History and context

By the end of 2013, the City of Toronto's on-street bikeway network had barely grown from 2009 levels. Despite increased ridership, City Hall reduced safe on-street cycling infrastructure by removing bike lanes on Pharmacy Ave, Birchmount Rd and Jarvis St. City Hall also created Toronto's first protected bike lanes on Sherbourne St, retrofitted Wellesley St with paint and bollards and created a bicycle boulevard on Shaw St.

While Toronto's pace at installing on-street infrastructure has been glacial, cities around the world are embracing cycling as a smart, efficient and healthy mode of transportation, and are building networks of safe cycling infrastructure. The City of Chicago, for example, built over 54 km of bike lanes in 2012 as part of an ambitious "Streets for Cycling" plan that will improve on cycling facilities and add roughly 1050 kilometres of bike lanes by 2020. They followed that up with 32 km of protected & buffered bike lanes in 2013.

The 2001 Bike Plan called for 495 km of on-street bike lanes by 2011. How many did we build over that 10 year period? Roughly 112 km, or 23% of the plan. According to Share the Road Cycling Coalition, 73% of Torontonians want to ride more often, but the lack of safe cycling infrastructure is holding them back.

A grid of protected bike lanes supported by a network of bicycle boulevards is a vital way to get Torontonians moving. Ridership rises when biking is easy, safe and comfortable. A study from Portland, Oregon found that 60% of people are interested but concerned about cycling for transportation. A Minimum Grid would help that 60% cycle more often, creating a transportation system that is easier, safer, more sustainable, and more fun.

Minimum Grid

Investment in Toronto's on-street network of bike lanes has stalled. We need a specific commitment from City Hall for a network of protected bike lanes across Toronto, supported by a grid of bicycle boulevards. A city-wide 2 km x 2 km grid of bike lanes is crucial to provide all Torontonians with a safe cycling option (2001 Toronto Bike Plan, 2013 Bicycle Policy Framework). There are hundreds of kilometres we could add to Toronto streets. In this term of council, we need to invest in the minimum required to add safe on-street connections not just in downtown Toronto, but across the entire city.

We're calling on all members of City Council to commit to creating a Minimum Grid of 100 km of protected bike lanes and 100 km of bicycle boulevards during the 2014-2018 term of council, to get Torontonians moving by bicycle.