor has promised to complete the Bikeway Network by 2012, a package of Sustainable Transportation Initiatives which contain several important cycling infrastructure projects is being voted on at City Council at its October 22nd meeting, and city staff are developing a list of bikeway network projects to bring to the next Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee meeting. There is a risk, however, that these initiatives will stall before 2008 even rolls around if City Council does not approve the new revenue tools, proposed in Mayor David Miller's Fair Tax Plan, that will help fund these cycling initiatives and other important city building projects. (The vote on this will also be held during the October 22 Council meeting). If this plan is passed we may finally see established an ongoing funding source to ensure the Bike Plan is implemented in its entirety and on time.

On Tuesday, October 16 the City of Toronto's Budget Committee set the schedule for the 2008 capital and operating budget setting process: 2008 Budget Schedule The Capital budget will be introduced on Monday, October 29, 2007 and at that time we shall see what monies are allocated for building cycling infrastructure in 2008. Of interest to cyclists will be the the Transportation Services capital budget, which pays for building bicycle lanes, adding signed bike routes, installing bike parking and building bike paths in some hydro and rail corridors. Also of interest is the Parks Forestry and Recreation capital budget which funds new Bikeway Network paths in parks and upgrading existing park paths and trails. In addition, any funds implementing the proposed Sustainable Transportation Initiatives would be in these budgets as well. These include new cycling initiatives such investigating bike lanes on Bloor and Danforth, designing and implementing a Bikeway Network route through the downtown core, and laying the groundwork for expanding the Bikeway Network in Hydro and Rail corridors.

There will be opportunities to have input to the Budget Committee to ask that the budgets for cycling infrastructure and programs be increased in line with what will be needed to complete the Bikeway Network by 2012. Public hearings will be on November 13, 2007. However, before that gets underway Council will have to make another decision that will determine whether the city will have the capacity to increase the cycling related budget lines in 2008 and implement the Sustainable Transportation Initiatives in 2009 and beyond. On October 22, 2007 City Council will vote on two new revenues, the Land Transfer Tax and the Personal Vehicle Registration Fee, the latter of which has some of its proceeds earmarked for cycling infrastructure. If these don't pass it is unlikely that we will see any increases or new funding for cycling budgets and programs. So in addition to lobbying the Mayor and City Councillors for increased funds on new and expanded cycling initiatives the cycling community will need to lobby in favour of approving the new revenues and demand that a sufficient portion of these be dedicated toward implementing the Bike Plan by 2012.

The capital budget that is being introduced will be a balanced budget. That means total capital expenditures will equal the City's debt limit. Given the City's financial straits and without the new revenues, any new requests to increase one budget item will have to be accompanied by an equal reduction in another. If the cycling budgets are not at the necessary level the residents who want to see the Bike Plan and the Bikeway Network implemented have to convince the Budget Committee to increase the cycling budget and cut another budget. That is a tough sell given that all budgets have been squeezed.

The two new taxes being proposed by Mayor David Miller in his Fair Tax Plan, if passed, could address this dilemma. One of those taxes, the Personal Vehicle Registration Fee, actually has money earmarked for cycling infrastructure. Below is the quote from the Mayor's tax plan:

A Personal Vehicle Registration Fee would cost car drivers an additional $60 a year and motorcycle riders $30 a year. It would raise about $60 million a year, to be directed to road repairs, public transit, cycling and pedestrian improvements and other transportation projects.

The plan does not say how much of the $60 million would be dedicated to cycling improvements, but now is your opportunity to let the Mayor know you support the new revenues, but also demand that these revenues be used to fully fund the Toronto Bike Plan. There is a section of the Mayor's www.fairtaxes.ca web site where you can send in an e-mail to support it. Write to City Council. In it there is a comments section. Use that comments section to say that you "demand that a sufficient portion of the $60 million raised by the Personal Vehicle Registration fee each year be dedicated to fully fund the Toronto Bike Plan to complete it and the Bikeway Network by 2012." This is the best opportunity to let the Mayor and Council know the level of support for moving forward in a big way on the Bike Plan.

