June 25, 2024 - Have you seen the City’s new plan for cycling in Toronto? After many rounds of study and public consultations, staff have put forward a Cycling Network Plan (CNP) update proposing 100 km of new and upgraded bike lanes over the next three years.
Unfortunately, it’s not nearly enough and represents a disappointing “business as planned” pace. 100 km of bike lanes might sound like a lot, but across all of the city’s 25 wards, it averages out to about 1.3 km per ward per year. That’s about a 5-minute bike ride.
As Toronto political pundit Matt Elliott put it in a recent column in the Toronto Star:
[The plan is], quantitatively, the same as the old plan, maintaining the same three-year target of 100 kilometres of new bike lanes installed over three years…. And if it passes through council without any major changes, Mayor Olivia Chow’s bike plan will be basically the same as former mayor John Tory’s bike plan. Both will have targeted the installation of about 33 kilometres of new bike lanes per year.
There’s still time to act. The Mayor and City Council will consider the 2025 – 2027 CNP this week. There’s ONE BIG THING you can do today to help us secure a safer cycling future tomorrow:
Write to the Mayor and your councillor to tell them we need a more ambitious vision for the the 2025 – 2027 Cycling Network Plan – click here.
Many of the projects, if implemented, would be meaningful upgrades to our cycling network. Yonge & Davisville (1.8 km), Victoria Park (2.9 km), and Wellington Extension to Union Station (1.0 km) are just three outstanding examples. But over the past 6 months Cycle Toronto has been calling on the city to set an ambitious target of at least 150 km, representing an average of 50 km a year. Thanks to folks like you who joined our campaign and the deputations at Infrastructure and Environment Committee, staff were requested to report back early next year on “the feasibility of scale-up the delivery of the Cycling Network Plan to 150 km” for the 2028-2030 plan.
It’s a good start. But if it’s feasible in 2028-2030, it’s certainly possible sooner. The only way Toronto can seriously tackle the climate crisis, road safety, and increasing congestion is making cycling a viable part of our citywide transportation network a priority today, not three years from now. And that only happens with a safe, connected network of bikeways citywide.
Back in 2014, then mayoral candidate Olivia Chow proposed that Toronto needs to build 50 km of bikeways a year. 150 km over three years is the scale of vision and leadership urgently needed today. Other major cities like Montréal under Mayor Valérie Plante and Paris under Mayor Anne Hidalgo are making headlines, transforming communities, and winning reelections by creating friendlier public realms that embrace active transportation. With dedicated resources and strong political direction, Toronto can match other major cities that are accelerating their cycling network expansions and be recognized as an outstanding cycling city.
Accelerate the Cycling Network in Toronto here.
