Category: Latest Issues

Green Communities Canada has published the State Of Walking Advocacy in Canada 2015 which we thought was an infographic worth sharing.

A great win for access and advocacy!

If you enjoy the Lower Don Trail, you know how difficult it can be to access – for people using a mobility device, with children in strollers, on bikes or trikes, pushing a bundle buggy or towing a trailer, etc. That’s about to improve, with an accessible ramp to be built at the Riverdale Park pedestrian/cyclist bridge.

This amazing win is the result of several years’ hard work by cycling and pedestrian advocates who collaborated together, found a champion in a local councillor, and engaged residents and the community. The process started in April 2013, when the City of Toronto held a public consultation on the Lower Don Trail Access, Environment + Art Master Plan project. Advocates attended and provided input, including requesting that ramps, rather than simply staircases, be part of the plan to increase accessibility to the Narrows section of the Lower Don Trail (located halfway between trail entrances at Corktown Common and Pottery Road). When the final plan was released by the City of Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority in September 2013, advocates were disappointed to learn that new staircases proposed for the bridges at Gerrard Street East and Dundas Street East would not include any ramp. That’s when the hard work began – to get an accessible ramp connection, to better serve the many people for whom stairs are still a barrier.

Fortunately, a coalition of local and city-wide advocates, including Walk Toronto, didn’t give up and kept the pressure on staff and politicians to come up with an accessible solution, which the City finally agreed to in the spring of 2015. The ramp, once it is built, will benefit not only local Riverdale residents but also downtowners who are not well provided with large bodies of green space – Torontonians will have three streetcar line options if they wish to get to the ramp using public transit.

Congratulations are in order to Ward 30 Bikes, the official Cycle Toronto advocacy group for Ward 30, which took the initiative on this project. In April 2014, the group, led by Michael Holloway, authored the report “Creating Accessible Connections: Ramps to the Lower Don Trail at Dundas and Gerrard,” which was endorsed by Walk Toronto, Cycle Toronto Trails Working Group, Ward 28 Cycling Advocacy Group and Ward 29 Bikes. Walk Toronto submitted its own “Lower Don Trail Accessibility” report in August 2014 and posted about this issue at that time.

Kudos are also due to Councillor Paula Fletcher for getting a study on the matter, and to Paul Young at South Riverdale Community Health Centre for assisting the advocates. The Riverside BIA, neighbourhood residents, individuals in local walking/hiking groups, and Cycle Toronto members are among the many others who also made known their support for an accessible ramp.

The work isn’t over. Advocates, including Walk Toronto, continue to be involved as the City prepares a Request for Proposal for the design phase in 2015, with construction slated for 2016. Nevertheless, let’s celebrate this victory, and reflect on what it teaches us to do:

• Get involved.

• Collaborate with others, and engage different communities.

• Find a political champion.

• Be persistent. Be persistent. Be persistent

Post prepared by Vivien Leong

On June 22, 2015, Walk Toronto deputed at a special meeting of the Toronto and East York Community Council (TEYCC) that considered a motion to reduce speed limits on all local streets in the district to 30 km/hr.

The motion passed unanimously. Councillors emphasized that the vast majority of their constituents were in favour of slower speeds on their streets. 14 of the 15 public deputants were also in favour (although some wanted additional measures).

TEYCC has final authority over this issue, so this is now policy. However, funding for changing speed signs still has to be finalized.

See Walk Toronto’s submission (PDF)

Walk Toronto has sent a letter to City Council supporting the boulevard (remove) option for the Gardiner Expressway east of Jarvis, rather than the “hybrid” option. While a wide boulevard is not ideal for pedestrians, Walk Toronto had decided that it provides more opportunities for good pedestrian spaces along the new street and safer crossing than the current experience of crossing Lake Shore and the Gardiner ramps, which the “hybrid” version would perpetuate.

Read the letter (PDF)

Walk Toronto has submitted a deputation to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee regarding the “Proposed 30 km/h Speed Limit Policy” being discussed today (Thursday April 9, 2015). The proposed policy specifies conditions for reducing speed limits on local roads to 30 km/hr without having to add traffic calming measures.

The gist of the deputation is that the proposed policy is very restricted. We are concerned that it not interfere with efforts to introduce broader, system-wide speed limit reductions on local streets. We also propose various measures to make the policy easier to implement on a broader range of streets.

Read our deputation (PDF)

Walk Toronto’s Michael Black was interviewed about this issue in the Globe and Mail, and on CBC radio.

Walk Toronto has submitted comments to the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee (PWIC) in response to the proposal to remove the Bay-Bloor pedestrian scramble crossing. The comments emphasize our disappointment at the recommendation and the popularity of pedestrian scramble crossings (as noted in the report itself).

Walk Toronto’s key recommendation is:

Walk Toronto recommends that PWIC direct staff to identify alternative intersections that meet the criteria for pedestrian scramble crossings and begin the process of establishing pedestrian scramble crossings at those intersections as soon as possible. Walk Toronto further recommends that the scramble crossing at Bay and Bloor not be removed until at least one has been installed at an alternative location.

Read Walk Toronto’s full comments (PDF).

The PWIC agenda item, and a link to the City of Toronto report, can be found on the City website.

UPDATE: PWIC approved the removal of the Bay-Bloor pedestrian scramble crossing without the amendment we proposed. It will be voted on at City Council at their March 31st meeting. There is still an opportunity to pass our recommendation at that meeting.

