Pharmacy bike lane bites the dust

The money didn't bother you when they installed them, so that is a non-starter.
Nobody used the Pharmacy bicycle lane. That area is full of retirees (just drop by the food court at Eglinton Square and you'll see what I mean). As usual, the Pharmacy bicycle lane was about optics: put one in to add to the city's mileage promise.
Face it, unless a street is being widened, there is just no room for bicycle lanes in this city.

That is one of the most hilarious and ludicrous arguments I've ever heard in my entire life. "air pollution got way worse after they put in bike lanes". OMG, I can't believe I just read this.

People like you are why we can't have anything good in Toronto.

I use the bike lane on Dupont every day. Traffic goes pretty smooth until you get to the part after Dupont and Lansdowne where the bike lane stops and the parking lane begins. It's that damn parking lane that clogs up traffic.

I was hit last month by a driver who using her cellphone and swerved quickly before the intersection into the bike lane. I was in my bike lane waiting for the light to change. I don't know, but my experience didn't leave me with much sympathy for drivers. That being said, I support bike lanes for safety and support drivers and cyclists who use the road responsibly.

My younger brother used the Pharmacy bike lane every day on his way to work (he lives on the Danforth and works near Warden & Eglinton). Funny that you should make the argument that "there is no room for bicycle lanes in this city" while referring to Pharmacy. Phramacy has plenty of room for bike lanes and was perfectly fine the way it was. There was no congestion on Pharmacy, and 2 car lanes was more than enough to support the volume of traffic on this street.

Removing the Pharmacy bike lane had nothing to do with lack of space or to reduce congestion.

I always wondered what the machine that tarred over road markings looked like.

My, my. So angry at 10:28. Gurl, you got a loooonnnng day ahead.

I ride my bike daily but don't care much for the bike lanes. But the bike lane at Dupont and Landsdowne were incredibly poorly executed. I had seen 4 accident there in 6 months. Looks like it's been fixed now. Thank you Rob Ford!!!!!

Thanks for adding to it Kieren. And thanks for calling me gurl too, take shots without saying anything about the argument, how smart you are boyfriend.

LOL you are just insane, Josh. Where's your measurable air quality results? Or did you just pull that one out of thin air? LOL!

This whole city moves a little bit backward everyday.

Note to bicyclists: Use the ENTIRE traffic lane, if there are no bicycle lanes. Since a bicycle can legally use the roads, use the WHOLE traffic lane, especially if there is debris, potholes, sewer grates, etc. that may cause harm, injury, or safety concerns.

Wow, that's a generalization if I ever heard one.
I am 33, own a house in that neighborhood and use that bike lane on Pharmacy. Pharmacy is a very wide road and that bike lane doesn't impede traffic in any way and doesn't hurt by being there.
My only complaint is regarding the bad shape that the bike lanes are in. SO chewed up and full of potholes that I thought it was more dangerous using them than not!

Why if I disagree with a few bike lanes am I a Rob Ford troll? I hate Rob Ford and his policies, worst mayor ever.

The lane stops because Toronto has such pour cycling infrastructure. Does the fact that it stops make the rest of the lane invalid?

If you are truly concerned about idling vehicles, and air quality, due to vehicle congestion, perhaps you should campaign towards a car-free (or car-reduced) city instead of campaigning against cycling infrastructure.

If I may redirect some of the anger here... First: Dupont was a parking lot before the bike lanes got put in, it's the growth in traffic volume that fucked everything up. Second: Where the planners messed up was in widening the SIDEWALK along St Clair instead of a bike lane when they put the streetcar right-of-way in! I mean how often do you see eight people walking side by side along there!!! Riding a bike along St Clair is suicide now!

@Andrew traffic has gotten worse yes, but narrowing to one lane hurt even more. I do agree riding on St.Clair is insane, and the sidewalks are way too wide yes.

Seriously where on St Clair were the sidewalks widened? All the fights were about the sidewalk cuts. We got off lightly as it is. If the TTC hadn't gone to a centre poll, we might have had a bit more room.