If you have been watching the news lately you know that these taxes are contentious and that there is a question as to whether enough Councillors will support it on October 22nd. There has been a well organized and well funded lobby campaign against the two new revenues. You can add your voice to the debate regarding the future of our city. In addition to using the Mayor's web site you can write to your Councillor directly. To find out who your councillor is and how to contact them go to the following web page: Find your Councillor

There may be those who disagree with this position and you can have your say as well, however I think if Toronto is to have a complete and well maintained Bikeway Network, bicycle friendly streets, safe and secure bike parking across the city, promotions to encourage people to cycle, cycling safety and education programs to ensure they can bike safely and a Sustainable Transportation System that integrates cycling and allows its citizens to do their part to cut green house gasses from transportation - it has to raise the revenues to do it right. The time for half-funded half-measures is over.

Martin Koob
info@biketoronto.ca

Today Toronto City Council will start debating the 2007 Operating Budget. The operating budget pays for the programs and services delivered by city staff to the people of Toronto. There has been a concerted effort by Toronto residents to have the programs and services that are recommended in the Toronto Bike Plan funded in this budget. Through the efforts of TCAT, the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation, various cycling, pedestrian, environmental, health and community groups tried to make the case for funding programs and services to encourage cycling and walking as forms of transportation. Their actions included a candidate survey during the election, speaking at the budget Committee hearings, writing letters to the Budget committee and contacting the Mayor and Councillors. Now that the budget is being wrapped up it is time to ask some questions. Have these efforts had any effect? What has changed? Where do we go from here?

Initially I think the work to make Active Transportation and the Bike Plan an election issue did have a positive outcome in terms of the Capital and Operating Budgets. The Mayor's Mandate was drafted to include "speed up the implementation of Toronto's Bike Plan" as one of the items. This was important in terms of the budget process since items in the Mayor's mandate were candidates for 'New and Enhanced' funding which means they could receive funding increases over last year's budget. This, however, was no guarantee of new funding as we found out as the budget setting process progressed.

The second positive outcome was the addition of 4 staff in Transportation Services to work on designing and implementing bike lanes on streets and paths in hydro corridors. This was the one plank of the TCAT platform that was actually implemented in this budget. The funds for this came from the Capital Budget and the Operating budget confirmed the use of those funds for the 4 staff positions. This deals with one of the three obstacles preventing the expansion of the Bikeway Network on City Streets. The other two are lack of capital funding for the infrastructure and lack of a efficient bike lane approval process.

The first disappointment was the lack of funding in the Capital budget for cycling infrastructure projects was not addressed in this budget. The amount in the Transportation Services Budget for on-street and in-corridor cycling infrastructure will remain at $3.0 million dollars. The amount in the Parks, Forestry and Recreation budget for 'Bikeway Network Expansion' for in-parks cycling infrastructure is only $400,000, a cut of $100,000 from 2006. There is no money in the 2007 budget for repairs to existing paths in parks that form part of the Bikeway Network. This is not "speeding up the bike plan' as directed in the Mayor's Mandate. The biggest obstacle in trying to convince councillors to increase these budgets was the fact that the Transportation Services Division and the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division had such difficulty completing projects and spending the money they were given in previous years' budgets. The addition of the 4 staff to work on Cycling Infrastructure in the Transportation Services Division should help to address that problem. There still needs to be improvements in the Bike Lane approval process to ensure that the projects funded in this budget actually get completed this year.

The second disappointment was the lack of funding for a staff position in the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division to work on the planning and implementation of Bikeway Network trails in parks. This would have helped the poor record of project completion that has plagued the cycling related projects.

The third disappointment was the lack of any new funding for Cycling Safety Education and Promotion programs. These have seen no real increase since the inception of the Bike Plan in 2001 and in fact have not even kept up with inflation. There was one small indication that the Budget Committee recognized that this was an issue when they referred the issue to staff working on the Climate Change Plan. I have excerpted that recommendation from the Budget Committee April 4th - Decision Document

Recommendations adopted by the Budget Committee on April 4, 2007.
Decision Advice and Other Information
The Budget Committee:

B. requested the following:

v. referred the financial issues related to the following items and the communication (July 4, 2006) from the Policy and Finance Committee, entitled “2006 Draft Clean Air Action Plan - Proposed Action” (BU10.14) to appropriate staff, for inclusion in the City's Climate Change Plan due in July 2007:

a. increased tree protection, maintenance and enhancement;
b. bike plan, specifically for education and safety programs; and
c. other environmental and clean air initiatives;

So now we have an acknowledgment from the Mayor that the implementation of the Bike Plan needs to be speeded up and a commitment through his mandate to do that. We have an improvement in just one element, staff, of one division, Transportation Services, of one component, Bikeway Network, of a Bike Plan that has 6 components that incorporates at least 3 City Divisions and at least one Board, Health. In sum we don't yet have a comprehensive strategy to accelerate the Bike Plan.

