Words by Tim Woods with photos by Sarah Greene

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dandyCommute Series: College and Euclid to Richmond and Bay (approximately 3.25 km)

Describe your commute:

I mix it up (both ways) but have two main ways in and one regular way out.

In: I take College to Beverly, and Beverly to Queen (utilizing the cycling infrastructure on these streets), then ride Queen to just before Bay, sneaking in between The Sheraton Centre and Timmy Hoes to Richmond and in the office door. My bike(s) come in too, although my boss gets a little touchy when I have more than two bikes stored at the office at one time! Some nights it’s just not legal to bike home from Bay Street.

Alternately, I go south down Palmerston to Robinson St., east to Spadina, then south on Spadina, taking a quick left on to Wolseley St. I ride east until Augusta and then I go through the alleys till Cameron, following the same route along Queen to the office.

Out: I ride Richmond west to John, then north on John (often stopping at Urbane) then through the Grange Park (slowly) along Grange to Huron, up Huron to Dundas, across Dundas to Spadina, north on Spadina to St. Andrew and into Kensington Market.

Brian is very often the source of my dinners, I cannot recommend his store highly enough!

I kind of meander through the market, buy dinner, get a $6 dollar hair cut – you know, ‘live the dream’.

Better bread, then dead!

Sometimes I hit the Bathurst beer store before I bike home through the alleys south of College (I live in the alley between Euclid and Palmerston; indoors, in case you were wondering).

Why do you commute by bike?

I am a cyclist. I would rather ride then use any of the other options. It is free, fun, good for me, and non -polluting.

What is the best part of your commute?

Leaving the office. Or maybe Kensington, I love the Market!

What is the worst part of your commute?

It is way too short. I lived for a while at Bathurst and Wilson, hated the apartment, loved the commute!

What is the most surprising part of your commute?

How few cyclists are wearing helmets in the winter; good-looking hair is useless if your brain doesn’t work!

What infrastructure change would make your commute better?

East/west bike lane downtown!

Tim Woods is the Sr. Vice President at Sheridan Brothers LP.

This story is part of a series about commuting by bike to work.

Send us your dandyCommute story and read more dandyCommute stories here and get free reflective tape on your bike courtesy of 3M and Sweet Pete’s.

Related on the dandyBLOG:

Mechanical Bike Spotting: The Chain (in Kensington Market)

View more dandyCOMMUTE stories here

Photo by Yvonne Bambrick

Our Bike Spotting team visited Kensington Market Friday, March 8 to find out how people’s chains were faring after winter weather and discovered many cyclists coming out of the woodwork to celebrate the balmy weather – with pretty clean chains.

We asked: when was the last time you cleaned your chain? And do you have any advice for keeping it nice?

Check out what people had to say about it here.

Read the first installment of our new dandyMechanics column Part One: The Chain here.

Words and photos by Gregory Campbell

The dandyCommute series will run until the end of the year with more stories and photos of your favourite utilitarian cycling routes through 2013.

Send us your dandyCommute story today and your name will be entered into a draw to win an Opus bike and other cool bike swag at the end of the year. We’ll also give you some reflective tape today.

dandyCommute #13 Broadview and Pottery Road to Spadina and College (approximately 6 kilometres)

I’m a classical musician, and most of the time I play in the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

It’s an amazing orchestra and a great place to work. The commute … not so much. Two years ago I bought a car after hitching rides and taking the bus for three years (my wife, also a musician, works in Toronto, so it would be tough to move).

I teach and freelance in Toronto, too, so after all the time in the car going to KW (carpooling whenever possible, people) I like to leave the car in the driveway when I go anywhere in the city. If you see someone on a bike wearing a tuxedo, that’s me on my way to play a concert.

I teach once a week at the Toronto Suzuki Studio near Kensington Market and Chinatown. It’s a nice ride from my home on Broadview, north of the Danforth. It’s about 6 kilometres, and takes about 20 minutes.

