Walkable, cycleable neighbourhoods- a personal history

[shootingstar]

I wrote this post with some pics. (http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/what-shapes-me-walkable-cycleable-neighbourhoods/). Practically all of the neighbourhoods I've lived in various cities across Canada, have been conducive to walking, cycling and 15 min. walk to transit.

And I've lived in some poorer neighbourhoods.

Here I am nearly 15 years ago, on a ravine park paved bike-ped path in the suburbs where I lived. Path led 16 km. into downtown Toronto where I worked. Digital photos were rare of me back then! :) I no longer live in that city but do visit since I have family there. (And the bike I'm riding I cycled it for 14 yrs. and gave it to a sister. I borrow it whenever I come back to visit. :))

17010

[colorisnt]

Great post and sweet that you "reunite" with your bike when you come back.

I have always lived in a cycleable/walkable neighborhood until I moved out here. It's really gotten better since I first got here 4 years ago, though. Well, in town. It's still a mess when you get into the more "sprawl" areas. Public transit is still terrible but they are working on that, too. It's improved, at least, since I arrived. I still would prefer to be back in a place like I grew up outside Chicago or a major city downtown but I can at least ride to work most days!

[shootingstar]

Well true except each bike of mine, the geometry is different. The one I left behind in Toronto for a sister, is abit tighter in geometry. But who cares...I save a ton of money from renting or shipping a bike by air.

[Boudicca]

Lovely.

Admit I wish Toronto was more friendly to ride in. Drivers are inattentive, roads are often clogged and the street car tracks are a real menace. Friend is an ER doctor, and he says there are broken arms and shoulders every day in the summer after the tracks jumped up and trapped some innocent cyclists' wheel. Been there myself, twice too many times.

[colorisnt]

Boudicca,

That's scary. Toronto was far more bike-friendly than Chicago but not as safe as Ottawa if I recall from last year. I think that was more to do with the nature of bike paths in Ottawa vs. TO. I was still very, very impressed. People here in MO don't know what to do with bikes and most cyclists act completely inconsistently because they don't know either (college town). It leads to some very scary things happening. Also, since you can park in every single bike lane and few trails run completely across, you find yourself often weaving incessantly, which leads me to just take the lane. The planning here is really just starting and, unfortunately, a lot of it is just not the best. Where my parents live, there are few dedicated cycling lanes and traffic is far more respectful of us, which is nice. I never have the issues with cars there that I do here on a daily basis.

[shootingstar]

Lovely.

Admit I wish Toronto was more friendly to ride in. Drivers are inattentive, roads are often clogged and the street car tracks are a real menace. Friend is an ER doctor, and he says there are broken arms and shoulders every day in the summer after the tracks jumped up and trapped some innocent cyclists' wheel. Been there myself, twice too many times.

I'm sorry to hear Boudicca. I was careful on streetcar streets and actually would avoid them if I could.

University of British Columbia in Vancouver has a lead professor who has been doing research on cycling injuries in Vancouver and Toronto as the cities where she drew her population data. She has drawn from specific hospitals in Vancouver and Toronto. I believe in Toronto at St. Michael's Hospital downtown, she has a lead physician there in this study. (I know, because my sister works at the hospital (pharmacy dept.) and she reads internal staff research news.)

Kay Teschke is the research. Her protégé to take after her when she retires, Meghan Winters.

I didn't hear anything about cycling injuries every day in City of Toronto during the summer. Not sure which hospital your friend works at. (My sister is an ER Dr. 100 km. north of Toronto. If there was a serious trend, she would have warned me...as a concerned sibling.)

http://cyclingincities.spph.ubc.ca/
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300762
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2009/08/13/cycling-going-mainstream-in-vancouver/

[Boudicca]

I'm sorry to hear Boudicca. I was careful on streetcar streets and actually would avoid them if I could.

University of British Columbia in Vancouver has a lead professor who has been doing research on cycling injuries in Vancouver and Toronto as the cities where she drew her population data. She has drawn from specific hospitals in Vancouver and Toronto. I believe in Toronto at St. Michael's Hospital downtown, she has a lead physician there in this study. (I know, because my sister works at the hospital (pharmacy dept.) and she reads internal staff research news.)

Kay Teschke is the research. Her protégé to take after her when she retires, Meghan Winters.

I didn't hear anything about cycling injuries every day in City of Toronto during the summer. Not sure which hospital your friend works at. (My sister is an ER Dr. 100 km. north of Toronto. If there was a serious trend, she would have warned me...as a concerned sibling.)

http://cyclingincities.spph.ubc.ca/
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300762
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2009/08/13/cycling-going-mainstream-in-vancouver/

He might have been exaggerating when he said "every day" but it was certainly a common injury. And I don't think I know any Toronto riders who have not fallen in the tracks at least once.

Not sure what anyone can do though. Transit is as important as bikes. Well maybe.