So where do we go from here? The next opportunity for the Mayor and Council to ensure that a comprehensive approach is undertaken to 'speeding up' the implementation the Bike Plan is to ensure that implementing the Bike Plan is a major component of Toronto's Climate Change and Clean Air Action Plan and that a significant portion of the funding set aside to address Toronto's response to climate change goes to the implementation of the Bike Plan. The opportunity for you to tell City Council that this should be done is at the April 29th, 2007 Climate Change Action Forum. This is part of the consultation that is being done to determine what the Climate Change and Clean Air Action Plan should include. If you can't attend the forum there are other ways you can let your opinion be known. You can fill out an Online comment card or Email: changeisintheair@toronto.ca.

Emissions from transportation is one of the leading contributors to greenhouse gasses in the city. Promoting cycling by completing the Bike Plan is one of the cheapest and quickest ways the city can provide an alternative for Torontonians who want to make a difference in their personal lives to leave a smaller carbon footprint. The cost of completing the BIke Plan is a fraction of what the major transit projects that have been proposed will cost, and could be fully operational before the first passenger boards a subway on the extended subway line or streetcar on the proposed rapid transit lines. The Councillors who will draw up the Climate Change Plan have to hear about this from their constituents and often.

Now given that I have said that the combined efforts of many organizations and activists have not seemed to have had a major effect on the outcome of the budget you might be tempted to say, "Why bother? What good will it do?" I ask myself that too sometimes. However I am encouraged that we have seen some movement, in areas where there was not progress we have seen what the obstacles and arguments are so we can think of how to overcome and counter those next time. Finally the issue is too important to give up now. As the city, the province and the country come to the realization that we have to address climate change we have to ensure that reducing emissions from transportation by providing cycling as an alternative is a major component of Toronto's Climate Change Plan.

I wanted to do a couple of background articles on the Bike Plan related items in (actually not in) the 2007 Operating budget. However time is short. The budget process is rushed. To save time I decided to publish my planned budget deputation here as an open letter with a link to some background information on the state of the implementation of the Bike Plan in the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division. Please feel free to use this information to develop your own deputations or letters to councillors to encourage them to support "speeding up the implementation of Toronto's Bike Plan" as the Mayor's Mandate states. The deputation follows:

It has been recognized that there is a need to accelerate the Toronto Bike Plan. That need was first formally identified in a staff report of August 2005 entitled “Toronto Bike Plan - 3 Year Implementation Strategy”. It was recognized by the Mayor and members of this committee when they were surveyed on their views on cycling and walking in the past election by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) . It was recognized by the Mayor when he included "speed up the implementation of Toronto's Bike Plan" as one of the priorities in the Mayor's Mandate. Unfortunately it was not recognized as the 2007 Operating budget was being drawn up. Two of the divisions with responsibilities for delivering major components of the Bike Plan, the City Planning Division and the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division, included no enhancements to the Bike Plan related programs under their responsibility. This will leave the cycling promotion, safety and education programs underfunded and undelivered and will leave a serious backlog in the expansion and maintenance of the Bikeway Network trails in Toronto's parks and ravines.

The Bike Plan tends to be seen as a program to build bike lanes, on streets. There is more to it than that. In addition to building the Bikeway Network on streets and ensuring that all streets are bike friendly, it recognized that there needs to be the promotion of cycling as a transportation alternative. It recognized that there needs to be cycling safety information and cycling education programs delivered to the residents of Toronto to ensure that they get out and use the bikeway network and use it safely.

The 2005 staff report stated that there was a need to increase the funding to cycling promotion, safety and education programs. It found that the funding for these programs had not increased since 2001 it was still at 2 staff positions and $150,000 in program funding. In 2007 there are still only 2 positions and $159,000 in program funding for these areas. The staff report indicated that to be able to implement the programs recommended in the Bike Plan it would require “something like a doubling of current City Planning Division staff and funding levels”. The Toronto Cycling Committee (TCC) followed that guideline in their 2007 Operating budget recommendations. They are recommending a total of $270,000 be added to the City Planning Divsion Budget for these programs and $100,000 to Toronto Public Health budget for a cycling safety campaign.