Here are some media articles about this issue in which Walk Toronto was quoted:

• Pedestrian advocates say evidence supports adding additional scrambles in downtown Toronto (Metro Toronto)
• If Bay-Bloor pedestrian scramble dies, will a new one be born? (CBC News)

With Semi-Actuated Type 2 (SA2) pedestrian signals, the pedestrian signal does not change to “Walk” automatically with the traffic signal. A pedestrian can end up seeing a green light but a “don’t walk” pedestrian signal if they have not pressed the pedestrian button (sometimes referred to as a “beg button”). These signals are not only frustrating, they can also be dangerous because pedestrians often end up crossing anyway, but there may not be enough time for them to get across before the light changes.

The City of Toronto has a large number of these signals in all parts of the city (see a map created by a blog commenter), many of them in high-density locations where there can be a fair amount of pedestrian traffic.

A recent blog post on Spacing Toronto asked readers to identify intersections in the city where they thought SA2 signals should be replaced by signals where the walk sign always comes on with a green light. There were many responses, reflecting the frustration pedestrians feel about this type of signal. Walk Toronto decided to send this crowdsourced list (cross-referenced with the city’s traffic signal inventory to make sure they are all SA2 signals) to City of Toronto Transportation Services with a request to review these signals and change them to the more pedestrian-friendly type of signal. It is our hope that this list is just a start, and eventually the number of SA2 signals in the city will be greatly reduced.

See our letter, with the list (PDF).

“Buidling a City that Moves,” the City of Toronto election candidates survey of walking, cycling and transit issues, released its findings today. The results showed strong support from council and mayoral candidates for policies that support walking, as well as cycling and transit.

The survey was a partnership between Walk Toronto and the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation, Canada Walks, Cycle Toronto and the Toronto Environmental Alliance.

For the walking-related questions, the results were:

• 97% support for “Will you work with the Toronto area school boards to develop and implement School Travel Plans that will improve the safety and integrity of school walking routes?” This was the highest level of support for any question on the survey. 100% of incumbents running again for office who completed the survey voiced support.
• 92% support for “Do you support enabling neighbourhoods to establish “slow zones” (with a maximum speed of 30 km/hr) on residential roads?”
• 85% support for “Do you support permanently widening sidewalks with high pedestrian activity in downtown Toronto?”
• 73% support for “Do you support extending snow clearing to all residential sidewalks in Toronto at an estimated cost of $10M per year?” (83% of responding incumbents)

Two-thirds (63%) of the 38 councillor incumbents running for re-election responded to the survey, and 2 of the 3 leading mayoral candidates.

See the announcement and the full results on the TCAT website.

Walk Toronto has submitted comments on the Ontario Traffic Manual (OTM) Book 15 – Pedestrian Crossing Treatments. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) was seeking public input on the draft version of these revised guidelines.

The draft guidelines include many welcome new elements that bring clarity, additional flexibilty and an emphasis on accessibility. However, in its comments Walk Toronto notes some important areas where they can be improved. For example, it is very important to provide safe direct crossings for pedestrian pathways even if they are close to existing traffic signals. As well, we note that the “pedestrian scramble” section does not reflect the existing practice in Toronto.

Read our complete comments (PDF)

It is also worth noting that the OTM draft provides a clear and useful analysis of the right of pedestrians to cross mid-block in Ontario, in section 2.1. This issue has been subject to a lot of confusion over the years, so this clarity is helpful.

From Section 2.1.2, “Pedestrian’s Rights and Responsibilities”

“In the absence of statutory provisions or by-law, a pedestrian is not confined to a street crossing or intersection and is entitled to cross at any point, although greater care may then be required of him or her in crossing. However, pedestrians crossing the highway must look to ensure the crossing can be made safely or possibly be held responsible for any ensuing collision.”

Also, it clarifies the confusing Section 144 (22) of the Highway Traffic Act, reinforcing the fact that it applies specifically to when pedestrians are crossing at a signalized intersection:

“If there is a crosswalk at a signalized intersection, pedestrians have to walk within the crosswalk: [Section 144 (22) of the HTA]“

An opportunity for a major accessibility improvement for the Lower Don Trail will be coming up at tomorrow’s Parks Committee meeting. The City is planning to install two staircases linking the bridges at Gerrard and Dundas Streets to the Lower Don Trail. While this will provide welcome additional access points for able trail users, people using wheelchairs, strollers, bike trailers and other wheeled devices will not be accommodated. They will continue to have no accessible entry points to the Lower Don anywhere on the 4.5 km. stretch of the Lower Don Trail between Corktown Common and Pottery Road.

Walk Toronto is proposing that an accessible ramp be installed at Gerrard, Dundas (or perhaps at Riverdale Park, though this involves hillier terrain). When the TTC brings new accessible streetcars to its Carlton, Dundas and King lines, people with disabilities will be able to take transit to stops close to the bridge. We want them to be able to use a ramp and not face stairs, which can be a barrier. The same applies to patients at the large Bridgepoint rehab facility, which overlooks the trail.

Thanks to contributions from condo developers in Toronto’s three downtown wards, the City has accumulated $37 million in alternative rate reserves that can be used to improve existing parks. Let’s tap these funds in order to improve access to one of the largest body of green space in the city’s inner core. Toronto doesn’t have a big downtown park like Mt. Royal or Central Park. Instead, we are known for our ravine systems and river valleys. We must ensure that all Torontonians have access to them.

Councillor Fletcher has kindly added this item to the agenda of the Parks & Environment Committee’s meeting on Aug. 15. If you act quickly, you can send a letter of support to the committee before the deadline of 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 14. Click on “Submit Comments” at:
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2014.PE29.8

To view Walk Toronto’s “Lower Don Trail Accessibility” report, see:
http://tinyurl.com/WalkToLowerDonAccessibility