Submitted by yvonne on 20 October, 2010 - 16:52

Hi Bikesters,

I hope you find this mini update about a few bike-related things useful.

Please note that in addition to our update here on Mr. Smitherman's position on cycling, a news item will be posted on our site tomorrow (Thursday) regarding Mr. Pantalone's updated and detailed commitments for cycling transportation.  Further analysis from the bike union of where candidates stand on cycling issues can be found here.

Please visit http://bikeunion.to/newsroom/updates for regularly updated news items from the Toronto Cyclists Union.  You can also sign up for our RSS feed so that these updates get to you automatically.

In this Update:

1. Jarvis St. Bike Counts Now Underway
2. What's Up with Spadina - where'd that lane go?
3. Election 2010 - New information from Mr. Smitherman

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1. Jarvis St. Bike Counts Now Underway

City Transportation Staff have begun doing counts of cyclists that are using the bike lanes on Jarvis St.  Having witnessed many cyclists opting to ride around these counters when they were installed along College St. a few weeks ago, likely because they did not understand what these black strips across the road were for, I thought it worth sharing this information with you.  Please click here to see what bike counters look like, and be sure to ride right over top of them when you come across them on Jarvis St. near Wellesley, or on other busy bike routes in the city.

Please note that when I reported my concern about the data quality of these counts, having noticing cyclists going around the counters, City staff assured me that they also have people on-site doing manual counts to reconcile this problem.

2. What's Up with Spadina - where'd that lane go?

Many of you will have noticed that the 'gutter lane', the white stripe that ran along the edge of the curb lane all the way along Spadina Ave., was scrubbed off the roadway about two weeks ago.  Please note that this was done in order to prepare the roadway for the application of Sharrows on most of Spadina, and full bike lanes where the road widens enough to fit them in at Spadina circle.

The City has not been able to provide us with a specific application date, but we have been assured that they will be implemented before the end of the season.

3. Election 2010 - New Information from Mr. Smitherman

Many of you will have heard that we organised a Mayoral Candidates Bike Ride in late September.  Given that Mr. Smitherman was not able to participate at the time, he responded favorably to our offer to take a one-on-one ride last Tuesday morning, following which we met to further discuss his position on cycling issues, and plans should he be elected Mayor of Toronto.

His full response to the questions we emailed prior to the ride can be found here on our website.

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Stay tuned for an update tomorrow from Mr. Pantalone, and for our bi-monthly newsletter, the fall edition is coming soon!

You can follow us on Twitter via @bikeunion, or join our Facebook Group, where we regularly share interesting links and information!

Cheers,

Yvonne & the bike union team