January 30, 2000

To: Toronto Cycling Committee

From: Nina Koskenoja, Co-Chair

Network Planning and Facilities Sub-Committee

Subject: Smog Reduction Suggestions

I was pleased to receive quite a number of suggestions from members of the NP&FSC, so I have grouped them according to subject matter.

Reducing Car Use/Emissions

The City of Toronto should consider adopting a comprehensive policy to reduce car traffic:

1. Allow only cyclists, rollerbladers, transit vehicles and close certain streets to cars on smog-alert days,

2. Car-free days or weekends (downtown),

3. Car-free zones where cyclists ride most (College/Kensington/Spadina, etc.),

4. Full bike lanes on all major streets in the city--reduce car lane widths as necessary; reduce speed limit accordingly. Bike lanes encourage bicycle use, as demonstrated by the increase in cyclists on streets such as Bloor Street after the bike lanes on the Viaduct were installed. Bicycles are non-polluting.

5. Traffic calming to reduce speed and emissions from cars.

6. Eliminate private cars from "downtown"

7. Permit trucks and non-human-powered deliveries only during specified hours (e.g., 5-7 am, 3-5 pm, 9pm-midnight) to keep the delivery trucks off the street at rush hour and midday.

8. Discourage non-essential car trips.

9. Restrict the number of licences issued for cars in Toronto.

Reducing Car Emissions

1. Toughen idling bylaw to: "No idling for longer than 3 minutes any time, no matter whether there is a smog alert or not.

2. City vehicles should burn cleaner fuels like liquified natural gas.

Street Design

1. Eliminate 4-way stops and implement roundabouts and low urban speed limits. Constant accelerating and decelerating increases emissions and uses large amounts of gas, proportionate to traffic and average vehicle weight.

2. Tear down or bury and toll the Gardiner Expressway.

3. Toll Highway 427, the Allen Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway.

Increasing TTC Use

1. Install bike racks on transit vehicles to encourage more cycling trips.

2. Remove the seats and include a 'bike' car in TTC trains.

3. Greatly increase existing TTC service, at lower cost. More riders means the per-rider fee can be lowered.

Increasing Bicycle Use

1. Cycle on off-street trails, such as hydro corridors, rail trails, multi-use paths to be further away from vehicles.

2. Implement a city-wide free bicycle sharing program, as other cities have done, which will provide citizens with an accessible & emissionless form of transportation.

3. Encourage employers to provide showers and bike storage facilities to encourage bicycle commuting.

4. Implement Highway Traffic Act changes giving pedestrians and cyclists "right of way" over motorized vehicles, per coroner's report recommendations.

5. Investigate the feasibility of installing an off-street bike trail in the rail corridor running diagonally across the City of Toronto from Union Station to George town.

6. Provide free carbohydrate drinks and pizza to cyclists.

City Design

1. Encourage "main streets" type development downtown--rezoning for higher densities along, for example, existing subway routes.

2. Impose a freeze on suburban expropriation of farmland.

3. The suburbs in general are designed to be car-oriented. One thing that could improve air and life would be something that is happening in the U.S.; redesign of aging shopping malls to incorporate housing and schools and "streetlife" day and night.

4. Narrow existing streets in residential areas with trees and gardens to reduce traffic flow, encourage life in the streets, and increase the air-cleaning and shade provided by trees.

5. All new offices built in the city be required to have "green roofs" to reduce air conditioning and heating expenses, reduce energy consumption, reduce air pollution. Tax incentives would be provided to retrofit existing buildings with green roofs.

6. Eliminate zoning requirements for car parking. For example, in North York, all single family houses are required to have two parking spaces on the lot. Zoning specifies the number of spaces required for a variety of uses, from golf course ("one space per hole, plus one space per 28 s.m. floor area") to children's home (2 spaces) and vice-versa. 51% of households in Toronto do not have cars.

7. Implement a Tree Tax on new buildings with parking (X number of trees to be planted per parking space.) Implement a similar tax on existing parking spaces.

8. Add to the zoning requirements that new development of all kinds be tied to the location of existing public transportation. Developers will either lobby for new public transit or direct their efforts towards building up along "mainstreets"---Bloor-Danforth, Yonge-University, Sheppard, various streetcar lines.

Car Design

1. Require automakers to design engines that shut down on their own after a maximum of 3 minutes of idling.

2. Put LED displays in dashboards that show in a graphic fashion the constant and relative use of gasoline as the engine runs fast or slow.

3. Require average vehicle weights to drop to a target of under 1000 lbs to lower fuel, power, braking, maintenance and manufacture resource requirements greatly. People that really need a larger vehicle would be required to apply for an exemption and to take a large vehicle extra skill driver's course, with penalties to match for errors.