Cycling advocates ask for budget considerations
It may be winter out there, but regardless of all the snow and cold, cycling in the city is still a hot topic.
On Feb. 20 cycling lobbyists gathered at the St. George Street entrance of the St. George subway station downtown to try and convince Toronto City Council to at least maintain the spending levels of last year on capital projects and approve a modest increase to the cycling safety and promotion programs of the City of Toronto. On the week of Feb. 24 the city is sitting down and discussing its $6.4 billion budget.
"The budget advisory committee gave their recommendations forward to the policy and finance committee and then those went onto city council," said cycling advocate Martin Koob. "They basically want to cut the funding in half for these bike plan projects.
"Actually outlined in the Bike Plan is that they were supposed to increase it to $2 million this year. So what the cycling committee is saying, is that the city should at least maintain last year’s level of funding.
About two years ago the city approved its "Bike Plan," which was a culmination of the work of citizens, city departments and local councillors who comprise the Toronto Cycling Committee and other cycling organizations. The plan "establishes a vision for cycling in Toronto. To ‘shift gears’ towards a more bicycle friendly city.
"The plan sets out integrated principles, objectives and recommendations regarding safety, education and promotional programs as well as cycling related infrastructure, including a comprehensive Bikeway Network."
Included within the framework of the plan are: bicycle-friendly streets (changing average road policies to make it safe to cycle anywhere in the city; cycling promotion (safety promotion, bike courses, education, the Road and Trail Safety Ambassadors program, the annual Bike Week awareness campaign); and The Bikeway Network (expanding the network of bike lanes, on-street bike routes and off-road trails over 10 years)
"The ultimate goal is to have 1,000 kilometres of various forms of the network," said Koob.
As well, the plan outlines: a cycling-transit partnership (the idea is to combine cycling and transit by creating bike stations for bike parking or commuting from the station by bike, further expanding the ‘Bike Share’ program, providing better access for bikes on the subways, installing bike racks on buses and creating more bike parking (post and ring stands).
Budget recommendations suggest a works project budget of $725,000, instead of $1.5 million as was the case last year. Cycling advocates are also asking for a parks budget of $100,000 (that would go toward such things as rail line corridor expansion, for instance the city bought a line last year to create a bike path from Wilket Creek to Betty Sutherland Park); and an increase in the money for safety and promotion programs. (The Road and Trail Safety Ambassadors program had 20 people in 2000. Last year it only had five and the cycling committee wants an increase of $42,000 to add another five people.)
"If council doesn’t change its mind, progress on the Bike Plan is going to be slower, because they are going to be cutting the funding basically by half compared to last year," said Koob.
