Local cycling advocates oppose provincial plan to limit bike lanes in cities

The provincial government’s plans to require municipalities to seek permission to install bike lanes if it removes a lane of vehicle traffic is being met with concern from local cycling advocates.

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria announced the government intends to table the legislation when MPP’s return from their five month summer break on Monday, Oct 21.

When first asked if the government would remove established bike lanes, Sarkaria said no. However, Premier Doug Ford later said the legislation would contain criteria that if not met, would allow the province to rip out bike lanes.

Reaction to the announcement has been swift, with some saying this is government overreaching into municipal politics and will present significant issues for future city planning initiatives.

Janice Jim, vice-president of Cycle Waterloo Region, told 570 NewsRadio that municipalities have factored bike lanes into road-building and development plans for decades.

“All the bike lanes the City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo and the Region are putting in are carefully planned over a number of years. They are all part of a transportation master plan or a downtown cycling grid and they’re not just dropped in overnight without consultation.”

Jim said there has been a concerted effort to include active transportation in residential building construction.

“New buildings in the downtown core are higher density. They are all condo buildings, apartment buildings and townhouses. They have less parking spaces allocated for residents so, the city and region’s plans are for people to use transit like buses and ION and to use active transportation like cycling.”

Jim added, “Ford has previously said he trusts municipalities to use their own best judgement; I think that was back in February. And now he is completely flip-flopping just to make cycling a wedge issue because the election is coming. And these are going to buy him suburban votes.”