The worst part of the trip is going along Broadview. It’s a four lane road, with no room for cars to pass a cyclist without changing lanes. It’s not much fun.

Once I get to Chester Hill Road, it’s almost all bike lanes from here to my studio, though.

Chester Hill Road contraflow lane (off Broadview)

I love this lane, because it’s only about 75 metres long, and because it gets me off Broadview into some quiet streets. From here I take Bloor over to Sherbourne. The view going across the Don Valley is always great, although in the winter it can seem pretty bleak.

Then I take a left at Sherbourne and coast down to College, and head straight on to Spadina. The bikes lanes are nice, but there’s almost always somebody blocking them. I think this guy ran out of gas:

There’s some construction on College at Beverly, and it’s the first time I’ve seen a temporary bike lane, instead of forcing bikes out into traffic. This is a small thing that feels like huge progress to me, an acknowledgement that bicycles have as much right to be on the road as cars:

Sometimes when I go home I take a slightly longer route, and duck down to Gerrard, so that I can cycle up the gentle hill at Riverdale Park and enjoy this view of the downtown skyline:

Gregory Campbell plays viola in the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and teaches violin at the Toronto Suzuki Studio. You can also catch him with the Esprit Orchestra and other projects around town.

Do you have a “super” commuter story? Fill in our dandy commute form or email us at supercommuter@dandyhorsemagazine.com. 

Send us your dandyCommute story today and your name will be entered into a draw to win an Opus bike and other cool bike swag at the end of the year. We’ll also give you some reflective tape today.

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Urban Repair Squad strikes again!

Wile E. Coyote style bike lane mural painted as part of AGO exhibit

Photos by Martin Reis

Story by Tammy Thorne

…

Bicycles are ubiquitous in any great city – and so is contemporary art. Artists Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette get that. The two are currently showing NOW: an installation at the AGO’s Young Gallery that includes a workspace for the artists and a lounge/work area with free wi-fi and comment board for visitors. Two time-lapse videos of graffiti writing taking place outside the gallery finish the installation.

Martindale and Paquette recently invited the guerilla street artists, the Urban Repair Squad to paint a mural for the video, called “whitewash.” (Read about the Urban Repair Squad from our first issue of dandyhorse.)

The Wile E. Ford bike lane mural is in an alley off of Nassau in Kensington Market. It’s the same wall used for the NOW exhibition by other artists.

“We invited current and active street and graffiti artists to paint that wall, then Sean and I paint it over with white paint. The video in our exhibition shows us doing that,” says Paquette. “The video is a reaction to Ford’s erasing our fine works of art but also to how ephemeral the art form is.”

The “Wile E. Ford” mural (as the URS artists are calling it) will be painted over on Wednesday or Thursday (March 21 or 22) to make room for the next art work.

We know our mayor thinks the idea of a connected network of bike lanes across our gridlock-choked city is “Looney Tunes” – so dandyhorse applauds the Urban Repair Squad for this little act of levity that also brings light to our serious plight for safe cycling in this city.

When URS first started painting bike lanes they were known to leave notes like “City broke, we fix – no charge” … read about their cost-effective, statement-making art, here, from our first issue of dandyhorse.

dandyhorse magazine is available for visitors and is part of the NOW Service Bureau exhibit, which goes until April 1. Visitors can meet the artists from 6-8 pm Wednesdays.

…

dandyhorse interviewed artist Paul Butler who previously exhibited The Greg Curnoe Bicycle Project in the Young Gallery as part of the Toronto NOW series. Read about this exhibit here.

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Toronto Now spotlights local artists and offers the public an opportunity to see exciting contemporary art projects free of charge. The series inhabits the Young Gallery, a free, street-level space adjacent to Frank restaurant, facing Dundas Street. Enter through the gift shop (from the AGO front entrance.)

Photos by Molly Crealock

Heels on Wheels: Lilly’s Lunches

Name: Elizabeth Callahan

Title: Owner and Operator, Lilly’s Lunches, a dandy new catering business-by-bike

Why did you decide to start a catering business that delivers by bike?

