Residents call for removal of bike lanes along The Esplanade in Toronto

Battle over bike lanes takes over downtown Toronto neighbourhood

A community organization wants the City of Toronto to remove the dedicated bike lanes that are currently being installed along The Esplanade.

The Downtown Concerned Citizens Organization (DCCO) held a news conference on Wednesday morning, outlining the “chaos and harm” they say the bike lanes cause in the city.

“Bike lanes restrict road space, making it tough to drive seniors to important medical and other appointments,” said Sharon Danley, a resident representing three seniors’ buildings on the street.

“[They] have turned streets into parking lots with residents unable to stop, get their kids to events, and seriously impact emergency services and transit.”

The city held a public consultation for the project from October 2019 until March 2021, and reported at the time that, “overall feedback was largely supportive.”

“We represent 58,000 plus people in the downtown core in three different wards and they’ve all specifically said they want the bike lanes contained or removed all together,” said DCCO’s Dana McKiel.

Buster’s Sea Cove owner, Aly Somani, who is supportive of bike lanes in other parts of the city, said he’s hearing frustration from his regular customers.

“A lot of [them] are already upset that there’s nowhere to stop,” he told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday. “People bike here in this city probably less than six months in the year and there’s a lot of people impacted by these decisions 365 days a year.”

Area resident Inge Shardy told CTV News Toronto that she worries about getting around.

“In the winter, the sidewalks are not cleaned, [so] how are we going to get to walk down there to get into a cab or wheel trans,” she said.

After passing the controversial Bill 212, the Ontario government was in the process of ripping up bike lanes on Bloor and Yonge streets and University Avenue, however that work has been paused after a judge granted an injunction following a charter challenge.

“We’ll be in direct contact with the lawyers for the Province of Ontario to ensure that we remove these bike lanes,” McKiel said.

In a statement, city spokesperson Laura McQuillan said the contract to build the bikeway on The Esplanade was awarded in March 2024, adding that, “Bill 212 allows projects with contracts awarded before the new rules started to continue without restrictions.”

“Because this contract was awarded before the rules took effect, the City can move forward with the Esplanade-Mill Street Connection project as approved by Toronto City Council,” McQuillan said.

Cyclist Dennis Rijkhoff says biking on The Esplanade currently is unsafe.

“I bike and my children are learning to bike right now, and I think that being able to do that safely in the city is integral part of living [here],” he told CTV News Toronto after listening to comments by other attendants at the news conference.

“Their concerns are 100 per cent valid. We have to take care of our elderly, they need to be able to live here just as much as me and my sons need to be able to live here in a good way and get around in an efficient and safe manner.”

The construction on The Esplanade bike lanes, which includes updates to the city’s watermain and sewer system, is scheduled to be finished on June 30.