RANT – Toronto’s Betrayal Over Eglinton

On Monday, I was informed by city staff that the eglintonTOday Complete Street Project website was updated to say the project can no longer proceed due to changes in the Highway Traffic Act. Something which Aidan Chamandy of Toronto Today reported on yesterday. With all due respect to the courteous and professional staff within the Cycling and Pedestrian Unit, we need to call out this recent news for what it really is: an outright betrayal of Toronto’s cycling community by the City of Toronto! Let’s go through to explain why that is the case.

Time to Wrap Up 2025!

Last year was a big setback for cycling in Toronto with the passage of Bill 212 by the Ford government. However, the events of this year proved the worst was yet to come at Queen’s Park. Even so, there was still a lot of good things that happened, so let’s look back at what happened in 2025.

More Provincial Interference with Bill 60

Here we go again, folks! And unfortunately, not in a good way.

When Queen’s Park resumed on October 20, the Ford government introduced two omnibus bills which contains provisions that are hostile to road safety advocates. Bill 56 – Building a More Competitive Economy Act – includes a provision which bans speed cameras and received royal assent on Monday, November 3 after skipping the committee stage. Yesterday, the Ford government announced Bill 60 – Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act – will also skip committee stage after Second Reading and go straight to Third Reading. Talk about an affront to the democratic process!

October 2025 Consultation Roundup

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

The month of October has a few cycling related public consultations, as well as those for the 2026 budget. Supporters of the Danforth-Kingston 4 All campaign would be pleased with the Phase 2 consultations for Kingston Road (spurred in part by last month's ride), while Sloane Avenue and Keele Street will also be looked at. Let’s dive in!

Current conditions on Kingston Road

Let’s Call Out Toronto’s Bike Lane Backpedalling!

This morning, the Toronto Star revealed which bike lanes Ontario Premier Doug Ford wanted removed first which were Bloor from Resurrection to Clissold and Yonge from Merton to Millwood. While I was surprised The Kingsway part of Bloor would be left untouched given that’s where the hostilities were coming from, there are not any credible alternatives that can be taken for either of these two stretches. However, there is another problem associated with Bill 212 which urgently requires Toronto’s cycling community to call out Mayor Olivia Chow and City Council on.

Rendering of Sheppard Avenue East (via City of Toronto)

Just Bluffing Around

Back in May 2024, the Danforth-Kingston 4 All campaign hosted their first community ride attended by about 100 people which called on Mayor Olivia Chow and Councillor Parthi Kandavel to host public consultations for the Danforth-Kingston Complete Street Extension project. A Phase 1 consultation did get held later that month, but then the Phase 2 consultation kept getting held up with Bill 212 being blamed for the delay. Danforth-Kingston 4 All organized today’s “Just Bluffing Around” ride to call for that Phase 2 consultation which has been confirmed on Friday with details to come in October.

Rally and Ride for Eglinton

Last month, Toronto’s cycling community learned the City of Toronto would be resurfacing Eglinton Avenue without the promised bike lanes given the Eglinton Crosstown LRT continues to be faced with delays. This prompted me to prepare this action alert, while Cycle Toronto issued their own along with organizing tonight’s “Rally and Ride for Eglinton” which almost 100 people attended.

It’s Time to Demand Accountability for Eglinton

Two things that have made Torontonians furious at the Ford government lately are the constantly delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT and their war on bikes through Bill 212. Both of these matters intersected yesterday when Toronto Today had reported the bike lanes proposed under eglintonTOday would be paused because of Bill 212. While the article was later corrected to state the City of Toronto’s commitment to do the installation after the LRT opens, the City of Toronto updated the eglintonTOday project website to say installation would not happen in 2025 when the road resurfacing work happens.

August 2025 Cycling Construction Check In

Last year, Toronto installed almost 27 kilometres of on-street bikeways; making it the second highest year ever after the 30 kilometres installed in 2020 during the pandemic. This includes 8.5 kilometres for Finch Avenue West which I deemed to be substantially completed per a site visit, but the City of Toronto didn’t count as Metrolinx hadn’t transferred the street back to the City. Even excluding Finch, 18 kilometres is still respectable compared to prior years. With Doug Ford’s Bill 212 limiting new bike lane installations and Cycle Toronto’s charter challenge win last month (which the Ford government formally submitted their appeal today), it made me wonder what the impact on new bike lane installations would be.

Bikeway construction on The Esplanade in May 2025

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.

Car-Brain Extends Beyond Bikes!

