Wheeling Through Toronto by Koehl, Albert;

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Highlighting an important yet often ignored part of Toronto’s transportation story, Wheeling through Toronto chronicles the history of the bicycle and reveals a way forward for a world in climate crisis.

Throughout its history in Toronto, the bicycle’s place on the roads and in public esteem has fluctuated wildly: flaunted as fashionable, disparaged and derided, rescued from looming obscurity, and promoted as a way to respond to the challenges of the day. What is it about the simple bicycle that it can be so loved by some yet despised and detested by others?

Wheeling through Toronto offers a 130-year ride from the 1890s to the present to help answer this question. Albert Koehl, a Toronto lawyer and leading cycling advocate, chronicles the tumultuous history of this mode of transportation from the bicycle craze at the turn of the century, to the rise of the car and the motorway in the 1950s, to the intensifying cry for active transportation in the 1990s and into pandemic times.

In an era of catastrophic climate events, Wheeling through Toronto highlights how the bicycle should be celebrated not only as hope for the future, but also for its affordability, for its contribution to clean and healthy mobility, and because it brings happiness and joy to so many. Drawing on archival materials, newspapers, and personal interviews, and full of fascinating vignettes, this book presents the story of how we got here and what Torontonians need to know as we pedal forward.

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Acknowledgments

Preface

1896: The Bicycle Craze

The ""Safety"" (Bicycle) ... in Numbers

Cycling in the City

The War on Dogs, and the Devil’s Temptation

""Muddy York"" No More, but Not Quite Buffalo

No Regulations, Please – We’re Cyclists

""A veritable wheelman’s paradise"" – A Circuit of Bike Paths and Good Roads

Bicyclists Divided: The Pros and Cons of Bicycle Strips and Paths

What’s New, What’s Not

Women Awheel

Touring, Racing, Litigating, Accessorizing
... and Clubbing

From Milord and Milady to the Valet and the Maid – What Next?

1910: From Fashion to Function

The New Bicycle of the ""Revival""

Same Wheels, New Purpose

The Speedy Messenger

The Straphanger, the Police, and the Soldier

Better Roads, the Cyclist Gains

The Bicycle Syndicate

Improving Transportation?

The Decline of the Bicycle Clubs and the CWA

Defending the Detested Motorist

The Horseless Carriage – Filling a Gap or Creating One?

What of the Bicycle in the Next 20 Years?

1929: Lethal Motorcars, Accidental Victims

Whither the Cyclist and the Pedestrian?

Same Bicycle, New City

Regulation – For the Cyclist

The Bicycle and the Motorcar – Diverging Trajectories

The Bicycle in the Shadow of the Motorcar

Selling the Motorcar – Prestige, Class, and Speed

Bicycles – ""Toys"" for Business and Transportation

From Utility to Amusement, and Back Again

The Rail Not Taken

What Future for the Bicycle in Toronto?

1953: The Bicycle Endures; the Cyclist Relies on Luck

The Birth of the Metropolis – A Cigar for the Motorist

The Urban and Suburban Ups and Downs of the Bicycle

The War and the Pre-War Depression

Post-War Decline

The Bike Licence and the ""Juvenile Delinquent""

An Adult Solution to Children’s Safety – A Ban from Roads

Bicycles and Motorcars Reach Middle Age

The Messenger at Work – No Place for Old Men

The Myth of the Safe Motorcar

Cops and Motorists

Is There Still a Place for the Bicyclist in Toronto?

1979: The Bicycle Revival

""The Bicycle Fights Back""

Cyclists Regain Their Voice

Before the Revival: The Bicycle’s Darkest Days

The Automobile Juggernaut: A Few Bumps in the Road

Sewell and the City, and the New Advocates

Reality Check

Transportation Planners, and the Evil that Lurks Below

""A curse on sweaty, unwanted cyclists""

On Trial – Just Kids

Making Space for the Bicycle

Safe Places to Ride – Gallop to the Rescue

Metro Recognizes the Value of Bicycles: On Trails, Not Roads

Road Space for Cyclists in the City – A Wider Curb Lane?
... and an Uphill Bike Lane

A Good Start or a Lost Opportunity

2019: A Changing City

A City of Cyclists, not for Cyclists

Ride On

Fashion and Function in the New Millennium

Bike Cops, Bike Share, and Food by Bike

From Community to Committee to Community

The Bicycle’s (Accidental) Advocates

The Battle for (Road) Space – Plans, Platitudes, and Pancakes

Looking Back at the Four Decades since the 1970s Revival – What Happened?

After the Bicycle Revival – The Macho Militants of the 1980s

The 1990s – A Bike Lane Bounce

Amalgamation and a Slow Ride Forward

Swimming with the Sharks ... and with Mayor Tory

The Lasting Joy of Bicycling

2020–2023: Pandemic and Rebuilding

Bibliography

Notes

About the Author