This took place at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute.
The same chaos (from the last meeting) however, did not happen due to a security and police presence. As a result, it went smoothly with obvious disruptions.
Producer's notes:
The so-called "balance" on bloor crowd disrupted multiple times in a row (first instance was coughing in-masse), as a result, I turned the camera on them every single time. Some covered their faces.
Their shit was also not tolerated and they were called out multiple times. Their so-called statistics were torn apart and as a result, they claimed the city's own data was unreliable, faked or non-transparent (it is transparent). I expected this.
Most did not engage with them, since their own influence prevents rational conversations regarding anything but driving.
The same chaos (from the last meeting) however, did not happen due to a security and police presence. As a result, it went smoothly with obvious disruptions.
Producer's notes:
The so-called "balance" on bloor crowd disrupted multiple times in a row (first instance was coughing in-masse), as a result, I turned the camera on them every single time. Some covered their faces.
Their shit was also not tolerated and they were called out multiple times. Their so-called statistics were torn apart and as a result, they claimed the city's own data was unreliable, faked or non-transparent (it is transparent). I expected this.
Most did not engage with them, since their own influence prevents rational conversations regarding anything but driving.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00:00First, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge that the land that we're meeting on is the
00:00:06traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg,
00:00:11the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First
00:00:18Nations, Inuit, Métis people.
00:00:20We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the
00:00:24Credit.
00:00:25The City of Toronto also acknowledges that all Treaty people, including those who came
00:00:29here as settlers, as migrants either in this generation or a generation's past, and those
00:00:34of us who came here involuntarily, particularly those brought to these lands as a result of
00:00:38the transatlantic slave trade and slavery.
00:00:41We pay tribute to those ancestors of African origin and descent.
00:00:45Thank you so much for joining us today for the Ward 3 Bloor Complete Street Extension
00:00:50Community Meeting.
00:00:51You'll see an agenda up in front of you.
00:00:53I'm Denise, my last name is long and obnoxious.
00:00:56This is me, Dan O'Leary.
00:00:57I'll say it one time.
00:00:58We never have to do it ever again.
00:00:59And I'm going to be your moderator for the event this evening.
00:01:01I work with a company called Rura, and we're a neutral third-party facilitator of meetings
00:01:06just like this, and I'm also a Ward 3 resident.
00:01:09It's my job to act as the traffic director for this evening, ensuring that just a little
00:01:14bit of order so that you can get your voices heard during the question period that will
00:01:18follow just a brief presentation in the beginning.
00:01:20Before I introduce the panelists that are here with you, I want to share with you a
00:01:25few of the ways that you're going to be able to participate in today's event, because we
00:01:28do want to hear your thoughts and your ideas and your questions.
00:01:31That's the whole point of these events.
00:01:33There's two parts this evening, as you can see up on your screen.
00:01:36The first part we're doing right now, the question period.
00:01:39You'll get a brief introduction from the panelists, and then from there it'll be a full hour of
00:01:43questions.
00:01:44We'll follow that up with a feedback session in the cafeteria.
00:01:47It's a little bit of a fun adventure to get to the cafeteria, and so we will have stuff
00:01:51afterwards that will take you to the cafeteria.
00:01:53There will be lots of opportunities there for you to share your thoughts, speak to city
00:01:56staff, ask questions, and share ideas with us.
00:01:59After the event, there's also an opportunity for the team to gather together some of the
00:02:03questions and some of the things that came up from the feedback session, and then share
00:02:06back some of that information with you.
00:02:08Lots of opportunity to connect into this issue.
00:02:11You all got a package of information when you came in the door.
00:02:14Somebody is like me and was like, I love a package.
00:02:17I also love a package.
00:02:18Give it to me all up front so I have it in my hand and I know what's going on.
00:02:22In that information package that you got on the way in, you'll find a number of different
00:02:27resources.
00:02:28You'll find the meeting agenda.
00:02:30You'll find the shared responsibility guide that I'll go through in just a moment with
00:02:34you.
00:02:35You'll find the ward and area context and project area and discussion.
00:02:40You'll find the monitoring and continuous improvements and changes since the installation.
00:02:45You'll find the engagement to date and answers to frequently shared concerns.
00:02:50Some of your questions may already have been answered, so it's worthwhile to check into
00:02:54that package and flip through and see what's there.
00:02:57This is, as you can tell, a very full room of people.
00:03:01This is an issue where there's a lot of people who have a lot of feelings about this, which
00:03:05is great.
00:03:06That's why we're here.
00:03:07We also have a shared responsibility to be respectful in this space.
00:03:11This is a shared responsibility guide.
00:03:13There's a copy of it in your information package.
00:03:17I'll go through it with you just so that you know what we expect from you and what you
00:03:20can expect from us.
00:03:21As a participant in this event, we ask that you agree to treat others as you would wish
00:03:25to be treated.
00:03:26That means treating all other participants with respect and consideration when they're
00:03:30speaking, being tolerant of a diversity of different views, as they're represented in
00:03:34this room, and opinions, focusing on critiquing the ideas rather than the individuals, and
00:03:39sharing ideas for change along with the critiques that you might share.
00:03:43Wait for your turn to speak and respect the time limits, which I'll share with you shortly,
00:03:47for comments, and refrain from disruptive or disrespectful conduct, especially towards
00:03:52others.
00:03:53These will help us move the evening along.
00:03:56The less disruptions means the more questions, and so I will help us to move that along as
00:04:01smoothly as we can.
00:04:02As part of this agreement, we also want to make an agreement with you, things that you
00:04:07can expect from us to ensure mutual respect in the room.
00:04:12We're all here and open to hearing your thoughts and your questions and your comments from
00:04:16all different perspectives.
00:04:18We'll do our best to facilitate fairly, applying the principles and this agreement across the
00:04:23board to all participants.
00:04:25We will do our best to hear from as many people as we possibly can, both in this part of the
00:04:28forum, but also in the activity part later on in the evening, and we'll continue to listen
00:04:34and reflect on your feedback and input, and work to find innovative and collaborative
00:04:38approaches to solving the issues and the concerns in the community.
00:04:42Like I said, I will be a little bit of a traffic director for tonight's event, so we'll talk
00:04:46about how we're going to do that together.
00:04:48If you'd like to ask a question, you'll need to raise your hand, whether you're up in the
00:04:51balcony or on the floor down here.
00:04:54There are two folks with mics who will be roving around and will come to you or come
00:04:59close to you to ask your question.
00:05:02I just want you to know that they will be holding onto the mic, and the reason for that
00:05:05is that it helps move things a lot faster, and again, we want to sort of prioritize getting
00:05:09as many questions as we possibly can.
00:05:11So if you're going to be asking a question, then you might want to try and move to the
00:05:14outside of your row.
00:05:16And our friends with the mics, I believe you can still be on the main floor and Michelle
00:05:21on the upper floor.
00:05:22They're colleagues of mine from Laura.
00:05:24There's lots of you and not a lot of time, so we would love to ask for you to keep your
00:05:28questions and your comments brief.
00:05:30A good rule of thumb is one minute to ask a question, and you can expect a one to two
00:05:34minute response from our panelists.
00:05:36In this role as Traffic Director, I promise that I will not blow a whistle.
00:05:40It's too much of a closed space, so I do love a good whistle.
00:05:44But in order to help keep us on track, I will raise my hand if I think that you're going
00:05:47too long, and if you can't see my hand and it doesn't feel like you're responding to
00:05:52my hand, then I will use my voice to ask you to wrap up your question and move along.
00:05:56And again, this is not because I don't want to hear what you have to say.
00:05:59It's because I want to hear what everybody in the room has to say.
00:06:02Unless you've made your comment or you've asked your question, please try not to interrupt
00:06:05the person that's responding to you.
00:06:07Everybody here in this room wants to hear the responses, and if you start talking over
00:06:10the person, it means that people aren't hearing that.
00:06:13If you've asked a question and you have a follow-up question, you are allowed one follow-up
00:06:17question, and if you have more follow-up questions, then we're going to ask you to go back into
00:06:20the speakers list so that everybody else gets a turn.