The lack of funding to this point has lead to an erosion in the programming that is offered. The 2005 staff report indicated that there was a 30 % erosion in purchasing power. The effects of that were seen last year when the Cycling Ambassadors program saw a reduction of staff from 10 to 6 positions in 2006. This is from a one time high of 20 positions. These are the staff that are supposed to deliver the cycling safety, education and promotion programs. Fewer of them mean that they will be reaching fewer people. The lack of increase has also meant that new programs cannot be developed and implemented. The Toronto Cycling Committee saw a need to start a safety campaign on the issue of sidewalk cycling. They proposed that the 2006 Planning Division budget be increased to undertake that. Council turned it down saying outside funding would have to be secured first. For the 2007 budget the TCC has recommended that Toronto Public Health take on this project under its mandate of injury prevention and health promotion with the potential of getting provincial funding toward the program. Other programs that the TCC has recommended for funding are an expansion of the Bike User Group program and the creation of more cycling promotion events year round. Since the inception of the Bike Plan the TCC has recommended that funding for cycling safety education and promotion programs be increased. Staff have recognized the need. Every year those requests have been turned down. Now that the Mayor has said that speeding up the Bike Plan is a priority in his mandate, what more needs to be done to get an increase in the funding for these programs.

The other Division that has not addressed the Mayor's priority to “speed up the implementation of the Bike Plan” is Parks Forestry and Recreation. There have been problems with getting capital projects completed. In 2006 70% of the $500,000 Bikeway Network Expansion budget did not get spent as projects proposed did not get completed. When you look at the State of Good repair backlog the biggest single item is Trails and Pathways. It is $20 million of the total 78 million 2007 estimated need. In spite of it being over 25% of the need only 4% of that need is being addressed in 2007. The challenges facing the acceleration of the Bike Plan in Parks is outlined in the attached background document “Background on Parks Forestry and Recreation Capital Budget 2007 - Toronto Bike Plan related items”.

There are no staff in Parks Forestry and Recreation Division dedicated to overseeing the work on Parks Pathways and Trails. The lack of Staff has been recognized in the Transportation Services Division and has finally being addressed in 2007 with the addition of 4 staff. This issue needs to be addressed in PF&R as well. The TCC is recommending that one staff position of Senior Trails and Pathways Planner be created to coordinate the work done on trial and pathways and to ensure that the issues of project completion and the huge backlog in repairs to trails and pathways in parks be addressed.

I would ask that you ensure that the Mayor's Mandated priority of “speeding up the implementation of Toronto's Bike Plan” is taken seriously and that funds are budgeted toward these programs that have been neglected for far too long.

This is the critical week to put pressure on Council and get all elements of the Toronto Bike Plan funded so write early and write often. The details on how to contact the Budget Committee and councillors are in the Previous Article

The details of the City of Toronto's 2007 Operating budget were released yesterday and after a quick read through of the budget documents it appears there are no increases to staffing or programs that would accelerate the Toronto Bike Plan. In fact a proposal from Toronto Public Health to put $100,000 toward Car Free Day has been taken off the table and the money redirected toward a project to look at the Urban Heat Island effect.

When the people think about the Toronto Bike Plan they tend to see it as building bike lanes on streets, which is the responsibility of the Transportation Services Division. The issue of the $3 million actually approved for the bike plan vs. the $6.0 million promised about just one part of the Bike Plan, the Transportation Services budget for cycling infrastructure. The 4 staff that were added as part of the Capital budget were added to Transportation Services to work on planning and designing this on street cycling infrastructure. This perpetual focus on the on-street parts of the bikeway network tends to leave the other part of the Bike Plan without attention. Implementing the Bike Plan also means implementing a number of cycling promotion, cycling safety and cycling education programs that were recommended in the Bike Plan. These are the responsibility of the City Planning Division. It also means planning and designing the off street trails that run through Toronto's Parks and along Toronto's waterways and ravines which are the responsibility of the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division. These parts of the Bike Plan have seen no increase since the inception of the Bike Plan in 2001. That pattern seems to be continuing in 2007. None of the recommendations from the Toronto Cycling Committee to accelerate the Bike Plan in these areas are in the initial budget documents. (See TCC Operating Budget recommendationsThis is in spite of the fact that one of the priorities in the Mayor's mandate is to "speed up the implementation of Toronto's Bike Plan".

