Toronto's Bike Commuting Evolution (1996-2016)

[@ryanjames416]

Great video and crucial point re: not being doomed by anti-bike culture. I've been commuting by bike across Toronto since the mid 90s, and the cultural shift has been huge - at the time of the 1996 data, a lot of drivers saw bikes on the road as an annoyance (at best), some would yell at cyclists to "get on the sidewalk" (downtown and in the inner suburbs alike), and it was unheard of to look over your shoulder before opening the driver's side door. "Bike Lanes on Bloor" was almost as radical a slogan as smash capitalism. Of course some of this hasn't changed and there is still a long way to go, but I never thought I'd live to see the day when there were more than a couple like lanes in Toronto and many drivers who understood that you're supposed to cycle on the road.

[@knarf_on_a_bike]

As a Toronto bike commuter (15 km from Bloor West Village to Mississauga), I agree 100% with this. Improvements for sure, but such a long way to go. New subscriber here! 😀

[@m.e.3862]

Really interesting to see the progress in just a few years. I think that it's probably due to the younger generation that don't drive or can't afford a car but still want to get around. The popularity and drop in price of e-bikes will likely increase the network for year round use especially since e-bikes make winter cycling easier. I'm looking forward to seeing the Ottawa evolution and how it might integrate with the new LRT

[@paxundpeace9970]

Not only younger generations some older volks cycle too.

[@shifty7082]

I'm in love with this channel, thank you. Never stop making videos! And do a collab with NotJustBikes!

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Thank you! And we wish

[@damienpilon9785]

Interesting how the area around Yonge is surrounded by hotspots but doesn't go over 5%... Hopefully with the changes on Yonge and King that will improve. Also, looking forward to bike bike evolution Ottawa-Gatineau!

[@cartoonkid98]

I think its more due to walking being big there. If you work in an office and live in that neighbourhood you're unlikely to be more than 20m walk from work. Alternatively it's the neighbourhood with the most access to transport as everything goes through that loop.

[@Krommandant]

@@martinkent333 Often cyclists are lawless because of lacking or dangerous infrastructure and when provided with a lawful alternative, they will comply.

[@kevinlove4356]

@@Krommandant Yes, given the choice between endangering my life and breaking some "law," I know what choice I will make.

[@freedomchinaify]

Very nice analysis… love your videos about cycling in Toronto and Montreal. I think Toronto would get more and more bike lanes in the future.

[@Alexrocksdude_]

Census data is super interesting! Great video would love to see the specific approaches used to converting roads and parking into bike lanes/corridors and the science that goes into it

[@paxundpeace9970]

This isn't even without the improvement made in the last few years. Can't wait to see the numbers for 2021

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Yeah, we'll probably do a video covering a bunch of different Canadian cities when we get the new census data, it would be very surprising if it's not a big jump.

[@Grantonioful]

I've been living in Sherbrooke QC for awhile now and they have made a lot of improvements as well (despite the car dependent infrastructure)

[@Jessie-vm6kq]

The two bike evolution videos are so informative and really show the correlation between people cycling and infrastructure being provided. Are there plans to return to the videos with more cities in Canada? Plus got new data with the 2021 census which could reflect the increased bike usage during Covid.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

We were originally going to cover more cities in Canada but we kind of got sidetracked. But when the new 2021 commuting data comes out in November, at the very least we'll definitely do a video covering the new results across many cities.

[@op8ztv]

You literally posted every spot in my neighbourhood lol...even my grocery store. I love my bike.

[@definitelynotacrab7651]

The continued progress is a positive sign to see

[@PSNDonutDude]

Do Hamilton next please! I can help. I'm the chair of the Hamilton Cycling Advisory Committee and on the board of directors for Hamilton Bike Share. I can do some of the research for you.

[@PSNDonutDude]

@@martinkent333 😂 yup that's me! I'm the one, you caught me! You want to piss of car drivers? Roll through a atop sign. Want to piss them off even more, make a complete stop and look both ways in front of them lol

[@tramenari]

@@martinkent333 Butt hurt much?

[@KcarlMarXs]

I've been in Toronto in the last 5 years and I've seen immeasurable improvements in bike infrastructure in the core areas. So much more coming and cycle Toronto has made great strides so far. Still lots of unsafe drivers, bike infrastructure to be built, but I can only see it thriving based on the steps that HAVE been taken.

[@jennyjenny3531]

Love this, thanks so much, this is very encouraging to see.

[@Zarrx]

I live in the Queen West area and my work is in the Financial District, I prefer the street car to get there so I wouldn't be in the censuses data but for almost everything else during Spring, Summer, and Fall i'm getting there by bike. So I agree the numbers would be greater if we had details for bike ridership outside of work commutes. Having a bike is my justifiable means to pay Toronto rent.

[@joshthompson80]

Edmonton and Calgary have been making big progress the last 5 years as well! Our longer winters and higher snowfall vs out East have made cycling infastructure more contentious, but our grids are slowly building out!

[@tramenari]

@@martinkent333 Is your full time job complaining on the internet? You're pathetic.

[@joshthompson80]

@@martinkent333 lol. Ok boomer

[@rokulus7910]

That's a bit of a misconception actually. Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto all get virtually identical amounts of snow. Montreal gets a lot more. So does Barrie. Great to see progress in biking in Prairie cities.

