vic.gedris.org Never mind the blogs, here's the website.

Man faces six charges in fail－to－remain collision
Broadcast time: 11:28 Friday, November 21, 2008
Traffic Services

On Friday, November 14, 2008, at 2:27 a.m., police responded to a call for a fail－to－remain collision in the Dovercourt Road/Argyle Street area.
Sultan Ahmed, 38, of Maple, has been charged with:
1) Criminal negligence causing bodily harm,
2) Dangerous operation causing bodily harm,
3) Fail to stop at scene of accident bodily harm,
4) Attempt to obstruct justice,
5) Aggravated assault,
6) Assault with weapon.

He is scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall, on Friday, November 21, 2008, room 101, at 1 p.m.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416－808－1900, Crime Stoppers

Media Updates:

• Cabbie charged in bizarre Dovercourt altercation with cyclist - National Post
• Cabbie charged with assaulting cyclist who had leg amputated - CBC Toronto

This a reminder that this Sunday, Nov. 23 from 10am to 2pm in Riverdale you'll get a chance to see the best cyclocross racers in the province race and wipeout in Riverdale Park East. If all goes well we should be able to see people in skimpy clothing and bikes evidently unsuited for the terrain to wipe out on muddy snow. One can hope. If not at least there will be sausages.

There will be:

• 30ft beer tent where riders go through at speed
• vendors permit for the sale of "100's" of vintage wool jerseys
• cowbells on sale for 1$
• hot dog/sausage vending
• free jetfuel coffee for everyone
• and a polish band!

Chills and thrills and spills!

See the full event details here.

Test Your Awareness : Whodunnit?
Another cute little vid from TfL.

Also check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cd63P54PaI

And

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cd63P54PaI

From the Toronto Star, Sun Nov 16, 2008

BIKE LANES

THE PLAN

To build 1,000 kilometres of bikeways, including 495 km of bike lanes, by 2012, delayed from the original 2011 target.

ADVOCATES

Councillor Adrian Heaps, who heads the cycling committee, and Mayor David Miller, who promised during his 2006 re-election bid to "construct bike trails and lakefront promenades across the city from Etobicoke to Scarborough."

STATUS

Since 2001, the city has completed 395 km of bike lanes, shared roads and off-road paths. Of those, only 91 km represent bike lanes – of which 7 km were built last year and nearly 20 km this year. That means the city has some serious catching up to do. If council approves an additional 16 km along Lawrence Ave. E. at its December meeting, the city will meet its 50-km target for the year, though they won't all be in place.

BACK STORY

The Bike Plan, first approved in 2001, calls for creating a network of bike-friendly streets that will put all residents within a five-minute ride to the network.

In January, council tried to streamline approvals by taking the decision away from community councils, where politicians could delay and stall under pressure from a single ward councillor opposed to the upheaval caused by adding a bike lane.

But local skirmishes among drivers, cyclists and neighbourhood businesses, each with their own concerns, still slow the process. One example: a prolonged battle over 700 metres of Annette St., opposed by the local councillor. The new process resulted in a city council vote in favour of bike lanes along that stretch.

WHAT'S NEXT

The city has earmarked $8 million for more bike lanes in its 2009 capital budget, which would add 100 km, and has said it's committed to hitting its 2012 target.

SUCCESS OR FAILURE

Mixed.

Source

Renforth Dr., north of Bloor St.

On Wednesday, the City of Toronto's Cyclometer newsletter announced the following:

Renforth Dr. at Burnhamthorpe Rd.

Renforth Drive in Etobicoke now has 2.5 km of winding lanes between Bloor Street West and Rathburn Road.(Google Map)

Since I read this at work, I decided to check it out on my way home, and then again on my way to work on Thursday morning. Here's a review of what I saw and experienced.

Design:
Renforth Dr. is a minor road that goes north from Bloor St. and the West Mall (near Highway 427) up to Pearson International Airport. The section from Bloor St. up to Rathburn Rd (where the bike lanes went in) is wide with only two lanes of traffic, and very minimal on-street parking. North of Rathburn, up to the airport, it widens into a 4-lane arterial with heavier traffic. Oddly enough, the stretch of Renforth Dr. that now has bike lane is the exact opposite of what was suggested in the Bike Plan (see map).

