On September 7, 2011 Toronto's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) adopted, with amendments, two items relating to cyclist and pedestrian safety.

As reported in a recent TCAT News, at its meeting on June 23, 2011 the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee made several recommendations regarding Toronto's 2011 Bikeway Network Update. On July 12 and 13, 2011, Toronto City Council spent close to 12 hours debating a myriad and complicated bundle of items and motions. Since the decisions to build new off-road trails and Toronto's first physically separated bike lanes (on Bloor St. E., Sherbourne, Wellesley and Adelaide or Richmond) were combined with the controversial elimination of bike lanes, several Councillors made unsuccessful attempts to amend the wording of the motions, or to separate them out.

TCAT Director Nancy Smith Lea gave a presentation on Clean Air Partnership’s study “Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business, Year 2 Report: A Study of Bloor Street in Toronto's Bloor West Village" to the Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee on June 7, 2010.

The release this month of Changing Gears: Toronto for Cyclists documents cycling improvements in the city thus far and provides encouraging statistics about ridership. The report sets 7 priorities:

The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, at its meeting of June 15, will be considering a staff report seeking authority to install 13 new traffic control signals and road alterations to enhance 5 uncontrolled trail crossings, related to 30 kilometres of new trails and 4 kilometres of upgraded trails along the Finch Hydro Corridor, Gatineau Hydro Corridor and CN Leaside Rail Corridor, across the North York and Scarborough Districts. View the report here.

On Tuesday, May 11th, City Council approved the public bike share program by 33-8. The program will be run by Montreal’s Bixi and will start with 1,000 bikes at 80 stations located throughout the downtown. More information available in the Toronto Star and IBikeT.O.

As announced in previous TCAT News, TCAT is working with the City of Toronto to evaluate cycling conditions on College Street before and after the installation of a new bicycle pavement marking application. By Apr 30th we are requesting that cyclists who ride along College Street during rush hour between Lansdowne Ave and Manning Ave complete a survey about your experience. Sign up and find more information about the survey here.

Toronto City Council held a special meeting on August 5 and 6th to make up for July's meetings that were cancelled as a result of the strike. There were several items about bicycles on the agenda, including:

On June 3rd, TCAT will be addressing the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on the following four issues:

1. Motorized Bicycles on Sidewalks. TCAT supports the Toronto Pedestrian Committee's recommendation that no bicycle that includes a motor of any kind be allowed to travel on the sidewalk. For more info, see this recent Toronto Star article.

A reminder that the Operating Budget Public Hearings are happening this Wed, Feb 18th. Once again, bikeToronto.ca has done an excellent job of analyzing how the BIke Plan will fare in the proposed budget.