Quote:
Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout
The only time when bike paths remove an actual traffic lane is when parking is preserved (eg St-Denis in Montreal and most parts of Bloor in Toronto). People need to understand they can't have street parking and free-flowing traffic at the same time. It's either/or. The bike paths really have nothing to do with it.
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In Bloor's case the way it was reconfigured made a lot of sense. It previously had 1 lane of traffic in each direction, 1 parking lane on each side, and no turn lanes. After the bike lanes went in, it was reconfigured to have 1 lane of traffic in each direction with dedicated turn lanes at major intersections, and a single parking lane on alternating sides of the street. Basically, vehicular traffic capacity remained the same - while parking capacity was effectively halved on the street. Eg:
Before:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/6LAH911YCW41HrJW9
After:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CFFSUQbgZ1VjJgQo7
Having driven the street many times before and after the bike lanes, I generally found it
easier to drive post-reconfiguration, as you no longer had to jostle for space with left turners, cyclists, and (as many) people trying to park. And needless to say, it made cycling it much easier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
This is a good point. A lot of the congestion is just people parking and demanding spots right in front of businesses (while they'll walk the equivalent of 3 city blocks out at Costco). A lot of problems could be managed by adjusting this parking yet there is constant drama around it. It probably serves around 20% of the customers or less in a lot of busy urban commercial areas.
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Most of the objection to removing street parking seems to come from the shop owners, who seem to think that the equivalent of a single parking spot in front of their business will make or break their business.
Of course, the reality on streets like Bloor or Yonge is that the vast majority of shoppers are arriving by foot anyway (or transit, bike, etc).
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