Biking as a mode of urban transportation just makes sense to me. It is so speedy, and if you are willing to push with your legs and be creative, you can carry quite a bit.

Tell us about this great bike.

I got my lovely ride at Curbside Cycle. My bike is made by Pashley, it is British Racing green and it handles like a dream. The bike is a proper deli bike, so the steering component is independent of the basket, meaning I don’t swerve or get thrown around when I turn tight corners. The basket was custom made by a real gem of a designer named Jano Badovinac, of the Fugitive Glue team. The design is genius. It was important to create something that first of all looks lovely as well as being perfectly functional. It has removable shelving inside, it is lockable, entirely removable from the bike frame, and of course, weatherproof.

When did you start commuting by bike?

I always enjoyed riding around the neighborhood as a kid. In high school I rode my bike  to school from St. Clair and Bathurst to Etobicoke – by TTC my commute was 1 hour and by bike it was 45 minutes, so when the weather was good I would take my bike. It wasn’t until I started working in bars that I really took biking seriously; at 3 a.m. the TTC is spotty at best, and full of drunk people and I never wanted to spend my hard-earned cash on a cab. Besides, 3 a.m. is the best time to ride a bike in the city, it’s so quiet and there is no traffic. I haven’t really taken the TTC regularly since then.

What is your favourite place to ride?

My favourite rides are to Toronto Island for a picnic, to the Junction to visit antique shops, High Park for some nature, or vintage hunting on Queen from East to West.

Have you ever worn heels while riding?

I wear heels all the time when I ride – it is surprisingly comfortable. I wouldn’t wear them while on delivery, on the bike though!

Have you ever biked to gala events in formal attire?

Absolutely! My lovely man and I enjoy arriving in style wherever we go by bike. Our bikes are usually our best accessories. Speaking of riding in style, my brother was married last summer and he and my sister-in-law rode from their ceremony in the park to their reception. They looked incredible – they even had a “Just Married” flag trailing their bicycles.

What is your favourite bike accessory?

My bell – it sounds like a doorbell.

How do food and cycling interest in your life?

They are my two favorite things in life. When I quit my job 6 months ago to start Lilly’s Lunches, I thought to myself: “If I could do anything all day, it would be making sweet food and biking around the city.” Now, that’s what I do all day and it is amazing. Of course the two intersect because I bike to pick up and transport all my produce in the market, and I do love the satisfaction of getting to a good café or restaurant after a good appetite-building ride.

What is your favourite food?

I have a sweet tooth and have a hard time resisting desserts, chocolates, and the like. They are always my favorite to make too.

What are you looking most forward to this summer?

Sunshine, sundresses, picnics, and being lakeside whenever possible.

What could the city do to make it safer for cyclists?

I wish bike theft wasn’t such a huge issue in cities. I find it so disheartening, I don’t think people realize how connected cyclists are to their bikes and how devastating it can be to go to a bike post to find your bike gone.

Do you have a favourite bike-y quote or mantra / words to live by?

Lately, I have been hung up on this quote: “Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a bike, and that is pretty close”.

A bike is freedom.

by Fred Sztabinski
illustration by Chris Simonen

This story originally appeared in dandyhorse volume 4, issue 1, Spring 2011. Purchase this issue here.

Bike boxes, cycle tracks and sharrows are examples of new bike facilities that have emerged in North American cities during the recent bicycle renaissance. Now you can add another: bike corrals. They may be old hat in Europe, but they’re the latest thing in Montreal, Vancouver, Portland and a host of other cities.

Bike corrals typically replace one or two on-street car parking spaces with parking for up to 20 bikes. The newly created space is often differentiated with paint, or physically separated by bollards or concrete curbs.

Given that bike corrals usually involve removing on-street parking – a hotly contested issue for the business community who see parking as key to their financial well-being – what is the likelihood of widespread adoption? And how will they fit into Toronto’s bicycle route network?

