Ontario government moves to force cities to get approval for bike lanes that remove traffic lanes

The Ford government has announced plans to introduce legislation that would restrict the removal of vehicular traffic lanes in favour of bike lanes in Ontario municipalities.

Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria made the announcement Tuesday morning alongside area MPP Christine Hogarth and the owner of a west-end Toronto restaurant on Bloor Street West steps away from where bike lanes were installed last year, sparking anger among some.

“Bike lanes are a vital part of every city, offering residents a safe and reliable way to move around. What cities should not be doing, however, is taking away lanes of traffic on our most congested roads,” Sarkaria said.

He argued the law would bring “informed decision making and oversight to process that is frankly out of control.” As of now, it only applies to future bike lane projects.

Under the proposed legislation, the authority to approve or deny plans to remove vehicular traffic lanes and install bike lanes would directly fall to the transportation minister.

As part of the justification for the move, Sarkaria cited a study by satellite navigation company TomTom that found Toronto had the third-slowest average traffic travel times out of 387 cities surveyed.

Sarkaria also said municipalities that enacted these bike lane changes over the past five years will be asked to submit data on commute times used as part of the decision-making process to Ontario’s transportation ministry. It’s not clear what might happen after that data is submitted.

When it comes to data gathered at the municipal level to advance bike lane projects, he argued there were certain instances where data didn’t reflect a lack of bicycle usage during the winter, on rainy days or when there was excessive heat.

Despite the upset over the Bloor Street West bike lane extension project, Sarkaria said there aren’t current plans to order the removal of the lanes.

He was also asked by reporters if there are plans to enact similar processes for other projects and events that could potentially affect vehicular traffic like sidewalk widening.

“Municipalities are still free to install bike lanes where they do not remove traffic and they are still free to do the other pedestrian zones as they wish or as they so please, but it is important to ensure that we do not make it worse and we don’t add on to the gridlock that we are facing,” Sarkaria said.

It’s not clear when exactly the legislation is expected to be tabled at the Ontario legislature, but with the government’s majority it’s expected to pass.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow issued a statement Tuesday afternoon to say she’s against the limitation of powers by the Ontario government.

“It’s always better when we work together to get things right. To tackle congestion and keep people safe on city roads, we need all types of transportation,” she wrote.

“The Province should focus on their job of finally getting the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch (West) LRT open, which will have a huge impact on congestion in our city.”

In a statement issued by Green Party of Ontario deputy leader and Kitchener Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy after the announcement, she called the legislation “a distraction” and argued the government doesn’t have a “serious solution” to address gridlock.

“If we want to solve our traffic problems, we need to give people more choices – not take them away. More people biking, walking or taking public transit means more people not in cars and less gridlock,” Clancy wrote.

Bloor Street West bike lanes at forefront of Ontario announcement

A debate among cyclists, business owners and concerned residents served as a backdrop to Tuesday’s announcement.

In October 2023, a change.org petition was created where issues of traffic congestion, a reported lack of usage and impacts to business foot traffic. It received thousands of signatories.

“We advocate for a re-evaluation to ensure a harmonious and safe balance between bike lanes and vehicular traffic, emphasizing the need for Bloor Street to retain two lanes of traffic in each direction,” Cody MacRae, the petition’s creator, wrote at the time.

A City of Toronto spokesperson at the time said in a statement that “extensive” community and business consultation occurred in an effort to “improve safety for people walking, cycling and driving, support the qualities that make Bloor Street West a place, and maintain roadway space for transit, emergency services, deliveries, shopping and commuting.”

Toronto’s cycling network plan mentioned that through the Bloor West Village area, the intersections are anticipated to “generally operate well,” but noted that some increases in delays through movements could be expected due to lane modifications.

“Three separate studies concluded that bikeways on different sections of Bloor Street West significantly increased the number of people cycling in the area, increased road safety and had positive economic impacts on local businesses,” the statement said.

During Tuesday’s news conference at The Crooked Cue, owner and long-time Etobicoke resident Sam Pappas expressed frustration over the bike lane project. He said he has surveillance footage from his establishment that shows delays longer than the two-minute delay City of Toronto officials said was observed.

“Not only is this a huge waste of taxpayers’ money, it makes it even more ridiculous for the allocation of space and resource,” Pappas said while referring to winter plowing and what he said was a large drop-off in bicycle usage.

Earlier in 2024, Toronto city councillors called for better maintenance in the winter to address safety concerns.

Hogarth, who called Tuesday’s announcement “a victory of common sense,” said her office received several complaints, including ones related to congestion and the ability for emergency services vehicles to get through the area. She said an online survey posted on her website found nearly 60 per cent of participants agreed with removing the Bloor Street West bike lanes.

David Shellnutt, a lawyer who specializes in cycling issues and injuries, said in a statement that a petition by Cycle Toronto in favour of the bike lanes has also garnered a large number of signatures.

“In many of our cases, incidents of serious collision and injury, even death, could have been avoided with safe protected infrastructure. There can be no reasonable, factual, or statistical justification for impeding the provision of safe infrastructure,” he wrote.

With files from Lucas Casaletto