00:06:23And we'll move through it that way.
00:06:25We do all this to ensure that everybody has a chance and has space in the room to ask
00:06:29their questions.
00:06:30And if you don't have space in the room to ask your questions, there will be question
00:06:33cards downstairs that you can fill out your questions that the staff team will go through
00:06:37later and respond back to you with questions that have been asked.
00:06:40And also, there will be the activities in the room that will help you get some of those
00:06:45thoughts and opinions and ideas out in different ways than just an open question forum.
00:06:49All good.
00:06:50All right.
00:06:51So, now that we know how it's all going to work and how we're going to do this together,
00:06:55I'm going to introduce the panel to you, and then we can jump into your questions.
00:07:00I'm going to go through my list, and then I'm going to turn it over to our panelists.
00:07:03So, on the panel, we have our Councillor, Amber Marley, City Councillor Ward 3, Etobicoke
00:07:08Lakeshore.
00:07:09We have Barbara Gray, General Manager of Transportation Services for the City of Toronto.
00:07:14We have Jacqueline Hayward, Director of Transportation, Project Design, and Management, City of Toronto.
00:07:20We have Al Rozoski, Manager, Community Planning, City of Toronto.
00:07:25And we have the Deputy Fire Chief, Jim Jessop, Toronto Fire Services.
00:07:29And I'm going to turn it over to Amber.
00:07:31Thank you so much, Denise.
00:07:33And just confirming we're using this to pass along for the panel.
00:07:36Yeah.
00:07:37Great.
00:07:38Good evening, everybody.
00:07:39Thank you so much for taking the time to join us.
00:07:41As was mentioned, my name is Amber Marley.
00:07:43I'm very proud and privileged to serve as your representative at City Hall.
00:07:47We're glad to be here in Ward 2 this evening in a follow-up to a commitment we made a year
00:07:52ago to have an in-person town hall to discuss this piece of infrastructure in our community.
00:07:57I appreciate you coming.
00:07:59And again, as Denise mentioned, we acknowledge this is a very challenging issue and has had
00:08:03a lot of pain points for local residents.
00:08:06We want to hear about those, and we want to continue to work together to address them.
00:08:11I understand that we are going to be hearing more, and I appreciate my colleagues for joining
00:08:18us here tonight.
00:08:19As promised, when we were through the first phases of this project, going through consultation
00:08:25and hearing a lot of feedback, we made a commitment to analyze closely, to be transparent, to
00:08:32be open, and to be collaborative.
00:08:34And we have demonstrated that throughout, and we'll continue to take that position and
00:08:38that role as the leader for this community.
00:08:41So who's in the room?
00:08:44The next slide is just a little snapshot for all of you.
00:08:47We know sometimes there's concerns about who's joining in for these conversations.
00:08:51And while, of course, we appreciate that this kind of infrastructure has city-wide implications,
00:08:56it is a local conversation, a local piece of infrastructure, and so we wanted to demonstrate
00:09:02where folks are coming from who've registered for tonight's session.
00:09:06So that's behind you for your own information.
00:09:09The next thing I just want to talk about is what we're hearing.
00:09:12My team has been deeply engaged in this project, working very closely with transportation services
00:09:17and our colleagues at City Hall, and hearing from all of you on a very regular basis.
00:09:23So I wanted to just highlight some of the questions and concerns that we've heard, which
00:09:29are around the decision-making and consultation process, upcoming changes to the project,
00:09:34which we're really excited to share more about tonight and to continue to monitor the impact
00:09:39of.
00:09:41Emergency response times, very importantly, and that's another area that we're excited
00:09:45to have Deputy Chief Jessup joining us to speak to as we get into those details.
00:09:50So there's a list here.
00:09:51I'm sure this is familiar to all of you, many of whom I'm sure have been in touch with this
00:09:56important feedback to our office.
00:09:58As Denise mentioned, we will be taking questions live from the audience this evening and hear
00:10:03how important it is for all of you to have that opportunity and, again, are very happy
00:10:07to be facilitating it.
00:10:09But before we jump into the live question-and-answer period, we are going to get a brief presentation
00:10:14on updates to the project to date, improvements that have been made, and where we go from
00:10:20here.
00:10:21So I will turn it over to Barbara and Jacqueline.
00:10:23Thanks very much, Deputy Mayor Morley, and good evening, everyone.
00:10:27It will be very brief to provide you with a little bit of background on the project
00:10:31so that some of the data questions you may have or information about the process may
00:10:37be answered in the presentation.
00:10:39It's similar information that's in your package.
00:10:41The Bloor Street West Complete Street Extension Project was approved by Toronto City Council
00:10:45in June of 2023.
00:10:47It's 4.6 kilometres.
00:10:49We're talking specifically about the section between Runnymede and Bloor West Village and
00:10:54Resurrection Road linking to Six Points.
00:10:58Next slide, please.
00:11:00In terms of the timeline of the project, the first phase of installation began in this
00:11:06neighbourhood in fall of 2023, which brought the project from Runnymede to Aberfoyle, and
00:11:11then the second phase was installed in spring of 2024, as well as some adjustments to that
00:11:17phase one section.
00:11:18We've been continuing to monitor and make some modifications to the project to address
00:11:23both the data that we've collected as well as feedback that we've heard from the community,
00:11:28and so those modifications have been made in that time, and we released an interim data
00:11:34update in June of 2024 on our website, and that's publicly available data on many of
00:11:40the accounts and analysis points that we've been collecting.
00:11:43We are continuing to collect more data to be able to understand the way the project
00:11:48is operating and improve the way it's operating.
00:11:51We've recently completed and have a few more to do of signal retiming to improve signal
00:11:56coordination along the corridor, and then we'll be taking some additional counts in
00:12:00November to be able to get a fall data update published so we can see how that performance
00:12:05is going as well.
00:12:06And we have a commitment to continue to make additional upgrades that I'll speak to, as
00:12:10well as additional monitoring.
00:12:12Next slide, please.
00:12:14So the way that we do monitoring includes the data collection, it also includes regular
00:12:18site visits to observe the way that key intersections are operating in key periods.
00:12:23The data that we collect is multi-modal for number of people biking, number of people
00:12:28driving, as well as understanding the speed that vehicles are traveling, both to understand
00:12:33if they're in compliance with the speed limit as well as travel times along the corridor.
00:12:38We are continuing to make adjustments based on those feedback points.
00:12:42Next slide, please.
00:12:43So key points that lots of people like to know about are what are the peak travel time
00:12:47impacts for motor vehicles, and the data that we published in June of 2024 indicated that
00:12:53we have an increase of about 2 1⁄2 to 4 1⁄2 minutes eastbound from the previous
00:13:00conditions.
00:13:01It's 1.5 to 3.6.
00:13:02It's not helpful.
00:13:03You obviously don't live here.
00:13:04I do.
00:13:05And you're just wasting time and you'll get less questions.
00:13:06So we'll have to stop any time that you do that.
00:13:07We're going to have to stop the proceedings and it means less questions at the end.
00:13:08So I hope that you kind of loved it and will continue to do so.
00:20:37My question is based on Safe Roads to School.
00:20:41Is this the neighbourhood that began Safe Roads to School?
00:20:45Was the former trustee in this area?
00:20:47Has there been discussion within the schools that the Bloor Street cycle lanes provide some
00:20:53sort of spine for their walking and cycling programs?
00:20:57Thank you for the question, David, and thanks for taking the time to join us.
00:21:01I haven't personally been involved in any direct conversations with the local schools,
00:21:05but I appreciate you flagging that opportunity, and I think it's something worth following
00:21:09up, so we'll take it back.
00:21:10Thank you so much.
00:21:11To my kids, the Bloor bike lanes have obviously showed off traffic, and commuters are now
00:21:21on all of our secondary roads.
00:21:24We do not have sidewalks in our neighbourhood.
00:21:30I don't know if your data tracks secondary roads or Dundas and Montgomery, or what your
00:21:39immediate action plan could be.
00:21:41Could you give me some detail on what you can do today?
00:21:45Thank you for the question.
00:21:46Once again, I'm going to pass it along to Transportation Services.