Toronto Bike Plan: Renforth Dr., Etobicoke

Almost all of the houses along this street have large driveways, and many even have more space to park in the boulevard area between the sidewalk and road. There was enough room to easily squeeze in bike lanes without any parking issues or affecting traffic flow. I noticed that there are no "No Stopping" signs in many places, especially along the west side, and maybe this is why there are still people parking in these bike lanes.

The decision to put in this bike lane must have been relatively uncontroversial, even if it's in Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre, Doug Holyday's turf.

There's really not much to say about the lanes themselves. Few conflicts with parked vehicles, only a few major intersections (Bloor, Burnhamthorpe, Rathburn), and few opportunities for conflict with turning traffic. In some places, I wished they made the lanes a bit wider, as there was room to spare and I felt a bit constrained in the leaf-filled gutter, but it's not too bad.

Connectivity:
Renforth is a good North-South route in this part of Etobicoke. The south end connects to Bloor St. and possibly future Bloor St. bike lanes (don't get too excited any time soon). The West Mall is also supposed to get a bike lane, which would continue this route further south.

Toronto Bike Map: Renforth Dr., Etobicoke

In the middle, near Burnhamthorpe Rd., the bike lane comes close to the Etobicoke Civic Centre (accessed via Rexton Rd.) and several parks

At the north end, this lane almost connects directly into Centennial Park and the Eglinton and Etobicoke Creek trails. It would be even better if they implemented the Bike Plan and continued this directly up past Eglinton and to the airport. The Rathburn Rd. bike lane is just east of here, and it is supposed to be pushed out to connect at some point.

Usefulness:
Since Renforth Dr. is already a low-traffic road with very wide lanes, there was already little conflict between cyclists and motor vehicles, from my experience. Bike lanes may add a bit to the perception of safety, and keep motorists farther left, while also acting as traffic calming, and encouraging more cyclists to ride here. However, in the grand scheme of things, it's probably not that much different riding on this road now. At least it's not any worse, as is the case with some poorly-designed bike lanes.

Unfortunately, there are very few other cyclists riding in this part of town, and I saw none on Renforth when I checked out the new lanes. I hope to see more soon, though I may have to wait until spring. An "easy win" bike lane like this will help somewhat, but like in many parts of the city, it's the east-west bike infrastructure that is truly lacking.

In a hit and run overnight, a cyclist came close to death after having his leg severed.

There are stories here:
City News
680 News
The Star
The Star (Updated story)

From the City News story:

Officers picked the taxi driver up and brought him into a station for questioning, as the cab, with a sizeable dent in the back end, sat in the man's driveway. It's being said the cabbie had wounds consistent with a beating but cops aren't completely convinced those injuries were the result of an attempted robbery. Among their questions, why it took three hours from the time of the incident to the time the driver called them.

Investigators are still deciding whether to lay charges.

The police have not yet laid charges, as they continue their investigation. A cab driver has contacted the police claiming to have been robbed at about the same time and same place. Witnesses say there was a heated argument before the crash.

City staff pulled a surprise move at the PWIC meeting. In an appended agenda ("New Business") they snuck in 16.1km of bike lanes to be approved on Lawrence Avenue East in Scarborough. Our mole in the city failed to warn us of this development. This was made even more interesting by the fact that this was done using the new approval process.

The old approval process had staff complete the detailed design work before the approval, including any required by-law changes. In the new approval process staff propose to put a bike lane on a street and work out the details after the approval. Staff are also given direction to put in any necessary by-laws changes or amendments after the detailed designs are complete. The reasoning behind this change is that the current approval process is very time consuming of staff time for plans which may not be approved, and that too much bickering occurs over small sections of the proposal (as we saw on Annette) that it becomes difficult for staff to meet the targets set out before them. This change was asked for by the mayor in a meeting with Gary Welsh, the director of Transportation Services.

The big news today from the PWIC was garbage, specifically plastic bags and coffee cups, so these new bike lanes flew in under the radar.

The target this year was to install bicycle lanes on 50 kilometres of roadway, which represents approximately 100 km of bicycle lanes, as measured by lane kilometre. If approved by city council, we will meet that target with 52.8km of approvals this year. The full breakdown of all of the approved lanes can be found at http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/pw/bgrd/background... on page 3.

