Access for All Ride

Today was the Access for All Ride which drew attention to the fact that protected bike lanes are also of vital importance to people who use mobility devices to get around our city.

This ride was organized by Oda Al-anizi, with support from Cycle Toronto and the Bike Brigade. He also serves as our poster boy for today.

Michael introduces the theme of today’s ride: that bike lanes aren’t just for bikes; they’re mobility lanes. Safe, connected infrastructure means access and independence for people of all abilities.

Newly (re)-elected Councillor Mike Layton reminds us of the many years of advocacy it took to get bike lanes on Bloor, and that we are not going to stand by and watch them be taken out.

Ben gives us a safety briefing. In particular, the trio of people with electric wheelchairs will be at the front and will determine the pace for the ride.

Staging now.

Michael is having a conversation with Toronto’s finest about how we can handle running the ride without their assistance. However they insisted on tagging along and didn’t interfere with the ride.

Off we go.

Headed east on Bloor, and taking the lane.

Down St. George.

Harbord.

Queen’s Park Crescent.

Rounding the bend at the south end of QP.

It is bitterly ironic that upgraded protection on the bike lanes on Queen’s Park Crescent is only now in the process of being installed by the city when the province is planning to take them out as soon as next year.

Assembled in front of the legislature.

Kids are first in line for snacks.

Gives us an update on the fight against Bill 212. The case has been brought to the Supreme Court of Canada, but it is not likely that they will take it. He also pointed out that Minister Sakaria declaring victory with the tearing out of just 1 km of bike lanes made him look ridiculous, even to the right wing. (reminding me of GW Bush and his “Mission Accomplished” banner).

He also introduces the next speakers.

Oda talks about how vitally important infrastructure is for users of mobility devices. He said that the discussion around cars vs other road users was unnecessarily divisive when at the end of the day, everyone just wants to get from point A to B safely and reliably. He also acknowledged Aly Van Wyck-Smart, the paraathlete who was arrested while protesting the removal of the bike lanes in Etobicoke. She was dragged out of her wheelchair and video of her arrest is horrifying.

Cyndi is Executive Director of the Bike Brigade. She reminds us that the anti-bike lane movement often focuses on the lycra clad speedsters, and yet the bike lanes are more important for cyclists just trying to get around. In addition, bike lanes keep vulnerable road users out of traffic as well as off of sidewalks. She also mentions how groups such as the Bike Brigade provide a valuable community service. Tearing out the bike lanes affects delivery people of all types, which in turn affects not just them but also the people who depend on them for food, etc.

Chris Glover (MPP Spadina-Fort York) reminds us opposing the government is broader than just defending bike lanes; many things that the Ford Government does are a direct attack on democracy.

Michael gives us a final reminder that there is currently no scheduled work on further removal of bike lanes. People should remain vigilant, but any construction work in areas with bike lanes is not due to their subsequent removal at this time.

Finally, Rob points out that there is a bill that restricts protests that “block key infrastructure” has its last day for public comment today.

You can submit your feedback here.

Some of the questions listed are directly relevant to what happened at the bike lane protests over the past few weeks, and the ability to protest further removals.

• Should the province consider a legislated prohibition related to unauthorized, willful obstruction of a roadway, including overpasses/bridges, where the obstruction is intentional, cannot be easily avoided and blocks travel? Why or why not?
• Should the province consider any of the following? Why or why not?
• A. Developing new police authorities to direct individuals to cease obstructing a roadway, including overpasses/bridges?
• B. Instituting a new provincial offence for individuals that do not comply with this direction?
• C. Creating a new requirement for individuals to provide identifying information for the purposes of issuing a provincial offence notice in relation to the new offence?
• D. Making new arrest powers for police where there is a failure to comply with the duty to identify? This power would exist only where an individual refuses to identify themselves and identity cannot be otherwise ascertained, solely for the purpose of laying the roadway obstruction offence.
• E. Are there other specific legislative or non-legislative changes that the provincial government should consider to address this issue?

There is similar language around the issue of protests around religious institutions, etc.

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Got a snack at Pedaal on the way home and was amused by this sign (the green one).

and finally another reminder about what the fight for protected bike lanes is all about.

Update: Rob’s coverage is here, and he does a much better job of remembering what was said in the speeches.

October 2026 Critical Mass

A pretty good crowd tonight. I didn’t take a lot of pictures this time as I was busy guiding the ride at the front.

Gathering at Gwendolyn Macewen Parkette. These folks were kindly dispensing hot drinks.

Someone else gave me this spoke card.

One of the usual suspects in a different kind of headgear.

At Walmer and Bloor.

Heading south on University after two laps of Queens Park.

The ride ended at Nathan Phillips Square to celebrate the fact that we still have a bike friendly mayor.

This photo looks better as a video.

Chris’ video of the start of the ride.

Geoff’s photo at College St.

Election day Bike Bus

Today is the municipal election in Toronto. To mark the occasion, Cycle Toronto organized a bike bus that went back and forth during both the morning and evening rush hours to get cyclists safety across the section of Bloor where the bike lanes were removed. I joined them for a couple of round trips during the evening rush.