00:21:49Monitoring the increase in traffic on local roads, or the increase in speed, is something
00:21:54that we are very interested to do, because we don't have, we certainly don't want to
00:21:59see a reduced safety for people on the local streets, particularly children and seniors,
00:22:04of which there's a significant amount in this neighbourhood.
00:22:07So we have our own plan on which streets should be monitored, based on, you know, Meadowvale
00:22:12is an obvious one, because of the east-west corridor directly south of Bloor, but I know
00:22:17that there are some in the northern section as well, and we're interested in your feedback
00:22:22tonight, in the downstairs portion, if there are particular locations you feel should be
00:22:27monitored, so that we can identify locations where there are increased speed or traffic,
00:22:32and we can look at opportunities for traffic calming of various sorts, or turn restrictions,
00:22:37but we need to be very balanced about the kind of approaches we use, because we don't
00:22:40want to restrict access to you and your neighbours to get to your homes, we need to make sure
00:22:44that it's about improving safety on the street, but by maintaining access for local residents.
00:22:50Denise, can you just confirm, are we doing follow-up?
00:22:52Yep, one follow-up.
00:22:53Thank you, so I'm trying to be specific, because I live 30 seconds away.
00:22:58Can you come down tomorrow morning between 8.30 and 9.30 and send maybe a few people,
00:23:05Montgomery and Dundas.
00:23:07It is a disaster.
00:23:10And it has been a disaster since these bike lanes, maybe not solely because of the bike
00:23:16lanes, but living there, I don't need a camera, or a speed line, or anything to tell you,
00:23:22it is out of control.
00:23:30Just so you know if you need any feedback downstairs, there will be maps with sticky
00:23:33notes and stickers that will allow you to give us lots of detailed feedback on that,
00:23:37and so just to start to think about where you might want to put those things, and those
00:23:41times are very helpful.
00:23:43We could definitely get someone out at morning peak at Montgomery and Dundas, we can make
00:23:47note of that here, but any additional feedback about that, I can't commit that it's going
00:23:51to be tomorrow morning, but in a peak period, we're happy to take a look.
00:23:55Thank you so much.
00:23:56We've got two questions from the floor, and then we'll go back up to the upstairs.
00:23:59Hi, my question has a bit of a lead-in to it.
00:24:04My mom is a professor at the University of Toronto, she was a scientist at the Hospital
00:24:11for Sick Children, and when she had to choose how to commute, she chose to bike and avoid
00:24:17traffic, get some exercise.
00:24:20In 2005, she was hit on a road that, fortunately now, is getting a makeover to be a little
00:24:29safer.
00:24:32Her leg was pulled aside, she lost a lot of blood.
00:24:35Fortunately, she survived, but for a long time she couldn't walk.
00:24:39Seven cyclists this year that have been killed that meant as much to someone as my mom means
00:24:47to me.
00:24:48I know there's a lot of room for modifications, improvements going forward to the Bloor Lanes,
00:24:54but I want to know that concerns about losing a parking spot or two are way less important
00:25:01to the people making those decisions than the safety of the cyclists in the area and
00:25:07everyone else.
00:25:17I can confirm.
00:25:19I can confirm.
00:25:20For me as the local representative, that is the case, and we do continue to strive to
00:25:24find balance for all road users, especially active road users who are most vulnerable
00:25:29on our streets.
00:25:30Thank you for the question.
00:25:33Can I have just a couple of points, questions?
00:25:37I am 56 years old.
00:25:39I'm disabled.
00:25:41I'm walking.
00:25:42Okay.
00:25:43When they introduced the bike lane, it was all in the past.
00:25:48There has been no parking spaces on the street which allow us as disabled persons to park.
00:25:55With the new bike lane, it took away all the parking spaces.
00:25:59So I went to Princess Margaret for an appointment.
00:26:03I can't even stop.
00:26:05Everything, she's not standing, not standing.
00:26:07What happened?
00:26:09The space was given to parking.
00:26:11What can I tell her?
00:26:12What happened to us?
00:26:13We have no parking.
00:26:14Okay.
00:26:15I think this is a serious problem for disabled people like me.
00:26:19Okay.
00:26:20Second question I want to ask is the negative impact on the residential area.
00:26:25I live in an old mill area near a restaurant.
00:26:28When the traffic comes here, because it's so congested, congested and poor,
00:26:33when traffic comes from the east, they will turn left at a subway station,
00:26:38go to a motorway, go up to, what's it called?
00:26:42And then my street is just like, you won't be able to travel anymore.
00:26:48Can you just wrap up?
00:26:51Yeah.
00:26:52Let's wrap up.
00:26:56I appreciate it.
00:26:57Please go ahead if you'd like to make a, yeah.
00:26:59Just finish up.
00:27:00Yeah, if you'd just wrap up.
00:27:01No, you have to leave.
00:27:02Okay.
00:27:03Can I say something?
00:27:04Can I say something here?
00:27:08The bike lane, I'm not against bike lane.
00:27:11I'm not against.
00:27:12I live by myself.
00:27:13But I think the plan we have today goes too far.
00:27:18What happens, right?
00:27:22When you have a dedicated bike lane, people who ride a bike are much faster.
00:27:30Now we have motorized bicycles.
00:27:34And you know something?
00:27:35I got hit nearly at the intersection.
00:27:38And if I fall down, I will have only two more years to live.
00:27:44Something about the speed.
00:27:46People are not saying that.
00:27:48Majority of bikers are fine.
00:27:50But there are also many bikers they are not responsible.
00:27:53Especially those illegal people.
00:27:55And let me tell you here.
00:27:57I'm so scared now.
00:27:58Walking into an intersection.
00:28:00I'll cause a violence.
00:28:01I'm sorry.
00:28:02Because once I fall, I got hit.
00:28:04I'm trying to survive.
00:28:09So I hear you.
00:28:11The queuing and the congestion at peak periods.
00:28:14We're very aware.
00:28:15We're monitoring very closely and making improvements.
00:28:18Including traffic signal timing to better flow traffic.
00:28:21That just happened this week.
00:28:22So we will continue to see if these efforts are making a difference.
00:28:25The other thing you mentioned about cut-through traffic.
00:28:28I appreciate you flagging that specific to the Old Mill area.
00:28:31And that cut-through down over to Jane.
00:28:33So that will be something that we take back as well.
00:28:35And I really appreciate you sharing your feedback and your experience.
00:28:40I was just going to say that you also asked about parking.
00:28:44And you asked about the changes that were made to parking.
00:28:47As part of the complete streets improvement.
00:28:49And one of the reasons.
00:28:50That's absolutely true.
00:28:52There have been changes that have been made to parking.
00:28:54And I think they've had some impact.
00:28:56And we continue to work on adding back more accessible spaces.
00:29:00But there is a balance.
00:29:03We talk about the safety of all road users.
00:29:06And so there is a question.
00:29:08There was a gentleman who asked before.
00:29:09About whether we balance sort of the need for parking spaces.
00:29:13Over the need for people on bikes and pedestrians to travel.
00:29:16And that is a balance.
00:29:17So it doesn't work for everybody perfectly.
00:29:19But we continue to stay committed.
00:29:21To try to add parking back where we can in locations.
00:29:25And I do think the change is quite difficult for people.
00:29:29It's something that we need to kind of work through and manage.
00:29:32And that's why we continue to show up in the community.
00:29:35And we'll continue to do so.
00:29:37We've got Michelle in the back with a question.
00:29:39And then we'll take two from the floor.
00:29:41My name is Mark.
00:29:42I live in the area.
00:29:43I'm a dad of three kids.
00:29:46I go to Norseman JMS in the neighborhood.
00:29:49I've got to say the traffic situation on the floor.
00:29:53Before the bike lanes.
00:29:55In terms of from a safety perspective.
00:29:56Was completely out of control.
00:29:59Based on the city's own data.
00:30:01Cars were at a speed of like 70 kilometers an hour.
00:30:05Can you just say that last sentence again?
00:30:10You missed the audio cut out.
00:30:12So, yeah.
00:30:14Even the data that you presented before the complete street was installed.
