One of our readers, Kevin, sent us this email exchange between him and the mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. We've blogged about Rob Ford a few times before. It is regarding the Mayor's decision/proposal to remove the bicycle lanes on Jarvis Street.
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06/25/11 07:56
Please do not remove the Jarvis bicyle lanes.
1,000 cyclists on Jarvis Street depend on those lanes for safety. There is
simply no justification for removing these lanes. The street is working fine for
everyone.
The biggest concern against the Jarvis Street bike lane prior to implementation
was significant delays in travel times for motor vehicles. A staff report
released in April shows that these delays have not materialized. Updated traffic
counts (see page 17) from the City of Toronto showed that following the
installation of bike lanes on Jarvis Street, motor vehicle volumes remained the
same while cycling volumes tripled. It makes no sense to remove a bike lane from
a street that works for all road users. This is wasteful spending at City Hall.
In fact, Mayor Ford, you were asked during the 2010 election if he would remove
the Jarvis bike lanes if elected. Your answer was no because it would be a
waste of money. You were absolutely correct then.
As a business owner living and working in the city of Toronto, I drive (yes
drive) Jarvis regularly. The addition of bike lanes has not impacted traffic
flow in my experience. I believe it has actually made driving on Jarvis more
pleasant! Motorist behaviour has become more civilized on this route.
I also believe that the constituants that live and work on Jarvis are finding it
a more pleasant environment as well. At the very least they should have been
consulted before Mr. Parker and your committee made this move. Surely that
would have shown respect for taxpayers.
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From: Mayor Ford
To: Kevin
Sent: Tue, June 28, 2011 9:57:43 AM
Thank you for your email regarding the bike lanes on Jarvis Street. I appreciate hearing from you.
Toronto's economy loses billions of dollars every year from gridlock and traffic congestion. We need to make the situation better - not worse. The Jarvis Street bike lanes experiment has been a failure. Ninety-four percent of commuters now face longer commutes on Jarvis Street. Over 15,000 commuters each day are suffering from longer travel times, for the sake of 600 additional cyclists.
The City should remove the bike lanes as soon as possible and improve travel times for thousands of daily commuters. City staff have been directed to develop a low-cost plan to do so. Bike lanes were never intended to be installed on Jarvis Street. The original Environmental Assessment recommended against installing bike lanes - but City Council amended the report to approve bike lanes anyway.
As promised during the mayoral election, I am dedicated to delivering customer service excellence, creating a transparent and accountable government, reducing the size and cost of government and building a transportation city.
Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts. Please feel free to contact my office again at any time.
Yours truly,
Mayor Rob Ford
City of Toronto
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to Mayor Ford
date 28 June 2011 17:37
Mr. Mayor
Simply put you are dead wrong.
Toronto does indeed have a gridlock problem, sir, but it is not caused by bicycle lanes. It is caused by an ever-growing number of automobiles on the road and aggressive, antisocial driver behaviour. Auto-centric development and an addiction to the personal automobile is the failure here Mr. Ford......not the Jarvis bicycle lanes.
Please don't insult my intelligence by going on about how how 15,000 commuters are suffering because of the bicycle lanes. I have driven it in an automobile Mr. Ford, any length in commuting time is insignificant. I don't consider a couple of extra minutes of commute time as suffering. I will also point out to you, sir, that Mount Pleasant is gridlocked all the way down from Eglinton...none of Mount Pleasant has bicycle lanes to blame the gridlock on.
Mr. Ford, it is not the 1960's any more. You will never reduce gridlock in Toronto until you reduce the number of automobiles. No matter how many bike lanes you rip out or how many roads you think you can build.
Thank you for mentioning in your email that you are dedicated to creating a transparent and accountable government. In light of that statement would you please explain to me why you are going to great lengths to fight the audit of you campaign expenses. I believe you yourself said "let them audit, I have nothing to hide".
Kevin
13 comments:
What is a "transportation city"? That is the problem. The powers that be for decades have wanted to create cities whose sole purpose, it seems, is to accommodate transportation and to make it impossible to function without lots of transportation in the form of cars. Having to go long distances using transportation is a failure. Success is when mobility is minimally necessary to fulfill one's daily needs. Success is when the main forms of transportation needed are walking and biking with an occasional ride using some form of transit other than the automobile.
I know i read somewhere that transport planners had had to change how they looked at traffic. Now its viewed as a gas eg no matter how many roads you build, they will all be filled...
"What is a "transportation city"?"
An oxymoron. Perhaps that is why they are now so full of oxy-deprived morons.
I live in Toronto and use the Jarvis St bike lane frequently, often on my Bullitt cargo bike (red just like yours Mikael.)
What a waste to remove bike lanes - something our mayor claimed he was set against. Beyond that our letter writer is correct, auto congestion is endemic and cannot be blamed on bike lanes, transit vehicles, etc. Finally, Jarvis forms the eastern boundary of the current Bixi bikeshare area, making it an obvious choice for a bike lane.
Strange way to deal with congestion - by discouraging bicycle and encouraging more people into their bulky cars.
I just emailed the right honorable mayor a thought or two on this subject. He does appear to be a lone wolf in crying for increased automobile use when cities in europe, and forgive me, cities to his south move toward automobile reduction.
mayor_ford@toronto.ca
Below is a link to Dave Meslins blog post where he dissects the mayors letter. He says it much better than I ever could. At the bottom of the post are links for the Toronto Cyclists Union Save Jarvis Campaign and the Save Jarvis Facebook Page.
City Council meets July 12/13 to vote on the issue.
http://meslin.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/dissecting/
In the book, Traffic, it claims that more roads always results in more cars.
It also says if you're in a car, you ARE the traffic.
Just sayin'.
S*
Seems asinine to remove the bike lanes, unless the Mr. Ford is encouraging that the cyclists ride the street vehicularly by taking the lane, where necessary. I am not familiar with this street in Toronto. I am simply curious!!
Peace :)
Perhaps someone else from southern Ontario can correct me on this, but did Ford not say he wouldn't be removing any of the current bike lanes when he was running for mayor?
I believe he said removing current bike lanes would be a waste of money.
". . .but did Ford not say . . ."
A politician; lie?
Say it ain't so, Joe. Say it ain't so.
Sorry but there's a middle ground. The pre-bike lane Jarvis was really bad, and the parallel bike lanes on Sherbourne far too rough. But as our crash data show east-west problems, not so much the north-south, it's the former streets and connections that truly need the political will, and that includes Bloor St.
Absolutely, it's Caronto the Carrupt, but we also have to have some brains in what we seek, and the Jarvis push was less thoughtful.
I'd trade Jarvis for Bloor, or Queen, or, or, or....as long as we get Sherbourne made smooth/safe.
And there's lots more bad news for bikes in Ford's Carontop...
The Youtube videos of Rob Ford saying how much he hates cyclists and how they deserve to die in crashes with cars were all available well before the election. The people knew exactly what they were getting when they voted for him.
I see that his brother, Doug Ford, who sits on Toronto City Council, made more comments yesterday about hitting cyclists. His take on a congestion charge?
"Would I pay $5 to get downtown quicker and not knock off 14 bicycle riders on the way down Queen St.? I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Source:
http://www.thestar.com/news/transportation/article/1015965--we-need-to-get-creative-with-transit-not-force-tolls-doug-ford?bn=1
And the Toronto Cyclists Union's official reaction to his remarks can be found at:
http://bikeunion.to/news/2011/06/29/open-letter-councillor-doug-ford
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