Ontario confirms it aims to remove sections of bikes lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University

After a week of speculation of which bikes lanes the Ford government plans to remove, the province has updated the legislation to include an addendum that would remove sections of bikes lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue.

An updated version of Bill 212 that was tabled last week now says the bike lanes will be removed if the legislation passes. The lanes would be returned to motor vehicles.

The Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 also would require municipalities to ask the province for permission to install bike lanes when they would remove a lane of vehicle traffic.

In a statement, Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria confirmed the update in a statement.

“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 Street, University Avenue, and Yonge Street, has only made gridlock worse.”

He added that 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.”

Premier Doug Ford has been vocal about his dismay for bikes lanes, calling them “nasty and terrible” during a heated exchange with Leader of the NDP, Marit Stiles, about traffic gridlock and delays in transit projects at Queen’s Park last week.

Several advocate have spoken out against the proposed legislation, saying it will lead to more deaths on the road

The Bloor-Annex BIA has also condemned the move, releasing statistics that show the success of the Bloor bike lane, and other bike lanes in the Annex area, saying it was “dismayed” after hearing they could be removed.

“If Premier Ford is looking for evidence showing the positive impact of bike lanes, he should look no further than the Bloor Annex Business Improvement Area (Bloor Annex BIA),” the BIA said, adding that removing any bike lanes in the area would be “disastrous to the neighbourhood.”

With files from Michael Talbot, CityNews