The new Mayor and new council have been elected and all the media outlets are now trying to determine what the philosophical leanings of the new council are to attempt to predict the direction the new council will take. They are trying to determine whether the council has shifted to the centre or even to the centre-left. In the last council votes on cycling issues did not always go along the 1/3-2/3, left-right split that existed in the previous council. Many Bike Plan votes passed because advocates for the Bike Plan managed to appeal to a broader portion of council. It was always a struggle and we often came away with compromises rather than outright victories. The question that those who want to press on with implementing the Toronto Bike Plan is not necessarily "Has the balance of power at council shifted leftward?", rather the question is "Is the new council more bike friendly?"

We have compiled a list of the members of the new Council including the Mayor, David Miller, and all the victorious councillors. It has links to their Vote2003@BikeToronto survey responses, for those who returned them, as well as to voting records of the returning incumbent councillors. Also there are links to individual ward maps with the proposed Bikeway Network routes on them. You can see all of that information at the following page.New Toronto City Council .

In one third of the wards the incumbent did not run or was defeated. As I look through the survey responses of the new councillors I see that there are some who are much more supportive of cycling than those that they defeated. After a quick look over the new council I have seen a few significant changes.

The above three councillors, who are not returning, were not supportive of the Bike Plan. All three voted with Case Ootes on his motion to rescind the approval of the Dundas East bike lanes. They will not be there if Mr. Ootes tries to reintroduce his motion.

In other Wards the new councillors are replacing councillors who supported the Bike Plan to some degree. In Ward 18 Adam Giambrone is a staunch advocate of cycling and stated his support for the railpath project in his campaign literature. In Ward 14 Syliva Watson expressed strong support for the Bike Plan in her survey response. In Ward 30 Paula Fletcher expressed strong support for cycling carrying on the tradition in that ward that has been carried on by Jack Layton and Laura Jones. In Ward 6 Mark Grimes expressed strong support for Bike Plan initiatives. He replaces Irene Jones who was a steadfast supporter of cycling and who got some important Bikeway Network projects started. Mr. Grimes should continue the work of extending the Bikeway Network in Ward 6. In Ward 39 Mike Del Grande is a new councillor. His survey responses indicated he strongly supported the Bike Plan. He defeated Sherene Shaw.

For some of the candidates we don't have information as they did not submit survey responses. We will try to get their views on cycling issues in the near future. For now, we can look at who they are replacing. ...(more)

Today is voting day. Your chance to have your say about what the future of Toronto will be. We hope the vote2003@biketoronto.ca Candidate Survey has been helpful in deciding who to vote for. If you haven't looked at the survey results yet follow the links below to see which council and Mayoral candidate is worthy of your support.

We are not endorsing or rating the candidates. We are asking you to look at the survey responses of candidates in your ward (Ward Candidates List). Council candidates who responded have a 'Y' next to their name. If there is an incubent coucillor running in your ward we have included their voting record on 6 key Bike Plan votes over the last three years. Incumbent councillors have '(I)' next to their name. Click on their name to see their survey and/or voting record. The Mayoral Candidates who have responded are listed at the following link Mayoral Candidate Survey Responses.

If you are not sure what ward you are in and where to vote you can go to the follwing link and enter your address. Where to vote? To check if you are on the voters list call 416-338-1111. If you are not on the list yet you can still vote. You can bring two pieces of I.D., which have your name and current address, with you on voting day and fill out an application to amend the voters list. You can also bring bills with your name and address on it as ID. You can download that form, print it, fill it out and bring it with you to speed up the process, however they will have forms there and I am told it doesn't take long to register at the polling site. If you want you can download the form at the following link. Application to amend the voter's list-PDF. Other municipal election information can be found at the City of Toronto's Vote 2003 website

A high turn out of voters who support the Bike Plan will help to ensure we have a bike friendly Mayor and Council. Municipal elections are important. Get out and vote today!

Tomorrow is Toronto's Municipal election and the race for Mayor appears to be down to two candidates: David Miller and John Tory. The future of the Toronto Bike Plan will depend on who will be elected Mayor. If you still have not made up your mind as to who to vote for you can look at their responses to the vote2003@BikeToronto.ca Candidate Survey.

Our vote2003@BikeToronto.ca Candidate Survey was sent to all of the Mayoral candidates. We received responses back from 8 candidates and 4 of 5 of the leading candidates. You can see their responses by clicking on their names below. Leading candidates are listed by ranking in the latest polls. The other candidates are listed alphabetically. We have not received a survey back from John Tory's campaign in spite of e-mails and calls to his campaign staff.

The results of this election will have a profound impact on Toronto's future. If implementing the recommendations of the Toronto Bike Plan are to be a part of that future it will require a Mayor who is committed to play a leading role in enhancing this environmentally sustainable form of transportation. The last year has been a disappointment. Indifference or resistance from the Mayors office and councillors has resulted in delays in implementing important projects. The City of Toronto's staff charged with implementing the Bike Plan seem to have their hands tied by either lack of funding, lack of personnel, or a system in the executive offices of City Hall that lacks transparency and openness. Hopefully this election will bring a new era to City Hall.