Yesterday the budget documents were posted on the following city web pages:
2007 Operating Budget Analyst Notes
2007 Operating Budget Briefing Notes
If there was new funding for programs or an expansion of services in these areas they would have shown up as new/enhanced funding and would have been listed under the section that describes the items in their budgets that fulfill the priorities of the Mayor's Mandate, the guideline that is supposed to guide staff as they develop the budget. Scanning the analyst notes available on the web I have found that neither the City Planning Division (Analyst Notes) nor the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division (Analyst notes) list any items related to the priority in the Mayor's "speed up the implementation of Toronto's Bike Plan". There were also no funding for the Bike Plan initiatives under new/enhanced services. So this means that if this proposed budget is not changed by the Budget Committee this month it will delay accelerating the Bike Plan in these areas another year. Even more upsetting was that there was to be one proposal for new funding for a cycling related initiative from Toronto Public Health. It had originally proposed funding of $100,000 for Car Free Day. This project has been removed from the plans for 2007 and the funding redirected to another program. The analyst notes for Toronto Public Health state that "Urban Heat Island Effect replaced Car Free Day Promotion ($0.100 million in 2007 and $0.040 million in 2008; 1 staff position) " (see page 20 in the Public Health Analyst Notes). The TCC's proposal for funding for a cycling safety and education campaign on sidewalk cycling to be run by Toronto Public Health was apparently not considered.

There is still time to bring this issue of a lack of funding for Bike Plan initiatives to the attention of the Budget Committee the Mayor and the other councillors. The information on how you can make your voice heard is listed below.

The next phase of Toronto's Municipal budget process gets underway this coming Monday when the Operating Budget is released. Cycling advocates will be looking at the budget to see if there is support for the the Toronto Bike Plan. On March 29th, 2007 they have a chance to ask to members of the Budget Committee to support the budget requests made by the Toronto Cycling Committee (TCC) and echoed by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation and its supporters.

The Capital budget, which was set by Council in March, held one significant improvement for advancing the Bike Plan in that it added 4 staff to the Cycling & Pedestrian Infrastructure Unit of the Transportation Services Division to accellerate the work on planning and designing bike lanes. The lack of adequate staffing was identified in a 2005 staff report on accelerating the Bike Plan Bike Plan 3 Year Strategy Report. This lack of staff not only slowed down the progress in getting bike lanes on streets but also in getting bike trails in parks and in getting cycling promotion, safety and education programs developed and delivered. As it works on the operating budget the Budget Committee should ensure that these other elements of the Bike Plan are accelerated by getting the additional staff needed to implement them.

The TCC operating budget recommendations address these areas of concern where a lack of staffing has slowed the implemention of the Bike Plan:

• Add a senior position of Cycling and Pathways Planner to the Parks Forestry and Recreation Division
  
• Increase the budget for Cycling safety, education and promotion by $270,000.00 to the Planning Division budget fund programs recommended in the Toronto Bike Plan. This would allow for the following programs to be funded.

  -Bike User Group Network -$50,000.00 to expand the network of Bike User Groups
  -Cycling Ambassador program - $150,000.00 to expand this program which has had no funding increase since 2001 which has lead to a 40% cut in staff to deliver this program
  -Bike Week - $10,000 to expand Bike Week in 2007
  -New Cycling promotion events - $60,000.00 to support and develop promotions and events year round beyond Bike Week.
  

• Sidewalk Cycling Public Education Campaign - Add $100,000 to the Toronto Public Health budget to fund a public education program to address the issue of sidewalk cycling.

The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) has included these recommendations in its platform and is calling on Council to adopt these recommendations. You can see more info on this at the following link TCAT - 2007 Operating Budget.

The opportunity to ask the Councillors to support these recommendations is next Thursday, March 29th. You can make a deputation to the Budget Committee in person or you can send in a written deputation.

• To make a deputation in person on March 29th call 416-392-6662 to get on the list.
• To send written presentations to the Budget Committee.
  - by e-mail: send to mmacdona@toronto.ca
  (note this e-mail address has been corrected. In the original post I had the e-mail incorrectly listed as mmcdonna@toronto.ca. If you have sent to this e-mail please resend to the correct e-mail above.)
  - by fax: send to (416) 392-1879
  

There was disappointment among cycling advocates that the promised increase the Transportation Services for Cycling infrastructure to bring it up to $6 million was not supported by Council in the Capital budget and that the Parks budget for cycling infrastructure has not seen any increase. There is still an opportunity for the Mayor and Council to follow through on their commitments to support cycling and the Toronto Bike Plan by approving the above recommendations in the Operating budgets.