00:30:17The average speed was 70 kilometers an hour is what we're seeing.
00:30:20From a safety perspective.
00:30:22That is just completely insane.
00:30:24You have children walking on that street.
00:30:26I've had my own son literally almost got run over by somebody.
00:30:30Running a red light.
00:30:32And all they did was kind of raise up their hand.
00:30:34Like, oh, sorry.
00:30:35I don't run over your kid.
00:30:37So, from a safety perspective.
00:30:39It is a drastic improvement over what we had before.
00:30:43You got the speed limits down to 50 kilometers an hour.
00:30:47That's a huge improvement.
00:30:49One of the other benefits is.
00:30:51We now have a space where children can actually cycle safely.
00:30:56My eight-year-old.
00:30:57He's on the bike with me.
00:30:59I've got my three-year-old in the back.
00:31:01We're able to safely travel through the area.
00:31:04And I'm glad I'm seeing a lot of families.
00:31:06A lot of parents.
00:31:07Also traveling through the area.
00:31:09So, I did have a question about safety.
00:31:12Some of the intersections are still quite dangerous.
00:31:15I'm looking at Islington.
00:31:17Or Royal York.
00:31:20Are there any plans to have.
00:31:25In these areas.
00:31:28Safety for pedestrians as well as cyclists.
00:31:31Thank you for that question.
00:31:32I'm going to pass it to Jacqueline to respond.
00:31:34For those who don't know.
00:31:35A protected intersection provides additional medians.
00:31:38And space for pedestrians to have the ability to be waiting in an area.
00:31:42And drivers can see better.
00:31:43Cyclists make turns with better sight lines as well.
00:31:46There aren't currently plans to make any protected intersections.
00:31:50Along this corridor.
00:31:52It does really require a reconstruction.
00:31:54To start doing that.
00:31:55It does take quite a bit of space.
00:31:57And it may impact the number of lanes.
00:31:58But it's something where we do have the opportunity with road reconstructions.
00:32:02And we do seek to implement those where we can.
00:32:06Because they do improve safety.
00:32:08We are making changes at a number of other intersections.
00:32:10To slow down turning movements.
00:32:12So that those can be safer places for people to walk across.
00:32:15There's a follow-up.
00:32:17So, I guess in lieu of that.
00:32:19Like some of the areas.
00:32:21There's a lot of pedestrian traffic.
00:32:23Like especially near World War.
00:32:26So are there any plans to install any kind of automated speed enforcement?
00:32:33Because, yeah, sure.
00:32:35During the peak times, yeah, the traffic speeds are down.
00:32:38But off-peak, there's still like a lot of speeding that's happening in the area.
00:32:42Yeah, thanks for the question.
00:32:43We do actually have at least three automated enforcement cameras per ward.
00:32:48That move around.
00:32:49You probably recognize that.
00:32:50And we're actually doubling the numbers.
00:32:51So we'll start installing new cameras, I believe, in January.
00:32:55And those installations will happen through the springtime.
00:33:00So if there's specific locations that you found to be problematic.
00:33:04Again, it would be great to know when you go downstairs on one of the sticky notes.
00:33:08We'd love to know about that.
00:33:10Thank you so much to the panelists for organizing this.
00:33:13My name is Christopher Yarnell.
00:33:14I'm a father, cyclist, driver, and transit rider who lives in the neighborhood.
00:33:19And I'm also an intensive care unit physician and a motor vehicle trauma researcher.
00:33:24I've cared for pedestrians and cyclists who have, unfortunately, been killed by motor vehicle trauma.
00:33:30Separated bike lanes, although they're demonstrated to make roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists,
00:33:38change to those configurations still represents an important opportunity to further improve safety.
00:33:44My question to the panel is, among the changes under consideration by the City of Toronto,
00:33:50how are they going to further improve the safety of Bloor Street West?
00:33:58One of the things that we do when we put in a complete street is we know that the traffic patterns,
00:34:03the travel patterns change as a result of that.
00:34:05And a lot of people have described, just at the beginning, but since we've been working with the community,
00:34:10we've heard a lot about that.
00:34:12And one of the things we do know, we have a pretty robust kit of tools that we can bring to help improve safety
00:34:20in a project like this one, but it does take a little bit of time.
00:34:23And we've had the benefit of some time from 23 to 24, and now 24 forward, to make those changes.
00:34:30They've been a little slow in moving forward, and they're happening quickly now.
00:34:35Jacqueline went over a number of them, but some of them have to do with signal timing improvements
00:34:41that are going to sort of manage the flow of congestion on the main roads,
00:34:45and that will have a direct impact on reducing impacts on side streets.
00:34:50Certainly managing turning radii so that we have some tighter turns,
00:34:54and the gentleman who was talking about turning vehicles and concerns about speed.
00:34:59And reducing speed is probably the best and most important thing that we can do to protect safety for all road users,
00:35:05whether you're driving or you're walking or cycling, regardless of your age or ability.
00:35:10If you get hit, and I'm from the U.S., so you'll forgive me, at over 35 miles an hour,
00:35:16it will almost certainly result in injury or fatality, which you probably know.
00:35:21And so bringing speeds down has a huge beneficial effect.
00:35:24And a lot of what we do is to try to manage speeds on these corridors.
00:35:28And even though that usually takes some tweaking in signal timing to make the corridor flow smoothly,
00:35:34we feel pretty confident that we can do that effectively, and so we're going to continue to work on that.
00:35:39I just want to acknowledge that I do see hands over here.
00:35:42I've got one over here, and then I'm going to jump over on that side.
00:35:46Yes, I'm coming.
00:35:47And then I'm coming to the back, yes.
00:35:50Somebody over here.
00:35:51Oh, one more? Just one more follow-up.
00:35:53I just wanted to provide an example of some of the improvements to improve safety.
00:35:57So at the intersection, forgive me, I can't remember the name of it at the moment,
00:36:01but between El Cibio and the Cheesy Place, there's been a couple of collisions at that location.
00:36:08Turning movements tend to be quite sharp.
00:36:10So improvements for pedestrian safety, which will improve safety for everyone,
00:36:14are planned at that location with a raised crosswalk and changing the turning radii.
00:36:20And then obviously the sidewalk gap that I mentioned will help improve safety for people walking along the south side
00:36:26adjacent to the cemetery east of Prince Edward.
00:36:30And the concrete barriers being the type of protection across the bridges will be an important safety improvement as well,
00:36:37because the bollards only do so much.
00:36:40So my name is Ivan Baker. I'm the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke Centre.
00:36:44And I came to Maloney for Etobicoke Lakeshore as a way-on government business
00:36:50and couldn't be here but asked me to relay that he and I are on the same page.
00:36:53So let me start by saying I'm not ideological with bike lanes.
00:36:57I think bike lanes make sense in some places, and they don't make sense in others.
00:37:00I'm also an avid cyclist. I cycle a lot, and I used to live just up the street,
00:37:06so I cycle in this area a lot.
00:37:09To me, the objectives of sound transportation planning should be to get as many people to where they want to go
00:37:15as safely, as cost-effectively, as quickly as possible, by whatever means of transportation they're using,
00:37:22while protecting the environment and supporting the local economy.
00:37:27To me, when the City took out the two car lanes to replace them with bike lanes on Bloor Street,
00:37:32the City was not pursuing those objectives.
00:37:36There's four key categories where I've heard from constituents it's caused the most harm.
00:37:51The first is it's had a devastating impact on traffic flow with little upside benefit.
00:37:57City data showed about 25,000 trips per day by car on that stretch of Bloor
00:38:02before the bike lanes went in, with 87 bicycles.
00:38:05With the bike lanes installed, it's taken over half of the road space.
00:38:09Those 25,000 cars mostly are still there, if your data shows that.
00:38:13And even if those 87 bikes grow by 60%, even if they grow by 100%, or 300%
00:38:18I see your hand, I'll be quick.
00:38:19300%, that's still only 200, 300 bikes to 25,000 cars with a lot of cars.
00:38:33The second concern I have is I think they risk our safety in emergencies.