The bike lane stops at that weird intersection at Dundas West where Dupont becomes Annette. Annette then takes over the lane and continues to Jane.

i actually just biked from yonge to christie on St. Clair, and i am familiar with the length of the street. the area between avenue and bathurst is the widest area of the whole street, so if they did widen the sidewalks, that section is the one part where they cold do that without any consequence. when you go from about christie to past lansdowne, it becomes really obvious that they made the sidewalk narrower to allow for parking and the ROW.

by the way i also took the ROW streetcar from lansdowne to yonge today, it is probably the best bit of infrastructure we've built as a city in a long time, despite the ugly lawsuits that made it take forever to complete. businesses seem to be thriving along the stretch now, there seems to be a lot of new shops and restaurants.

WK Lis - great advice. First of all, your threats don't hold any weight since there just aren't enough cyclists to matter. However, I sincerely hope enough cyclists take your advice and start doing what you recommend. The ensuing uproar would finally get motorists off their duffs and create the backlash that will sort this out once and for all. 3% against 70% wouldn't be pretty.

I don't understand - what are they going to do with the extra space now on Pharmacy? It's not like you can fit another vehicle lane in there?

A lot of the old shops and restaurants were dying on the vine long before the ROW.

The old established business are still mostly there. St Clair has a lot of storefronts that flip over and over again. Both sides of the "St Clair ROW improved the local businesses" debate are lacking in much proof. A lot of businesses have closed--some new ones have opened while some of those have closed. West of Caledonia & Arlington to Westmount were the most challenged business locations years ago and they still are today. Not a whole lot has changed, save for around Christie and I'd argue that Wychwood Barnes has done much more for that neigbourhood than the ROW.

St Clair is the widest road between Bloor and Eglinton, sure, but St Clair was not the only road between 401 and the lake where traffic moved. I'd take Lawrence over it. Plus crossing Keele, Dufferin, Bathurst/Vaughan, Avenue and Yonge always were slow. It's just slower now. That and the traffic signals are designed to ensure that cars stop at almost every single light.

One thing is for sure, many storefronts look nicer because the city bribed the businesses with beautification money.

Gadfly, there is no room for you in this city.

The "oh, cars are idling, poluuuuuuuution, you hypocrites" argument is bunk. If traffic isn't congested downtown, more people will choose to drive until it's just as congested again.

Fighting car congestion by removing bicycle infrastructure is worse than fighting obesity by loosening your belt... it's loosening your belt and quitting the gym!

STRA, you're kidding, right? Pharmacy used to be 4 lanes wide. They eliminated a lane of traffic in each direction to add the empty bicycle lanes. Do you think the bicycle lanes just - poof, appeared like magic?
Like I said, this city is a graveyard of opportunities lost. Victoria Park north of Lawrence just went through a huge makeover. When the DVP overflows (like that ever happens), Victoria Park is the alternate route. They should have made Vic Park 6 lanes and put in bicycle lanes. Every one wins.
It's not like Pharmacy or Birchmount are crazy busy with traffic, but there sure as hell are no bicycles out there either. As Vic Park gets clogged, the overflow will take Pharmacy which is getting congested north of Eglinton.
@ Linked - I was here first. You leave. How mature is that?

What you fail to understand Josh is that 98% of the people that post on BlogTO are just that: elitist sheep that harbour firm convictions that anyone with an opinion other than their own is both an idiot and as you just saw, a target. If the bulk of the people coming to this site would just think with their brain once in a while instead of their gut or their heart, we might actually see some worthwhile discourse on this site.

Gadfly/dichotomous will only be happy when Toronto gets turned into a 38-lane freeway to appease the almighty car driver - G/D, why do you even live here? Serious question. Virtually every post you make here is a litany of whiny complaints about the evils of cyclists/public transit and how awful they are, and how much better it was in the good old days when the automobile was king and not the polluting moneypits they really are. Oh boo hoo, you can't drive anywhere you want in your car, cry me a fucking river ...