Here we are at Royal York and Bloor.

And we’re off, headed west. You can see that they have started doing the road striping.

Passing the memorial at Tom Riley.

This driver in the black pickup did an aggressive and illegal pass, just to get to a red light a few seconds early.

At Green Lane.

George wanted to make sure I got a picture of his button.

Now headed back.

On our second round trip, we picked up two new cyclists.

Headed back east again.

To their credit, this time the drivers behind us were very patient.

Thanks to the Cycle Toronto volunteers who were at it since 4 pm, all the way to 8 pm.

Always safety in numbers!

Christie Cross

Christie Cross is a great event where cyclists take over part of Christie Pits to run a cyclocross race. There are many categories of people running the course, all the way from Pro/Elite racers, to various youth races, to running the course for fun, either on a bikeshare bike or own own bike.

I arrived just as the bikeshare race was finishing up.

The ride your own bike crowd was waiting to go next.

Dave Shellnut AKA the Biking Lawyer is the primary sponsor for the event. Here he is with Geoffrey Bercarich.

Pedaal is here. I was sorry to hear about the breaking at their shop, though I understand that the cargo bike and trailer were recovered.

They were giving out some of the awards for the racers.

Great to see so many of the usual suspects out on a sunny Sunday afternoon. TBN member Italo.

Tom is always riding something interesting that is also immaculately clean. Today’s ride is a vintage Tom Ritchey mountain bike with a biopace triple crankset.

Heather did the ride your own race with a G Line. I wonder what it felt like to those who were passed by a Brompton.

These Bananas also did well.

A great reminder, given recent events, that the bike community still knows how to have fun.

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Earlier that morning I was downtown for work, and this was the first time I saw the conversion of the University bike lane to bidirectional on the west side due to lane closures.

Coming back north from Queen you share one open lane with cars and then you are directed to the west side at Armoury.

Of course it would be preferable if the bike lanes on University were left untouched, but might this be a viable alternative if the lanes are partially removed?

Bike lane protests, day 8

Tonight, the milling continued on the north side of Bloor.

You can see dump trucks lined up to take away the milled asphalt.

I got there around 10 pm so the number of protesters had thinned out considerably.

I joined a small group walking back over to Tom Riley Park to check out the shrine. There were a couple of additions since two days ago.

By this time, the milling had moved up to the parking lot, and there were police walking along side.

Everything was peaceful compared to last night. Apparently there was a die in staged earlier this evening. Sorry to have missed it.

View this post on Instagram

I was told that the north side would be milled and repaved by the morning. On my ride back, I could see the repaving on the south side that was done yesterday.

Both on the ride over and the ride back, I was heckled by several motorists. It is sad that the anti-bike lane people feel so emboldened at the moment.

Rob’s coverage of yesterday’s action is here.

The fight continues.

the shrine to victims of road violence

Sometime between early Sunday evening and Monday morning, a shrine to victims of road violence was erected at Tom Riley Park This parking lot has been the central meeting point for the protests about the removal of the Bloor bike lanes in Etobicoke. The first report of its appearance was this #biketag picture posted by Chris at about 6:30 this morning.

It soon attracted some media attention, including this piece in Momentum Magazine:

as well as this report on CTV news.

I had to ride over to check it out after work today. I also brought some flowers to decorate some of the bikes that make up the structure of the shrine.

Now that the bike lane curbs are gone, some cyclists make a point of taking the lane.

It felt a bit odd mounting the flowers: a different experience than decorating a ghost bike.

I rode further west to confirm that all of the curbs on the north side are gone, with only a few zicla bus stop platforms left to be removed.

On the plus side, I met Jess and David, two of the hardest working usual suspects.

Riding back east now. We’ll see if the traffic improves.

The bike lane protection is still in place east of Royal York, but the entire Bloor bike lane is due to come out once some company wins a contract in response to the RFP that has been issued.

In the meantime, the fight continues.

Thanks to whoever put up the shrine, whether it was elves or the Urban Repair Squad.

Critical Mass London

There have been a shocking series of deaths and injuries during the past month and a half in London.

The local cycling community put out a call for a critical mass ride to draw attention to road violence

The gathering point was Gibbons Park.

Luis made the introductory remarks. He organizes ghost bike rides locally.

Laura was the organizer of today’s ride.

Greg Curnoe was a well known London area artist who was killed while riding his bike, back in 1992.

Off we go, ride marshals leading the way.

A bit of a detour back into the park.

Waiting for the light at Richmond.

Heading south now. The route deliberately chose some busy streets.

Gremlins was the bike shop that was very kind to me the last time I biked through London.

Now turning onto Dufferin.

Into Victoria Park.

This pup was very well behaved.

We pause at the band shell.

Vince informs us about the recent victims of road violence.

A moment of silence for the victims.

We are now exiting the park, and will ring bells as we ride past City Hall.

This bike was very interesting. The owner said it was a Marinoni that was modified by a local frame builder to fit 650B tires.

Luis said that Hamilton Rd has been especially deadly since it is a high speed arterial. It runs diagonally and so there are no parallel routes that would be safer. He has place several ghost bikes along this stretch.

