Gigi On Earth

This popular Instagram video about the Bicycle House in Malmö in Sweden, makes me realize just how friendly we can make living in a city without a car.

I currently live in a high rise in Midtown Toronto, a hyper-urban neighbourhood in the largest city in Canada. Living here with a bike is difficult to say the least. Taking my bike in the elevator means no one else can be in the elevator with me. I also am pretty sure you’re not supposed to bring your bike in two of the three elevators. You’re also not allowed to keep your bike on your balcony. Though this has never been explained, I assume it’s because the bicycle could fall and shatter the glass railing. However, my building has dedicated bike parking in the underground parking garage. I asked if I could rent a space (since I’m not allowed to keep my bike on my balcony). The quick answer was ‘no’. The long answer was that bicycle parking spots are assigned to car parking spots. So, if you don’t have a parking spot, you can’t have a bicycle parking spot…

Even though my apartment is near two new bike lanes, there is no way for me to store my bike ‘legally’ except if I’m willing to give up floor space in my already small apartment. All this to say that most high rise apartments can be a hostile environment for cyclists.

The ‘innovations’ of the Bicycle House show just how small and simple changes have to be to make traveling by bike so much easier. For example,  bolts outside of your unit to hang your bike. Doing something similar by installing bolts on balconies would be such an easy way to stop bikes from falling over. It also makes it much more convenient than having to go to and from a separate bike parking on your way in or out, and riding up the ramp where the gates don’t open for you because you’re not as large as a car. Having your bike in a separate area from where you live also causes other difficulties, such as having to bring your bike pump to the parking for your bike, then not having a safe space to store the bike pump so having to come back up to your unit to return it.

There is first-come-first-serve outdoor bike parking at my apartment, however it is hidden behind the building, near the trash chutes, and not lit up. In other words, not very friendly or accessible. Building management has sent messages letting us know the bikes parked there are often stolen. At the same time, not all the parking spots in my garage are being used, and there 15 spots dedicated to visitor parking. It doesn’t seem like a expensive change to switch two visitor parking spots to bike parking instead. With an average car parking space length of 5.6 metres and the city of Toronto’s requirements that a bicycle parking should have 0.6 metres in width, one car parking space could accommodate up to nine bike parking spots.

The city of Toronto does have a by-law in place for dwellings built after 2013 to have 1.1 bike parking space for every dwelling. However as is often the case, there are no requirements or incentives for older builds to meet this by-law.

It is incredibly inspiring to see a building where bicycles were not an afterthought, but a fundamental part of the design. At the same time, it is incredibly frustrating that in Toronto, one of the fastest growing cities in North America, we forget to build housing that will respond to the needs of the city we need to build for a more sustainable future.