[DSCToronto]

I don’t even think Toronto bothers to try timing the lights to driving speeds, other than a handful of streets. That capability is probably well beyond what Toronto could coordinate. And doing it for bikes would be a non-starter for sure?

Actually, the City has quite a few coordinated signals and are adding more but you are, of course, correct about extending it to bikes!

SEE: https://www.toronto.ca/services-pay...gns/signal-optimization-coordination-program/

 

[nfitz]

I don’t even think Toronto bothers to try timing the lights to driving speeds, other than a handful of streets. That capability is probably well beyond what Toronto could coordinate. And doing it for bikes would be a non-starter for sure?

I'm puzzled why you think Toronto couldn't co-ordinate this, when small cities did standardly did this in the 1970s.

Or are you just referring to cars? It does seem a bit silly for bikes, given variable speeds, those who cycle, compared those on motorized vehicles in the bike lanes.

 

[afransen]

I don’t even think Toronto bothers to try timing the lights to driving speeds, other than a handful of streets. That capability is probably well beyond what Toronto could coordinate. And doing it for bikes would be a non-starter for sure?

Toronto has far too many lights to make synchronization feasible.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

With traffic signals, some drivers behave like they're at a drag race. Once the traffic signal light (on the farside of the intersection) ahead of them turns green, they press hard on the accelerator and try to rocket away from the stop line (or crosswalk or cross traffic lane) as much as possible... until they reach the next red light. Some go past the speed limit (posted or unposted). Sometimes there is a pedestrian or cyclist still crossing ahead of them, which they would have seen if we used nearside traffic signals, and the driver blare their horn to get them to move faster.

(Or are you chicken, McFly?)

 

[Toronto1834]

Rathburn Road Bikeway and Safety Improvements

Rendering of proposed design showing a bi-directional bikeway on Rathburn Road. The City of Toronto is proposing to install a new bikeway and road safety upgrades on Rathburn Road, from Melbert Road to The East Mall. In 2026, road work is planned on Rathburn Road which provides an opportunity to...

www.toronto.ca

 

[tallcoleman]

Rathburn Road Bikeway and Safety Improvements

Rendering of proposed design showing a bi-directional bikeway on Rathburn Road. The City of Toronto is proposing to install a new bikeway and road safety upgrades on Rathburn Road, from Melbert Road to The East Mall. In 2026, road work is planned on Rathburn Road which provides an opportunity to...

www.toronto.ca

"Proposed bikeway connections in Segment 3 between The West Mall and The East Mall require Ministry of Transportation approval. Further consultation is planned for this segment in 2028-2029."

Frustrating that they have to delay this section, since having a safe highway crossing might be the most useful part of the upgrade. Is this because of needing to remove a vehicle lane, or just because of the proximity to the highway?

 

[nfitz]

Toronto has far too many lights to make synchronization feasible.

And yet it does sync a lot of them.

I'm not sure how the number of lights makes much difference - though the congestion does. And they don't do all streets.

The biggest issue is that really, it only works well all the time, on one-way streets. But when traffic is flowing in rush hour, I find I usually hit most of the lights Green on Kingston Road, east of Danforth Avenue. And mostly red if I drive that way in the morning, when the lights are all timed for inbound traffic. They'd been doing this for a long time, when I was looking at a job in the traffic control unit for Metro Traffic in the mid-1980s.

Back then the control-system and staff used to be in unused Sheppard Station space under the Sheppard/Yonge intersection; they lost that when they started building Line 4. I'd assume that it's not necessary to hardwire them into all the traffic lights with dedicated wires these days. I'd guess that the programs that run the lights are no longer in machine code with with only a cB or two of storage.