10-09-2017, 12:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-09-2017, 12:26 PM by danbrotherston.)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JXGhYv...sp=sharing
This weekend, as usual for thanksgiving I went to visit some family in Scarborough. Usually, we take the GO Bus to Square One, then another to Union, then the train out to their place in Scarborough. This year, we thought instead we would bike part of the journey.
Taking a look at Google's bike map, there appeared to be a fairly reasonable trip most of the way.
From Square One, after working our way through the mall (which do not underestimate, that place is nutso), the trail along Burnhamrthorpe is pretty reasonable. Wide, and far from the road. The only problems are the usual ones of no legal (or actual) safety at intersections, as well as annoying on a road bike curbs.
The trail eventually diverts up along Etobicoke creek, towards centennial park. Sadly, this section of the trail was under construction so aside from soft sand and some diversions, we eventually made it to Eglinton, which has a brand new bike path along the Mississauga Transitway. Sadly, a little too brand new as it wasn't quite finished in a few places. Still, we managed to cross under the 427 in relative safety. Some of the intersections even have bike signals, and all have legalish marked crossings. We followed this path all the way to the Humber River, where we were able to take the recreational path all the way down to the Waterfront path, which we could then follow to downtown.
The waterfront path was quite good, suitable for high speed, separated mostly from pedestrians and cars, and with many bike signals and level crossings. It was by far the best infrastructure of the trip. The Humber river path was not so good, very narrow at places, on road in others. While it works, it wasn't comfortable, and I doubt it is for pedestrians either.
Downtown we found a surprising network of infrastructure. The lanes on Sherborne were pretty good (although it's apparent to me that roll curbs are insufficient from preventing bike lane parking), and then up to the Bloor St. bike lanes. I really hope they keep them, they're not without issue, but Bloor is a vastly better street with them. As I kind of expected in Toronto, there were a number of dangerous interactions, mostly right hooks, one Uber driver blindly pulling into a bike lane and just about wiping out 4 cyclists simultaneously.
After that, we managed to find our way to the Don River Path, which is...not the best, really, for anything. The DVP is very close, so it's extremely noisy, it's very narrow, and the access we used involved a very long flight of steps. I found it rather stressful to use. Still, it was functional, but I find it ironic that it's a recreational path, given how unpleasant the noise is--maybe Torontonians are just use to the noise.
Then we continued east along the Waterfront trail, which is pretty good for a while (a bit noisy along Lakeshore) but approaching the Toronto Hunt (golf course), things pretty much fall apart. You're forced up to Queen which has streetcar tracks and parked cars, plus plenty of traffic. Not a great place to cycle. Eventually onto Kingston Rd., which has substantial traffic, and a (partially) continuous bike lane, but only in the Eastbound direction. I have no idea what westbound trail users are supposed to do. Past the golf course, the trail winds it's way through side streets which is reasonably comfortable, but pretty slow. Much better thank Kingston Rd.
Overall, I was surprised and impressed how possible the bike ride was. I'm not keen on riding in Toronto traffic, but basically to get downtown, or even east of Downtown from Square One, it wasn't required at all. And downtown has a surprising array of infrastructure. It has changed quite a bit since I lived there. There were a lot of people using the infrastructure in downtown Toronto, but very few in farther out areas, or in Mississauga. I guess this is to be expected, but in the areas we were in, the infra was probably acceptable for most "cautious but interested" or whatever they call them too cycle. Still, we had to pick our route carefully. It was largely continuous, but often poorly marked, and it was probably a dozen KMs. out of our way from the most direct route.
Also, why no bike symbol traffic lights I wonder?
This weekend, as usual for thanksgiving I went to visit some family in Scarborough. Usually, we take the GO Bus to Square One, then another to Union, then the train out to their place in Scarborough. This year, we thought instead we would bike part of the journey.
Taking a look at Google's bike map, there appeared to be a fairly reasonable trip most of the way.
From Square One, after working our way through the mall (which do not underestimate, that place is nutso), the trail along Burnhamrthorpe is pretty reasonable. Wide, and far from the road. The only problems are the usual ones of no legal (or actual) safety at intersections, as well as annoying on a road bike curbs.
The trail eventually diverts up along Etobicoke creek, towards centennial park. Sadly, this section of the trail was under construction so aside from soft sand and some diversions, we eventually made it to Eglinton, which has a brand new bike path along the Mississauga Transitway. Sadly, a little too brand new as it wasn't quite finished in a few places. Still, we managed to cross under the 427 in relative safety. Some of the intersections even have bike signals, and all have legalish marked crossings. We followed this path all the way to the Humber River, where we were able to take the recreational path all the way down to the Waterfront path, which we could then follow to downtown.
The waterfront path was quite good, suitable for high speed, separated mostly from pedestrians and cars, and with many bike signals and level crossings. It was by far the best infrastructure of the trip. The Humber river path was not so good, very narrow at places, on road in others. While it works, it wasn't comfortable, and I doubt it is for pedestrians either.
Downtown we found a surprising network of infrastructure. The lanes on Sherborne were pretty good (although it's apparent to me that roll curbs are insufficient from preventing bike lane parking), and then up to the Bloor St. bike lanes. I really hope they keep them, they're not without issue, but Bloor is a vastly better street with them. As I kind of expected in Toronto, there were a number of dangerous interactions, mostly right hooks, one Uber driver blindly pulling into a bike lane and just about wiping out 4 cyclists simultaneously.
After that, we managed to find our way to the Don River Path, which is...not the best, really, for anything. The DVP is very close, so it's extremely noisy, it's very narrow, and the access we used involved a very long flight of steps. I found it rather stressful to use. Still, it was functional, but I find it ironic that it's a recreational path, given how unpleasant the noise is--maybe Torontonians are just use to the noise.
Then we continued east along the Waterfront trail, which is pretty good for a while (a bit noisy along Lakeshore) but approaching the Toronto Hunt (golf course), things pretty much fall apart. You're forced up to Queen which has streetcar tracks and parked cars, plus plenty of traffic. Not a great place to cycle. Eventually onto Kingston Rd., which has substantial traffic, and a (partially) continuous bike lane, but only in the Eastbound direction. I have no idea what westbound trail users are supposed to do. Past the golf course, the trail winds it's way through side streets which is reasonably comfortable, but pretty slow. Much better thank Kingston Rd.
Overall, I was surprised and impressed how possible the bike ride was. I'm not keen on riding in Toronto traffic, but basically to get downtown, or even east of Downtown from Square One, it wasn't required at all. And downtown has a surprising array of infrastructure. It has changed quite a bit since I lived there. There were a lot of people using the infrastructure in downtown Toronto, but very few in farther out areas, or in Mississauga. I guess this is to be expected, but in the areas we were in, the infra was probably acceptable for most "cautious but interested" or whatever they call them too cycle. Still, we had to pick our route carefully. It was largely continuous, but often poorly marked, and it was probably a dozen KMs. out of our way from the most direct route.
Also, why no bike symbol traffic lights I wonder?