You cycled where?!?

Vaughan Mills Mall, located in Vaughan at Highway 400 and Rutherford Road, is a shopping and entertainment complex of colossal proportions. With over 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m²) of retail space, all on a single floor, it is the 11th largest mall in Canada and 6th largest in the GTA.

It's often a stressful drive to get there, particulary during the evening rush or on weekends.  This is the result of car-centric planning, which has consequently made every other mode seem difficult and uninviting.
























I rode my bike there last week.  My route was mostly on minor roads (except a short segment on Jane on the sidewalk), it was quick (quicker than a car during rush hour), and relatively easy.  The most challenging part of the ride was crossing the 4-lane ring road that surrounds Vaughan Mills.  The intersection circled in red below is a controlled by stop signs, which ends up being really unconfortable to cross by bike or two feet.  It's not often that you see such a big intersection controlled by stop signs.  The crosswalk doesn't even have curb cuts.

The second issue I have is with the bike parking.  Their website clearly says 16 bike racks at each main entrance (in addition to 6300 free parking spaces for cars).  I biked around the mall and found a total of 6 bike parking spots for the entire mall (2 spots at entrance #2, and 4 spots at entrance #4).  Entrances #1, 3, 5, and 6 had no bike parking, unless you count the light poles. 

For what is such a significant urban centre, and traffic generator, I expected better.

Entry 1

Entry 3

I didn't see any bike parking at the Transit terminal at Vaughan Mills either.

One ring and post at Entry 2

Two ring and posts at Entry 4

Here's my bike route from Vaughan City Hall to Vaughan Mills Mall.

If you ask most people, they'd think it is crazy to ride your bike to Vaughan Mills.  I would say they are crazy not to.  Have you seen the traffic on Rutherford Road at 5pm?  You can by-pass that traffic on a bike, and arrive with a smile on your face.

Another wheelbender rack

Today was a glorious day for riding, so I took my bike to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items, instead of driving.  Here's the entrance to Fortinos in Maple.  It does have a bike rack (arrow on the left), but it's the bad bike parking type. 

The middle arrow points to a bike leaning against some grocery carts, and the right arrow points to a bike (mine) locked to a sign.  I've opted not to use the wheelbender bike rack on the left.  See next photo.

 

One gentle push and these tire rims are a mangled mess!  The owner of the blue bike on the right chose to lay theirs down to avoid the risk of damage.  Also note that the rack is too close to the wall, so bikes can only be parked from one side.

Businesses need some guidelines on what bike parking is acceptable and not.  People in Vaughan do bike places.  Quality bike parking is a small measure, but it's good for business and sends the message that "we care about cyclists and we care about our City".

Community Bike Ride for Vaughan's Earth Hour

On March 28th, I participated in the Vaughan's Earth Hour event held at City Hall.  It included a night bike ride hosted by the City of Vaughan and Vaughan Bicycle User Group.

The festivities included a energy conservation expo.

Here's the Vaughan BUG table.  The group encourage residents to give cycling a try for commuting and recreation.

People were asked to fill in the blank.  "My Bike is My..." escape; fresh air; keeping fit; fun, etc.  A bike is many different things to many people, and all of it makes life better.

The 7 km bike ride offered a the opportunity for a group ride through the community, to socialize with other cyclists, and communicate that people in Vaughan do cycle.  It showed that a night ride in March can be quite enjoyable, and is very commonplace in many cities.  Cycling can be a year-round activity, even in our climate.

Here's the route, which started at Vaughan City Hall, went south on Peter Rupert (edge lines added in Fall 2014), west on Rutherford (paved shoulders), and north on a "Block 18" multi-use trail from Rutherford to Lealands Rd.

Here's the route from a cyclist's perspective... part 1 is from Vaughan City Hall, to Peter Rupert & Rutherford.

Here's part 2, from Peter Rupert & Rutherford, north on the trail along the CN/GO train corridor, and through the local neighbourhood back to City Hall.


I hope the ride continues to grow, and that more Vaughan residents discover that cycling is a fun, easy, healthy, inexpensive way to get around and reduce their environmental footprint.