The Public GalleryToronto

Infrastructure and Environment Committee · 2024-01-09 · 2024.IE10.3

The filed record

Bike Lanes that are Safe and Passable for Bikes

The Public Gallery wrote no story on this item. What follows is the city’s own record of what happened to it, as filed: nothing on this page is summarised or scored by us.

The decision

2024-02-06 · Toronto City Council · adopted

As filed

City Council on February 6 and 7, 2024, adopted the following: 1. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to take all reasonable steps to make designated bike lanes safe and passable for bicycles during the winter season.

The vote

On the agenda

As the city filed it

The minimum standard of ice / snow management on most Toronto streets is described as "safe and passable". In practice, Toronto streets are almost always "safe and passable" for cars and trucks. However, bike lanes are only "safe and passable" when they are "safe and passable" for bicycles. In Toronto's weather, because of our frequent fluctuations above and below zero, no bike lane is "safe and passable" unless it is cleared to bare pavement.

Show the rest of As the city filed it, 867 more characters as filed

Layers of snow / slush that are passable for cars quickly become icy and unsafe for bicycles. Last year, protected bike lanes (cycle tracks) were generally properly cleared after the first few weeks of confusion. However, on-road bike lanes were often left hazardous with frequent patches and barriers of ice, especially in the most dangerous locations such as curves and hills. Improved winter bike lane maintenance is necessary for Vision Zero and to support Toronto's climate commitments, in particular to allow three quarters of local trips (year round) to be made by foot, bicycle or transit by the end of this decade. It is also necessary to support other city initiatives, such as the five dollar a year Bikeshare membership just extended to Toronto Community Housing Corporation tenants, and the work being done to encourage downtown deliveries by cargo bike.

Staff recommended

Councillor Dianne Saxe recommends that: 1. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to take all reasonable steps to make designated bike lanes safe and passable for bicycles during the winter season.

Considered

  • 2024-01-09 · Infrastructure and Environment Committee · adopted

    Decision as filed

    The Infrastructure and Environment Committee recommends that: 1. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to take all reasonable steps to make designated bike lanes safe and passable for bicycles during the winter season.

  • 2024-02-06 · Toronto City Council · adopted

On the record

The item as the City filed it

More from this meeting