Like with so many other new cycling initiatives, Portland, Oregon is the trailblazer when it comes to bike corrals, having installed 64 throughout the city at last count. In fact, Portland’s bike corrals have been so successful that the City has a backlog of more than 50 requests by local businesses to install a nearby corral. In Canada, both Montreal and Vancouver are ahead of Toronto, each with about 20 and 10 corrals, respectively.

Toronto installed a bike corral as a pilot project in July 2010 on the east side of Spadina Avenue north of Queen Street. Two parking spots accommodating 16 bikes were separated from car traffic with flexible bollards. Though the corral was removed in November to allow for winter snow clearing, the pilot was deemed a success. A City survey of the public and the tenants in the buildings fronting the corral found the experiment popular with cyclists and nearby businesses. The survey also showed that cyclists chose bike corrals over other options closer to their final destination. This is consistent with the Vancouver experience, where some cyclists will choose a corral even though they were parking up to two blocks away from their stopping point.

The City of Toronto plans to reinstall the corral on Spadina this summer, though it will likely require official Council approval first. The business community in nearby Kensington Market has also asked City staff to install a couple of bike corrals near the Augusta-Nassau intersection. Kensington Market is a major destination for cyclists, and bicycles can end up locked to all manner of objects due to a shortage of parking.

If we want to see more bike corrals in our cities, communicating the benefits of these facilities to the public and private businesses will be a vital first step. Similar to Toronto, the City of Vancouver began with a pilot site at the corner of East 6th Avenue and Commercial Drive last summer. The City chose the site because there was high demand for bike parking, but low demand for car parking. The City approached nearby businesses, which were supportive of the idea of a bike corral.

Thus far, Vancouver’s pilot bike corral is well-used, and the City has received only positive feedback. According to Ross Kenny, a city project engineer, business owners view the new bike corral as a benefit for their business and a public amenity with advantages beyond more customers visiting their shops. “Business owners saw people using it who weren’t going to their business, but going to another store, two blocks away, or hopping on the bus, and they were fine with that,” Kenny recalls.

Bike corrals can unite bike and pedestrian advocates because moving bikes off of the sidewalk, especially in busy commercial areas and on older streets with narrow sidewalks, frees up space to walk, to install a bench or to plant more trees.

Shops, restaurants, cafés, grocery stores and other businesses all like the idea of putting a bike corral in front of their business because they attract attention, by extension provide them with an eco-friendly image and because it can free up sidewalk space for a patio or outdoor display space. It also creates a more varied, attractive and inviting public realm. In Portland, businesses also say they like the fact they’ll never have a big truck parked in front of their store. All of these factors can increase their exposure, customer base and overall sales.

A Portland State University study (PDF) surveyed local businesses to understand the impact, benefits and attitudes associated with the city’s bike corrals, the first of which was installed in 2004. The study found, with very few exceptions, that businesses within a half-block of a bike corral were supportive of the structures. Responses also suggested businesses believed the bike corrals meet a latent demand for bike parking, thus generating additional bike trips to commercial areas.

Back in Vancouver, the City has received numerous requests for bike corrals, and the outlook for expanding the program is encouraging. Vancouver businesses can request bike corrals in front of their location if they agree to regularly sweep the corral to keep it free of debris. (Once installed, City street sweepers can no longer access the area.) Vancouver is extending its one pilot project to add more than ten corrals as part of the city’s new separated bike lanes along Dunsmuir and Hornby streets downtown.

Installing bike corrals in the right areas is good city planning. Scarce public space can be used more efficiently, allowing as many as ten times more bicycles to be parked in the space that would otherwise accommodate one car. Installing bike corrals is also relatively cheap compared to other types of street improvements (estimated at between $1,000 and $4,000 per corral in Portland and Vancouver, depending on the design), and can provide a good return on investment to local businesses. In Toronto, however, there is the added cost of removing the corrals for winter and reinstalling them in the spring. Opponents to bike corrals could also point out the potentially lost revenue that the Toronto Parking Authority will forego when those spots are converted.

