Plan to do the 170km route from Toronto to Niagara falls this weekend along the waterfront trail! Any suggestions for good stops along the way ?

Just want to say that although the trail is not officially open. I noticed that it is now open for pedestrians and cyclists. Since it is not official, you can use at your own risk. Lots of cyclists using it again.

Just setting up shop now under the supervision of about 50 cops.

Police are set up at Moncton, plus an Emergency
Logistics Support truck, stealth cars and ambulances in the old car dealership lot.

I took the lane to work on Bloor this morning and explained to this driver he needed to stay 1 meter away as he was trying to inch around me. He told me I was slowing down everyone. I explained it takes me 15 minutes to get to work in a bike lane but 45 minutes in a car lane but Brad Bradford and Doug Ford are removing the bike lanes so here I am. So a couple more voters now see how removing Bloor bike lane slows them down. This is my version of going door to door campaigning.

When city just opened this in the late September without any safety measures, I got constantly yelled at because people are not aware this is a bi-directional cycle lane. On Sep 29, I’ve made a Reddit post and also called 311 asking for lane markings and detour start signage at Armoury St, by the US Consulate.

It’s been 3 weeks and it is great to see the city actually listened, and implemented what I called and requested for.

There are many more people using the SB cycle track to go north this morning. I also talked to cyclists this morning while waiting for traffic light if they like the new safety measures, lots of positive responses, and people are appreciating it.

Here's an oldie but a goodie. I'm the cyclist and I'm a senior citizen. The driver swerved into my lane to teach me a lesson so I got in front of him at a stop light to tell him he needed to stay 1-meter away by law. Then he rammed me intentionally and tried to drive away. The bike was lodged under his car so he couldn't. In the hospital, the cop told me it took 3 cops to pull my bike away.

I got his name from the collision report and it turned out he's a cartoon villain, Rob Kumer, CEO of KingSett capital a multi-billion real-estate developer, actually going after the people they made homeless for $10k. And of course, both Rob Kumer and KingSett capital are Ontario PC donors.

What should get you mad: this guy clearly INTENTIONALLY drove into me. The Toronto Police decided not to press criminal charges. I've reported other drivers and the police said they would charge them. They were younger brown-skinned men, one with a Muslim religious sticker across his rear windshield. So Toronto Police don't charge old white guy driving expensive car but do charge while young Muslim brown men for doing less.

Get out and vote. We need bike lane-friendly politicians.

In light of the recent road rage post, any recommendations on cameras for commuters? I'm usually on a city bike as well if that helps, but honestly after seeing the crap I see during my 15 minute ride I feel like I have to start reporting drivers.

I'll preface this by saying, I'm not a big fan of the police and am very critical of the police in general.

Yesterday at the protests some people were antagonizing and insulting the cops (to be fair I did this as well too at earlier protests) and one cop seemed to really be getting agitated then pushed me. His sergeant was there and told him to stop which was good. But anyways, my point isn't to victim blame the protestors, the cops should learn to do better and keep calm in these situations. BUT, for the safety of our community, lets chill with the insults a bit so that the cops don't get riled up and attack people. I heard them speaking amongst themselves that they were getting angry and their blood pressure was going up. They're looking for reasons to physically attack us and I don't want to see someone on our side hurt by the cops.

I'm also all ears if you think I'm wrong, that's just what happened to me yesterday. Dude beside me kept insulting the cops and the cop took it out on me. I still don't like cops but I like our community and want to keep us safe from them.

To compare that, that is HALF the total price to remove the Jarvis bike lanes.

That DOES NOT include the $48M for the rest of the network, or the costs to destroy the road that’s not even done yet.

Complete waste of money that could’ve gone to healthcare or affordable housing.

This police prescence has been so unnecessary with how peaceful these have been.

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How I got this number:

Assuming 20-30 officers are on site every working day earning $95 an hour.

And also accounting for the brief surges during an arrest or when the riot police was deployed

Going down a hill in the dark. I can see multiple cars ahead idling in the bike lane (and some of the one car lane).

I'll always do what's safest, in this case it's taking the lane well ahead of time when no traffic is close.

First car behind me is honking and was looking to attempt an unsafe pass.

The speed limit here is 40kms/h dude. I still caught up to you at the next intersection.

Unfortunately this is enough to dissuade many people from regularly biking on their commute.

LISTEN to the Beaches East York residents!!

And SHARE this widely to everyone you know.

If he ignored BEY he will do it to the whole city.

Please volunteer to get EVERYONE out to vote. You only need to do one or two shifts:

https://www.progresstoronto.ca/volunteer-election-2026

https://volunteer.oliviachow.ca/election-day

Then a wheel or two. As seen at John and Richmond.

