Bike Parking Takes Over Car Parking

This week the City installed bike racks for 16 bicycles in two parking spots on Spadina Ave. This is a Toronto first. What an exciting moment to see infrastructure built for cars be adapted to the growing demands of bicycles. Although just a pilot, this project exemplifies how we can share the roads. This is what social innovation looks like!

Check out the coverage from The Globe and The Toronto Star.

For me, this is exciting for another reason. This initiative came to life when Matt Blackett of Spacing Magazine, Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cycling Union and yours truly here at CSI, wrote a letter to Councillor Adam Vaughan asking that the city transform a street parking space into bike racks...Matt had seen this done in other cities (Matt and I had joked about holding martini parties in parking spaces) and thought that there had to be a way to make it happen here. Matt then brilliantly went to get the support of a number of other local businesses. Pushing and prodding along the way, with the incredible support of our amazing Councillor Vaughan and the open-mindedness of the city staff, 18 months later, voila, we have Toronto's first example of infrastructure adaptation - another example of sharing the roads.

This is what city innovation looks like! This is what collaboration looks like! This is how social innovation emerges from shared spaces!

Tonya