In the wake of Ontario passing Bill 212: Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act 2024, residents that have long advocated for safer bike infrastructure in cities like Toronto have been rightfully crying havoc, with the city set to lose portions of three major cycle tracks at the hands of the provincial government.

The new legislation allows Doug Ford and his team to usurp control over any and all bike lanes in the province that have replaced, or will replace, a mixed-traffic lane, all in the name of easing downtown congestion.

Residents' concerns about the fate of both future and existing bike infrastructure in cities across Ontario is leading to an outpouring of anger, discussion and debate on social media, including some hearsay about what Ford's next steps may be.

Among the chatter is the claim that crews commissioned by the Province will be ripping out the stretches of bike lanes identified in the legislation — along Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue — pretty immediately.

A recent newsletter from one member of government, Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden, stated that this work is actually due to wrap up by the end of December 2024.

Province looking to remove first sections of bike lanes by end of the year (From MPP Joel Harden's e-Newsletter)
byu/ICanGetLoudTooWTF intoronto

"The government has notified the City of Toronto that it is retaining its own contractors to undertake bike lane removals. They have targeted 500 metres of the most western section of the Bloor Street bike lane and 400 metres of the Yonge Street bike lane," reads a line from the e-blast that was shared to the Toronto subreddit this week.

"They intend to have this work completed before the end of December 2024."

Harden's office told blogTO via email that the representative received the information from "one of his T.O. bike stakeholders," who allegedly learned that this timeline was recently provided to the City from provincial staffers and that "the work will be undertaken before Christmas."

"City staff have apparently warned the Province of the risks of December removal due to pavement markings not adhering in colder weather, etc.," the office added, noting that they were told "further removals will be re-evaluated in spring."

The City declined to comment on the matter and instead forwarded blogTO to the Ministry of Transportation, which has denied these and other rumours — particularly one about Ford planning to eliminate the protected cycling paths on Richmond, Adelaide, and Danforth Avenue, all of which were suspiciously mentioned in a poll from Campaign Research.

New: Campaign Research, Ford's preferred pollster, had a survey out over the weekend asking not just whether the Bloor, University and Yonge bike lanes should be ripped out, but also those on Richmond, Adelaide and the Danforth.#onpoli #topoli pic.twitter.com/VN91qz5WtS

— Jack Hauen (@jackhauen) November 18, 2024

"We're not looking at anything besides Bloor, Yonge and University right now. We will be reviewing any that were installed in the last five years [that necessitated the removal of a traffic lane], but, no, unless it's Bloor, Yonge or University, it's not on the radar right now," the Ministry's Director of Media Relations, Dakota Brasier, told blogTO Thursday.

"Do we have the ability to do it? Yes. And will we be reviewing anything from the five years? 100 per cent. But we're not committing to doing anything until we get to see that research. There's nothing beyond those three right now."

Brasier also reiterated that the Campaign Research poll that included questions gauging public sentiment on Richmond, Adelaide and Danforth bike lanes "was not a government poll" and that Harden's office's claim about the removal schedule is incorrect.

"Nothing has been finalized," she said. "That's not on the books right now, and the other three streets are also not in the books right now."