{"id":941457,"date":"2026-10-26T11:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T11:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941457\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T11:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T11:08:09","slug":"toronto-cyclists-get-an-election-day-bike-bus-after-bike-lanes-disappear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941457\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto cyclists get an Election Day Bike Bus after bike lanes disappear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monday is election day in Toronto and Cycle Toronto wants to make sure voters who ride can get to polling stations safely.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why cyclists will have a chance to travel through a stretch of Bloor Street West without having to navigate it alone on Monday. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cycleto.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cycle Toronto<\/a> is organizing a free Bike Bus following the removal of protected bike lanes in Etobicoke.<\/p>\n<p>The Bike Bus concept<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve probably already seen the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/advocacy\/the-bike-bus-movement-is-spreading\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bike Bus idea on the pages<\/a> of Canadian Cycling Magazine. They\u2019ve become popular across North America and Europe, particularly for kids riding to school with adults along for support. For Monday\u2019s ride, a leader will guide the group, picking up riders along the way. The idea is simple: a visible group of cyclists is harder for motorists to overlook than someone riding alone, and should encourage safer passes rather than close calls.<\/p>\n<p>Election day Bike Bus deets<\/p>\n<p>The rides will take place between Islington and Royal York. That\u2019s where the Ford government recently removed 1.2 km of protected bike lanes, despite over a week of protests by cyclists and advocates. Although there were plenty of delays to the removals, ultimately they were ripped out. As far as the actual Bike Bus, Riders will travel together, taking the lane as a group and following Ontario\u2019s Highway Traffic Act, Cycle Toronto said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/advocacy\/a-canadian-city-is-pushing-for-the-bike-bus-to-help-kids-get-to-school\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A Canadian city is pushing for the bike bus to help kids get to school<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The service will run every 15 minutes from 8 a.m. to noon and again from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 26, the day of Toronto\u2019s municipal election.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re keep to join the group, if you\u2019re heading westbound, meet at Royal York Road and Bloor Street West. Eastbound riders can join at Green Lane and Bloor. The rides are free and open to people of all ages and abilities. And it\u2019s not just for folks heading to a polling station, you are free to join if you\u2019re headed to work, school, or errands in the area.<\/p>\n<p>On the bike lane removals<\/p>\n<p>Michael Longfield, the organization\u2019s executive director, has been clear on how he feels about the provincial government\u2019s decision to remove the lanes and its wider plans to target bike infrastructure across Ontario. Basically, it is non bueno for the safety of cyclists in the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ford government\u2019s destruction of this life-saving infrastructure in Etobicoke is just the first step targeting the removal of 19 km of bike lanes that won\u2019t solve traffic congestion and will cost Ontario taxpayers nearly $50M,\u201d Longfield said.<\/p>\n<p>The Cycle Toronto boss also had this zinger: \u201cWe apologize in advance to drivers who can expect delays of up to 48 seconds along this 1.2 km corridor as cyclists safely take the lane together,\u201d Longfield said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monday is election day in Toronto and Cycle Toronto wants to make sure voters who ride can get&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[508603,64,63,508604,784,504882,85,25026],"class_list":["post-941457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-toronto-election","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bike-bus","tag-cycling","tag-premier-doug-ford","tag-sports","tag-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}