October 13, 2026 - Local cycling advocacy groups have planned an All Out protest ride on Oct. 13 at 5pm at Islington and Royal York to disrupt, or try to make difficult, the planned bike lane removal by the City at that location as per a Notice of Construction issued by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO).
According to the notice, the province will begin removing Toronto bike lanes from a 1.2-kilometre section on Bloor Street W. in Etobicoke between Clissold Road and Royal York Road on October 13..
Protest riders are, “encouraged to meet at the Bloor Green P Lot for Tom Riley Park at 5pm onwards (come whenever you can). This protest may last all night. Work may not start until the evening and this protest may last all night. Dress warm, bring lights and food/water/prescripts. On site guidance and support will be available. It’s time to defend our bike lanes.”
Previous protest rides have seen up to 1,000 riders or more show up on mass in support of bike lanes – read more here and here.
Ontario healthcare workers, the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) and many others have denounced Ontario’s plans to remove bike lanes and urge the province to back down as the battle for bike lanes in Toronto continues.
The province’s own commissioned work: a safety analysis prepared for to say definitively, but we do intend to the Ministry of Transportation by the engineering firm CIMA+ estimated that removing the bike lanes could increase collisions among all road users, including cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers, by as much as 54%, and found no clear evidence that removal would ease congestion – read more here.
Advocacy group Cycle Toronto is outraged but not surprised and claims that it’s a truly shameful day, and an international embarrassment for Ontario.
“Ripping out these protected bike lanes against the will of Toronto city council is a colossal waste of $48 million. The province’s own experts know it will not ease traffic congestion, it will put people’s lives at risk, and there is no network of side streets that could replace these lanes,” commented Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto.
Cycle Toronto and Ecojustice are holding a press conference today at 10:30 am to announce their next legal step in this landmark Charter case – read more about the case here.