We should be very happy to have met the 50km target in approvals this year, but we are deeply disappointed that we did not get the 50km of new paint on the roads that we were promised. Still, this is a milestone, and it provides a better foundation from which to jump from into next year's projects. We have been told to expect one monolithic report early in the new year (by or before April) with all of the bike lanes for the whole year in it. We are crossing our fingers!

The Toronto Cyclists Union has a little blurb about the Lawrence Ave East bike lanes at http://bikeunion.to/news/2008/11/12/lawrence-avenue-east -- and I'd also like to hear more details about this.

Also adopted (approved) today at PWIC: The pricing scheme for the new bicyle station at Union Station, effective Jan 1, 2009. Not sure when it will open, though.

In New Zealand the Minister of Safety is in hot water for musing about the mandatory helmet law discouraging people from cycling. As we know that more cyclists makes cycling safer and more comfortable (the so-called safety in numbers principle), it is fair for him to muse, but there is little chance of the current law being changed.

I am thankful that we don't have mandatory helmet legislation here.

For the news, you can visit:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4737003a24035.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4736254a24035.html
http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/cycle-helmet-safety-regulat...
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2008/10/23/12437a3f0...

Driving School

Art by Fauxreel & Specter @ 39 Lisgar

That would be a perfect Norco Storm. Assembling it to that state was the exercise. It was the final assignment of the final day of Winterborne Bike Institute's (WBI) two week Pro Mechanic's Course. From box to showroom, the Storm's transformation was worth 40% of the final grade.

"Which way do I loosen this?"

Mike D., whose identity is deliberately vague to protect the guilty, was my partner in crime; he was ready to wage war on the unsuspecting Norco's bottom bracket (BB).

Norco is a Canadian brand which in this case means we grew the trees sacrificed to make the Storm's box. The bike is really Asian so -- of course?! -- it has English bottom bracket cups. Italians have their own size; their cups are spaced slightly more generously than those of the Anglos, unless, that is, the operation is off-shored, then they can conform to English sizing as well. The French, just because they're French, have a right cup that's supposedly backward because it goes on to the right, as do the Italians, which is opposite the "right" way of the English whose right cup goes on to the left. Got it?

It all makes me wonder how the hell the manufacture of bras ever managed to go global; at least there everyone agrees on cup sizes and how the damn things should go on. Perhaps if I hadn't been in my cups with Bill at McCabes Pub instead of studying them in Barnett's Bicycle Repair Manual it would all make more sense.

"Mike, it's English, the left side comes off to the right."

"No, it comes off to the left. Did you mean your left or my left?"

"You're right, I meant my left."

"Right."

Winterborne Bicycle Institute (WBI) has no equivalent in Canada. Tucked away in a nondescript industrial park on the southern fringe of Guelph, it seeks to fill a void by emulating its American counterparts , United Bicycle Institute (UBI) and Barnett Bicycle Institute (BBI), enterprises dedicated to providing a comprehensive, methodical approach to learning bicycle mechanics and imbuing the undertaking with professional standards.

Another day at the office

Indeed, the title of "Bicycle Mechanic" barely registers, if at all, as a legitimate profession in the wider job market, even though modern bicycles incorporate hydraulics, carbon/composite construction, transmissions -- ever seen the inside of Nexus hub? -- and an ever increasing array of proprietary technologies and standards.

Flick that doodad, some thing-a-ma-jig clicks and voila! it's easier to pedal. Most cyclists know as much about their machines as the typical bike wrench gets paid: next to nothing. Perhaps a little learning' prior to reaching for the wrench might be a good thing.

So why not enrol at WBI during vacation? It made sense at the time but while catching' some fresh air and sun between labs I wasn't so sure. I could have been sipping sangrias in the Caribbean, instead I was lounging in what dismally resembled the parking lot of a Scarborough industrial park. All that was missing was a couple of shootings to make me feel like I'd never left home.

With the BB removed, Mike and I proceeded with a compulsory assessment of the Storm's BB shell. Good luck finding an assembler in the real world who would lavish such attention on product of the Storm's caliber.

