Editor's note: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
The Ford government has started work on ripping out bike lanes from three major roads running through Toronto.
After suggesting for weeks that the province would look at removing some existing bike lanes, the Progressive Conservatives confirmed Thursday they have their eyes set on portions of Bloor Street, Yonge Street, and University Avenue.
The confirmation came via an update to a posting on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) for the province’s proposed framework for bike lanes that would require traffic lanes to be removed.
The government didn’t say what sections of the three roads it would target for bike lane removals.
However, Premier Doug Ford has been highly critical of the bike lanes on stretches of Bloor Street in Etobicoke, the heart of Ford Nation and a short drive from his riding. The Yonge and University bike lanes are right beside his office in Queen's Park.
In late 2023, Ford criticized the lanes during a press conference about keeping the gas tax cut in place.
"Get rid of those bike lanes on Bloor in Etobicoke. I think we see one bicycle come through there every single year," he said.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said removing the lanes is an economic imperative.
“Toronto already loses $11 billion each year due to congestion. We are doing everything we can to fight congestion and keep major arterial roads moving, but the removal of lanes of traffic on our busiest roads, such as Bloor St., University Ave., and Yonge St., has only made gridlock worse,” he said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
“Bike lanes should be on secondary roads, where they make sense for the more than 70 per cent of people who drive and for the 1.2 per cent who commute by bike. It’s just common sense.”
The 1.2 per cent figure comes from a 2011 Statistics Canada survey. A 2019 City of Toronto survey found that 44 per cent of people identified as "utilitarian cyclists," using their bikes to go to work, school, go shopping or visit friends. Seventy per cent of Torontonians reported cycling overall.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has been outspoken in her criticism of the Ford government’s plans.
“I do not support limiting city powers. Let’s not go backwards. It’s always better when we work together. Ripping up our roads will make congestion worse,” she said on Oct. 17.
“Meanwhile, the province’s failure to deliver transit projects on time has led to long construction delays and years of road closures that have made it harder to get around our city,” she said.
Her comments followed remarks from Premier Ford during a speech that same day at the Empire Club.
“It isn't enough to keep an eye on future bike lanes … We need to and will remove and replace existing bike lanes on primary roads that are bringing traffic in our cities to an absolute standstill,” he said.
The proposal to clear some Toronto bike lanes comes as part of the government’s Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, which Sarkaria tabled last week. The province said at the time the legislation would require municipalities to get its approval before adding bike lanes that cut down on vehicle lanes.
The ERO posting said the legislation would also give the province the ability to set up a review process for other existing bike lanes where traffic lanes were removed.
“The review of municipal submissions would lead to the decision of whether to maintain existing bike lanes or to require their removal and return lanes to motor vehicle traffic,” the posting said.
“Approval will be based on a set of specified criteria, to be set out in guidance and/or regulation. The criterion for the assessment of existing bike lanes will consider environmental implications and be developed in consultation with targeted stakeholders including large municipalities.”
The City of Toronto has published several studies on how bike lanes affect traffic flow, with many showing they have a small impact on car commute times and next to no impact on emergency response times.
In 2016, the city installed new bike lanes on Bloor Street between Shaw Street and Avenue Road.
As a result, biking went up by 50 per cent and "conflicts" between bikes and cars — which include near-miss collisions — went down by 61 per cent, according to a city study. Spending at local businesses also increased.
Travel times went up by as much as eight minutes after the lanes were installed, but traffic mitigation efforts cut the increases in half.
Similar findings were drawn from a study on the Yonge Street bike lanes between Bloor Street and Davisville Avenue conducted in fall 2022.
During morning rush hour, vehicle travel times increased by 20 seconds northbound and decreased by 30 seconds southbound. During the afternoon rush, car travel times were up by about 50 seconds both ways.
The same study found emergency response times went up eight seconds for the fire department compared to the city-wide average, while ambulance response times increased by 36 seconds less than the city-wide average.
On University Avenue, right by Queen's Park and home to many hospitals, another 12-month city evaluation found bike lanes had "limited to no impacts on motor vehicle travel times," according to a Toronto spokesperson.
Emergency services have also "not raised any issues about traffic" related to bike lanes along the corridor, the spokesperson said.
