(All 19km of the bike lanes targeted by the province. Image: The Toronto Star.)
Bike lanes at risk of immediate removal? Rejected compromises with the city? Will the courts save us? Confused about what is or isn’t happening with Toronto’s bike lanes? Here’s what we know as of September 9, 2026:
TL;DR
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The province likely intends to remove parts of the Bloor bike lanes “immediately”
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Ontario rejected a “win-win” offer from Mayor Chow to restore car lanes but keep bike lanes, but there's still hope
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The province's RFP seeks to restore car lanes along 19 km of Bloor, Yonge, and University
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The RFP closes in December and the remaining work is set to start in spring 2027
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Cycle Toronto continues to review the appeal decision
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Over 8,000 people have texted (647-612-3673) or emailed the premier
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Join us this Saturday for a “Cyclists Aren’t Secondary” side streets ride
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Thank you to everyone who became a member or donated these past weeks
Now let’s dive in.
1.The province likely intends to remove parts of the Bloor bike lanes this year
In a press release last week, the province announced it intended to get to work on its long delayed (and poorly advised) scheme to restore car lanes even if it requires removing protected bike lanes:
To get drivers moving quickly, the vehicle lane restoration process will immediately begin on the west section of Bloor Street West starting at Clissold Road [just west of Islington], where minimal design work is required.
Let’s unpack that sentence.
The province also issued a request for proposals (RFP) to bid on the removal or reconfiguration of 19 km of protected bike lanes along Bloor, Yonge and University. The RFP has not been released publicly, but details have been reported in the Toronto Star. This section of Bloor is notably excluded from the RFP, but otherwise the document provides some clarity.
“Vehicle lane restoration” almost certainly means removing the bike lanes. The "minimal design work is required” is a giveaway. Redesigning the road to restore the car lane but keep the protected bike lanes, while feasible, would be a larger engineering project. Adding back car lanes and removing the bike lanes based on the previous designs is much more “minimal” in comparison.
“West section of Bloor Street West starting at Clissold Road” would be starting at Bloor just west of Islington, and likely continuing for about 1 km until Royal York, the westernmost end of Bloor mentioned in the RFP. Extending further east would be unlikely at this point, and going to Royal York would ensure the bike lanes are removed in front of the establishment whose owner is quoted in the press release.
"Process will immediately begin" is ominous, and certainly folks have anxiously flagged construction crews out on parts of Bloor to us and on social media. First, "process" does not necessarily mean physical road work — arguably the "process" has already started, even if we are confident the physical removals have not. That said, based on other timelines in the RFP, "immediately" strongly implies physical work starting this year. Our best guess, based on logistics even with an accelerated timeline, is that physical removal of the bike lanes is still likely a few weeks away. Before late September or early October would be exceptionally unlikely.
Putting it all together, our read is that the province intends on removing the bike lanes on 1 km of Bloor between Islington and Royal York before the end of the 2026 construction season this fall.
2. Ontario rejected a “win-win” offer from Mayor Chow to restore car lanes but keep bike lanes, but there’s still hope
In a bombshell report from the Toronto Star, the Ford government apparently rejected a “win-win” offer from the city of Toronto and Mayor Chow to keep the bike lanes and restore car lanes on that same stretch of Bloor in Etobicoke between Islington and Royal York.
Mayor Chow is quoted as saying,
The Minister of Transportation walked away. We provided drawings, we provided studies, we provided everything they want so that we could put in the bike lanes and bring back a car lane…. But they walked away and now, in the middle of a trade war, rather than fighting (U.S. President Donald) Trump he’s fighting cyclists.
The Star included block-by-block draft designs detailing the proposed lane reconfigurations. The compromises aren’t perfect, but certainly reflect an effort to protect space for people on bikes in the face of the province’s disregard.
(Working drafts of the city’s proposed redesigns of Bloor between Islington and Royal York. Source: The Toronto Star.)
The province's rejection of the city's offer belies previous statements from the government, and calls into question whether the RFP's purported goal of restoring car lanes is just a pretext for removing bike lanes.
Back in April 2025, Minister Sarkaria’s office told TorontoToday, “Where both a reinstated car lane and a bike lane can exist, we are open to collaboration with the city of Toronto, provided they fund their portion of their identified infrastructure needs.” When asked about the bike lanes in a June 2025 press conference, Premier Ford said, “I want to work collaboratively with the Mayor… hopefully we can find alternatives.”
Neither the Premier nor the Minister of Transportation explained why the city's offer was not accepted, nor has the province provided any alternative routes to replace the bike lanes.
Nothing is set in stone, and there’s still an opportunity for the premier to show real leadership and work with the city.
