November 9, 2024 - (Toronto, ON) A massive crowd of around 1,000 cyclists gathered at Christie Pits for a “Fight for Bikes” protest against the Ontario government’s new Bill 212 that will give the province the power to restrict or remove bike lanes that replace traffic lanes.
Organized by two University of Toronto students, Eva Stanger-Ross, studying environmental ethics & and Zev Godfrey, taking computer science and urban studies, the gathering saw an impressive line-up of speakers including Jessica Bell MPP, University–Rosedale, Norm Di Pasquale, Federal NDP Candidate for Spadina-Fort York, Derek Tsang, Radiation Oncologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Robert Zaichowski from Community Bikeways Coalition, Zain Kurram the Transit Lead at Toronto Youth Cabinet and Phil Pothen at Environmental Defense.
Both students depend on bikes and regularly use the Bloor St. bike lanes which they say, “…are packed with other riders.” They were looking forward to the city’s expansion plans to build an additional 100km of bike lanes vs the Ford government’s current plans with Bill 212 to rip out existing infrastructure. “Everyone can benefit from more safe options,” say the organizers.
MPP Bell, who helped organize the Rally & Ride for Road Safety at Queen’s Park on Oct. 23, emphasized the province’s overreach into municipal jurisdiction, and its failure to activate the city’s three LRT public transportation initiatives to help the city’s on-going congestion.
Leading a chant to “Save our bike lanes”, Di Pasquale echoed the Ford government’s overreach and other shortcomings including housing and healthcare issues. He pointed out that he became an avid cyclist and commuter once the city provided protective bikes allowing him to “ditch his car.”
Focusing on safety, Tsang, who uses the bike lanes to visit patients at various hospitals, stressed that they’re a fundamental part of the equation to ensure cyclists, including doctors like himself, can get around the city safely and minimize the impact on healthcare and hospital services that will increase if the bike lanes are removed.
Zaichowski explained that a tremendous amount of work and careful consideration goes on behind the scenes before, during and after bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure are installed. The Ford government’s Bill 212 negates years of research, strategic planning and implementation, and will not ease congestion as they suggest – better to vote out Ford.
Pothen at Environmental Defense spoke about how they won the fight against Ford to save the Greenbelt by not allowing the government to frame the dialogue. The fight to save the bike lanes needs to focus on areas that the government can’t win such as moving goods around the city which is now dependant on bikes and bike lanes that are the backbone of the delivery system used by FedEx and many others; also many workers i.e. construction get to work early in the morning or return home later in the evening via bike lanes – many of these workers will be at risk if Bill 212 is passed; housing units, where the government is already failing badly, will be hurt even more because eliminating bike lanes forces people into cars that require parking facilities adding massive costs to housing initiatives.
The protest concluded with a huge ride along Bloor St. heading east as cyclists continue to fight against the Ford government’s attempt to infringe on the rights of the province’s 444 municipalities, and the rights of cyclists across Ontario.
About Fight for Bikes
Fight for Bikes is a grassroot organization founded by two University of Toronto students. We created Fight For Bikes in response to the proposed Bill 212 which plans to remove bike lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University, while impeding the building of future bike lanes. As students we depend on bikes since we cannot afford to transit daily or own cars. Read more here.