Read over the surveys make your decision and then go and vote.

Case Ootes probably did not intend this, but his attempts to remove the bike lanes on Dundas Street East has brought cyclists and cycling issues into the Municipal campaign. His repeated statements during the campaign about his intention to remove the bike lanes once back in office has spurred many supporters of the Dundas East Bike Lanes and the Toronto Bike Plan to get involved in the election campagin.

At an all candidates meeting for Ward 29 on October 29th he again stated his opposition to the lanes which run through wards 30 and 32. (See insidetoronto.ca article). Community members who supported the bike lanes found an ally in Mr. Ootes' main rival John Papadakis. Several people have gone to work for Mr. Papadakis based on his support for the Dundas East lanes.

One of those who has got involved in the municipal campaign is Jacob Allderdice. He was provoked into action by statements by Mr. Ootes that he would work to get a motion through the next council to remove the bike lanes. (See insidetoronto.ca article). Jacob Allderdice said "It was this promise (or threat), that finally provoked me into action. Clearly, for cyclists, Ootes is public enemy number one."

Mr. Allderdice went in search of someone to take on the cause of protecting the bike lane project that local residents worked hard to achieve. ...(more)

The Toronto Bike Plan is arranged into 6 different Sections or 6 spokes. The Candidate survey that was sent to all mayoral and council candidates followed that same structure. Questions 2 and 3 of the survey looked at two of the recomendations from the Bicycle Friendly Streets section.

The principle of this spoke of the bike plan is “Every Toronto Street is a Cycling Street”. The intention is to make all streets, with or with out bike lanes, more bicycle friendly by ensuring increased safety and access. You can read more about this part of the Toronto Bike Plan at the following link: Bicycle Friendly Streets

One way to increase access is to exempt bicycles from traffic calming measures that are primarily intended to reduce car traffic in a particular area. This is done on a case by case basis and there are lots of examples already in the city where this is done. It is important that the local councillor be open to bringing these requests forward if local residents want to have success in making their neighbourhood bike friendly. Question 2 of the survey deals with this issue.

The principle of the Bikeway Network spoke is that “All Toronto Residents will be within a five minute bicycle ride to the bikeway network.” The Toronto Bike Plan lays out a plan to build a network of 1000 kilometres of bike lanes, paths and signed on-street bike routes over a 10 year period. The total cost of completing this network is $68.3 million spread over 10 years. That is less than one third of the $240 million cost of the 2 km Front Street extension. In addition to funding, support is needed at Council to approve the construction of these bike lanes and routes in a timely fashion. You can read more about the Bikeway Network section of the Toronto Bike Plan at the following page: Bikeway Network

Currently we don't have a Bikeway Network. It is more like a patchwork of paths and lanes with a few on-street routes. Some areas of the City are better connected than others. In Wards where the councillor is supportive of the Bike Lanes and routes the work can proceed. A councillor who is not supportive can block the development of a city wide, interconnected Bikeway Network. They can do this by delaying holding the initial community consultation meetings with local residents, refusing to support the proposals at community council meetings or in the extreme trying to have local bike lane projects defeated at the City Council level.

The principle of this spoke is “Bike-and-ride expands the choices for non-auto trips”. The majority of the major transit systems in North America have buses with bike racks allowing cyclists to “Bike-and-Ride” and extend their cycling range. The TTC is a notable exception. The Toronto Bike Plan recommends a pilot project to have bike racks on buses. Another recommendation that would increase the combination of cycling and transit would be the installation of secure bike parking facilities, such as bike lockers, at TTC stations. These issues are covered in question 6 of the survey. You can see all of the recommendations in this section at the Cycling and Transit web page.

The Toronto Cycling Committee has proposed these two initiatives to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) over the past year. They did not get a very friendly response. Granted the TTC has been underfunded for the past six years and its struggles to keep the system running have overshadowed any requests for service improvements. However even requests to make changes that were not expensive were turned down.

This sign means you can bring your bike on the subway 70% of the time Monday to Friday, and all day on Sunday and Saturday.

The responses from the Vote2003@BikeToronto.ca Candidate survey have been coming in steadily. We now have 8 out of 44 Mayoral candidate responses including 4 out of 5 of the leading candidates. Regarding the ward councillors we have 74 responses of the total of 199 candidates running for 44 City Councillor postitions. We have responses from 1 or more candidates in 33 of the 42 wards that have a race for councillor. In 2 wards the council candidate is acclaimed. These survey responses will provide Toronto voters a good chance to determine who the candidates are that support making Toronto a better place to bike.

As I read the survey responses I was encouraged by the number of candidates who understood the issues that that Toronto Bike Plan tries to address and who supported measures to address these issues. Some obviously put much thought into their comments. If these candidates are elected on November 10th it will make it easier to get work on implementing the Bike Plan started in earnest early in the new term of council. The key to electing a bike friendly mayor and council is you.

