Way back in 2001, the City of Toronto created an excellent roadmap of where cycling should be going in the next decade - the Toronto Bike Plan. Now, all they have to do is implement it.

The city has fallen short of our expectations

As of Sept 2009, only 109.7kms of on street bike lanes have been installed since the bike plan was approved by City Council in 2001. There were 495kms promised by 2011.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance in its 2007 Smog Report stated "While the City has been great at planning for sustainable transportation, it has performed poorly in actually implementing existing policies."

Although the City has promised much in the past two years, and are doing better than previous years at getting lanes approved and painted, they continue to fall short of expectations year after year. Councillor Adrian Heaps was quoted in Toronto Star Article on June 18th, 2007, "The city is going to hit its 30-kilometre target for 2007 or else."

The final tally of 2007: 7.7kms! This leaves us wondering what happened.

This is unacceptable. The city has an approved bike plan, yet the installation of individual lanes seems to have stalled year after year in political process.

We anxiously await the city living up to the Bike Plan. Announcements are exciting yet it is the physical presence of cycling infrastructure that encourages new riders, and keeps cyclists safe.

We sense a shift in gears in moving towards implementation of the bike plan... lets hold the city accountable to PAINT the PLAN!

Get involved and stay tuned for updates as we work with members and advocates across Toronto to help the City Paint the Plan!

Track the progress of the implementation of the Bikeway Network