00:38:36I've been caught in congestion there where ambulances, fire trucks, police are trying to get through.
00:38:41I can't imagine who's on the other end of that call.
00:38:43But minutes are being lost, and I've had firefighters and police and ambulance come to me and say,
00:38:48look, this is a big risk, we're worried about it.
00:38:50God forbid someone's house burns down or something worse happens to somebody.
00:38:54We're concerned about people's lives and safety, and so we should be.
00:38:56We should be concerned about that.
00:38:57Number three is, I think they've actually increased emissions.
00:39:0025,000 cars used to move pretty quickly along there.
00:39:03Now they're sitting and idling in traffic.
00:39:12Many of them have been harmed.
00:39:13So my question to you is this.
00:39:14Would you do the following three things?
00:39:16Move the blower bike lanes to more suitable streets.
00:39:21Two stop plans.
00:39:32I've only got a minute, so I'm trying to do my best.
00:39:41My question is, would you move the bike lanes to more suitable streets?
00:39:46Number two is, would you stop plans for the extension further west into Etobicoke Centre,
00:39:51into the western, west of 427 in Markland Wood?
00:39:54And three is, just for future plans, would you just use those objectives that I outlined at the beginning
00:39:59as your guide for transportation policy, whether it's bikes or roads or transit or whatever,
00:40:03and just use evidence to back that up?
00:40:17Thank you, MPP Baker.
00:40:18And apologies for not acknowledging you off the top.
00:40:20We are in your board as well, so really glad to be responding to your question.
00:40:27I'm going to take the first off the top.
00:40:29I'm going to pass it along to our transportation experts to talk about the principles that the city follows
00:40:35when it comes to road design, planning for the incoming growth and development that we're experiencing, etc.
00:40:41And then we're really lucky to have Deputy Chief Jessup with us today,
00:40:44who's been doing a lot of work locally to analyze the impact to our emergency services.
00:40:48We meet regularly to discuss this exact topic for the reasons that you've flagged,
00:40:53and so we'll give him an opportunity to respond as well.
00:40:56Would we consider moving the bike lanes at this time?
00:41:00As the local representative, my objective is to continue to work towards improving this infrastructure,
00:41:05and the removal of the bike lanes is not something that I am against.
00:41:24Let's be neighbourly here today, guys.
00:41:27I know we all have a lot of strong feelings on this,
00:41:29and we really do want to have a collaborative and constructive discussion, so thank you.
00:41:34The last thing I will just say is we understand that the province has expressed an interest in infrastructure in the city,
00:41:40and we do look forward to participating and understanding what the impacts of that involvement is going to look like.
00:41:46We are always open and continue to be collaborative to the best of our abilities.
00:41:50So I'm going to pass it to the team.
00:41:53Do you have a push list, Brian?
00:41:54I'm just sorry.
00:41:55I'm sorry.
00:41:56Thank you so much.
00:41:57I'm sorry to tell you guys that we've got only 15 minutes left,
00:42:01and of course there's lots of people with lots of questions.
00:42:04Half an hour!
00:42:06Half an hour.
00:42:07Oh, you're right.
00:42:08Half an hour.
00:42:0915 minutes.
00:42:10I apologize.
00:42:11We do have half an hour left.
00:42:12Thank you so much.
00:42:13We'll move on, but we do have half an hour.
00:42:14So just a reminder.
00:42:15Well, I'll try to be brief, and I will hand it over to Jim, Deputy Chief Jessup.
00:42:21So our principles for effective transportation planning start with safety for all road users,
00:42:27and especially prioritizing vulnerable road users.
00:42:30And we certainly want to move as many people through the corridors as we can as efficiently and effectively.
00:42:37So I would say that we share your goals, and certainly cost-effectively as well.
00:42:44And I don't know if you would agree with me,
00:42:46but certainly in areas where the land use, like here in Etobicoke, where the land use clearly over decades has supported driving,
00:42:54it is a huge transition to try to get as many people through a corridor.
00:42:58We have a great subway that moves most people as quickly and effectively as possible.
00:43:03Whatever.
00:43:04Travel.
00:43:05Travel at some point, and we can come back and have that conversation.
00:43:08We certainly want to make sure that, as we know, and I can't wait to hear the reaction to this thing,
00:43:15but there's lots of documentation that talks about the support that bikes and people who ride bikes have for local businesses.
00:43:22This is amazing.
00:43:24So, and certainly making sure that people who are old and very young,
00:43:33and people who can get around in ways that they choose,
00:43:38and that also, if you have to drive for trips, you should be able to drive for them.
00:43:43And I have been out to this neighborhood quite a bit in the last little bit of time.
00:43:47I don't live here.
00:43:48I live downtown.
00:43:49I used to live in Dufferin Grove area.
00:43:50But the streets out here, certainly we've seen a change and an impact.
00:43:54That's why we're monitoring it so closely.
00:43:56It's not a minute or two minutes or four minutes of congestion.
00:44:02It's above the previous volume, right?
00:44:04So we've seen that this is a local neighborhood road, an arterial road that has lots of activity.
00:44:11We know that there's going to be a lot more development and construction in the area,
00:44:15and it's going to add more people.
00:44:17And we need to give people as many options for safe movement as we can.
00:44:20So those are our goals when we do complete streets improvement.
00:44:23Thank you for the question.
00:44:30So as the Deputy Mayor noted,
00:44:32Toronto Fire has the ultimate responsibility to make sure that we continue to monitor not only this project,
00:44:40but we do this every single day for all projects, all special events,
00:44:45all activities that can be, you know, a metro-sized city.
00:44:49So I have been working and my team have been working very closely with the Deputy Mayor.
00:44:53And, in fact, I've just pulled the latest data and what are two key performance indicators
00:45:00that we openly and transparently for the last five years report to City Council on four years more
00:45:06show that your response times have been improving.
00:45:22So I can tell you that in 2022, the first key performance indicator is what we call effective firefighting force.
00:45:30This is the North American standard that all metro-sized cities follow.
00:45:36In 2023, you're at 91.
00:45:38And in 2024, 93.
00:45:45The second key performance indicator is this.
00:45:55The second key performance indicator that we follow on the North American standard in 20s,
00:46:01the first truck arrival.
00:46:03And that is in 2022, you're at 70%.
00:46:062023, 71.
00:46:08And 2024, 71.
00:46:10So we have not seen a decrease based on international standards that we report to City Council on on a yearly basis
00:46:18through our Analytics Division.
00:46:20Sorry.
00:46:21Remind folks, the panel here before you are all dedicated public servants who are literally doing their work
00:46:29on behalf of the public for the public good.
00:46:31And I have every expectation that we can treat them with the respect that they deserve.
00:46:43So to conclude, it is important for you all to know that ultimately, I am the one responsible.
00:46:49When those 911 calls come in, it's the Deputy of Operations for Toronto Fire to make sure that our fire apparatus
00:46:56responds quickly and efficiently as possible.
00:46:59We've already made a number of recommendations to Barbara Gray and to the Deputy Mayor that will improve,
00:47:08even further improve the response times given the congestion.
00:47:14And as I said, we do this daily, whether it is a parade, whether it is the future Taylor Swift concert,
00:47:21whether it's FIFA, whether it's the Ontario Light.
00:47:24We have commanders, platoon chiefs that literally monitor the placement and the response of our apparatus
00:47:30on a 24-hour basis.
00:47:32And we adjust sometimes by the minute, depending on the situation that is happening.
00:47:37So we will continue to monitor.
00:47:39That is my responsibility.
00:47:41I will continue to report publicly and transparently and continue to work with the Deputy Mayor
00:47:45and all City staff to make sure that you have the fastest response times that Toronto Fire can provide.
00:47:57Another very important note, and we'll move on.
00:47:59I apologize now we're taking a lot of time to address this one, but I appreciate again the question and the opportunity.
00:48:04Through the change that we are experiencing as a province and certainly as a city,
00:48:09and through provincial directives, we have four major transit station areas along the corridor floor
00:48:17that are set for intense growth.
00:48:20So status quo thinking is not going to serve us well when we welcome thousands and thousands of new residents
00:48:27into our community.
