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Wheeling Through Toronto
A History of the Bicycle and Its Riders
Albert Koehl (Author)
9781487549572
Hardback, published 30 May 2024
400 pages, 41 b&w illustrations, 2 b&w maps, 1 b&w figure
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm, 0.58 kg
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.
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 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? 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
… and Clubbing
… and an Uphill Bike Lane