The presence of car-brain – or motonormativity as the experts call it – in Toronto has been quite infuriating as of late. In addition to some new developments surrounding Bill 212, even transit developments and revenue tools are being affected along with a different cycling matter. Let’s look at this mayhem and how we can respond!

Bill 212 Charter Challenge

On Wednesday, Cycle Toronto – along with fellow applicants Eva Stanger-Ross and Narada Kiondo – had their day in court to pursue a Charter challenge against the Ford government’s plans to remove bike lanes. The challenge targets Section 195.6 of the Highway Traffic Act (originally in Bill 212), which requires the removal of bike lanes on Bloor, Yonge, and University. The applicants are represented by Andrew Lewis of Paliaire Roland and Bronwyn Roe of the non-profit Ecojustice, while Greenpeace, For Our Kids Toronto, and the Canadian Public Health Association appeared as intervenors. Both the main and overflow courtrooms were full for the occasion while Justice Paul Schabas presided over the session which focused on Section 7.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

Cycle Toronto's "Rally for Justice" held the day before the April 16 Charter challenge

A Soggy March Critical Mass

While Cycle Toronto’s charter challenge against Bill 212 is less than three weeks away and their injunction request was denied earlier this month, Toronto’s cycling community continues to put pressure on the Ford government to scrap their bike lane removal plans for Bloor, Yonge, and University. To follow up on last week’s direct action by Fridays for Future Toronto, a Critical Mass ride was held last night. Not even the rain could stop more than two hundred people from attending.

March 2025 Bill 212 Update

With the court challenge against the Ford government’s Bill 212 expected to be held on Wednesday, April 16, Toronto’s cycling community will be hosting a Critical Mass ride on Friday, March 28. Meet 6:00 PM at Bloor and Spadina for 6:30 PM departure. As with other Critical Mass rides, the route is never provided ahead of time. This announcement offers a good opportunity to recap what has been happening with this bill since Doug Ford won his third majority last month.

RANT – Doug Ford’s Third PC Majority Win

As was widely expected, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative party secured its third straight majority last night. This is despite him being the least liked premier in the country and all the trouble he caused including the RCMP Greenbelt investigation, the destruction of Ontario Place for a mega spa nobody wants, the crumbling of our health and education systems, and the ripping out of Toronto’s bike lanes. And of course, those $200 pre-election bribe cheques. However, there is a lot more to rant about aside from the outcome itself.

Editorial cartoon via Theo Moudakis

Pre-Election Brampton Bill 212 Rally

Back on October 23, a group from Bike Brampton led by David Laing attended the Rally and Ride for Road Safety at Queen’s Park; some of whom biked all the way from Brampton. To return the favour, Jess Spieker of Friends & Families for Safe Streets organized a group to take the GO Train to Brampton yesterday for Bike Brampton’s delivery of a ghost bike at Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria’s office on Hurontario Street.

Bathurst Complete Street Project

Upon reviewing the North York map for the 2025-27 Bike Plan, one of the most significant projects in the pipeline is the Bathurst Complete Street from Bainbridge to Steeles Avenues. A cycling route which also shows up in York Region’s 2022 Transportation Master Plan. Ahead of the public consultation scheduled for Thursday, January 30 (6:00 – 8:30 PM) at Rockford Public School, let’s look at what this project has to offer, as well as what’s needed to further improve connectivity in the area.

Bathurst Complete Street rendering - Via City of Toronto

The Year #BikeTO Got Flip Turned Upside Down

While trying to describe 2024 from a Toronto cycling perspective, the phrase "flip turned upside down" from Will Smith’s “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” song had come to mind. Especially considering the record number of cyclists killed and the Ford government’s passing of their anti-bike lane Bill 212 (which also calls for accelerating Highway 413 construction). Let’s recap 2024 to see why that was the case.

Winter conditions along the Sherbourne cycle track this afternoon

Your December 2024 #BikeTO Roundup

It’s hard to believe, but another year is almost over, and it’s been quite the rollercoaster with the Bill 212 fiasco and all. With two more weeks to go, a lot has popped up which warrants a roundup post of its own. This includes a couple of updates regarding Bill 212, the East Don Trail, the Ellesmere Complete Street project, and some upcoming group rides. Let’s dive in to see what December 2024 has to offer!

A banner ridiculing Doug Ford's war on bike lanes found over the Gardiner (via Martin Reis)

Fridays for Future & Cycling Good Cheer

This weekend saw two cycling events take place in Toronto and the two atmospheres couldn’t be any different with one being a protest ride and the other being a festive one. Let’s recap what happened during these two events.