Add 285 kilometres of bike lanes and paths to the Bikeway Network over the next 4 years.
 
The City of Toronto Bike Plan (Toronto Bike Plan) promises to create a continuous network of bike lanes and bike routes such that by 2011 no Toronto resident will be more than a 5 minute ride from the bike network. The plan was adopted by Council in 2001 and was expected to take 10 years to complete - we are far behind schedule. Funding levels have been half what was called for in the Bike Plan and there have been too few staff to plan and implement the bike network.
 
In a report reviewing progress on implementing the bike plan in August 2005 City Staff noted that: "…while overall cycling funding has increased, it has not kept pace with the 10-year projection presented in the Plan. At the current pace of implementation, completing the proposed 1,074 km Bikeway Network within 10 years appears unachievable". (Toronto Bike Plan – Year-3 Progress Report (2004)).  This is because only about 48 kilometers have been added in the first 5 years of the Bike Plan.  The Bike Plan calls for another 535 kilometres to be built.  TCAT is calling on Council to adopt a plan that will add 285 kilometers of bike lanes and paths over the next 4 years. This pace would allow the bike plan to be completed by 2014.
 
The Toronto Bike Plan – 3 year Implementation Strategy recommended funding in the Transportation Services Division cycling infrastructure budget be increased from the current $3.0 million to $6.0 million in 2007 and $6.2 million in 2008. The Toronto Bike Plan recommended that $30 million be budgeted from 2007 to 2010.  This level of funding would allow for 285 kilometers of bike lanes and off road paths to be built over the next four years as outlined in the chart below.
 
The Parks Forestry and recreation division also has a role to play in building the Bikeway network by building new paths in parks, upgrading and repairing existing paths and by creating new linear parks in abandoned rail corridors and in the Scarborough expressway corridor.  
 
Toronto CAT calls on the next Council to:
  1. 1.Add 285 kilometers to the Bikeway Network by supporting the budgets outlined below:
 
 
Transportation Services
Parks Forestry and Recreation
Year
km
Cycling
Infrastructure    
(millions)    
km
Bikeway Network
Expansion
Trails and Pathways
State of Good Repair
Bikeway Network**
PF&R
Total
(millions)
2007
35
$6.0*
8
$845,000
    $655,000
$1.50
2008
60
$6.2*
8
$895,000
    $655,000
$1.55
2009
68
$7.8
9
$990,000
    $610,000
$1.60
2010
72
$9.2
10
$790,000
    $810,000
$1.60
*Toronto Bike Plan - 3 year implementation Strategy(2005) recommendation
**State of Good Repair trail upgrades
Park Corridor Trails
 CP PS Lead Rail Path
 6.5 km
CN Leaside Rail Trail
3.5 km
Scarborough Expressway Trail
4.0 km
Humber Trail Gap
1.0 km
 
 
 
Build