December 5, 2025 - Toronto is pushing forward with a scaled-down version of its cycling network plan, as a 20-kilometre and $30-million project, described by Mayor Olivia Chow as a “win-win solution” in the face of recently passed Bill 60, advances without amendments to the next city council meeting on Dec. 16 reports the Toronto Star.
City staff proposed narrowing several car lanes to create enough space for the bike lanes to fit along the side of the road. As the new bike lane plans don’t require the removal of any vehicle lanes and they’re compliant with the province’s Bill 212, and newly enacted Bill 60, which curtail municipalities’ ability to build new bike lanes if any vehicle lanes need to be removed.
The cycling plan covers the next two years of bike lane expansion in Toronto, and has been hailed by some as a clever compromise. “We keep the car lanes, we put the bike lanes in, everybody is happy,” Chow said at a press conference earlier this week. “We keep cyclists safe … the design of the road is better.” Provincial Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria agreed.
Yet the plan is a shadow of the original version of the 2025-2027 cycle network plan, which set a lofty goal of 100 kilometres of new and majorly upgraded bike lanes and 40 kilometres of renewed bike lanes at the cost of about $105 million.
