Ontario government passes bill to limit bike lanes

Ontario's Progressive Conservative government has passed a controversial law that will force municipalities to seek approval for installing new bike lanes on arterial roads and could see some existing bike lanes torn up.

Bill 212 passed its third reading by a vote of 66-27 at Queen’s Park Monday.

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The bill requires that municipalities obtain provincial approval before installing bike lanes if a lane of vehicular traffic will be removed to accommodate them.

The bill also paves the way for the province to remove bike lanes on stretches of Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue without consulting the City of Toronto.

"We promised to get drivers out of gridlock by bringing sanity back to bike lane decisions and we're getting it done," Premier Doug Ford said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday afternoon.

According to a recent staff report, installing the bike lanes cost around $27 million and ripping them up to reinstate car lanes would cost about $48 million.

The province has disputed both the city’s estimated costs, as well as its figures when it comes to how vehicular traffic has been impacted by the bike lanes.

Ford said recently that residents "despise" bike lanes in some parts of the city and that they should only be allowed on less busy roads.  

Controversially, the bill also limits the ability to sue the government over the removal of the bike lanes, including in cases where cyclists are injured or killed on stretches of road where the bike lanes are removed.

Cycling advocates have decried the move, saying that it will make cyclists less safe and will cost lives. Civic activists have also cited it as an example of the province running roughshod over local democracy.

The bill still requires royal assent to officially become law.