York Region is looking for a Senior Active Transportation Specialist to
implement its Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan. Job posting here.

Smart Commute NTV have two positions available: Marketing Manager and a Program Coordinator.

The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure is currently implementing its
award winning Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. At the
Places to Grow Summit held in Vaughan last week, successful "smart
growth" projects from local municipalities and around the world were
showcased. It's an exciting time in Ontario as municipalities
everywhere are working hard to achieve better transit-oriented, mixed
use neighbourhoods built to scale for active transportation so that
cyclists and pedestrians feel accommodated and expected. More info

Last September, TCAT made a deputation to Toronto and East York
Community Council in support of a proposal to study an alternate
crossing for the current at-grade crossing of the rail corridor on
Strachan Avenue. We stressed the fact that any new crossing design
should meet the safety needs of cyclist and pedestrians first, since
this is a major connection to the waterfront.

As reported in TCAT News,
Bike Summit 2008 was a huge success back in April of this year. One of
the goals for the one-day conference was to share the knowledge and
lessons learned at the summit with bicycle advocates, professionals and
elected officials unable to join us in Toronto. To this end, TCAT
helped to first coordinate a follow-up Bike Summit webinar, and now TCAT has prepared a summary report to help build the case for cycling investments in communities across Canada.

As reported in TCAT News
the City is planning to build an active transportation connection into
Fort York over the railway tracks. According to the notice, "The
Fort York Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge is intended to provide a link
between Stanley Park to the north and the western area of Fort York
grounds to the south, improving the connections between the City, Fort
York and the waterfront."

From the City's bicycle infrastructure planning group:

Do you live in the downtown west-end in the area bounded by Bloor
and the Gardiner, from Keele to Bathurst? Do your ride a bicycle? If
you answered yes, we want to hear from you!

In partnership with the Toronto Cyclists Union, the City of
Toronto is seeking your ideas on bikeway projects for west-end Toronto.
We are looking for quick fixes that can be built in 2009-2010, so
please keep in mind potential hurdles associated with your suggestions.

While we are nearing the end of the construction season, and the City
is far short of its target to install 50 km of bike lanes in 2008, only
one bike lane was up for approval at last Friday's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.
The Annette Street bike lane from Runnymede to Jane was actually a
deferred decision from a previous committee meeting. After some debate
over the reduction in some on-street parking to accommodate the bike

For those who ride BMX or maybe have kids that ride BMX, you might be
interested to learn that the City of Toronto is presenting a report to
develop a strategy and policy for BMX facilities. This report will go
to the Community Development and Recreation Committee at its meeting this Thursday, October 16th.

To read the staff report click here

One of the above-mentioned projects for which TCAT has been awarded
funding is a study looking at the impact on business resulting from the
removal of on-street parking in order to install bike lanes. The study
area is the Annex section of Bloor Street, between Spadina and
Bathurst. The findings from this report should be published by the end
of 2008 and will be of significant interest to City staff working on
the Bloor Corridor Visioning Study. This study was mostly completed in
2007, but the final report was just recently released (thanks to one

Two weeks ago, Metrolinx released a draft version of its Regional
Transportation Plan (RTP) for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
TCAT has been following the development and consultation that led to
this draft document, and so far we are generally happy with what we
see. Of course, Metrolinx is limited in how it can influence what is
translated on the ground in local municipalities. For example,
Metrolinx is committing $20 million per year to invest in cycling and
walking - however that incentive can only go so far in motivating local