Cyclists try to block Bloor bike lane removal, 1 arrested

Police arrested one demonstrator on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, as cyclists tried for a second day to block Ontario crews removing bike lanes on Bloor Street West in Etobicoke, according to The Canadian Press.

Police said a 25-year-old demonstrator from Hamilton was charged with mischief and obstructing a peace officer. The charges have not been tested in court. The Canadian Press reported that the person was led away in handcuffs while a worker removed a bike lane sign nearby.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is removing roughly one kilometre of protected bike lanes between Islington Avenue and Royal York Road. It is the first stretch of a plan to overhaul up to 19 kilometres of protected lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue in Toronto. The province describes the plan as traffic relief. The story is developing.

A city-issued notice said the work would run overnight through Nov. 17, but The Canadian Press reported that crews returned during the day on Wednesday. Tuesday’s protest ended peacefully after police escorted the crews off the street, according to the same report.

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said after Tuesday’s protest that “these bike lanes are coming out,” according to The Canadian Press. His office did not answer questions about the cost or whether any bike lane would remain.

Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, said he expects protests to continue “until further notice.” He accused the province of “doubling down on spite” rather than seeking win-win solutions.

Cycle Toronto is part of a constitutional challenge to the plan. The Ontario Superior Court sided with cyclists in July 2025, finding the province’s law, Bill 212, put cyclists’ safety at risk. The Ontario Court of Appeal overturned that ruling on Aug. 14, saying the trial judge had stepped into policy matters that belong to the legislature. The Canadian Press reported that the group announced Tuesday it will ask the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case. The Supreme Court decides whether to grant leave to appeal, and has not yet said whether it will.

The cost remains in dispute. A City of Toronto staff report estimated removing all targeted lanes at $48 million. The province disputes that figure and has not released its own, according to The Canadian Press. Sarkaria has said restoring a traffic lane while keeping a bike lane between Kipling Avenue and Islington Avenue would cost $750,000.

The province’s own engineering report points the other way on the case for removal. The Canadian Press reported that the report found any congestion benefits from removing the lanes would be negligible or short-lived, and that bike lanes would cut crashes among all road users by 35 to 50 per cent. Canada News Media reported on Sept. 2 that a city and University of Toronto evaluation of the Bloor pilot found cycling injuries on the corridor fell 56 per cent after the lanes were installed.

The province has left room to keep some lanes. Its Sept. 1 request for proposals asks a winning bidder to study restoring vehicle traffic while identifying options to keep or reconfigure bike lanes “where they make sense” and do not worsen gridlock. As Canada News Media reported on Sept. 4, that is a design study, not a demolition schedule.

The fight is also a campaign issue. Mayor Olivia Chow, who is seeking re-election, called the plan “a gigantic waste of money” that tramples local democracy, and linked it to other provincial overrides, including the island airport expansion and speed camera removal. Her main challenger, Brad Bradford, supports removing the Etobicoke lanes but has not said what he would do with the other targeted lanes. He says residents should decide street by street.

What happens next depends on two things: whether crews keep working in daylight, which draws more protesters, and whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case. Cycle Toronto has said it will keep showing up in the meantime.

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Via The Canadian Press (published on CP24), with additional reporting from CBC News and National Observer coverage of the same protests.