Dandyhorse magazine: Summer 2008
For centuries bells have been used during religious rites and as a means of communication — for instance, to call a community to prayer. Following in this tradition, well over 1,000 people enthusiastically rang bicycle bells on Bloor St. on May 25thto call on city politicians to better protect cyclists by installing bike lanes on Bloor and across the city.
One Thousand Bells on Bloor, organized by a small coalition of cycling groups and advocates, followed on the success of the first Bells on Bloor parade eight months earlier that attracted 500 participants. The latest pedal-powered parade started with a rally at High Park, then followed Bloor St. eastward to the Royal Ontario Museum, and ended on the lawns of Queens Park. Pedestrians along the route clapped in appreciation or jingled bells distributed for the occasion, drivers in opposing lanes honked their horns in support, while at least one church, Bloor Street United, rang its own bells in encouragement of the riders.
In part, Bells on Bloor was inspired by a simple reality: most city politicians when left alone to choose between reducing on-street parking spaces for cars on the one hand and reducing air pollution, greenhouse gases, and injuries to cyclists caused by motor traffic on the other, will generally come to the defence of the parking spaces. The evidence for this conclusion is readily apparent in the fact that Toronto is currently on pace to meet its 2011 target of 500 kilometres of bike lanes in the year 2070.
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What has changed over the last few years is that many city representatives now talk about the eco-benefits of bike lanes (and cycling) while more cleverly dressing up their lack of action. In the Bloor Visioning Study, for example, there was strong public support for bike lanes for the Avenue Rd. to Bathurst St. segment of Bloor at issue. Before arriving at their final proposal, which omits bike lanes, the planners articulated the principle that Bloor St. ought to be promoted as a destination for bikes, but not a route for bikes (even though the best way to end up on Bloor is to actually cycle on it.) Perhaps more puzzling is the Bloor St. Transformation Project between Avenue Rd. and Church St. Although car parking is actually being removed (!), no bike lanes will be installed in the space being liberated.
Bells on Bloor is part of a wider effort to promote new realities — clean air, security from extreme global warming, and less traffic congestion — with, in our case, the help of new allies. Our outreach included ethnic communities, churches, yoga studios, businesses, and seniors. We also obtained a police permit to make the event more attractive to parents and their children.
The biggest obstacle to bike lanes on Bloor St. remains the old ways of thinking at City Hall. A thousand ringing bells on Bloor ought to help jolt our political leaders into a new way of thinking one that includes a dedicated space for the worlds most energy efficient transportation vehicle.
