In what of the most backwards moves in recent memory, Toronto’s cycling network is about to be torn apart and people in the city are ready to fight.
The Ontario government announced on Sept. 1 that it is moving ahead with plans to restore vehicle lanes on some of Toronto’s busiest streets—undoing cycling infrastructure that took years to plan, build and establish. The affected corridors include Bloor Street, Yonge Street, University Avenue, Queen’s Park, Queen’s Park Crescent and Avenue Road, putting some of the most important pieces of Toronto’s cycling network back on the chopping block.
Never before has a North American city proposed to dismantle an established safe cycling network to such an extent. There was a court challenge, there have been protests, there has been data to show that the provincial government’s plan will not only not improve congestion, but it will make it worse while at the same time endangering and likely leading to an increase in vulnerable road user injuries and deaths.
In short, the province does not care.
“It does seem, or the vibes feel, that it’s very laser-focused on Toronto, but it does have consequences for other municipalities as well,” says Michael Longfield of Cycle Toronto.
“I think there’s something in terms of this culture war that some politicians feel is advantageous to them in terms of rallying their base while not actively solving the problems,” Longfield adds.
“The premier and the minister have been trying to frame this as ‘it’s bikes versus cars.’ These bikes are taking up space that should be there for cars. You’re stuck in traffic because of these bike lanes. And that is not true.”
The province calls it a move to “restore” vehicle capacity and get drivers moving. For cyclists, for the entire city of Toronto, it looks a lot more like taking a step backwards. And, a provincial leader who is playing politics with the lives of Torontonians.
The government’s argument is a familiar song and dance show: Toronto has too much congestion, therefore Toronto needs more room for cars. Ontario cites a study estimating that gridlock costs the province $56 billion a year. But the announcement offers no evidence that putting cars back into lanes in the central area of the city currently used for cycling will meaningfully solve the underlying problem. It simply assumes that the answer to too many cars is to give cars more space. But as we all know, this will not ease congestion on any level.
That is a particularly outdated proposition in Canada’s largest city.
Toronto bike lane protest over Bill 212 (photo: @BikeLaneDiary)
Toronto is a city where road space is already under enormous pressure. Every lane handed back to private vehicles or to parking for private vehicles is space that cannot be used by bicycles, buses or other forms of transportation. And unlike a recreational trail, these bike lanes were built on major streets precisely because that’s where people actually need to go. Direct safe cycling routes encourage more and more cycling, which is the only way to ease congestion. More roads only means more cars. Just ask Los Angeles.
The irony is hard to miss: Toronto has spent years trying to build a transportation network that gives people alternatives to driving, only to have the province now dismantle parts of it because too many people from the suburbs are driving into the city.
Toronto aspires to be a global city with public spaces, a healthy waterfront and a cycling network worth of a global city. Ford aspires to go backwards and recreate it as a suburban backwater filled with drive-through Tim Hortons for him and his suburban counterparts.
Ontario says it will look at ways to retain or reconfigure bike lanes “where they make sense.” But that wording is revealing. The starting point is no longer how to safely move more people through the city. It is how to restore space for cars while seeing how much cycling infrastructure can be squeezed in around it.
Some of Toronto’s protected bike lanes are still a relatively recent addition to the city’s streetscape. They have helped make cycling a realistic transportation option for people who aren’t interested in riding on busy roads alongside traffic. They have encourage many residents to take up cycling for transportation. They have resulted in the city’s bike share setting record after record with millions of trips every year.
Remove key links and the damage isn’t necessarily confined to those individual blocks. A network only works as a network. Break enough of its major connections and the entire system becomes less useful resulting in more people choosing to drive vehicles and more cyclists in emergency rooms.
There is still a chance the Ontario government will only remove the more political of the bike lanes especially in far west end of Bloor Street.
There is also something distinctly troubling about the precedent being set here. Infrastructure that took years of municipal planning and political debate can now be substantially reversed through provincial legislation and direction. The province may have won its court battle—the Court of Appeal ruled that roadway design is ultimately a policy matter for elected governments—but that doesn’t make the underlying transportation policy any less questionable.