Damn, just as we anticipated. Alan Medcalf , our instructor, deemed the shell needing facing. That would eat into the time allotted for the assembly; now time penalties would likely cost us marks.

Build it and they will come

WBI is the baby of Alan (right in photo) and custom frame builder Jay Filer (Winterborne Custom Bicycles operates out of the same space), alumni of BBI and UBI respectively.

The Faculty: Definitely not Oxford!

I marvelled at their patience. To my thinking (always suspect) there were more than a few instances where cognitively challenged students merited having their noggins placed in the bench vise, where copious cranking could more effectively embed the curriculum into their craniums. (Presumably, you'd crank in the opposite direction if the vise was Italian). That Alan and Jay conducted themselves with equanimity throughout attests to their forbearance, an essential trait of any good teacher.

They were complementary: Alan was more punctilious, more effective at communicating: he kept the show on schedule; Jay was more digressive (educational in its own right), affable, and well...prone to toolgasms. Confronted with a rounded nipple he succumbed to raptures: "Time to clamp on my new adjustable spoke wrench!" Which sounds more like a drill from the Marquis de Sade School of S&M than what it was: a consequence of novices building wheels.

"More crooked than a politician!"

As per the assembly checklist, Mike assessed the alignment of the Norco's rear derailleur hanger. He wasn't kidding: the vectors of the frame and the rear derailleur would have them in different time zones when the bike was wheeled out of the shop.

"Let's cover our asses." was my professional response. "The hanger is aluminum, it could snap right off. Let's get Alan to straighten it."

"Good call."

Teacher thou art thy pupils' student.

A wealth of diverse experience resides in WBI's students and Alan and Jay were wise enough to know they didn't know it all. They'd cede the floor and let the bright lights shine to the illumination of all. These impromptu sessions often made the most vivid impressions.

Life's a circle: Mind your dish, be true.

Paul elaborated on the equipment and intricacies of bike fits; Harry spoke to the myriad ways a retail space's layout liberates dollars from wallets; WBI alumnus Bruce popped in with a frame he TIG welded while at UBI's frame building course in Ashland, Oregon.

Rick's after hours slide show on his Tour d'Afrique resonated deeply. It reaffirmed the bicycle as more than metal, plastic and rubber (a common reduction by us budding mechanics), presenting it in the guise that passionate velophiles readily recognize: a simple, accessible catalyst for (self) discovery and revelation.

Mike and I congratulated ourselves on our deft appeal to Alan's expertise and, now that the rear derailleur and frame were on the same longitude, we moved on to adjusting the indexing. With the Norco hoisted in the repair stand we spun the crank up to speed, running through the gears like maniacs.

"Looking good!" we grinned moronically. But our delusions of competence dissolved with a hideous crunch.

"Sh_t!" The chain had run off the small cog and jammed -- but good! -- between the dropout and cassette. It was an underwhelming performance: we hadn't thought to recheck the limit settings on the rear derailleur following realignment of the hanger. Amateur hour.

On the opposite end of the spectrum to Rick's presentation was Shimano tech guru and all round nice guy Ben Pye's stopover. The wise man brought the goods: A 2009 Dura-Ace (DA) Electronic gruppo mounted on a Cervelo TT bike (travelling incognito).

HAL: Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?
Dave: Trying to shift?

The glimpse into the future gave cause to both wonder and wince. The DA electronica is the Velosphere's equivalent of Formula One technology. There are no shift cables -- ditch those barrel adjusters! -- the derailleurs have built in motors controlled by the onboard offspring of HAL 9000. Trimming and shifting is no longer a function of cable pull and tension; it's a result of electrical impulses and programming algorithms. The setup was impressive: try as we might, two of us (one manning each shifter) couldn't derail, er, stymie the system. It performed flawlessly.

Conceivably, once the mechanics of shifting -- can braking be far behind? -- have been liberated from muscular inputs, a direct neural-mechanical interface is possible: slap on a few electrodes -- no, not there! -- and the next gear would require little more than a thought. Just don't have second thoughts or be of two minds on the topic.

