Is this evidence of a war on cycling in Toronto or just a desire to keep the streetscape uncluttered? Earlier today the public works and infrastructure committee voted in favour of a by-law that would make it illegal for cyclists to park their bikes at anything other than an official City bike post or designated bike rack. The motion still needs approval from city council, but the sentiment alone is enough to frustrate local cyclists.

Here's the motion in question:

"No personal shall, without prior authorization from the General Manager, chain, lock or otherwise attach any article or thing to a waste receptacle, streetlight, parking meter, utility pole, transit shelter, fence, tree or other municipal property or authorized encroachment that is located in a street, and any article or thing that remains attached for more than 24 consecutive hours may be removed by the General Manager and disposed of pursuant to Article XVIII."

Some cycling advocates on Twitter have already noted that should this by-law be approved by city council, it will make what's already a challenging situation worse. It's hard to find a spot to lock one's bike in densely populated areas as it is, which means that the competition for bike posts will be downright cut-throat if this goes through. I completely understand the desire to protect young trees from careless cyclists who roughy affix their bikes to them, but there's plenty of unofficial places to lock bikes that don't result in harm to anyone.

Are bikes really that much of an eyesore?

Photo by Jezza323 in the blogTO Flickr pool