Cyclists take over Jarvis to protest bike lane removal

Organizers estimate nearly 1000 rallied in protest to Mayor Ford's cuts to bike lanes on arterial roads in the city after meeting at Carlton and Jarvis Wednesday night. (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star)

On Wednesday evening hundreds of cyclists filled Jarvis St., sidewalk to sidewalk, rallying to preserve the one precious strip they call their own.

The police-escorted mass bike ride made its way from Allan Gardens on Jarvis St. to City Hall.

“We deserve a safe place to ride our bikes. This not about partisanship, this is not about how we feel about Rob Ford. This is about how we feel about biking safely on our streets in Toronto,” yelled Dave Meslin, one of the organizers of the rally, into a megaphone.

The sentiment was endorsed by the musical jangling of hundreds of bike bells.

• Related: Online reaction of cyclist protest

City councillors voted 28-9 last week to scrap the bike lanes on Jarvis St., as well as Birchmount Rd. and Pharmacy Ave., in Scarborough, at the cost of nearly half a million dollars. Cyclist advocates were quick to protest that decision, saying the city is already falling behind on bike lanes.

The Jarvis lane will remain open until a separated lane on neighbouring Sherbourne St. is opened in late 2012.

Andrea Garcia of the Toronto Cyclists Union says 1,200 people signed up to attend the “Ride for Jarvis, Ride For Toronto” event on Facebook. She says around 300 to 400 gathered in Allan Gardens. Later estimates show the attendance to be around 1,000 people.

“My bike’s been stolen,” proclaimed the sign of Stefoknee Wolscht, who came to protest on foot. “Don’t steal my bike lanes too.”

“Bike lanes are harder to replace than bikes,” added the regular Jarvis St. cyclist.

Rick Caborn, a cyclist in the protest, doesn’t usually use Jarvis St., but his wife just got a bike and is about to start. Once the lanes are gone “she’ll still be riding down Jarvis but less safe, causing congestion, confusion for other drivers and being a bigger hassle,” he said.

Frustrated motorists got a taste the hassle Wednesday evening, as they were forced to do U-turns to avoid the cyclist procession.

But Meslin isn’t letting the lanes go without a fight.

“If those trucks come out here to take out these lines, I’ll put my body down in front of those trucks.” yelled Meslin to the crowd. “Who’s with me?”

— Alyshah Hasham, Staff Reporter

Comments

[pat kern]

WHERE WERE THE POLICE???? These cyclists were breaking the law!!! I am so glad Ford is coming down heavy on the militant cyclists.....we don't need Vancouver's problem in TO!!

[Milne]

.FORD is making the right decision to correct a wrong that was made by Miller. All the childish demands are now being addressed to give the roads
back to the drivers, including freeing up parking space on the roads making it much safer. The bike riders are an aggressive group of people from their early 20's to late 60's who have no regard for anyone but themselves and violate all the rules of the roads daily (go through red stop lights and signs (4 point intersection) and nearly hit people who are crossing roads or cutting drivers off, weaving in & out of the moving cars and they never get ticketed or pulled over by the police,but a car driver will. Something is wrong with this picture.

[Spire Skyscraper]

Torontonians have to set aside their personal ideology and study this issue rationally. There are NO cities in North America that are actively removing bike lanes in favour of car lanes. Many are adding them, and not just token amounts. Chicago is building 160 km of protected lanes, more than 10x what Toronto has, and anyone who has been to New York knows that the formerly mean streets of the Big Apple are a picnic for bikes now compared to backwards Toronto. This is not about right or left, this is about Toronto keeping pace with its peer cities, and when it comes to bikes there is simply no argument that Toronto is way, way behind. Jarvis is a warning flag to this increasing gap.

[Vincent L.]

If you want a freakin bike lane, YOU pay for it. I'm tired of paying gas tax, transit tax, green tax, BS tax. Stop it with this socialist garbage.

[Jesse Ewles]

Important point. Motorists should be the biggest proponents of bike lanes. They get cyclists out of the way. Removing just gives cyclists the right to take the whole lane.

[Miss Lynx]

Not all motorists were frustrated by the ride - I saw quite a lot that were very supportive, waving, smiling, and cheering us on. Enough of them that I lost count after the first dozen or so. As much as the media may like to polarize issues like this, there are apparently a fair number of drivers who do believe in sharing the road and allowing cyclists some space.

[Fenn]

the numbers they are quoting are inaccurate for the council vote. According to this very newspaper it was 19 to 27 although since there are only 44 votes one wonders where the 2 extra votes came from.

[Howard]

Sorry cyclists, but Mayor Ford has this one right - having cycling lanes on major arteries doesn't make sense - for either the safety of the cyclists or the frustration level of motorists. What's the big deal? The lanes are merely being moved to safer streets!

[VIP]

This is a two-way street. Most bikers never stop for a stop sign, rarely stop for a red light and love riding on the sidewalk. I've been riding bikes all my life, at first in Europe, where traffic rules for bikers are identical to motorists'. They are fined exactly the same way as motorists for breaking the rules. What's wrong with that?

[Herb]

Near the end of the ride I and others estimated about one thousand people biked in the ride to save Jarvis.

[TBO]

You "deserve" it do you? Then pay for it.

[Andrew]

There should be bike lanes on every road and they could be paid for with the licencsing and registration fees that could be collected from all bike owners the same way automobile owners pay to drive.

[m]

We are legally allowed on Jarvis with or without a bike lane. It's just that without the bike lane we'll take the right lane, as is permitted in HTA 147.

[Fenn]

to TBO @ 7:47 am um we do pay for them. It's call property tax. Thanks for proving ignorance.

to VIP @ 7:02am yes people tht break the law should be fined. That's nothing to do with adding or removing bike lanes. Although if we are fining people how about those stopping/parking in bike lanes or during rush hour they are creating your real congestion.

to Howard @ 8:35am Bike lanes belong on arteries for the very reasons you've listed that they don't. The lanes not being moved. It's being removed. Bike lanes make the route safer for cyclists.

[Rich]

Herb - Property taxes pay for roads, Toronto cyclists "pay for" the roads in Toronto while a large percentage of road users (people commuting from out of the city) do not.

[Fenn]

Bad arguments for removing bike lanes:

"You don't pay for roads cars do"
Actually anyone who pays property tax pays for roads. Cyclists and pedestirans FAR over pay for what they get back

"You don't need a bike lane there's one just over there"
By the same argument you don't need a road for driving there's just one over there. Sherbourne for instance is tattered and awful.

"The bike plan wasn't in the Enviromental Assessment fo Jarvis"
They weren't advised against and the middle lane they are putting back WAS advised against.

"The bike lane makes it slower for traffic"
More people on bikes means less in cars means less traffic. Often the problem is cars parking/stopping on Jarvis that cars and bikes then have to go around as they are blocking 2 lanes now not just one. Remember when we add lanes and they start to connect more people will use them.

"It costs to much for bike infrastructure"
Leaving them there costs 0$ removing them (just from Jarvis) costs $210,000 ... taste that gravy.

[Sarah Menace]

The bike lanes are there. It will cost money to get rid of them. Rob Ford loves to spend our money! Wait, what?

[General_Guy]

The Anti-Bike people are pretty amusing.
They want cyclists to pay for bike lanes... OK, Property taxes, done. Now how about charging the people that live outside Toronto to drive their cars on these roads, since they do not pay Toronto taxs to build and maintain the roads?
They claim this ride was illegal... Nope, they are allowed to ride on the road.
They claim all cyclist break the law and run over people... How many people are killed by cyclists vs killed by cars and trucks, that is the better stat.
They claim that roads should be dedicated to only cars... a road is a shared piece of civic infrastructure and nowhere does it say that roads in the city are the exclusive domain of the car.

The city needs more bike lanes and needs to have a complete network across the coty to make the roads safer for both cars and bikes. The fragmented structure that exists is a starting point for growing this bike network into something that is better structured for everyone that uses the road.