[@joshthompson80]

@@rokulus7910 sorry. I should have used my words better. Not more snowfall, but more months of snow. Having lived in Toronto and edmonton, the inches of percepitation are similar, but Toronto rarely has more than a week of snow on the ground and roads/sidewalks are often melted in a day or two. Whereas edmonton rarely melts down to the ground during the winter. So for biking, Toronto has sloppy snow days, but the roads are often clear. Edmonton is often colder and has layers of snow and ice that dont melt. October/Nov and then March/April are also very different. Those month in edmonton are usually cold and snow is normal. In Toronto they are more mild and snow is rare. Having moved from Toronto back to edmonton, I miss April and October being more reliable for biking without needing serious gear.

[@blxvkpxndx]

I’m near riverdale west bikes are everywhere now.

[@WasephWastar]

2:03 what is this driver doing?

[@WheelsonaBike]

Don't forget to bike a subscribe! Nice! I'm a year round cycle commuter in Toronto and there's been massive growth in infrastructure as a result of the pandemic. A silver lining.

[@georgeemil3618]

I was a little confused with the clip showing a bike lane on the Danforth. The Danforth bike lanes were installed in 2020 due to Covid lockdowns.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

I'm not sure what you mean. Did we suggest that those lanes were older?

[@georgeemil3618]

@@OhTheUrbanity The title of the video is from 1996 to 2016. So I was expecting examples between those years.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

@George Emil In the video we present statistics/maps on bicycle commuting from 1996 to 2016.

[@kevinlove4356]

@@OhTheUrbanity Lacking a time machine, of necessity the video will be of current streets.

[@MarijnvdSterre]

Oké, it is besides the point of the video, but what is up with the lane lines? 0:01 Did they do it by hand and where asked to be as wavy as possible?

[@Henri.Virallinen]

Lol that's Berri looking south towards Ontario, in Montreal. I rode up and down that hill so many times this year and never noticed this! Perhaps it's been fixed this year?

[@cashboii_]

I'm shocked Toronto has so much more square km of areas with a share of 5% or higher. Always thought Montreal was the biking capital of Canada

[@kevinlove4356]

km of areas is increased by the large area of the car-free Toronto Islands.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

I'd say Vancouver is the cycling capital of Canada, not Toronto or Montreal. Though the quantity of infrastructure is not that different between the 3, Vancouver generally has higher-quality infrastructure. But the rate of cycling in Vancouver is limited by BC's mandatory helmets.

[@patrickmcneill150]

Very interesting. I wonder how all the people working from home will mess with the stats for the 2021 census.

[@newlife-su7sd]

very interesting! but how can you calculate how many people ride bike all the way from 1996? how do you measure it? the data gonna be messed up if different years have different way to measure the data.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

It's all based on the Canadian census, accessed through the 'cancensus' package in R. Some questions aren't consistent throughout the years, but fortunately this question on commuting is consistent going back to 1996! You can access census data on the web using censusmapper.ca (although it doesn't quite have all the metrics as the 'cancensus' package).

[@marcuscheung5025]

Moved from Beijing to Toronto last summer and I feel like Toronto is so not bike friendly. I dreamt all winter about the massive bike lanes we have on every single road in Beijing.

[@Dante-ob5mh]

Lmao at 0:39 you can see my balcony

[@cottawalla]

Vancouver Island suggests you'll never get more than 27% of commuters cycling in an ideal cycling environment. Was that the average year round daily commutes, or just people who cycle at least one day in three, four or five days? Are they cycling to the ferry? Perhaps that represents those who live within a few kilometres of the ferry terminus. What are the ratios of total kilometres travelled for motor vehicle and bicycle commutes? You inflated that 27% to 1/3 when it's really just 1/4. So are 3/4 of residents of Vancouver Island still commuting by motor vehicle? Did you notice that almost every cyclist shown was riding at 10 to 15 kph. I rode a typical commuter bike (not a lightweight road bike) recreationally for several years and generally pushed myself although I'm no athlete. On a typical 3 hour ride along bike paths with very few other cyclists or pedestrians to slow me and with very few stoppages to cross roads, etc I would average around 18kph. I enjoyed doing this two or three times a week but would not cycle to commute. There are simply too many constraints, none to do with routes or infrastructure or workplace facilities. And I did not lose any more than two or three kilos in weight (I weighed 110kg at the time). Cycling is far from the best way to lose weight or get fit unless you ride hundreds of kilometres a week. It's just too efficient and is mostly thigh muscle. You get more benefit from vacuuming the house.

[@I.____.....__...__]

0:55 Toronto Islanders don't really have a choice, they're not allowed to have cars. They're also not allowed to sell their homes (to strangers). That's why one 80-year-old guy adopted his 60-year-old friend so that he could sell it to him. Also, one home on Toronto Island sold for a mere $160,000 in 2020. 🤯 Imagine buying a home on an _island_ next to Toronto in _2020_ for only $160! (Though since they're only allowed to inherit the homes or sell to relatives, the prices are going to be low. 🤷) 3:03 Who shops at Metro? 🤨 (Other than rich people who like wasting money? 😒)

[@pottingsoil]

My bike got stolen yesterday. RIP to me.

[@user-gl8tv8pb8k]

How about when winter hits eh?

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Winter cycling isn't as crazy as a lot of people think, especially in milder climates like Toronto. Some days might be too cold or snowy but the average high in winter is around 0 degrees so lots of winter cycling is possible. People ski, skate, and walk outside in winter, so cycling isn't that crazy.

[@KcarlMarXs]

If you're in the core and +- days from blizzard, usually streets are dry and mild. ~usually~. Many folks do ride through it all, obviously summer is peak riding in Toronto

[@nimo7576]

good so we can wait another 20-30 year to see any progress in bike infra in this car-hell city

[@bloodydoll5897]

the 2021 census will truly reshape and redefine the landscape of.... the canadian census information available to the public