What's the cost of making that Dura Ace exotica your own? A good guess is an arm and leg (No worries, technological imperatives will soon render those appendages superfluous to cycling as well.) Or maybe as much as it takes to keep the bellies in one of those African villages Rick toured through free from hunger pains for a year. Or the abandonment of the notion that the beauty of bicycles abides in simplicity. More to the point, the gruppo's stratospheric price tag qualifies as disposable income to its rarified target market.

"Sausage fingers!"

I fumbled with a stack of spacers from the Storm's hydraulic brake caliper mounts before dropping them all, cursing as they rolled helter skelter under the work bench. Once the wayward pieces were corralled and reassembled, centering the caliper to the rotor was short, easy work.

There was no point rushing now; we had already incurred a time penalty on the assembly; we settled back, taking time to fuss over details and cosmetics.

Mike scanned the checklist. "Let's lube the cables."

"OK, who has Judy's Butter?"

"Judy Juice over here!" Terry called from across the shop.

Benches with no Wenches

There were here

What would prompt Terry, a mild mannered furniture maker from Guelph, to morph into a prolific purveyor of risqué double entendres? The aforementioned Judy Butter for one. And crank pullers, greased spindles (ISIS and Octalink but not square taper), and loose balls, as in loose ball bearing BBs and hubs. Don't even mention tube reaming.

Yes, men will be boys (guilty) and our cohort, suffering from an absolute feminine deficit, habitually revelled in ribaldry. A few of the fairer sex have left their mark as they passed through WBI, most notably on the wall of the institute's crapper where students observe tradition by subjecting their captive audience to velocentric wisdom. There one of our very own Wenches with Wrenches, further armed with a sharpie, honored custom with splendid artistry. If this Harpy with a Sharpie is as talented a Wench with a Wrench she is certainly fit to Prep the Pinarello!

Drop your tools and step away from the bikes: "That's it, times up!" bellowed Jay.

The exam -- the week, and the course -- was over. A wave of relief washed over me; I hadn't realized how intense were the past two weeks; it felt good to have it all done with.

All that remained was the grading. Cable housing loops, fastener torques, handlebar angles, wheel true...everything would be inspected. I was satisfied: we did a good job. It wasn't a perfect Storm, it wasn't even a great one, but it was pretty good: a true reflection of our abilities. The Norco was fit to ride off the showroom floor as it was.

I shook Mike's hand. "It was a pleasure working with ya, Mike." And it had been.

"Pleasure too, Luke."

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing...

So whadda ya get at the end of it all? Well, there's the satisfaction of a spiffy certificate and an honest effort. Then there's the friendships, contacts and memories you made as well as the little you possibly learned about yourself and the little more you certainly learned about bikes and the biz.

Are you qualified to walk into a local bike shop and show the head wrench how it's all done? Don't even think about it. You're only equipped with the knowledge of the skills and procedures required for competence, it's only through their application that experience can develop them, and you can actually attain proficiency.

You just spent two weeks in a shop; imagine spending two, ten, or twenty years there, then understand just how adept an experienced mechanic can be.

All the shop and tools were now idle. The class, working in pairs, had just devoted three hours to assembling bikes costing anywhere from $750 to upwards of $1500 (guesstimating). Compared with "real" wrenches, our productivity was dismal -- two guys spending three hours on one bike would qualify us for the exit in the working world.

The bikes were destined for the shops that lent them for this purpose. They were product, bought and paid for, headed for the showroom floor where they figured into the convoluted calculus of inventory, overhead and profit. There the bike would await the scrutinizing eye that deemed it, and implicitly our contribution to it, a good buy.

So ending the process that began in Asian foundries and factories half a world away.

Alumnus Musings

Class of 10/08: Go forth and wrench

Is it worth it? The course ain't cheap: tuition is just shy of $1500. If you require accommodation in Guelph for the duration figure in another $500 for that and food.

Education costs money. So does ignorance. The real issue here is not the cost of the course but whether you derive satisfactory value from it, and there it gets tricky because the concept of value is notional.

As a simple transaction, the return on investment renders the proposition difficult to justify: two grand buys a lotta Kraft Dinner, you're sacrificing a lifetime's supply of vitamin K in a pursuit that's generally accorded the same prestige and pay as dispensing donuts at Tim Hortons. You must be a few double-butted spokes short of a three-cross wheel to think this vocational trajectory will land you on the Fortune 500 list. Repeat the last line five more times.

