TCAT News & Events

All of the surveys received to date (97 completed in total) for TCAT’s Municipal Candidate Election Survey are being posted online.

Want to know how where the candidates in your ward stand on cycling and walking? Check out their responses here. Not sure which ward you live in? Check out the City’s website.

We reported back in June that TCAT was invited to attend the Walk 21 Conference in the Hague. Walk21 is a widely respected international pedestrian policy conference. Nancy Smith Lea, TCAT Director, and Stephanie Tencer, TCAT Steering Committee member, were both invited to present at the conference, but TCAT needs funding so they can go.

Stephanie was invited to present her paper on the Walkability Study, a project commissioned by the City of Toronto to address community-based walkability tools.

This fall, students, staff and faculty at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto will have more outdoor public spaces to enjoy. This week, the City began implementing its Pedestrian Zone Pilot Project, which will close four streets to vehicles and instead install planters, tables and chairs.

BIXI Toronto now has a program for businesses to buy BIXI subscriptions for their employees. It’s a great way to promote sustainable transportation at your workplace.

The Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) “provides direction on matters of provincial interest related to land use planning and development.” All decisions – including municipal plans – must be consistent with the PPS, so it can potentially have a big impact on what happens in your community.

To support the Open Ontario plan, a five-year plan to create jobs in Ontario, Premier McGuinty recently announced a new 10-year infrastructure plan.

According to the press release, the new plan identifies “key trends, issues, and priorities to help modernize and expand public infrastructure over the next 10 years. This will help boost productivity, support economic growth, improve public services and enhance our quality of life.”

The City of Hamilton is creating a new 20-year plan, Step Forward, to anticipate new growth, but instead of widening existing roads, the city plans on increasing trips made by cycling, walking and public transit, reports the Hamilton Spectator.

On April 23, 2010, TCAT organized a Complete Streets Forum at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. There were also pre-conference activities on April 22, 2010 at various locations.

Building on the success of TCAT's Bike Summit 2008 and 2009, the Complete Streets Forum expanded the mandate and scope of TCAT's annual active transportation policy conference.

TCAT is currently undergoing a survey of all City of Toronto mayoral, councillor and school trustee candidates.

TCAT previously surveyed all City of Toronto municipal candidates in the lead up to the 2006 Municipal Elections. TCAT created an Active Transportation Platform that identified actions for the next City Council to take to support active transportation.

This fall, Toronto will add approximately 30 km to the Finch and Gatineau hydro corridors and the Don Valley Trails. This is one of the largest expansions of Toronto's trail system in one year. When it's completed it will almost be possible to ride around the entire city on an off-road trail.

Join the authors of "An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation and Transport for Suburbia" for an event that explores the problems that sustainability poses for transport planners and innovative solutions from around the world. Preston L. Schiller and Paul Mees will present the latest thinking on transport policy from global, regional and local perspectives.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 12 pm.

Register here.

This year, Toronto is hosting Bike!Bike!2010, an annual conference organized by and for community bike projects.

Hosted in a different city in North America each year, this year's conference will be held in Toronto and hosted by the Bike Pirates, running from August 12-15.

Canada Walks is now accepting applications for the Ontario Walkability Award of Excellence.

Applicants can apply to one of three categories: urban, rural or suburban; a winner will be selected from each category.

Last TCAT News, we reported that City Council placed a number of conditions on BIXI, the public bike share program that is coming to Toronto. One of these is that 1000 membership pledges are required by Nov 30th.

Be one of the first to SUBSCRIBE this Wednesday at the BIXI Bash.

The BIXI Bash held at the Gladstone Hotel on July 28th 2010 at 7 pm will provide you an opportunity to be one of the first to subscribe to BIXI Toronto and help make public bikes a reality in our City!

Mitigation Information Meeting

With City Council approval of the Ashbridges Bay Maintenance and Storage Facility, the project is now undergoing the Transit Project Assessment (TPA) Process to determine its environmental impacts.

The new facility will store 100 of the new TTC cars and will open in 2013. The plan also includes a non-revenue track on Leslie Street between Queen and Commissioner Streets.

Bike lanes are being added to Jarvis Street this week, between Charles Street and Queen Street East. To include bike lanes on both sides of the street, the centre reversible lane was removed last week.

City Council approved the installation of two bike lanes on Jarvis Street in May 2009 after considerable debate between providing cycling or pedestrian infrastructure. TCAT's position on Jarvis can be found here.

On June 16th, 2010 Waterloo City Council approved a Transportation Master Plan that features a Complete Streets policy as its "cornerstone" component. "As a result, Active Transportation becomes an integral part of the municipal transportation system." (The City of Waterloo Transportation Master Plan, "A City that is truly accessible to all", June 2010, pg 26). Read the full plan here.

This month, Vélo Québec released Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists. This 150+ page technical guide is intended for planning professionals as well as active transportation advocates. According to Vélo Québec:

“The information in Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists is drawn from Vélo Québec's expertise in the field of active transportation and from the contributions of experts in matters of local planning, design and mobility.”

In a recent Pembina Institute Foundation report of transportation case studies in 6 Canadian cities found that 43% of Toronto commuters occasionally choose to walk, cycle or take transit, second only to the City of Montreal (46%). The number of Torontonians regularly commuting by walking and cycling increased from 2% in 2001 to 9% in 2006. However, Toronto has the fewest bike lanes and bike paths per capita (on-street 250 km, off-street 168km) of all comparison cities.

What does “complete street” mean? Spacing Toronto’s Andrew Walsh attended TCAT's Complete Streets Forum and spoke with Barbara McCann from the National Complete Streets Coalition and New York City's Assistant Commissioner for Planning and Sustainability Andy Wiley-Schwartz and learned about the history of the Complete Streets movement and the potential for Toronto.

The City of Toronto is currently considering reconfiguring Front Street West from Bay Street to York Street to accommodate anticipated increased pedestrian traffic resulting from GO Transit’s expansion.

Ideas coming from the city include:

Toronto. Great news BUT City Council imposed several important conditions that need to be fulfilled by Nov 30th in order for the program to move forward. One of these is that 1000 membership pledges are required by Nov 30th.

The Toronto BIXI team has prepared the attached Q&A. Please have a look and get ready to sign up for BIXI Toronto as soon as memberships become available!

Last week, City Council approved the installation of “No Right Turn on Red” regulations at 5 downtown intersections. Prohibiting right turns on red at these intersections is required in order to install bike boxes and pedestrian scrambles, similar to those already in place at Yonge-Bloor and Yonge-Dundas.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) released their Mid-Campaign Mayoral Candidate Report Card last week. The organization ranked five of the mayoral candidates based on their commitment to the following six categories:

Each month Good News Toronto features a suggested act of kindness in their ongoing Kindness Campaign. This month's campaign is aimed at improving the relationship between cyclists and motorists. Readers are invited to perform a suggested random act of kindness (or one of their choosing) and leave behind the “Kindness Card” provided in the newspaper.