One bike lane down, more to go.
After protests by cycling advocates — and the arrest of four — Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria says the Bloor St. W. bike lane removal in Etobicoke is now complete.
Asked during an appearance on CP24 on Friday morning why the government went ahead with the removal despite the demonstrations, Sarkaria pointed to a low number of cyclists and business-resident complaints about worsening traffic.
“We heard from residents,” he said. “We heard from communities, and that’s why we moved forward on this first part of removal on Bloor Street West. We felt that bike lanes on the busiest corridors in the province were causing congestion. We had video footage of, you know, maybe on some days only three or four bikes crossing through those lanes.”
Sarkaria said some drivers reported their commutes had increased by as much as 20-30 minutes and made it harder for people to get to local businesses.
The minister, who was asked about a report suggesting removing protected bike lanes could increase collisions, said the province isn’t opposed to them outright, just on less congested streets.
“We’re not anti-bike lane,” said Sarkaria on CP24 . “We don’t think that bike lanes should be on the major arteries of this province. Safety is always a key priority, but running those bikes on some of the busiest streets, in our opinion, is also not the safest. And diverting to secondary routes would be preferable.”
The bike lane removal in that part of the city began on Oct. 13 but was met with protests during the first week of construction, resulting in arrests.
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- Protesters vow continued defiance as removal of Etobicoke bike lanes delayed
Court ruling allowed bike lane removal to go ahead
Doug Ford’s government previously picked Bloor St. West as the first location where bike lanes would be removed following an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in August that cleared the way for the province to go ahead.
Sarkaria said more bike lane removals are expected during the next construction cycle.
“We were elected on a mandate to get the province moving, and we were very transparent about bike lanes,” he said on CP24 .
The minister said the costs of bike lane removal will be covered by the provincial government but could not provide a final number.
“We’ve committed to paying for the cost of removal,” he told CP24. “We have multiple contracts that are in place right now. So once those have been completed… we will release all of those costs.”