Hundreds of cyclists attend Queen’s Park rally against proposed bike lane legislation

Hundreds of cyclists descended onto Queen’s Park on Wednesday evening to protest new bike lane legislation by the provincial government that could see already built lanes be ripped out.

The new bike lane legislation, which is called The Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, was introduced by Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria on Monday.

The bill would require municipalities to ask the province for permission to install bike lanes in situations where a lane of vehicle traffic would have to be removed.

It would also give the province the power to review existing bike lanes, and in some cases, remove them — a decision that would fall on the transportation minister.

Jessica Spieker, one of the organizers of the event and the spokesperson for Friends & Families for Safe Streets, said removing bike lanes would not help in eliminating gridlock, a sentiment that has been echoed by many other advocates.

“Cycling infrastructure is on less than four per cent of Toronto’s streets. That’s infinitely small amount of kilometres of cycling infrastructure. That is not what’s causing traffic chaos in Toronto,” said Spieker.

Ford, meanwhile, couldn’t withhold his disdain for bike lanes at Queen’s Park on Wednesday calling them “nasty and terrible” during a heated exchange with Leader of the NDP, Marit Stiles, about traffic gridlock and delays in transit projects.

“Let’s all go around and hop on our bicycle and go down the crowded streets that are absolute insanity right now, on Bloor, on Yonge, on University, people want reasonable judgement,” said Ford.

If those specific bike lanes were removed, cyclists like Grant, say it would have a huge impact. He uses the Bloor bike lane every day.

“We have a safe bike lane that I feel safe taking my son into daycare on and we love biking together and it would ruin our commute essentially. It’s just not safe,” said Grant.

Demonstrators say that the bill is a distraction from some of the other issues causing traffic gridlock.

“We have a TTC that’s in pretty rough shape. We have the Eglinton Crosstown with no opening date that’s more than four years delayed,” said Spieker. “We need more options for people to get around and we simply don’t have them.”

In response to the rally, the Ministry of Transportation told CityNews in part, “We are not against bike lanes, they play an important role in our transportation network. However, it’s clear that removing car lanes on major roads only makes gridlock worse and it hurts small businesses.”

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, an avid cyclist herself, said she does not support the bill, which would limit city powers.

“It’s always better when we work together to get things right,” she wrote in a statement. “To tackle congestion and keep people safe on city roads, we need all types of transportation. The province should focus on their job of finally getting the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch LRT open, which will have a huge impact on congestion in our city.”

With files from Michael Talbot