More proof the Mayor doesn't get it

Graphic by Martin Koob (biketoronto.ca)

The bike lane network is not expanding as fast as it should – what's happening on this front?
"My plan the first three years was to put way more money in it. That didn't create the bike lanes we'd hoped, predominantly because of local community opposition. Councillor Case Ootes is still fighting to take out bike lanes. It's appalling. So my approach this time is going to be different. We need to think strategically about which routes we really need and try to get the entire route. We have to marshal the cycling community to work with neighbourhoods so [more bike lanes] become politically feasible. Mobility isn't about moving cars or buses; it's about people. You experience a city through your feet." From NOW Magazine
Lots of money, eh? Well, not quite true, eh? The Bike Plan has been underfunded and mis-managed from the start.

" ... marshall the cycling community has to work with neighbourhoods."
Ahem. Sounds right but wrong. The City needs to get off their lazy ass and give cyclists a chance to ride safely which means politcal will to do the right thing.

Shall we talk about bike lanes and public roads? Enrique Peñalosa puts it this way:
“We cannot continue to deceive ourselves into thinking that to paint a little line on a road is a bikeway. A bicycle way which is not safe for an eight year-old is not a bicycle way.”
“Mathematically it is totally impossible to solve the transportation problems of a city using cars.”
“The essence of the conflict today, really, is cars versus people…We can have a city that is very friendly to cars, or a city that is very friendly to people. We cannot have both.”
“We give priority to public transport in the use of road space. So public good prevails over private transport

But hats off to TCAT for their vision for a better healthier city (follow the link/press conference November 1st)