00:48:28The city has tried to get ahead of this issue by taking away minimum parking requirements
00:48:33so folks are not incentivized and developers are not incentivized to market to people who need to have a car
00:48:39to move through our community.
00:48:40But to consider that we can continue in the way that we have been in our stable communities in Etobicoke,
00:48:46that is no longer our reality.
00:48:48We are growing, we are expanding, we are receiving growth in our community,
00:48:52and we want to do that responsibly and in a good way.
00:48:54And that includes being proactive about the necessary infrastructure to move people through the community
00:49:00without having ongoing impacts to congestion and wait times for the long term.
00:49:05So this is what we're hoping and what we're continuing to drive towards the outcome of temporary pain for long term gain
00:49:12so we can welcome that growth intensity that we don't really have a choice in as we continue to move forward.
00:49:17So thank you again for the question and we'll move on.
00:49:19Applause
00:49:27We have a question from the top floor and then we're going to come back down to this side for two more.
00:49:31Michelle at the top.
00:49:32Hi, my name is Sandra Bynum, I came marking woods.
00:49:36Thank you for the segue into my question.
00:49:38So I have a question regarding an issue which affects all users in congestion along the Kingsway corridor.
00:49:45So with the pending large developments on the main Bloor intersections of Prince Edward, Montgomery and the City,
00:49:51what preventative measures are planned to ensure detours and delays due to these construction projects are kept to a minimum?
00:49:59The Jane and Bloor construction that cut the Bloor-Westbound lane down to one lane is still causing issues.
00:50:05There can move two lanes for one block, one of which was dedicated to bicycles.
00:50:09Thank you for the question Adam, I believe it was.
00:50:13So we do do a lot of work.
00:50:15We have to provide approvals for folks to do lane closures as it relates to construction or any other work in the right-of-way.
00:50:21And my office and my team, we always push back very strongly and try to have folks do as much of the work within the site as possible to minimize the impact to the right-of-way
00:50:32and certainly to ensure that as little additional lane closures are happening as possible,
00:50:37especially while we navigate this difficult time related to congestion and stretch.
00:50:41But I'll turn it over to Barbara to speak a little bit more about what mitigating measures the City has.
00:50:45So there's been a ton of construction and there's going to be more, and as the Deputy Mayor pointed out,
00:50:50much of that is mandated provincially and also something that the City supports,
00:50:56substantial growth in affordable housing for all people so people can afford to live in the City that we love.
00:51:03And construction is starting to creep into all neighborhoods.
00:51:08We have a number of tools to help manage it.
00:51:10It's very helpful, including we have work zone coordinators who are available to address spot issues,
00:51:17and also we do push back pretty heavily on developers in terms of the length and duration and impacts of their closures.
00:51:24That said, there are still impacts to those closures.
00:51:27And if we have information about where you're finding the pain points,
00:51:32we also have people who are out in the community who are looking for that.
00:51:36But it's always helpful to hear where those locations are so we can go out and work with the contractor to try to make changes.
00:51:43I know there's also challenges that when people see construction sites, sometimes they are not active,
00:51:49and people get very frustrated with that, which I can understand.
00:51:52Sometimes they have people parked in them, which is very frustrating to see because it's slowing you down.
00:51:57And so we have started, again, a series of audits of construction sites
00:52:01where we send our by-law enforcement officers out on a regular cadence to make sure that we are not wasting any time,
00:52:08that people could be returning those lanes back to traffic or the sidewalks back to pedestrian use when they are done,
00:52:15and they just want to store equipment there, which is very frustrating.
00:52:18So those are some of the things that I would love to know.
00:52:20The locations, because your mic cut out when you were talking about the locations.
00:52:24I'm sorry, there are many pending condo developments.
00:52:31Now that I'm also Timekeeper and Traffic Director, we've got 20 minutes left.
00:52:44Thank you. My name is Leigh. I'm a 64-year-old woman who lives in South Tobago.
00:52:48I drive a car, I ride a bike, I walk a lot.
00:52:51And to be transparent here, I'm a huge advocate for complete streets.
00:52:56I think it's a vision of community that is hard for us to imagine right now, given the situation that we live in.
00:53:03I also want to say that for many years I've rode around Toronto,
00:53:07and every time I came home I'd say to my husband and my kids, I cheated death again.
00:53:11And I still say that, but not as much, because honestly the bike lanes in Toronto that have been put in in the last few years have changed my life for the better.
00:53:22I do have a question, though. I used to live in Bloor West, and I wish that the bike lane along Bloor was there when I lived there,
00:53:30because my son probably would have ridden his bike to high school, much more than I drove him to high school.
00:53:36I probably would actually come up to Bloor West to use the retail here a lot more, given that I live so close.
00:53:44But the reason that I don't is because I try to use the retail that I can bike to.
00:53:50And I don't feel safe riding on Royal York or Islington.
00:53:55And so my question is actually related to travel times along Bloor,
00:53:59because I personally wonder if we could get more people like me using the bike lanes along Bloor in this neighbourhood,
00:54:07because I typically stop if I'm coming from downtown or going into downtown, and I take the waterfall trail.
00:54:16In any case, is part of your plan to reduce the travel time along Bloor include improving the network along Bloor?
00:54:25Because I think a lot of people don't ride along Bloor bike lanes because we can't get more people like myself to do it.
00:54:35Thanks for that question.
00:54:36So the City Council approves a three-year program of cycling infrastructure improvements across the city to start to plan to improve the network.
00:54:44So it is a network-based approach.
00:54:46There's a lot of network analysis that goes into which projects should happen when, coupled with understanding where needs are for growth,
00:54:54like the intensification that's here, and bundling with road work where we can,
00:54:58because that's where you can get the best type of design of a project when you're changing where the curve line is associated with road work.
00:55:05Royal York is a tricky one to make better, because the width is what it is.
00:55:10And for much of it, there's only one lane in each direction.
00:55:13And as you start to get into north of Bloor, you have trees and grading issues.
00:55:21And south of Bloor, you've got a lot of development very close to the corridor.
00:55:25We are looking to improve it.
00:55:26We've made some changes in terms of the markings, and there's some areas where you have width to be able to provide some additional protection.
00:55:33But that's a tricky one to improve specifically.
00:55:36The north-south connections is a key part of this plan.
00:55:39This is not about one east-west route across the city.
00:55:41It's about building a network so people can have choices to get where they want to go.
00:55:45And I'll just add, again, the importance of these opportunities for touch points,
00:55:49and us demonstrating a collaborative approach and making improvements to get the travel times down, et cetera.
00:55:55We understand that it makes it a lot more difficult to see a citywide cycling network realized when we can't demonstrate success.
00:56:05So we know we're not there yet.
00:56:07We hear you.
00:56:08We're crystal clear on that.
00:56:09This is why we're here tonight.
00:56:10And we want to continue to do everything we can to make this work because it has implications.
00:56:16We want the province to be able to welcome with open arms all kinds of infrastructure to support all road users.
00:56:23And again, if we can't get this right, we're not doing ourselves any favors in terms of the connectivity.
00:56:28So I'll just add that and leave it right there.
00:56:30Thank you so much.
00:56:33Here, here, and then over here, and several other hands.
00:56:36Yes, I see.
00:56:38Michelle, I'm not sure how many you have up there.
00:56:40But I'm going to go here first.
00:56:46My name is Eric Hopkins.
00:56:48I'm in central Tocco.
00:56:50Contrary to what you just said about bike lanes improving your life,
00:56:54I'm going to tell you about bike lanes that have not improved on us and made it worse.
00:56:57My wife has two false teeth.
00:56:59She can't ride a bike.
00:57:01We no longer come down here to go to restaurants because there's no place to park.
00:57:04Or if we try to park, we have to park two blocks away.
00:57:07I have to drop her off.
00:57:08It makes the process, like, 25 minutes to actually get us into the restaurant, right, which should take about two.
00:57:14That has not improved.
00:57:16So I just wanted to put that comment out.
00:57:18I want to make a couple of real quick things.
00:57:19Data.
00:57:20Your data is not transparent.
