May 2025 Critical Mass

Yesterday, more than 100 people took part in the May Critical Mass ride. While a couple of recent Critical Mass rides were controversial with Dave Shellnutt getting ticketed in March and someone getting arrested at the April one (which I didn’t attend due to the Hot Docs festival), this one fortunately didn’t see any ticketing despite the police presence. Let’s look back at how the ride went!

A good-sized crowd filled Glendolyn MacEwen Parkette by the time I got there.

Dave called on riders to de-escalate and stick together should somebody get ticketed.

Lining up on the Walmer Avenue loop.

We then lapped the parkette a few times before the ride headed north towards Dupont.

At Dupont and Spadina. Note the Dupont Complete Street project was recently put on hold because of Doug Ford’s Bill 212.

We then took some side streets to get to Avenue Road.

On Avenue Road.

We managed to take over the intersection at Avenue and Bloor for a couple of minutes. At the intersection, Joey Schwartz called out the Ford government’s recent targeting of the recently installed Avenue Road bike lanes for removal when four cyclists died there within the past decade. SHAME!

There’s Jun Nogami on Queen’s Park Crescent along with Chris Hoyle. You can read Jun’s take with a lot more photos here.

Turning left onto Queen’s Park.

Here’s a video I recorded at that spot. I find filming at spots where cyclists are turning makes it a lot easier to count cyclists.

And here's a video of the #CriticalMass ride rolling into Queen's Park. #BikeTO #TOpoli #ONpoli #VisionZero

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— Robert Zaichkowski (@rzaichkowski.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 8:19 PM

The ride ended at Queen’s Park where Jun thanked everyone for attending and called on us to be vigilant of the Ford government’s next moves. Especially considering the following recent events:

• Junction Triangle residents recently held a parade calling on Metrolinx to build the Greenway which Metrolinx claimed would start within the “next few weeks”.
• Recent opposition over bike lane construction on The Esplanade.
• Ongoing resistance to RapidTO bus priority lanes on Dufferin and Bathurst Streets.
• More cities looking at cutting back on cycling infrastructure such as London, Ontario and even in my hometown of Moncton, New Brunswick.
• The Crooked Cue’s plan to host a fundraiser this coming Monday for their frivolous lawsuit against the City of Toronto (and Councillor Amber Morley) regarding the Bloor bike lanes.

The anti-safe cycling on Bloor Street peeps are at it again. Data showing bike lanes save lives, reduce congestion, improve business and increase property values means nothing to them. @rzaichkowski.bsky.social

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— nataliehhhh.bsky.social (@nataliehhhh.bsky.social) May 29, 2025 at 8:06 AM

Thanks to those of you who rode with us yesterday. Let’s stay vigilant and keep up the pressure on the Ford government until they stop the proposed bike lane removals for good!

Here's a video Jun compiled of the ride.