We are not endorsing or rating the candidates. We are asking you to look at the survey responses of candidates in your ward (Ward Candidates List). Council candidates who responded have a 'Y' next to their name. If there is an incubent coucillor running in your ward we have included their voting record on 6 key Bike Plan votes over the last three years. Incumbent councillors have '(I)' next to their name. The Mayoral Candidates who have responded are listed at the following link Mayoral Candidate Survey Responses.

If you are not sure what ward you are in and where to vote you can go to the follwing link and enter your address. Where to vote? To check if you are on the voters list call 416-338-1111. If you are not on the list yet you can still vote. You can bring two pieces of I.D., whcih have your name and current address, with you on voting day and fill out an application to amend the voters list. You can download that form, print it, fill it out and bring it with you to speed up the process, however they will have forms there and I am told it doesn't take long to register at the polling site. If you want you can download the form at the following link. Application to amend the voter's list-PDF. Other municipal election information can be found at the City of Toronto's Vote 2003 website

A high turn out of voters who support the Bike Plan will help to ensure we have a bike friendly Mayor and Council. Municipal elections are important. Get out and vote on November 10th.

The survey responses for the wards that make up the Toronto East Community council have been posted. These wards are in the pre-amalgamation City of Scarborough. They are wards 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 44. Scarborough probably had had the least cycling infrastructure of all the pre-amalgamation cities. There was not even a route, on street or off, identified for the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail to follow. Waterfront Trail: Scarborough Section. On the Lake Ontario Waterfront Map the green line outlining the waterfront trail stops at the Toronto, Scarbourough boundry line and picks up again at the Scarbourough, Pickering boundry. Scarborough was the one gap in the 325km trail from Trenton, ON to Burlington, ON.

There has been some progress in the first two years of the Toronto Bike Plan. There are some existing ravine trails in this area and a new bike lane has been constructed Sheppard from Kingston Road to Meadowvale Avenue. That lane is being extended and should go to Morningside this fall. (See previous article) Scarbourough has some ravine paths. One of the best in Toronto in my opinion is the Highland Creek Trail which starts just north of the Guildwood GO Train station and follows the creek to Lake Ontario. There is alot of potential for bike lanes, hydro corridor trails and rail corridor trails in Scarborough. To get started on them we need councillors who will champion these routes. You can see the proposed routes for this part of the City on the Bike Plan map for this area Bikeway Network Map - District 4. ...(more)

The Toronto North Community Council takes the former City of North York. The wards that will be in this Community Council are wards 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26, 33, 34. North York does not have a lot of on street cycling infrastructure compared to the former cities of Toronto or Etobicoke. Most of the existing Bikeway Network routes are paths thru the ravines of the Don River, Black creek and others.

There are many opportunities in North York to expand the Bikeway network. One dream in the minds of many residents of the City is a path through the Finch Hydro Corridor. The Bike Plan proposes an off road path that would run from the Black Creek Trail sytem in the West to Neilson in the East. It would pass by York University, and connect to the Don River Trail system. ...(more)

The Toronto West Community Council takes the former City of Etobicoke and some wards from the pre-amalgamation City of Toronto. The wards that will be in this Community Council are wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14.

These wards have seen some progress over the last three years in implementing the Bike Plan. The extension of the Martin Goodman Trail West of the Humber to Humber Bay park was one big improvement. Last year's project to connect the Martin Goodman Trail to the Humber Trail by a link under the reconstructed Lake Shore Blvd. and QEW Bridges was a small project in terms of length but made a huge improvement in terms of the connectivity between these two parts of the Bike way Network and in terms of safety for people riding their bike from their homes in the west end of Toronto to Lake Ontario. These two projects really did alot to connect people to the waterfront. Progress has also been made in terms of adding new on street Bike lanes. One example is a project underway, (and possibly completed, I haven't been out that way for a while) to add bike lanes to Royal York Road from Lake Shore Blvd. to Cavell just south of the QEW.

There are many opportunities to improve the bike facillites in this district. ...(more)

Municipal elections are often plagued with low voter turnout. This may be due to the fact that residents of the city are not sure what effect that the local City Councillor has on their life and the life of the city. The are not sure of what the issues are that councillors have an impact on. Often when faced with the list of names on the ballot they are not sure who the candidates are and where they stand on issues that are important to them. The goal of the vote2003@BikeToronto.ca survey was to give residents a way of evaluating the candidates on an issue that is important and which councillors have a direct effect on.

To help Toronto voters determine who the bicycle friendly councillors are we sent our survey out to all of the council candidates for whom we could find e-mails. We will be posting the responses of the candidates who have submitted their responses over the next two days starting with the Toronto South Community Council Wards. Those are the following wards: 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. If candidates have not submitted their surveys yet, there is still time. We will post them as they are submitted. To see the ward candidate surveys you can go to www.biketoronto.ca/vote2003 You can also see a list of all wards

The effect that councillors have on improving the cycling facillities in the City of Toronto to encourage residents to use their bikes more and their cars less has been quite obvious in some of the wards in the former municipalities of Toronto and East York. (This district will soon be referred to as the Toronto South Community Council District.) The Dundas East Bike lane is a case in point. ...(more)