(Do your part to help!)

The City of Toronto has wasted almost $500,000 to convert Sherbourne St. to a two lane roadway with bike lanes. The results are chaotic. The TCC or Toronto City Cycling Committee has already hijacked Gerrard St., making it a gridlocked nightmare during rush hour. Here's a letter written to all City Councillors on January 5, 1996 from the Courier Broker's Association:

In a time when the City will need every penny just to fill the potholes, it's ludicrous to me that the City is considering pandering to a minute special interest group minority at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

People are freezing to death on the streets, yet the City insists that we need to spend incredible sums of money on bike lanes. For that money, we could loan the money to Metro to hire 6 more police officers!

In the enclosed letter to David R. Bailey, Acting Commissioner, City of Toronto Public Works, I pointed out the many flaws in his recommending report. His study is incomplete, lacking detail, and if anything, proof that the change would be far too disruptive to the operation of a major roadway.

Common sense alone tells us that Sherbourne St. is too busy to turn into a two lane roadway.

Common sense alone tells us that bikes make up a tiny portion of the traffic along Sherbourne, and that's during the peak bike months, which themselves represent less than 20% of the year!

Common sense alone tells us that this idea is stupid, expensive and against the majority public sentiment of NOT funding special interest groups.

The City has already destroyed a significant commercial industrial base, in the disaster known as Ataritiri. Sherbourne St. will be impossible to navigate along its commercial areas, especially near the bus depot at Front St., or near the towers at Bloor St. Do you want to drive this business out of Toronto too?

Like it or not, Ontario is cold. You need a warm vehicle to move around most of the year. Like it or not, Ontario survives by the auto industry. Believe it or not, cars are getting more and more environmentally friendly and soon will be emission free. Car owners pay taxes so bike owners can have bicycle paths, not bike lanes along major auto thoroughfares.

I know that past councils and perhaps this one want everyone walking or biking to work. While they turn the City's major arteries over to the Toronto City Cycling Committee, remember that those new electric cars coming on the market in the next few years will be humming around the excellent roadways outside of the City, generating industry, taxes and prosperity.

Remember the hole in the donut theory.

THE CBA

Here's the CBA's reaction to a flawed report on the proposed bike lane:

David R. Bailey
Acting Commissioner
City of Toronto Public Works
Toronto, Ontario

Friday, January 05, 1996

Dear Mr. Bailey,

Thank you for forwarding me your report on the Sherbourne St. bicycle lane. It appears complete with respect to planning of lanes and other issues.

The report seems to be lacking in the following areas:

• Appendix A1 - Traffic Volumes: This study must be much more detailed. The study does not state at what time of year it was conducted.
• It should be much more comprehensive. It should include at least show volumes for the four seasons, if not for each and every month of the year.
• Reports on the impact of traffic on the adjacent north/south streets, particularly Jarvis and Parliament.
• Traffic travel times should be studied and estimated, for rush hour (especially) and non-rush hour. How long will it take to travel when there is only one lane each way? Your TTC estimates of 2-3 minutes more from top to bottom are questionable if not laughable.
• Traffic Impact - Actual vs. Projected: Time has passed since the conversion of other major streets, such as St. George St., from a normal road to a bicycle lane road.
• What has the actual impact on traffic been? (travel delays, parking/loading problems)
• How has it differed from your projections?
• How does this difference impact on your projections for Sherbourne St.?

• Bicycle Traffic Impact: The whole point of bicycle lanes is to increase bicycle traffic, and decrease vehicular traffic. What studies have been done? By your own data, bicycles represent a minuscule percentage of the traffic volumes:
• What increases in bicycles and decreases in cars do you project?
• What changes in vehicle traffic have occurred on other converted roads?
• How many bikes switch travel paths to correspond to bike lanes roads?

Do your part to protest this insanity! Write to the City Councillors by email or fax! Tell them to stop wasting your money!