So far, so good. How the court case over bike lanes in Canada’s largest city turned out

Cyclists in Toronto stood up against a law that would have forced the city to remove kilometres of bike lanes. All previous efforts to make the streets safer could have been lost as a result. The removal of the bike lanes — pushed by the government of Ontario Premier Doug Ford — had to be decided in court. According to the plaintiffs, the case raises “fundamental and complex questions of constitutional law.” So what is it really about?

After years of cycling without bike lanes and feeling threatened by cars passing too closely and dangerously, cyclists in Toronto were optimistic. Conditions finally seemed to be improving. Since the pandemic, Toronto has significantly expanded its network of bike lanes, giving cyclists safer space on the roads. “The city is finally making progress,” said history PhD student Melanie Ng to The New York Times after riding her bike to the green campus of the University of Toronto downtown. Then came a wave of opposition.

Hands off our lanes

According to the provincial government, some of the most popular bike lanes were only worsening Toronto’s notorious traffic congestion. Ontario Premier Doug Ford therefore pushed through a law mandating the removal of 22 kilometres of bike lanes from three main downtown streets. In April of this year, however, local cyclists filed a lawsuit against the move.

On her first day in office, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow rode her bike to work — that was two years ago. So it was no surprise that she opposed Ford’s proposal. She argued that the city should have the exclusive right to set the rules for its streets. Publicly, however, she has since softened her tone, suggesting that a “mutually beneficial solution” could be reached — for example, by relocating some bike lanes or keeping them in place while adding lanes for cars. “We could design them better,” Chow told reporters in April.

Bike lanes are a sensitive topic for many drivers frustrated by the city’s constant traffic jams. But supporters of cycling strongly oppose their removal and have filed a legal challenge. As a result, the provincial court has temporarily blocked the removal of any bike lanes until a judge decides whether the new law is unconstitutional.

Many of Toronto’s bike lanes were created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: University of Toronto

Do cyclists pose a danger to people?

Cities around the world, including New York and Paris, have added kilometres of bike lanes to make streets safer for cyclists. It’s also a way to encourage drivers to give up their cars and choose more eco-friendly modes of transport, such as cycling or public transit.

Drivers complain that bike lanes aren’t used much during the winter months

In some places, however, bike lanes have drawn criticism from drivers, who claim they make life harder for people who need to drive — such as delivery workers or taxi drivers. Former President Trump even called New York’s bike lanes dangerous, claiming that cyclists “endanger people.”

The second most congested city

Canadian government data shows that on weekdays, around two million people commute to Toronto by car. This contributes to the city’s traffic congestion, placing Toronto as the second most gridlocked Canadian city after Vancouver, according to the TomTom global traffic index.

Chronic traffic jams in Toronto can take some visitors by surprise. In February, the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team had to leave their vehicle and walk the rest of the way to the downtown arena due to traffic — and this wasn’t the first time professional athletes faced such a situation.

According to a report from the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis, these problems cost the Toronto region approximately CAD 45 billion (around USD 33 billion) per year in lost productivity.

“Traffic congestion has reached a crisis level,” said Giles Gherson, president of the Toronto Board of Trade, which in its report suggested that Toronto should “rethink” how it uses its streets — for example, by limiting street parking and relocating bike lanes.

Many commuters also claim that driving into Toronto from the suburbs is often faster than using public transit. Experts point out that the city lacks a sufficiently developed rapid transit network to meet its needs. The provincial government has also been criticized for long delays in transportation projects.

One of the controversial bike lanes

It started with COVID

According to provincial data, only 1.2% of people commute to work by bike. For comparison, even in New York, which has an extensive network of bike lanes, the figure is about 1.4%, according to city statistics. But in Toronto — a city long dominated by cars — cycling is steadily gaining popularity. Between 2020 and 2024, the city added 108 kilometres of bike lanes, bringing the total length to 333 kilometres. The city’s bike-sharing service recorded 6.9 million trips in 2024, a significant increase from 2.9 million trips in 2020.

“Cycling has become much more enjoyable,” Chad Mohr, a food bank volunteer who delivers groceries by bike, told The New York Times in June. “And now there’s talk of removing a large part of that infrastructure. That would be a tragedy — an enormous, ridiculous, and expensive step backward.”

The city spent approximately CAD 27 million to build the bike lanes that the Ontario province now wants to remove. According to a report, their removal would cost around CAD 48 million.

Last year, six cyclists died in Toronto — the highest number in the past twenty years. Between 2016 and 2023, 260 cyclists were seriously injured, with most accidents occurring on streets without bike lanes.

Removing the bike lanes “would cost people their lives,” said Geoffrey Bercarich, a bike technician who installs so-called “ghost bikes” as memorials at sites where cyclists have died.

“I’m not against cyclists, but…”

Premier Doug Ford has made it clear that he is not against cyclists or cycling. “I’m not against bike lanes,” he told reporters in May. “Build as many bike lanes as you want — just not on the main arteries.”

Cycling advocates argue that the province has so far provided no evidence that removing the bike lanes would actually reduce traffic congestion. On the contrary, experience shows that adding lanes for cars does not solve congestion — it often makes it worse. This phenomenon is known in traffic engineering as induced demand.

“The idea that bike lanes are somehow causing Toronto’s traffic problems is not supported by any facts,” said Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, an organization advocating for cyclists. A New York Times reporter spoke with him by phone while he was in the hospital treating a broken leg — an injury caused when a driver opened a car door into a bike lane while he was riding.

Safe cycling infrastructure belongs in the city.The Ontario provincial government approved a measure shielding itself from lawsuits by cyclists injured on streets where it wants to remove bike lanes. Cycling advocates argue that this move is essentially a quiet admission that if the province proceeds with eliminating bike lanes, cyclists will bear the health consequences. David Shellnutt, a lawyer specializing in cyclist injury cases in Toronto, highlighted this: “It’s an admission in the sense of: Yes, we know what we’re proposing will lead to injuries and deaths,” Shellnutt said, “so we’d rather remove our liability.”

And the court ruled…

On July 30, an Ontario court struck down the provincial law that mandated the removal of three bike lanes in Toronto and restricted municipalities from building new ones. The ruling represents a major victory for the advocacy group Cycle Toronto. The judge ultimately accepted evidence showing that removing the bike lanes would increase the risk of injury and death, violating the right to life and personal security under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government has announced plans to appeal the decision. Schneiderman, however, notes that this is a difficult path, as the government presented very little evidence in the current case.

Examples of how a hard-won victory is not necessarily permanent can be found not only in transportation around the world but throughout history. In Prague, over the past twenty years, there have been several cases and attempts to restrict cyclists that our organization has taken to court. So far, we have always won. Join our supporters, and we will continue to monitor that politicians and officials act in the public interest.

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Cover photo: University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute