Cycling advocates push to expand busy Bloor Street bike lanes to High Park

Toronto’s Bloor Street bike lanes are some of the busiest in North America and cycling advocates are calling on the city to extend the lanes from the Royal Ontario Museum to High Park.

In a new report, Cycle Toronto analyzed nearly a year’s worth of data for the 2.4 kilometre stretch, which currently runs from Avenue Road and Shaw Street. The group estimates cyclists made close to one million trips along the lanes between February 2018 and February 2019.

“The numbers we’re seeing on Bloor Street are even more impressive when you consider that it remains disconnected,” said Jared Kolb, executive director of Cycle Toronto in a release.

The east-west Bloor Street lanes link to only two continuous north-south routes at Shaw and St. George streets. Neither are protected bike lanes, said Kolb.

The group also found there is high demand for cycling infrastructure on parts of Bloor Street where there are no bike lanes. Volunteers conducting a one-day tally in September 2018 at Bloor and Dufferin streets counted nearly 3,000 cyclists.

“On the section of Bloor where we conducted counts, there’s nothing separating people biking and driving: no painted lanes, no separated lanes, not even wayfinding signage indicating nearby cycling connections,” the release said.

The group is calling on Toronto City Council to extend the bike lanes from Shaw Street to High Park Avenue by 2020.

In 2016, city council passed a 10-year cycle network plan.

Editors note: This article has been corrected to reflect that Cycle Toronto analyzed near a year’s worth of data.