00:57:22You're talking about analytics and data and transparency are not transparent.
00:57:26Okay.
00:57:31The data about timing of cars, right, if you look at the travel times that it would normally take versus the travel time it is taking, you're doubling travel times.
00:57:41Okay.
00:57:42You're getting percentages of bikes.
00:57:44As we said, they go from 30 to 60.
00:57:45You double.
00:57:46But against 25,000, it doesn't count.
00:57:49If these two are transparent, these two are real.
00:57:52The last thing I want to say is bike lanes equal congestion.
00:57:56Okay.
00:57:57And you're keeping those two things apart.
00:57:59You're saying we're going to solve this, but you have bike lanes and you have congestion.
00:58:03I'm all for safety.
00:58:04I deal with risks a lot.
00:58:06I understand that.
00:58:07But the confusion that you're creating for vehicles in an area of Tohoku that was built on arteries, that's the transportation.
00:58:16We didn't put Humber where it is.
00:58:18The design was to get certain streets across Humber.
00:58:22But what you're doing is you're clogging.
00:58:25You're clogging Edmonton.
00:58:26You're clogging Bloor.
00:58:27You want to clog Queensway.
00:58:29And yet you want to improve your business in this city.
00:58:33How do you improve business when people cannot get downtown effectively?
00:58:37Okay.
00:58:38So you're saying it's worth it.
00:58:39Thank you for the question.
00:58:45Thank you guys for taking the time to join us tonight.
00:58:47I'm going to pass it to the team to speak about the transparency of data, and then I'll make a comment.
00:58:52I would just like to know what you mean by the data is not transparent.
00:58:56Okay.
00:58:59So I'll just say we know the great lengths.
00:59:03And we had a conversation the other day in the Crooked Queue, and Cody was there.
00:59:08And we're going to – my data lead is out until Monday.
00:59:11So when he's back, we'll invite him in to talk about that.
00:59:14But the data, you know, is collected by a third party.
00:59:19It's collected by video and a couple of other methods, two counters and industry standard collection methods.
00:59:25When we publish our dashboards, they do include percentages because the percentages are true.
00:59:30But they also include real numbers, and you can see the discrepancy there.
00:59:34I don't think when you see a 200% increase, there's certainly a wow factor.
00:59:38But I would also argue that if you look at the numbers, you can make a legitimate estimation about what that growth has been.
00:59:44And so I would say that there's definitely been growth in cycling in this area, and there's definitely been additional time delay.
00:59:53I'm not going to – I'm going to finish what I have to say, thank you, and then we'll continue on.
00:59:59So I do think that the data transparency is really important.
01:00:03We're going to be working closely with the province on providing the data that they're looking for when they're asking us.
01:00:09We'll find out next week more about that, and we're happy to do it.
01:00:12We're happy to look at different techniques and tactics in terms of data provision.
01:00:16And I would also just say that there really – you know, people talk about bike lanes equally congestion.
01:00:22You know, there are some pretty basic rules about complete streets.
01:00:28I've probably done 50 to 75 complete streets projects over the course of my career.
01:00:33I'll probably do a bunch more if I'm lucky. We'll see how tonight goes.
01:00:37And I'll tell you that capacity is managed at the intersection, and that's why we spend so much time trying to deal with intersection throughput.
01:00:46And that's why we make changes to traffic signal timing, and that's why we make tweaks and address issues that are at the intersection.
01:00:53Because over a certain number of vehicles per day, you can lose a lane of traffic, which is not – it's counterintuitive as long as you're managing the intersections effectively.
01:01:02And I would say that the benefits you get back for pedestrian safety and cycling safety are – they are manageable – excuse me.
01:01:11They're desirable, and you can actually manage the congestion.
01:01:14And it does take a little bit of time, and it's frustrating, and it makes people impatient, and I totally get that.
01:01:20So we understand it. We're committed to continuing to work through it. Thank you for your question.
01:01:29Hi, my name is Jeff. I live on Jackson Avenue in between Kingsway and King George Road.
01:01:35I've lived there for 25 years with my wife, who is blind.
01:01:39She uses a guide dog. She can no longer cross King George Road at the foot of our street safely, and she can no longer cross Kingsway safely.
01:01:50I've trapped her in her neighborhood. I know you didn't intend to do that.
01:01:55My question is, what can you do to untrap her?
01:02:01Thank you so much, Jeff, for the question, and I really do appreciate it.
01:02:05I'm sorry to hear about the frustration, and just want to say that we'd be happy to come out and do a walkthrough with yourself.
01:02:13And I'm sorry, I didn't catch if it was your wife or your daughter – your wife.
01:02:17My mom actually worked in this neighborhood for over 20 years as a community access facilitator for visually impaired adults.
01:02:24So, you know, this is the kind of thing that we absolutely are very mindful of.
01:02:29The goal is to support individuals, especially those who are marginalized or vulnerable, road navigators or users in different ways.
01:02:37And so that is something I see – I think I saw Monica from my team in the back.
01:02:42So I'll give it to you, Monica.
01:02:43If you could come and get contact information from Jeff and set up some time for us to do a walkthrough of the area, we'd be very happy to do that with you.
01:02:51And take back any learning.
01:02:53The purpose of the walkthrough is what?
01:02:56For you to – you're saying she's trapped and there are some barriers for her to navigate safely.
01:03:00We want to be able to see those in real time and see what changes we can make.
01:03:04Yeah.
01:03:05And it sounds like – and we're interested to come out to the community with you to see and to speak with your wife to find out more about her experience and her lived experience there.
01:03:15It sounds like it's an issue where there's increased traffic volume and speed that's causing a safety concern.
01:03:20So I will say that Jackson and King George Road are on our list of locations that we are monitoring actively.
01:03:27And we're interested in hearing others.
01:03:28We heard a couple others tonight already.
01:03:30Greenview, Edgemoor, Meadowvale have come up.
01:03:34Those are locations where looking at the speed and volume and then identifying solutions to ensure that we don't have that level of infiltration or speed through traffic calming is something that we are very interested to do.
01:03:46Because making those local streets safer for everyone is part of our community's objectives as well.
01:03:51And so thank you for raising your concern.
01:03:53Making the streets more accessible is key.
01:04:01Is there a follow-up there?
01:04:02Denise, can we take two?
01:04:07You want to go first?
01:04:08Yeah, go ahead.
01:04:13Okay, great.
01:04:15I'll be brief with only questions.
01:04:16So given the gap between obviously drivers that are using the road versus cyclists, I guess this is probably the most difficult question.
01:04:23One of my three.
01:04:25Fundamentally, public servants shouldn't be catering to such a small minority.
01:04:30That's a difficult question to answer, obviously.
01:04:33The second one is you mentioned principles for planning is road safety and status quo won't work.
01:04:40So in that spirit, are we kind of just doubling down on a failed policy?
01:04:45Wouldn't the bike lanes be better used through residential areas rather than major thoroughfares?
01:04:56It's important to be honest, more safe for everybody, both pedestrians, road users, and cyclists.
01:05:01And third, my observation watching a lot of the cyclists come here this evening was not really an adherence to road safety.
01:05:11It's more of an adherence to road safety or having more stricter rules for greater rules that cars have to follow.
01:05:28I didn't get your name, but thank you for the question.
01:05:30Is this infrastructure catering to a minority of road users?
01:05:35I would argue that no, it is not.
01:05:37While the data shows that there of course continue to be much less folks driving cars and riding bicycles.
01:05:53The goal here is not to get everybody out of a car.
01:05:56The goal here is to ensure that there are safe alternatives for all road users as our community grows.
01:06:02We heard about the challenges at the bottom of Montgomery Road and Bloor in our ward.
01:06:08There is a big condo development coming to that corner in case folks haven't been monitoring that.
01:06:13There are many other pieces of construction that are going to bring high density and hundreds of thousands more residents to our community.
01:06:22So this is about thinking wider than just the immediate impacts on the community while those are important.
01:06:28And that's what we're here to talk about and address.
01:06:30This is a bigger issue than simply the impact in this moment.
01:06:34This is about building a sustainable city that we can be proud of, we can navigate safely, and that our kids can be happy to inherit.