Successful implementation of bike corrals in Toronto will depend on businesses and local councillors understanding their benefits. And on streets where parking lanes become travel lanes at rush hour, there will be additional challenges. On the Bloor-Danforth corridor, for instance, Bloor West Village has parking lanes that could accommodate bike corrals, but in narrower sections – like the Annex – implementation may prove more difficult.

Bike corrals are just one of the mix of initiatives that city planners, Business Improvement Areas and other city builders have at their disposal to create more bike-friendly communities. But unlike bike lane proposals that often face stiff opposition, bike corrals have proven to be much less controversial and often have the support of the business community. It makes economic sense to improve the public realm near commercial areas by promoting the efficient use of parking space to accommodate more customers. On-street bike corrals will also raise the visibility of cycling in general and reinforce its status as a legitimate form of transportation. Bike corrals make sense for businesses and customers alike. It’s time Toronto took advantage of these benefits.

Top five perceived bike corral benefits for business (as surveyed):

1. Help to promote sustainability (86%)
2. Enhance the street and neighbourhood identity (84%)
3. Increase transportation options for employees and patrons (77%)
4. Increase foot and bike traffic (67%)
5. Increase the visibility of businesses from the street (53%)

Source: Meisel, D., Bike Corrals: Local Business Impacts, Benefits, and Attitudes, Portland State University School of Urban Studies, 2010.

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EDs note: The Roncesvalles community recently installed sturdy gates to preserve the health of the newly planted trees on their street and are now encouraging cyclists to lock up to the tree gates, as demand for bicycle parking continues to rise in this part of town (and all over the city.) Read more here. For more on bike corrals in Toronto see our interview with Jesse Demb of Cycling Infrastructure & Programs at City of Toronto Transportation Services: Toronto’s Bike Corral Pilot Expands to Kensington Market and our Kensington Market bike parking Bike Spotting: What’s Bike Parking in Kensington Market Like?

Photos by Christopher Kaiser
By Duncan Hurd

At Sublime Espresso Bar, on Augusta Avenue in Kensington Market, customers are encouraged to bring their bicycles inside.

Just a couple of blocks down the street from a bike corral that helps to rectify the shortage of bicycle parking in the highly-cycled ‘hood, Sublime also likes to accommodate cyclists.

Out front of Sublime, you’re likely to find a few fixed-gear bikes locked to themselves. Once inside the front door, there will be another bike or two balancing on the wall and in the back of the cafe there are the employees bikes stacked several deep. When I asked why people on bicycles are attracted to the cafe, Reza of Sublime told me, “We are a bit analog at Sublime. We try to discourage laptops and try to encourage our patrons to converse, maybe this sits well with cyclists.”

Just as the cafe proudly serves Fair Trade coffees, everyone at Sublime is also concerned with their personal impact on the city. Brit shares, “I ride my bike to work mainly for environmental reasons and because the TTC is a headache. Bikes don’t clog up the streets, they’re great exercise, you can take side streets, enjoy a scenic route.”

Beyond bikes and conversation, the analog theme continues at Sublime. Several walls of the cafe are lined with a collection of jazz and soul vinyl records, all for sale. “The records just evolved with the cafe,” Reza tells me. “My friends and I all collect records and we would play them for the costumers and one thing led to another and we started bringing our overflow records to the cafe. At first it was just for listening and then one day we decided to start selling them as the collection grew.”

The combination of Sublime’s bike-friendly parking policy and staff, a commitment to Fair Trade coffee and the funky background soundtrack all add together to create a welcoming space to relax, chat and discover new music. When asked if there is anything else that may attract people on bikes to coffee shops, Reza ventures a guess, “I think it has something to do with caffeine and the social aspect of meeting somewhere.”

Sublime Espresso Bar

219 Augusta Avenue
Toronto, ON
M5T 2L4

thesublimecafe.com

*****

For even more on the connections between coffee and bicycles, read Dana Lacey’s “Whatever turns your crank” in our Food Issue, available now. Get dandy delivered to your door, subscribe today.

