Ford to target more Toronto bike lanes for removal in Ontario budget: sources

Premier Doug Ford will look to remove bike lanes on Queen’s Park Crescent and Avenue Road, south of Davenport Road, sources tell 680 NewsRadio.

The announcement is expected to be made during the Ontario budget announcement on Thursday.

When asked specifically if he’s targeting other bike lanes for removal at a press conference on Wednesday, Ford said, “Not right now.”

“I’m not against bike lanes, I just want to get these things moving … Build all the bike lanes you want, just not on main arterial roads. Put them on the side roads,” Ford said before sources confirmed to 680 NewsRadio that more lanes had been targeted.

The Ford government has already targeted bike lanes on Yonge Street, Bloor Street, and University Avenue for removal, but an injunction was recently issued, forcing the province to hold off on removing the lanes.

The injunction was issued as an Ontario judge decides on a Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge by cycling advocates.

They argue the province’s bid to remove the lanes significantly increases their safety risk, in violation of their constitutional rights, and has no connection to its stated objective to reduce congestion. It could even make traffic worse, they suggest.

The three Toronto bike lanes were originally targeted in Bill 212, which required cities to get provincial approval to install a bike lane if it removes a lane of traffic. It was passed in the Fall of 2024.

The initial stretch of the Bloor bike lane was installed in 2016, then extended several times since the start of the pandemic. It stretches around 13 kilometres from near Islington Avenue to Castle Frank. 

Temporary University Avenue bike lanes installed in 2020 were made permanent in 2021, the same year the Yonge Street lanes were installed.