TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday that bike lanes are coming off Ontario’s busiest streets and going onto secondary roads, as his government begins restoring vehicle lanes on Bloor St. West.In a video posted to X, Ford said his government was elected “to fight gridlock and get drivers moving again, including by taking bike lanes off our busiest streets and putting them on secondary roads.” He called last month’s Ontario Court of Appeal ruling “a victory for common sense, and for elected legislatures that are delivering on their mandates.”“We’re not wasting any time. We’re moving fast, starting this week to hire contractors so we can begin removing and reconfiguring bike lanes on several of Toronto’s busiest streets,” Ford said. “These changes will restore vehicle lanes that should have never been removed in the first place, while supporting bike lanes on side streets and in areas where they make sense and don’t make Ontario’s gridlock problem even worse.”The written request for proposals is more cautious. It asks firms to study design options for restoring motor-vehicle lanes on sections of Bloor St., Yonge St., University Ave., Queen’s Park, Queen’s Park Cres. and Avenue Road, and to look at keeping or reconfiguring bike lanes “where they make sense and do not make gridlock worse.”.Work is starting now only on Bloor St. West, east of a 600-metre stretch at Clissold Rd. In December 2025 the province already put a vehicle lane back on that stretch — and kept a bike lane. The Toronto Sun reported Tuesday’s next section needs little more than new paint because the physical barriers are already gone.That is not taking bike lanes off the street and putting them on side streets. It is adding a car lane beside a bike lane the government left in place eight months ago.At a Caledon announcement the same morning, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria would not say what the Toronto work will cost or when it will be finished. Asked by The Toronto Star, he said bidders on the RFP will set the price. He then said the province will “remove bike lanes on Bloor Street almost immediately.”“We’re not against bike lanes,” Sarkaria said. “Bike lanes where they make sense on secondary roads, not on the busiest roads in Toronto.”He said the Bloor lanes “just aren’t used.” Asked by CTV News how cyclists get through downtown if there are no neighbourhood streets, he said designs may keep both a car lane and a bike lane — but “the vehicle lane will take priority.”.The Court of Appeal ruled unanimously on August 14 that roadway design is a matter for the legislature, not the courts, and that there is no Charter right to bicycle lanes. Two statutes require the restorations: the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 and the Plan to Protect Ontario Act, 2025.The province did not say what taxpayers will spend to redesign streets the city only recently rebuilt..Court clears path for Ford to remove Toronto bike lanes
