Site Planning and Resident Engagement
The City of Toronto’s Ten Year Cycling Network Plan, adopted in 2016, includes the development of a Bicycle Parking Strategy to increase supply of bicycle parking throughout the City, prioritizing areas of highest need. One such area of high need is at Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) apartment towers. In 2017-2018, the City of Toronto’s Transportation Services conducted a bicycle parking pilot at TCHC buildings, providing racks at three TCHC properties. The study found high support for adding bike racks, that the racks were well used, and that no two sites are the same in terms of proper siting.
In 2019/2020, funds for bicycle parking were made available to the City of Toronto by the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Program. The City commissioned The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) at Clean Air Partnership to assist the City and TCHC on a project titled Site Planning and Resident Engagement for Bike Parking at Toronto Community Housing Apartment Towers.
The goal of this project was to develop a systematic approach to identify areas of highest need in order to achieve a sustainable, efficient, and fair method for installing bicycle parking in both the short- and long-term, to develop and recommend the location and type of bike parking for shortlisted sites, and to consult with TCHC management and resident communities to ensure their knowledge and needs were considered in the bicycle parking installations.
Due to time limitations on the funding, the shortage of bike parking at all TCHC buildings, and the high volume of TCHC buildings, TCAT established a high-priority shortlist for installation in 2020 as well as a prioritized list of long-term siting recommendations for all 325 TCHC apartment buildings.