The Dutch now believe that the number is 230cm. This is an increase from a previous recommendation of 200cm. The thinking behind this number is roughly as follows. Apparently there are Dutch laws stipulating that bikes can't be wider than 75cm. So this is the starting point.

But since it's impossible to always ride in a perfectly straight line, there seems to be a generally accepted rule that, at an absolute minimum, cyclists need about 100cm of width to themselves.

If you now double this so that two people can ride side-by-side, you're at 200cm. This is an important design criteria because the Dutch also seem to believe that (1) cycling is a social activity and (2) a child should be able to ride beside their parent. (Love this!)

Finally, add in a bit of buffer so there's room to pass slower cyclists and/or nobody feels like they're going to crash into oncoming cyclists, and you get to 230cm as the ideal width of a single bike lane.

I'm not sure I had given this much thought before, so I look forward to scrutinizing (and possibly measuring) every bike lane I ride in going forward.

I love cycling. And I have been using Toronto's bike share system to get around over the last few weeks (both for work and personal stuff). There's no better way to get around when the city is busy. But it was also a reminder that we have a lot of work to do when it comes to cycling infrastructure.

Here are a few observations:

• The Bike Share mobile app has got to be the worst app that I have ever used. First of all, it's called PBSC. I think this was a deliberate choice so that it's impossible to remember and impossible to locate on your phone. Because once you do find it, it's an awful experience.

• I struggled to make it from downtown up to midtown a few days ago. Can I blame the Bike Share bike instead of my lack of physical conditioning? I can't see the majority of people wanting to do this sort of ride. This is where e-bikes and e-scooters come in.

• Many of the bikes have something wrong with them.

• We don't have enough bike lanes and bike-friendly streets. I know that some you don't want to hear this. But it's the truth. There are a lot of streets in Toronto where it is terrifying to be on a bicycle. This is true even in the center of the city.

• If you're not familiar with Toronto, you won't get this point. But Queens Quay is a seemingly complicated street for many people to navigate. Cycling along here in peak summer is an exercise in dodging people as they meander across the bike lane.

• We need dockless bikes. I'm sure that the team is doing their best to load balance across the network, but it is often a challenge to find an available dock at the end of a trip. There are ways to do this that avoid bikes being left everywhere.

• And while we're at it, we should also add e-scooters to our roster.

What would you add to this list?

We have spoken many times over the years about Paris' investments in cycling infrastructure and about its plans to become a 100% cycling city. And my twitter feed (see above/here) seems to suggest that it's working really well.

Between 2015 and 2020, the city saw a doubling of its bike lanes. And from September 2018 to September 2019 alone, the city saw a 54% increase in cycling usage, with its street meters recording about 840,000 daily bike trips in the center of the city.

Of course, if you're a cycling skeptic, you're probably thinking at least two things right now. One, Paris is Paris. Not all cities have the benefit of such a compact urban form. And two, Paris doesn't get real winters. So sure, it's easy to cycle there. Where's the snow?

While it is true that density is a key ingredient for walkability and active transport, the real catalyst for Paris was its cycling network. A lot more people are cycling in Paris today because it is now safer and more convenient to do so.

It is also true that Paris generally doesn't get as cold as, say, Toronto.

However, Helsinki does. It has the same humid continental climate (and a lower average annual temperature). And if you look at the Copenhagenize (Cycling) Index, you'll see that, in 2019, Paris had a bicycle modal share of under 5%, whereas Helsinki had a modal share of 11% (plus a near equal gender split).

Maybe it's the over 1,300 km of bicycle infrastructure.