Through a multi-city initiative called “ThinkBike Workshops”, the Royal Dutch Embassy in Washington, DC has invited Dutch experts of Fietsberaad International to visit Canadian and US cities to discuss possibilities for increased bicycle use. Fietsberaad is the Dutch centre of expertise on bicycle policy disseminating its knowledge and expertise abroad. The ThinkBike workshops bring together Dutch bike experts, local politicians, planners, advocates, engineers and business people in each city to plan and discuss how it can become more bike-friendly by applying aspects of the Dutch approach. Teams consisting of the Dutch experts and a mix of local experts convene for two days during which they will survey the cities by bike and discuss in workshop format how streets, intersections and whole neighborhoods can be improved for optimal bicycle use. Topics of discussion at the workshops will also include bike safety, bike commuting, biking to school, bike parking, bikes and public transport, law enforcement, etc. The workshops consist of a kick-off session, open to the general public, followed by the workshops behind closed doors and conclude with a closing session, also open to the public, where the recommendations will be presented by the teams.
Toronto was the first city to host the bike workshops – they took place on September 20 and 21, 2010. Chicago was the next stop for the bike experts, where the workshops took place on September 23 and 24.
In close cooperation with the City of Toronto, two teams (orange and blue) were formed that together with the Dutch experts addressed the following design assignments:
• Sherbourne Street Corridor – converting existing bikeways into physically separated bikeways (orange team)
• Developing a bikeway network in the downtown core, linking the city north of Queen Street to the Waterfront Trail (blue team)
• A long term strategy on promoting cycling as well as better marketing and communication on cycling.
During the workshops an exchange of views took place on bicycle policy applied in the various practical situations in Toronto with possible integration of Dutch ideas and best practices in the Toronto situation. Furthermore the philosophy and principles behind the Dutch approach to promote cycling and the possibilities to implement these elements in Toronto were discussed. A small
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group from both teams also looked into a long term strategy for Toronto incorporating Dutch methods of marketing and communication.
Important conclusions were:
The three corner stones of the Dutch philosophy towards bicycling can be easily implemented in Chicago Transport Planning
- Cycling is joy
- Perceived safety is paramount; if people do not feel safe, they will not cycle
- A significant amount of cycling can only be achieved with a high quality of infrastructure
Other general conclusions were:
- Bicycle planning has to be an integral part of any urban transport plan
- When major developments are happening – like in downtown Toronto – this should be supported by an integral transport plan in which bicycle planning should be an important factor
- Bicycle planning always leads to improvement of the quality of the public realm and the liveability of neighbourhoods
- BIXI (public bike system) is a very good means to let people get acquainted with bicycling
- Road categorization (some roads are more dedicated to cars others more to bikes) gives both bicyclists and cars better facilities
- Identification is important for promoting cycling. Everybody cycles, just normal people like me and you
- Individualized bicycle planning (Smart Travel Planning) is very helpful
- Put extra effort in the bike-transit combination (esp. for suburbs)
- Start young (bike education)
- Transfer space for cars to bikes on stretches of road, which is no sacrifice for the car flow
- Make provisions on intersections, like continued coloured bike lanes, levelled, bike lanes, bike boxes and bicycle traffic lights
Special thanks to both Daniel Egan, manager of the cycle department of the city Toronto and Christine Bouchard who were instrumental in making the workshops successful.
This report includes:
1. Outline and description of the workshops
2. Dutch approach to promote cycling
3. Results/observations/recommendations Toronto workshops
4. Appendix A: The design assignment of the teams
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5. Appendix B: Composition of the teams
6. Appendix C: The program
7. Appendix D: Media coverage
8. Appendix E: Final presentations