If a passion is steering you toward WBI, or personal/professional betterment, or a yearning to travel -- preferably by bike -- down your own path, then you're going in the right direction. Congratulations, yours is a course of more enduring rewards.

Candidates would benefit immensely by an honest assessment of their mechanical aptitude, ability to learn -- a skill in it's own right -- and their technical experience and knowledge (where it concerns bicycles). Suffice to say if you're the type that relies on the local shop to fix your flats, drop by CBN, Bike Pirates, enrol in one of WBI's weekend courses or avail yourself of one of the numerous online resources first. Get your feet wet before taking the plunge.

There is no vetting of students: you pay your money and you're in. (WBI could be more discerning.) That doesn't mean you should be there though and clearly some in our class shouldn't have been, overwhelmed as they were by the pace of course and the amount of homework.

Hitting the Books

Did I mention the homework? Steel yourself for supersized servings of dry, technical reading that commonly leave you feeling like your skull has been peeled back and cerebrum rubbed raw with 80 grit sandpaper. The salient lesson of all the cramming was that bicycles, as products and an industry, increasingly rely on complex, diverse technologies.

Accordingly, outfits like WBI are important. They define and transmit essential knowledge and skills in a systematic, accessible manner; establish a base level of competence; and legitimize a vocation by conferring professionalism and a measure of accreditation -- all factors that grow cycling, as an industry and lifestyle, and raise its mechanics above the rank of glorified McMenials.

Later the WBI Alumni Association convenes over a few wobbly pops. Terry (with wife Catherine), Bill and myself survey the scene from the patio of the Woolwich Arms. Hello, what's this? A colorful procession of a dozen cyclists is rolling down Woolwich street.

Of course, it's the last Friday of October -- and Halloween! This must be Guelph's Critical Mass. An exuberant two-wheeled expression of self-affirmation: how fitting an end to the past two weeks. It's also the final lesson -- one you'll never find in any curriculum.

Every keen mechanic apprehends this though it cannot be taught: cranks, chains and bearings; torques, tensions and specs.; wires, tubes and hoops: they all can literally be poetry in motion.

But that's something you must learn for yourself.

From the desk of Tania of Momentum Magazine:

New in 2009, Momentum Magazine is pleased to introduce its Toronto edition - a special 16-page section devoted entirely to Toronto news, issues and local events. This is your chance to get involved! Momentum is looking for a Guest Editor.

Our Guest Editor is someone who lives in Toronto, rides a bike for transportation, is a great communicator, recruiter, and editor. Ideally you have a career path in editing and publishing but this is not mandatory. You will be responsible for rallying a core team of contributors and will take on the job of encouraging and nagging your team to meet their deadline.

The project will run from November 15th - December 15th. There is an honorarium for this project, and there will also be a small editorial budget to pay writers and photographers honorariums. If you love people, are highly self-motivated organized, and want to spread the word about Toronto's bike culture, this is the project for you!

Typical Momentum stories focus on people who are dedicated to expanding the world of cycling culture: advocates, artists, activists, businesses that recognize and welcome cyclists, or just groups of people who like to go for a breakfast ride. We favour future focused writing, as explained in our contributors guidelines on the web site:

http://www.momentumplanet.com/we-need-new-blood
http://www.momentumplanet.com/files/MoM.submission.guides....

We will choose a Toronto guest editor by Nov. 10. Please submit your responses, ideas, and samples of your writing to editor@momentumplanet.com

Please indicate whether you are interested in being a Guest Editor or if you are interested in being a Contributor in the subject line.

We look forward to spreading the word about bike culture throughout Toronto!

Trying out Bixi bike --- Photos courtesy of Yvonne Bambrick

Toronto got a little peak at what could be possible for the city as Bixi came to town October 24th and showed us Montreal's bikesharing system. We took over a couple parking spots on Bloor Street, east of Spadina for the morning. The friendly Bixi staff unloaded the stations and bikes unto the street and then showed off the system to the public and media. The demo is a culmination of our Public Bike Forum back in September.

Unloading the Bixi bikes.

