Critiquing Bike Share Toronto’s March 2026 Annual Operating Plan

On Wednesday, the Toronto Parking Authority presented Bike Share Toronto’s 2026 annual operating plan. Several media outlets mainly reported on the new e-bike design, but there are several other things in store for the next four years. Let’s pedal along!

I Fought the Train and the … Train Won?

Toronto’s newest transit line in more than two decades – the Finch West LRT or Line 6 – opened on Sunday, December 7 to lots of criticism over its slow speeds with some trips taking more than one hour. One person – Mac Bauer a.k.a. 514runner – beat the LRT by 18 minutes while running! While Toronto City Council passed a motion this week to speed up the LRT including enabling full transit signal priority, I decided to ride the Finch West LRT to Humber College and return via bike share.

Community Bicycle Network with Adrian Currie

When it comes to cycling advocacy in Toronto, groups such as Cycle Toronto and Community Bikeways come to mind today. However, Toronto’s cycling advocacy story goes back further with Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists starting in 1996 (see my interviews with Geoff and Nancy), while Community Bicycle Networks (CBN) dates further back to 1993. CBN ran a community bike shop, a predecessor to today’s Bike Share Toronto, and hosted events like the Toronto Vintage Bicycle Show before shutting down in 2017. I spoke with Adrian Currie – who was on CBN’s board from 2002 to 2017 – to learn more.

Let's Talk Bike Share Toronto Pricing

There has been a lot of discussion within Toronto’s cycling community regarding the proposed 2023 Bike Share Toronto pricing which was approved at Friday’s Toronto Parking Authority meeting. Especially regarding the new 24 hour and single ride rates, as well as e-bike surcharges to discourage food couriers from hogging e-bikes. Cycle Toronto called for revisiting the e-bike surcharges and delaying the new pricing to allow for further study, while some users have considered switching to driving in protest of the per minute rates. Let’s take a look at the new rates, how they compare to those for BIXI Montréal, and suggest some improvements ahead of the March 20 Infrastructure & Environment Committee meeting.

Expanding the Micromobility Discussion

Last month, I got a BlueRev X8 e-scooter which convinced me on how e-scooters can be a great last mile solution and made getting to work a lot easier. However, Toronto upheld its ban on this micromobility solution back in May 2021. I would like to take a deeper dive into this topic and make the case for why Toronto should legalize the use of personally owned e-scooters. For this post, I would like to acknowledge Jamie Stuckless – owner of Stuckless Consulting and former Share The Road Executive Director – for contributing to this discussion.

What's Next, Bike Share Toronto?

Back in 2013, Toronto held the “Feeling Congested” consultation series to reduce gridlock and included a recommendation to expand Toronto’s bike share to 5,000 bikes. Earlier this month, this goal has been fulfilled with the newest of the 465 stations being installed in the Junction, Bloor West Village, the Beaches, East York, and Midtown. With this goal achieved, where should Bike Share Toronto go next?

Crossing Toronto’s Rubicon (a.k.a. The Humber)

Last month, Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee approved the bike plan update which would give city staff several actions related to the Bloor-Danforth corridor:

1. Initiate planning, design, and consultation to extend the Bloor Street bike lanes west from Shaw Street to High Park Avenue with implementation as early as Summer 2020.
2. Report back in Spring 2020 on a detailed design for pilot bike lanes on Danforth Avenue from Broadview Avenue to Dawes Road.
3. Study the feasibility of protected bike lanes on Bloor from Church Street to Avenue Road as part of the bike lane construction from Sherbourne to Church Streets (now expected in 2022).

A Pedal Powered Time Capsule

Back in July 2015, Bikes vs Cars launched in Toronto which highlighted the removal of the Jarvis bike lanes, memorial rides, and the late Rob Ford. However, it wasn’t the first film that discussed cycling in Toronto. During last month’s library book sale, I found a copy of Pedal Power from 2009 which served as a time capsule of cycling ten years ago.

Summer 2017 Waterfront Roundup

Last year, I wrote up about various quirks along Toronto’s Waterfront. Recently, there have been a lot of new developments which addressed some of these issues, though others remain. Let’s go over ten of these developments going from west to east.

June 2016 Toronto Cycling Updates

Happy belated Canada Day, fellow cyclists!

Last week brought some significant changes to Toronto’s cycling scene and the Bloor pilot project installation is still 1-2 months away.

Twelve Days of Bicycles – Twelve Tourists Touring

After over two months of covering a diversity of cycling topics from group rides to protected intersections, there remains one last post in the “Twelve Days of Bicycles” series. Since I recently returned from the Caribbean and found some cycling tourism inspiration there, let’s wrap up this series and kick off some new travel talk at the same time!

Bicycle tour in Sint Maarten

Travel Series - Chaos Theory of London

While Portugal can be referred to as an under-appreciated gem, laid back, friendly, and affordable; the opposite can be said about London, England. London tends to be a fast paced city with people addressing each other in a more formal manner by always using sir or madam. While there is no shortage of things to do, many of their tourist attractions are not that great. Before leaving for Europe, I was told by several friends London is an expensive city and they were not kidding!