3. The province's RFP seeks to restore car lanes along 19 km of Bloor, Yonge, and University
The Star reports that the province’s RFP to restore car lanes specifically identifies 19 km along these corridors:
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Bloor St: Royal York Rd to Castle Frank Rd (12.1 km)
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Yonge St: Hayden St to Millwood Rd (3.5 km)
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Avenue Rd/Queen’s Park/University Ave: Davenport Rd to Heenan Pl (3.4 km)
The RFP asks for designs and costing options for both the full removal of the protected bike lanes, and the feasibility of keeping the bike lanes while restoring car lanes. While the latter might provide some optimism, almost certainly it would prove to be more expensive and create serious design challenges in many sections of the corridors. Previous hopes that the province wasn’t really serious about tinkering with the elevated cycle tracks on University Ave or Bloor St through the Annex proved false.
The city’s initial estimates of this work were in the neighborhood of $50M. Last year the province restored 500m of a single car lane while keeping the bike lanes on an eastbound stretch of Bloor at a cost of $750k.
4. The RFP closes in December and the remaining work is set to start in spring 2027
The closing date for engineering firms to submit their bids is December 2, 2026 with a planned award date of December 17, 2026. Realistically that would put construction (or deconstruction) starting in spring 2027 at the earliest, with a target completion date of December 2028.
At first glance, it seems unlikely that firms like Arcadis, GHD Group, and WSP that worked with the city on the bike lanes’ installation would now bid on their removal. CIMA+ would also be unlikely, given they authored the report for the province that highlighted the road safety benefits of protected bike lanes for all road users (and their limited impact on causing traffic congestion). AECOM and Parsons also do regular work with the city, as did Morrison Hershfield (MH) before being acquired by Stantec. And speaking of Stantec, they had previously accepted a contract to do removal design work for the province back in early 2025, but after a Cycle Toronto campaign and subsequent public protests at their offices they stepped back. Given the escalating tariffs between our two countries, the province selecting a US firm would be antithetical to their “buy Canadian” messaging.
"I'm personally really curious to see which, if any, engineering consulting firms actually respond to the request for proposals to do this work, and provide a design that does remove the bike lanes," an engineer with the firm Arup told CBC. Another source told the Toronto Star, “A lot of firms don’t like to get involved in projects where it’s quite controversial.”
In a statement to the Toronto Star, Cycle Toronto said, “Bike lanes are a municipal issue, and this RFP to remove life-saving infrastructure is a potential minefield for any engineering firm that dares bid on it.”
5. Cycle Toronto continues to review the appeal decision
Cycle Toronto and our team of lawyers from Ecojustice and Paliare Roland are still reviewing the decision that overturned our victory from July 2025.
We have not determined whether we will apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC).
There is of course no guarantee that the SCC would hear the case, and even if they did, no guarantee they'd rule in our favour. Nor have we determined whether we are applying for a stay to temporarily block any work with the Ontario Court of Appeal (ONCA).
John Lorinc in the Toronto Star (“What happened when a dominatrix and a cyclist met up in court”) and Andrew Coyne in the Globe & Mail (“No one ever said there was a constitutional right to bike lanes – just a right to fundamental justice”) both offer favourable opinions of our case.
We thank you for your patience at this time, and assure you that we aren’t done fighting.
For now, this is back to being a political battle.
6. Over 8,000 people have texted (647-612-3673) or emailed the premier
This isn’t over. Text Premier Ford directly. (Apparently his phone is not taking incoming calls anymore.)
647-612-3673
Urge Premier Ford to show leadership and take the city’s “win-win” offer to restore car lanes and keep bike lanes in Etobicoke.
And over 8,000 people who have emailed Premier Ford, Minister Sarkaria, Mayor Chow, their local MPP and City Councillor:
The original Balance on Bloor petition had just over 13,000 signatures. We’re already so close. Let’s top that in emails to the premier.
7. Join us this Saturday for a “Cyclists Aren’t Secondary” side streets ride
If the Bloor bike lanes are removed, where will we go? Join us on a ride through Etobicoke's side streets and ravine trails to find out. All are welcome, including elected officials and candidates on every side. Maybe Premier Ford will join us to try these secondary routes for himself.
Date: Saturday, September 12
Time: 10 am meet; 10:20 am ride; 11 am arrival
Start: Tom Riley Park (Bloor and Islington)
End: Neil McLellan Park (Bloor and Runnymede)
What: ~8 km bike ride avoiding the Bloor bike lanes and other arterial roads
8. Thank you to everyone who became a member or donated these past weeks
We appreciate the support that powers this movement and keeps our wheels turning.