The bikes are made of high grade aluminum, designed in Quebec by Michel Delairre and Devinci Cycles. The bike looks heavy and sturdy but it's surprisingly light (though still with some comfortable heft to make you feel like you own the road). Aside from the sleek design there are quite a few cool functional elements.

The front basket is solid and welded to the frame. Instead of sides the basket has a tough cord so as to accommodate bulky items. The chain actually runs through the chainstay with an integrated chain ring cover to keep your pants and the chain clean.

The seat tube has a numbered scale on the side so you will always know what seat height works best for you. When checking out a bike you can adjust the seat to the height that works best. The tires are filled with nitrogen which takes a lot longer to leak out so refills are less frequent.

It has three gears, which is all you need for most of Toronto. It means less maintenance and less chance of the bike breaking down.

In short, it's a sturdy well-built machine.

Unlocking a Bixi bike

The station is just as impressive. It has seven slots for bikes - you just shove the bike in and it locks. The station sits on a heavy metal pad that is made to be moveable in the winter so they can be put into storage. Nothing is bolted to the ground and it's powered through a solar panel. All communication is done to a central server through radio signals. As the system was designed by Montreal's parking authority they just borrowed the parking meter technology. Impressive.

Adjusting the seat

And now we wait.

We've done our part of getting the public interested in bikesharing again and to dream up how it may look in Toronto. We'll see if Councillor Heaps is right that bikesharing can happen again by next summer.

Obama wins!!

Barack Obama is your new Bicycle.

And an explanation.

An update on the Bloor Street court challenge from lawyer Albert Koehl, on behalf of the Safe Cycling Coalition

A loss in the courts – but nonetheless a step forward for cyclists

On October 29, 2008 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice rejected an
application for judicial review brought by William Ashley China Ltd. to declare that the City of Toronto’s decision to proceed with the Bloor St. Transformation Project was illegal. The ruling was a defeat for cycling advocates --- who intervened in the case --- but not a loss for the movement to make Toronto safe for cyclists.

Bike is smarter!The project is a $25 million redevelopment of Bloor between Avenue Rd. and Church St. undertaken jointly by the City and the local Business Improvement Area. The project will widen sidewalks, add trees, and remove 43 parking spaces -- but it squanders an important opportunity to reduce motor vehicle traffic (in fact volume and speed may actually increase) and to provide for bike lanes, even though this is one of the busiest --- and most dangerous --- cycling routes in Toronto.

A group of well-known cycling advocates created the Safe Cycling Coalition (the “Coalition”) and applied to the court for “intervenor” status, which was granted in mid-September of this year -- a first for Ontario cycling advocates.

The immediate issue in the case, heard on October 9, 2008 by a panel of
Divisional Court judges, was whether the City of Toronto had acted unlawfully in determining that there were no environmental assessment requirements under the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (MCEA) for the project.

The City asserted, and the Court accepted, that the project had been properly
classified as Schedule A/A+ under the MCEA. This is the least onerous schedule and does not require the City to study alternatives, such as reducing motor vehicle traffic to accommodate bike lanes, or to consult with the public. This schedule generally applies to routine projects that are limited in scope.

The court ultimately decided that the City’s conduct was legal – specifically that the classification decision made by the City was “reasonable”. The Court also concluded that Ashley had waited too long to bring its application, especially given that it had been involved in the planning stages of the project for almost a decade.

Interestingly, the only evidence suggesting that the City classified the project at all came from the City’s Manager of Transportation Services who was not even involved during the relevant time frame. His assertion, made in an affidavit, was not contradicted in any other evidence. No affidavit was filed by the original City official who had simply concluded in 2001 that there were “no EA implications”. The City could not produce any document to show that a specific classification decision had ever been made. (Evidence on such court applications is generally made by affidavit, which are subject to cross-examination. As an intervenor the Coalition did not have the right to cross-examine the affiants or to present its own evidence.)

