Toronto Cyclists Speak Out

Toronto cyclists gathered yesterday at the magnificent St. Lawrence Hall to voice their opinions on how to make Toronto a better city for cyclists. The public consultation held by the City of Toronto attracted around 100 participants who ranked the city's cycling-related proposals and came up with their own suggestions for improving cycling conditions in Toronto. A detailed report should appear at the City's cycling website at some point, but it was pretty obvious during the session what were the hot topics that generated the most response.

The list of issues identified by the group as top priority isn't particularly surprising: the dearth of bike lanes on roads that actually GO somewhere, atrocious road surface, bike lane parking and rampant bike theft have all been on the radar for a long, long time. Here is yet another confirmation that Toronto cyclists desperately want something done about it. I am all for public consultations (especially when they feature yummy refreshments and valet bike parking, as did this one), but gee, how much more evidence does anyone need that cyclists prefer to arrive at their destination in one piece? Or that cycling gets a little frustrating if you never know whether your ride is still waiting for you where you parked it? We've told the politicians what we wanted - time and time again. We told them again yesterday. We are waiting for a response...