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Grow up, Toronto. It’s time to let street parking go

Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle29188632/

Cycling advocates are on the verge of getting something they have dreamed about for years: bike lanes on Bloor. The pilot project on Bloor Street West between Avenue Road and Shaw Street would put protected lanes on a major east-west street in the heart of the city.

- Some motorists seem to consider it their Charter right to pull up right in front of their neighbourhood hardware store to buy a box of screws. Some shop owners consider it a threat to their very existence if customers can’t park more than a few steps away. It’s a reasonable attitude if you live in Cornwall or Gravenhurst. In the increasingly dense and busy centre of Canada’s biggest city, it’s absurd to expect such a Corner Gas way of life.

- Most of the city’s downtown main streets look much as they did in the 1960s: One lane of parking on either side, removed during rush hours; cars, bikes and often streetcars all competing for the the remaining two lanes. It is an old-fashioned and often dangerous arrangement. Cyclists are often sent sprawling when the occupant of a stopped car “doors” them – opens the door without looking to see if a bike is coming. Streetcars with 100 or more people on board have to grind to a halt because one driver decides to parallel park right in front of them.

- Most of Toronto’s main downtown streets – like Queen, Dundas or Bay – are just four lanes wide. Unlike most cities of comparable size, Toronto doesn’t have many broad boulevards in its core. With space so limited, filling the curb lanes with a line of parked cars through much of the day is hard to justify. Why not charge a lot more for street parking, discouraging drivers from cruising endlessly in a search for that ideal spot on the street, slowing traffic as they look? Why not build a few more parking lots just off the main streets?

- Surveys on Bloor have found that the vast majority of shoppers already arrive by transit, on foot or by bike anyway. So taking out a few dozen parking spaces shouldn’t cripple commerce there. Merchants are beginning to understand that, which may explain why the resistance to the new bike lanes has been muted so far. Studies on some New York streets showed that stores actually got more visitors after the city put in bike lanes. Parking in downtown Toronto is too cheap and too plentiful, both on street and off. Absurdly, in a city that aims to encourage transit use, city hall requires developers to provide a certain number of parking spaces in new buildings.

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