Close the streets and let them ride.... Gil Penalosa described Bogotá’s Cyclovía. Every Sunday, the City of Bogotá closes some of its major roads so that the City’s population can walk and cycle throughout the City. Many thousands of citizens participate every week. One of the advantages of such a project is the fact that the infrastructure is already there. Bogotá is creating a cycling transportation route throughout the City. Gil Penalosa described Bogotá’s greenway, which crosses through residential and commercial areas. Many arguments and different arguments are needed to support having a walkable city. The walkability of a city generates tourism and economic activity. For example, the paths in Minneapolis attract tourism to the City, despite the City’s cold weather. Tourism is a pedestrian activity. Pedestrian areas create communities and benefit our children. 1/3 of citizens do not drive, even in the most sprawled car-friendly communities. Walking is also the best link to all transit systems. One automobile parking spot on each street can be converted to create parking for many bicycles. The walkability of a city is a health issue. From Spacing Toronto - article April 2007 Apparently, when Copenhagen embarked on a strategy to increase walking, one of the things they measured at the outset was the number of sidewalk cafe seats in the city. They considered it a key measure of success when the number of people sitting outside was increased by 60% as the strategy was implemented over the years. It’s an interesting idea, because counting people sitting in public measures being on the street as it becomes a way of life, in addition to being a practical way of getting around. So one of the ideas put forward for a walking strategy in Toronto is to do the same — measure the number of sidewalk cafe seats in the city, and set a goal of increasing this number by 50%, or even doubling it. It’s worth noting that when Copenhagen started its strategy, people said it would never develop a street culture because it’s a cold city and people were reserved, unlike somewhere like Italy that had good weather and an existing street culture. But as spaces were opened to pedestrians in Copenhagen, people occupied them. The second idea was inspired by the work Gil Penalosa did in Bogota, Colombia, where as the commissioner of parks and recreation he opened 91 km of roads every Sunday from 9 am to 2 pm to pedestrians, cyclists and rollerbladers, closing them off to cars. Well over a million people came out every week (in a city of about 7 million). So the participants in the workshop proposed something similar for Toronto. Why not dedicate the downtown subway loop — Yonge to Front then up University and across Bloor — every Sunday morning during the summer to pedestrians, bladers and cyclists, closing them off to cars? We could also stretch the Yonge closure down to Queen’s Quay, which would also be closed, so that people can get to the waterfront easily and the east and west sections of the waterfront Martin Goodman trail become truly connected. Many of these roads are closed in part regularly anyway for various weekend events during the summer, and traffic isn’t that heavy on Sunday mornings. I remember, when I was a kid growing up in Ottawa, that the road alongside the Rideau Canal was closed this way during summer Sunday mornings, and our family would go cycling there every week, along with what seemed like half of the city. http://www.oside.ca