Arguably, Ashley was hamstrung by its choice of action. For it to challenge the City’s conduct it needed a decision to challenge, namely, the classification of the project under Schedule A/A+. And yet, the evidence was equally consistent with a conclusion that no classification had ever been made – except long after the fact when the City’s conduct came under scrutiny. Had Ashley proceeded under municipal law and challenged the by-law itself, it might have more forcefully argued that the City had made no classification decision at all, rendering the by-law illegal

The opportunity to intervene in the case was simply too good to pass up. Normally the biggest obstacle to bringing an action is that the loser may be ordered to pay the legal costs of the winner (although public interest litigants like the Coalition are less likely to suffer an adverse costs award, especially where they face a government body). When Ashley decided to bring the case itself, the Coalition could intervene with a minimal risk of a costs award. Ashley was ultimately ordered to pay $50,000 in legal costs to the City – in addition to its own legal fees. (The City agreed in advance not to seek costs against the Coalition.)

Despite the disappointing outcome, many positives can be taken from the case:

• Classification decisions under the MCEA have never been challenged in court, even though various versions of the MCEA have existed for 20 years. The complexity of the MCEA is generally an effective deterrent – indeed the case made clear that both City officials and the provincial ministry of environment (which is supposed to oversee the MCEA) were confused about the law and their own obligations. Now the public --- or at least cyclists --- understand the system and are ready to take the City to task for questionable or illegal planning decisions. The Court accepted that MCEA classifications of projects are indeed reviewable by a court (under a legal remedy known as certiorari).
• The Coalition brought to the case (both in court and in the media) the perspective of long-ignored but lawful public road users, namely cyclists. The Coalition also highlighted the importance of the province’s environmental assessment regime as a planning tool as well as the requirements of Ontario’s planning regime that has, since 2005, required that municipal planning decisions consider the safety of cyclists.
• By intervening, the Coalition also helped ensure that it would be part of any deal worked out between the City and Ashley to resolve this litigation. The case was obviously not resolved before trial, although the Coalition was invited to a meeting with senior City bureaucrats to discuss cyclists’ concerns.
• The case allowed the Coalition to add court actions to the toolbox of cycling advocates. Lobbying of councillors, public education, protests, parades … and now court actions. When cycling advocates had written to the City outlining their concerns about the Project in the spring and early summer of 2008, City officials did not even bother to respond. Now the threat of legal action will be credible and motivate government attention.
• Politicians are faced with many competing priorities and the attention they give to any particular item will often be determined by the price they have to pay for ignoring it – the greater that price, the more likely we are to get their attention, and action. This case got the attention of the City.

In many respects, however, the successes derived from the action will very much depend on how the decision is used. We can simply say it was a good experience and move on. This would be unfortunate. There is much to be learned – and much to be applied from that knowledge to future strategies. Thus, the conclusion of this court action has not necessarily been written.

Bloor Bike Lane DesignUltimately, if Toronto and other cities are to deal with the urgent problems of air pollution (and the high associated death toll) and global warming in a timely manner, then we need transformative, even revolutionary, change to our transportation system. And this will mean using all of the advocacy tools in our toolbox. Court actions are now one of them.

The Safe Cycling Coalition is comprised of Angela Bischoff, Martin Reis, Margaret Hastings-James, Hamish Wilson, and Kristen Courtney.

Albert Koehl is an environmental lawyer that represented the Coalition.

Yesterday car drivers were calling into talk radio to complain about the increased funding for cycling infrastructure in the proposed budget. As much as I like fixed potholes as much as the next driver, why not give cyclists a break for once? Martin Koob explains the good news about the City's proposed budget items for cycling and the public hearings on November 5th.

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.

From the desk of Cris Bouchard, City of Toronto:

Hello Toronto Cyclists,

The cycling events web calendar is open for submissions this winter.
Feel free to use this free resource to publicize any bike events or programming you have upcoming.
Eligible events will be included in the printed Winter events calendar, which will run as an insert in Momentum Magazine.

Some upcoming dates to add to your social calendar

• Winter Bike Art Show Jan 12-19 (see attached call for submissions)
• Bike Friendly Business Awards Ceremony @ the Gladstone January 20th
• Coldest day of the year ride January 30th

Please circulate the attached widely. Art show submissions don't need to be of winter themed. Just bike themed.
For more info visit www.toronto.ca/cycling/bikewinter

Annette October 2008

Council voted last night to install the bike lanes on Annette Street from Jane to Runnymead.

Over 200 people wrote letters, and it appears to have been a key part of the success.

Halloween Ride

Bloor & Spadina
Meet 6pm | Ride 6:30pm

Image source