Toronto cyclists set to defend bike lane challenge before Ontario’s top court
Global News
A group of Toronto cyclists are in court on Wednesday to defend their successful challenge of the province's plan to rip up three stretches of the city's bike lanes.
A group of Toronto cyclists are in Ontario’s highest court on Wednesday to defend their successful challenge of the province’s plan to rip up three stretches of the city’s bike lanes.
The cyclists, including a bike courier and a university student, have so far successfully argued the unproven plan to improve traffic by taking out protected bike lanes is an unconstitutional risk to their safety. The Court of Appeal for Ontario will hear the provincial government’s appeal of the case on Wednesday.
The province argued the lower-court decision would effectively create a right to bike lanes, a position dismissed by the Superior Court justice last July.
Justice Paul Schabas found the government pursued the plan though its own advisers and external experts broadly agreed it would not accomplish its stated goal to reduce traffic congestion — and could possibly make it worse. Even if the claim was taken at face value, the judge found the harm caused to cyclists would be way out of step with the law’s intent to save some drivers “a few minutes of travel time.”
He found removing the bike lanes, or reconfiguring them so they’re no longer separated, would lead to more accidents, injuries and death. The government recognized as much when it added an immunity clause to the legislation shielding it from liability, his ruling said.
Premier Doug Ford’s government passed a 2024 law to remove 19 kilometres of protected bike lanes in Toronto along Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue.
The risk of cyclist injury on a major street with parked cars and no cycling infrastructure is about nine times greater than on a protected bike lane, a 2024 Toronto city staff report suggested, citing research.
The report noted 28 people have been killed and 380 seriously injured while cycling in Toronto over the past decade. About two-thirds of those crashes took place on streets without safe bike lanes, the report said.
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