Joe Pantalone is making himself the bicycle candidate with an 11th-hour transportation plan that includes converting some on-street car parking to bike spaces and putting a permanent, separated bike lane on University Ave.

The plan, obtained by the Star, is to be unveiled by Thursday morning by the mayoral hopeful who, according to recent polls, is running a distant third to the tied Rob Ford and George Smitherman. The latter is trying to poach Pantalone’s “progressive” supporters, hoping they’ll push him ahead of Ford in time for Monday’s election.

Pantalone, the deputy mayor who has advocated for cycling on council though he doesn’t know how to ride a bike, bills his blueprint as a “doable, cost-effective plan for Torontonians who drive, take public transit or ride a bike.” Most of the plan, however, is bike-focused.

As mayor, he would:

• Convert some street parking to create 50 “bicycle parking corrals,” each providing space for about 20 bikes, and create bike parking in “Green P” lots. “The more space you create for bikes, the more space you create for everyone,” says the plan, which doesn’t reveal how many car spots would disappear, or where.

• Install physically separated bike lanes “for the safety and convenience of both cyclists and motorists,” starting with University Ave. and Richmond St. and expanding to other “appropriate avenues” as determined in consultations with community members and city staff. A controversial pilot project to put two separated lanes on University Ave. in the summer was scuttled when a Pantalone ally mis-voted.

• Complete the 2001 bike plan’s promised 1,000-kilometre network of bikeways by 2012 — an ambitious goal that would involve considerable acceleration of lane and off-road path installation.

• Expand the BIXI bike-sharing network, set to hit Toronto streets next spring, beyond its original boundaries of south of Bloor St. and between Spadina Ave. and Jarvis St.

• Create a “public education campaign for all road users to raise public awareness about our individual responsibility for road sharing.”

• Within the TTC, create a special unit responsible for construction projects, with one manager responsible for “meeting today’s demands” and another for “planning and meeting future needs.”

• Open up “food vending options” in subway stations. (There is no detail about how.)

Pantalone also plans to emphasize that he would fight for the Transit City light-rail network to connect downtown to the far reaches of the inner suburbs, and put citizen experts on the TTC board along with politicians.

Ford has promised to end the “the war on cars” and spend $5 million on new bikeways, mostly in ravines and rail and hydro corridors. On-street lanes would be installed only where the community supports them and they don’t impede traffic.

Smitherman would impose a “time out” on new bike lanes on city streets, repair and make existing ones safer, and build a bike network through “hydro corridors, ravines and other non-roadways.”