Here is one of the two that we passed during our ride.

Not a bike friendly road.

Waiting to turn onto Egerton.

Now heading north.

The ride ended at the Western Fair District. Here are two of the sweet Miyatas on the ride.

Luis and Laura had some final words around the efforts to engage municipal candidates in the approaching election.

Thanks to Laura and Luis for organizing the ride, to our ride marshals for keeping us safe, and to everyone who came out ride with us. Thanks also to the Biking Lawyer for providing merch and the vests for the marshalls.

It was a pleasure to meet many new folks, and to get a bit of a taste of the local cycling scene.

Bloor bike lane removal: Day 1

The province announced that today was the day that removal of a section of the Bloor bike lanes would start, and so the call went out to the community. The meeting point was the same place where we massed at the end of September, when we showed up 800 strong.

On the way there, I see a decent number of cyclists headed to the same place.

We are instructed to ride loops between Islington and Royal York to show our presence and to report on any construction activity.

Headed towards Islington

and back

Once again as golden hour approaches. The stretch between Islington and Aberfoyle was a mix of stationary cyclists hanging out, and people doing laps.

Word goes out that there is activity at Green Lanes, just west of Islington. This is the western end of the section to be removed.

This truck isn’t going anywhere.

Lance shows up with this spooky Brompton.

People are also occupying the bike lanes in the vicinity.

The media is here.

As are the police.

Eventually a compromise is reached where the construction trucks are allowed beat a tactical retreat and drive away.

You can see them drive away at the end of this video.

Riding home now.

We appear to have prevailed today, but no doubt the construction trucks will be back.

Thanks to everyone who showed up.

The fight continues.

Bike the Night

Tonight was Bike the Night, a ride in the Danforth neighbourhood organized by long time cycling advocate and MPP Mary-Margaret McMahon.

A pretty good crowd gathers at East Lynn Park.

Mary-Margaret greets us all, and says that this is going to be a fun ride back and forth on the Danforth bike lanes, in the face of the province’s plans to remove bike lanes. Prior to the ride, she was asked if this was poking the bear (since the Danforth bike lanes appear not be be included in the removal plans), but she said that it was important to push back. She said that it was outrageous that the initial stages of removal will be happening next Tuesday, and she said to keep an eye on social networks for announcements about any forthcoming protests.

Next, Cycle Toronto Angela Barber said that we can request lawn signs like the one mounted on her bike from Cycle Toronto. She said that Cycle Toronto is also weighing various legal options.

The local councillor was Brad Bradford, and since he is running for mayor, several councillor candidates are vying for the open seat. James Dann is one of them, and he kindly told us that if anyone needed a bathroom break, his campaign office was nearby just past Woodbine.

Finally, Hamish told us a joke, but I’m afraid it went by so fast that I didn’t catch it.

Now we’re off, heading east.

Turning back at Main.

Our fearless leader.

We had about 40 cyclists with us.

Blurry action shot.

It was decided to take a pause at the Alexander the Great Parkette for a group photo.

Finally heading to Broadview.

The main group turned back east to ride back to East Lynn Park, but I took my leave at Broadview to ride home

Thanks to MMM for organizing the ride, and for everyone who rode with us.

BrompTOberFest 4

Today was the 4th Brompton ride held around the time of Oktoberfest. We have gathered at Pedaal, and as per usual there were a lot of shiny Bromptons in evidence.

Leonard’s purple electric T series was best of show.

There was another build inside the shop that also had the Cerakote process done to the frame.

Not sure if the same folks that yarn bomb the bike rings by Sam James Coffee did this one. (Note that several people have confirmed that this is the handiwork of Martin Reis)

This year our host Janet Joy told us that the theme has shifted away from Germany to feature some of the newest parks in the downtown area.

The intro contest was seeing who could do the fastest unfold and fold. Our first contestant chose to do it blindfolded.

However, she soon discovered that the sample bike had the extended seat post.

Here are some of the other contestants.

Doing it one legged.

Not to be outdone, Pier does it one legged and blindfolded.

This fellow had the fastest overall time.

Fastest one legged.

By process of elimination, I’m assuming that Matt here did the fastest blindfolded.

Group picture before we ride.

Now a safety briefing.

At Spadina.

Queen’s Park Crescent.

Down University. It is important to note that doctors are solidly against having these bike lanes removed.

Now entering behind Union Station.

At the CIBC Elevated Park.

Coming back down to street level.

On the Esplanade.

A pause across from St. Lawrence Market.

Heading east again.

Down Cherry St.

At Leslie Lookout Park.

Now back along Unwin.

Biidaasige Park.

A very brief look at the new Monkman bronze.

A last group picture. Always surprised how well an iPhone does shooting into the sun.

Thanks to Janet Joy Wilson for organizing, and to Pedaal for hosting the start of the ride.

Also thanks to David “big wheels” Keogh for marshalling, and Lance for being sweep.

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On the way home with David and Lance.

David points out that bike traffic on the MGT near Harbourfront is much higher than on Bloor. BTW we need more of these solar powered bike counters, please.

Riding up Ellis: I already knew that I wasn’t going to vote for this guy, having met him earlier.