The city needs more bike lanes, not fewer.

All cyclists should alos realize that you are a vehicle on the road and are entitles to an ENTIRE LANE for transport. But please use lights and bright clothing whenever possible to be sure that the driver that is checking their texts, drinking their coffee, changing the radio station, eating their breakfast and looking at themselves in the mirror is aware of you and does not run you down.

[boltuprite]

These bikers are noting but a bunch of whiny complainers. yes, you lose the unsafe, seperated by a painted line lanes on Jarvis. In return you get seperated lanes on Sherbourne as well as additional seperated (by a physical barrier) bike lanes in the downtown corrider. The new councils bike lane strategy is superior to the Miller piece-meal one in every way. yet they whine and whine and whine and whine.

[K]

If they are gonna remove the bike lanes then I suggest changing the law too. I don't quite understand why there is a $90 fine for biking on the side road. It should only be applied to the downtown Toronto or something at least.
I just think that it's way more dangerous for bicyclists to be on the road - and cause car accidents etc. than the pedestrian road.
Bike lane solves everything even though it costs some money...

[suckit]

Good lord you pinko bike haters. I pay my taxes just as much as the rest of you do and i choose not to drive an environment killing, gas guzzling vehicle. I have the same rights to the road as you do and i think from now on i'm going to take my share of the road (the whole lane) rather then riding on the side. Don't like it? Put in more bike lanes.

[RDT]

I was at the demo last night and it was great! About 1,000 strong ringing our bells with car horns honking in solidarity.

I'd like to correct some misconceptions about cycling, protesting, and the law that seem to always come up on comment threads.

1. Protests are legal in our democratic nation. Cyclists were not breaking the law. The police were there the entire time to ensure a smooth and safe demonstration. Police were there on bicycles too!

2. We all pay taxes, that's the point! If you own your own home or rent then you pay directly or indirectly property taxes, which go to the city to be used to provide municipal services. So cyclists pay taxes and have few bike lanes, while motorists pay taxes and have roads everywhere! If you choose to drive a car and buy gas then you will pay taxes on gas. This is pretty elementary stuff.

3. Under the Highway Traffic Act, bicycles (unfortunately in my opinion) are classified as vehicles, just like cars. That means cyclists must follow the rules of the road (which most do, although not everyone and that is a problem that needs remedy, but lets be honest, the courts are filled with motorists who have violated the traffic laws, and have you ever seen a pedestrian j-walk?), and cyclists are legally required to ride on the roads. So bikes will be on Jarvis with or without bike lanes. The lanes would make it safer and faster for everyone; without them cars will have to move around bikes or follow behind them if the bike legally takes the lane.

4. A reasonable society encourages good things, such as cycling, which has objectively beneficial effects, and encourages these activities by making them safe and effective. This happens with physically separated bike lanes designed in a well functioning network. It keeps bikes away from cars and from pedestrians and we can all share the space between buildings in peace and safety. Toronto is the only city in the world that seems to not understand this.

But the hostile reactions from some people on this thread are not uncommon: anytime a marginalized group of people try to assert themselves in order improve their situation and make it better for everyone else they are met with hostility and violence. But I bet most people on this board are glad that we have 8 hour work days and a weekend and maternity leave, and universal health care, even though the people who fought for those things were met with hostility and violence when they asserted their rights.

Denmark is such a great cycling country because in the 70s with the oil crisis people took to the streets to demand a better system and to get off oil. Those protests led to one of the best cycling cities in the world. So have hope Toronto and continue to stand up for what's right!

[Antony]

Those uppity downtowners - haven't bicycles already taken over enough?

0.36% (one third of one percent) of city street space is set aside for bicycles. The rest is sidewalk, parking, or car lanes. The Gardiner/DVP are 7% alone...

http://twitpic.com/5pq3r2

[Max]

I'm taking a full lane from now on.. wherever I go in Toronto

[mt]

Where were the police? Actually, they were riding right along side with us and they were keeping traffic back for us! Thank you to the members of the Toronto Police who came out last night!