Story by Duncan Hurd
Photo by Hyedie Hashimoto

At the corner of Augusta Avenue and Nassau Street in Kensington Market a short stretch of on-street parking has been transformed into a space for 16 securely locked bicycles.

The second addition to Toronto’s bike corral pilot project (the first on Spadina Avenue) has arrived in an area notorious for its lack of bicycle parking. dandyhorse spoke to Jesse Demb of Cycling Infrastructure & Programs at City of Toronto Transportation Services to learn more about bicycle parking in Kensington Market and the future of bike corrals in Toronto.

dandyhorse: What is the current bicycle parking capacity in Kensington Market?

Jesse Demb: Counting all bike parking currently in place on Augusta, St. Andrew, Baldwin, Kensington and Nassau streets, parking capacity is around 200+ bicycles at one time. The challenge is the surging demand in-season and due to special events. Augusta Avenue is a dense cultural corridor, with many competing demands on the streetscape’s space and intense pedestrian volumes on weekends. The same can be said for the rest of the Market as well.

There have been consistent requests for more bike parking in the Market. Last year we added more post-and-rings on Augusta Av south of Oxford and the year before that a few near Denison on the west side, and [there is] the giant ‘Kensington’ sign/art bike rack at College but spatial limitations and surging bike parking demand required further innovation so we’ve adopted the in-street bike corral as well.

d: In what way is the City of Toronto involved in setting up a bike corral?

JD: City staff design, install and maintain the bike corral. A bike corral will get approval if it is supported by the local councillor and businesses and there is sufficient demand for bike parking at that location. We look at parking demand and location feasibility (e.g curb-side parking that becomes a traffic lane during rush hours can’t be converted to a bike corral). If Toronto Parking Authority (TPA) spaces are involved, our proposal requires their consent and design consultation.

d: Replacing an on-street parking spot with a bike corral that is free to use means some lost income from paid parking, is there a specific value that can be attached to a single on-street paid parking spot in Kensington Market?

JD: The value of an on-street parking space can be calculated directly from the charge for car parking times the hours available and varies in different parts of the city. For example, car parking spaces in Kensington Market can generate upwards of $8000/month if used at maximum capacity.

d: What are the costs associated with installing a bicycle corral?

JD: The cost for two bicycle racks (capacity: 16 bicycles) and the 8 bollards is approximately $1032. The installation of the bike racks, bollards and signs is done by Transportation Services staff. If necessary, TPA staff will also relocate the pay-and-display machines. The “staff time cost” for design and installation is approximately $1000.

d: Are there any on-going costs once the corral is installed?

JD: Transportation Services staff will remove the bike corral in November and, if all goes well, reinstall the next spring. Parking regulatory signs have to be changed each time as well, so there is some “staff-time” cost for this work.

d: What more can you share about the future of bike corrals in other parts of the city?

JD: BIA’s or the public can make requests [for bike corrals] to Cycling Infrastructure & Programs or through BIA liasons (City staff) in Economic Development. Bike corrals are still in a pilot phase in Toronto, so we don’t have plans yet to roll out a lot of them. The results of the Augusta Av. and Spadina Av. bike corrals will be reviewed at the end of the season with a view to developing a policy and process for future bike corrals.

In the Spring 2011 issue of dandyhorse magazine Fred Sztabinski explores the many reasons why businesses love bike corrals and the additional benefits of installing on-street bike parking. Read the article, “Corralling Business Support for Bike Facilities” by getting dandyhorse here or becoming a subscriber today.

Our Bike Spotting team recently stopped by the bike corral in Kensington and asked: What’s Bike Parking in Kensington Market Like?

Augusta Ave. in Toronto’s distinctive Kensington Market is now home to a brand new bike corral. With an additional 16 bicycle parking spots we went Bike Spotting to see what finding bike parking in Kensington is like. What’s Bike Parking in Kensington Market Like?