01:06:43Not having to continue with status quo thinking, that doesn't always get us very far.
01:06:48I just wanted to address a couple of things about the number of cyclists on new facilities like this one.
01:07:06We have enough experience in installing new facilities on roads to be able to confidently say that the number of cyclists typically grows when people feel confident and safe in the infrastructure.
01:07:18So you will typically see an increase year over year, which is why we monitor it.
01:07:24We've already seen an increase, and to the point that many people have made, is it the most heavily used cycling facility in the city? It's not.
01:07:31There's others downtown that used to have lighter volumes and now have much heavier volumes.
01:07:35We saw post-COVID a huge increase in people cycling because people felt with lower fuel cars on the road that they were safer cycling.
01:07:44And so when you have safe, connected infrastructure for people cycling, more people will cycle.
01:07:49That's just what we've learned.
01:07:52I also think that there's just people who don't necessarily play by the rules, regardless of what mode.
01:08:01There are pedestrians who cross against the light, there are drivers who run red lights, and there are cyclists who don't necessarily follow the rules.
01:08:08But I would say the bulk of the people in the city attempt to follow the rules of the road.
01:08:13And so while I agree that there's definitely issues all across the board, and they're very frustrating for people, most people, I think, try to follow the rules in Toronto.
01:08:23Thank you. Michelle, you've got one more up there.
01:08:25Hold on, I'm holding, yeah, I'm holding.
01:08:28No, I do understand the future growth of the city, but I think a simple yes-no answer for everybody would be pretty helpful in the sense that,
01:08:34would it be safer for the bike paths to be through residential areas versus a major thoroughfare?
01:08:39Would that improve everybody's safety and efficiency of transportation for everyone?
01:08:43Yeah.
01:08:44I mean, we've done, I think we're three deep on our cycling network plan, and we've identified corridors in the city based on a variety of criteria,
01:08:54which I would really invite you to take a look at.
01:08:57And certainly there's space in communities for cycling routes on what would be now known as secondary roads.
01:09:03We're going to learn what that is hopefully next week, but on local roads for sure.
01:09:08Typically, everybody wants to be in the same place in the city, right?
01:09:11Because that's where the bike would see us, that's where the businesses are, that's where the transit stops are.
01:09:16And so you'll find that the most direct route through the city is where everybody wants to be.
01:09:21And so we try to balance that.
01:09:23So we have both things, right?
01:09:25We have main road corridors, and we also have secondary street corridors as well.
01:09:30Another thing that I can add that we don't have data on today, but we certainly do collect it, is complete street conversions make the streets safer for everyone.
01:09:38So whether you're walking along the street or whether you're driving along the street or whether you're choosing to cycle along the street,
01:09:44the data shows that over time the trends will show that there are less driver to driver collisions,
01:09:50there are less driver to people cycling collisions, and there are less collisions involving people walking.
01:09:55Because there's a pattern of movement along the street that's more calm, it's less frantic, and the speeds are more consistent,
01:10:03and people's behaviors are more what you would expect to see.
01:10:08So it's a smoother experience, and it's a neighborhood street that functions that way.
01:10:13It still carries lots of people, but what we want to see is a safer street for everyone.
01:10:17I think that's everybody's objective here.
01:10:20The last thing I'll just add, very quickly before we go to the next questioner,
01:10:23is that we do actually have very little alternative routes that are east-west in this neighborhood.
01:10:31The nearest one is Queensway, and that's not actually very effective or efficient in terms of a route.
01:10:44Barbara just gave a lot of good details, so I won't be late.
01:10:47Go ahead.
01:10:50This is our final question.
01:10:54Moving down to the cafeteria, we'll be able to ask questions in lots of other ways,
01:10:59and I'll tell you about that in just a second after we've answered this last question.
01:11:02Okay, so thank you very much.
01:11:03So I have a little bit of a unique perspective, because as a city councilor, from 2014 to 2018,
01:11:09I actually rode my bike from Missington and Radford all the way down to City Hall,
01:11:16and I rode in favor of the bike lane extension over the Runway.
01:11:20But in that case, they were not taking out lanes of travel.
01:11:23And I did know, as a councilor, as I was riding my bike, that I felt much safer.
01:11:28And I was riding along with many other cyclists.
01:11:31And I'd ridden these lanes.
01:11:33But these lanes, frankly, Barbara, Councilor Morley,
01:11:40these lanes are just not being used.
01:11:43They're empty during the morning wash hours.
01:11:54When you want to put in a traffic light, when you want to put in a stop sign,
01:11:57when you want to put in speed humps, they have to meet the warrants.
01:12:00They have to meet criteria.
01:12:02The bike lanes don't have to meet any criteria.
01:12:05I mean, these bike lanes on Florida have never been used more than they have today
01:12:09to get people to this point.
01:12:13So, I do have a question.
01:12:16I do have a question.
01:12:17Have you considered, or would you please consider,
01:12:20moving the bike lane into one lane on one side of the road
01:12:25as it is done on Lakeshore Boulevard?
01:12:30East-West traffic flows nicely along Lakeshore Boulevard.
01:12:35It could be done here, but it would require some creative thinking and some engineering.
01:12:40The bike lane is not going to go away. I know that.
01:12:42So, I would encourage you to try to make it better
01:12:45and maybe have East-West on one side of the road.
01:12:55Thank you for that suggestion, former Councilor.
01:12:58We do look at different alternatives for the ways that bike lanes can be configured.
01:13:02And we are very committed to, as this project becomes,
01:13:07in the longer term, what the project could look like with the reconstruction.
01:13:11So, looking at a two-way facility is not off the table.
01:13:15However, I will say that the type of bike lane along a corridor like this
01:13:20is generally not appropriate to be bidirectional
01:13:23because of the number of driveways and intersections
01:13:26and conflict points that that presents for East-West.
01:13:28And you have to have each of those locations signalized
01:13:31in order to provide for the East-West.
01:13:33The signal phasing would probably mean that it's going to be more delayed.
01:13:36So, that's all a lot of technical speak to say that
01:13:39it's something that certainly we would consider,
01:13:41but typically not appropriate for a corridor of this nature.
01:13:44On the lakeshore, where it's adjacent to the lake for much of it
01:13:48and very few driveways, that kind of a facility is appropriate.
01:13:51So, we are open to looking at alternative designs in the long term
01:13:55and we will certainly seek public feedback through that process when we get there.
01:13:59And we will continue to monitor the number of cyclists in those cycle lanes,
01:14:03which we have seen an increase on and appreciate the feedback and questions.
01:14:07John?
01:14:08I'm going to give Amber a moment to wrap up here.
01:14:10It is 8.17. We are after our time just for this portion.
01:14:16So, there's a whole other hour and there are multiple mechanisms for you
01:14:20to give us your feedback and to give us your thoughts.
01:14:22If you join us in the cafeteria, there will be folks outside who will help you get there.
01:14:29If you're going to leave, I just ask that you do so quietly
01:14:32so that Amber can wrap up here.
01:14:34There are refreshments downstairs.
01:14:36There are opportunities for you to write your questions down
01:14:39and also to show us on the map where you come from points
01:14:42and to talk about some of the suggestions and ideas that might help.
01:14:45Amber, if you would wrap this up.
01:14:47Just to say thank you all so much for your ongoing interest and attention to this project.
01:14:52It really is going to help us make better solutions
01:14:55and get to a better outcome for our community and for our wider city.
01:14:59So, thank you for being here.
01:15:01Thank you for taking the time.
01:15:03And we look forward to continuing to share your constructive feedback with us.
01:15:06We look forward to continuing to engage in conversations with the province of Ontario
01:15:11and with our community members who are most impacted.
01:15:14So, we appreciate you.
01:15:15This will not be the last time you see or hear from us.
01:15:18We've demonstrated from the onset and we'll continue to defend our work together.
01:15:23Thank you so much. We'll see you in Monterey.
01:15:27Thank you to our esteemed colleagues as well for their time and energy.
01:15:31We hope that it will help you spend hours.
01:15:33I appreciate everyone taking the time.