August 13, 2026 - Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford has reversed his position on bike lanes in the city vowing to remove cycling tracks on Bloor Street West in Etobicoke, and a section of the Yonge Street lanes if he’s elected mayor reports CBC and Toronto Today.
Bradford, the Beaches–East York councillor since 2018, acknowledged that he voted in favour of the bike lanes, noting it seemed like a great idea on paper but now regrets backing them. “Then they were built and we were able to see and feel the real-world feedback – and it became clear that council, including me, got this one wrong,” he told CBC. Bradford also dismissed concerns about the cost of their removal.
A Toronto city staff report from November 2024 estimated it would cost nearly $50 million to remove all the bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue and replace them with car lanes. The same report showed cycling traffic increased at several points along the Etobicoke corridor after the lanes went in.
As well back in November 2024, Bradford was one of four councillors who voted against a motion from Chow opposing the Ford government’s bill to strip out the Bloor Street, University Avenue and Yonge Street bike lanes.
He didn’t offer details regarding his plans remove a section of Yonge Street bike lanes saying specifics would come later in the campaign according to Toronto Today. Bradford said his plan is “not an agenda to rip out every bike lane in the city.”
Mayor Olivia Chow’s Press secretary, Braman Thillainathan, commented, “The Councillor wants to spend millions of tax dollars reversing a decision he championed and voted for repeatedly, well before the Mayor came to City Hall.”
Conservative MP Chris Alexander, also running against Chow, said the mayor of Toronto shouldn’t get the final say on where bike lanes go.
According to Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, “Continuing this fantasy that three kilometres of bike lanes on Bloor [Street W.] are responsible for the city’s traffic issues frankly isn’t based [on] evidence. It’s ‘disappointing’ that there are still negative connotations associated with bike lanes and we’ve kind of regressed into this bikes-versus-cars-type conversation.”
The race to be Toronto’s next mayor now features 37 candidates according to CBC. Current mayor Olivia Chow is seeking re-election and has 47% support, with Bradford as her main rival at 40%, and Alexander is in third place with 10%.