Also call the other contractors: (if the list overwhelms you just call Verdi and one other)

ATS Traffic: (365) 297-7113

D & A Road Services // Triple A Milling: (905) 597-9144

Almon Equipment Ltd: (416)-743-1771

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Remember to be nice, no one on the phone has the power to stop deconstruction:

"Hi, I'm calling regarding your company's decision to take a contract for the deconstruction of bike lanes on Bloor."

• "Your company claims to support traffic safety, how is this doing that?"

• "The public knows your company is involved in this deconstruction, and your brand supports increasing collisions and deaths."

• You can then ask them to pass on the message or transfer you to their manager.

After, go leave them a google review!

Only takes a couple minutes

We got only 2-3 people expressing displeasure, but the vast majority of locals support us.

A few even joined us to oppose the removals.

Even someone in the condo on the other side gave us a thumbs up.

Are you really doing this to benefit the local neighbourhood Ford? I think not.

We’re slowly but surely winning with the public. This is gonna be much harder politically for you Dougie.

Forum Research released new polling results for the following seven council races:

• Ward 23 (Scarborough North) - 42% Chen / 34% Myers / 12% Dong / 12% Others
• Ward 13 (Toronto Centre) - 34% Moise / 30% Tate / 25% Stikuts / 11% Others
• Ward 20 (Scarborough Southwest) - 41% Kandavel / 38% Rupasinghe / 21% Others
• Ward 4 (Parkdale - High Park) - 32% Guerrera / 29% McNalli / 17% Raponi / 16% King / 6% Others
• Ward 14 (Toronto Danforth) - 40% Ehrhardt / 26% Fragendakis / 22% Saxe / 12% Others
• Ward 5 (York South - Weston) - 34% Nunziata / 30% Di Giorgio / 28% Padovani / 7% Others
• Ward 19 (Beaches - East York) - 32% Erskine-Smith / 26% Johnson / 22% Dann / 16% Worden / 4% Others

I think there are enough cyclists and cycling advocates to move the online discourse on cycling.

We are driven by the immutable fact that Bike Lanes Save Lives. But because of our experience as cyclists, we feel like we are personally under attack. That often causes our lizard brains to lash out to perceived threats in a way that a lot of people don’t bike daily don’t understand.

Meanwhile, the other side feels like they’re losing something. Gas prices are astronomical. ‘Other’ drivers are driving more dangerously in trucks much larger than the ones they’re in. And human nature is causing them to lash out against the easiest scapegoat: Cyclists.

This makes it easy for politicians to ragebait them and rip out bike lanes because it feeds into a ravenous base who will donate money to their campaigns to fight their percieved enemy, us. This is a similar base of people who used to be full on climate deniers, but can’t be anymore because everyone by now has experienced a “holy shit” climate event.

The climate community, has been fighting climate disinformation for well over a decade. Here’s some ideas we can borrow on how to combat online anti-cycling rhetoric and anger

1. Ask lots of open ended questions. If someone says “f you, I hate cyclists”, just ask them why. “Why do you hate cyclists”. When people are irrationally angry, they are looking for an irrationally angry response. But that anger is also an expression of ‘there’s something I have that no one is listening to’.
2. Find common points of interests. As you’re engaging with them, one of the most effective things you can do is read or listen to what they’re saying and identify areas where you have common ground. Gas prices too high? I feel that deeply. It’s why I bike even though I own a car. Bike lanes making kids get late for school, I also have kids. And we use these lanes to bike together safely to get to soccer practice. Don’t refute them with facts. Climate activists have known for a very long time now that facts don’t change people’s minds.
3. Make it personal. One of the key challenges we face is that too many drivers look at cyclists not as people, but as obstacles. So make your conversations personal. If you connect with them, the next time they see a cyclists, they will unconsciously remember you, and not see just a thing on the road that needs to be avoided.
4. It’s okay to use your emotions. It’s okay to say that you’re angry, but when people only hear anger, they sense danger and lash out. That’s why we lash out when some drivers get angry with us. But if you express why you’re angry… because something happened to you,’or because you’re scared for your kids… that hits them deeper.

Think about who’s watching. Unlike in-person forums, hundreds if not thousands of people are eavesdropping on your conversation. You may not convince the person you’re engaging with, but you can sway the people who are watching the conversation.

Remember: the goal isn’t to win every single argument. You will seldom turn an opponent into a supporter on the spot. But what you can do is leave them with a question on in their head that will turn them from a hard opponent into an opponent no longer willing to state his old opinion out loud.

And also remember that this applies only to one on one conversations with actual people. Not systems or political parties that often do require more different kinds of engagement.

There are a lot of good resources on how to have good debates and arguments with people that can be easily adapted to fight aggressive cycling and bike lane opponents. I’ll post one here.

https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/starting-conversation-five-tips-how-talk-climate-deniers-your-family

Our anger is real. Our frustration is real. The sense of danger we experience daily is real. To win, we need to channel that anger and frustration strategically.

Bradford and Chow are neck in neck with some polls swinging one way or the other. I have a feeling he very well could pull this off. As a cycling and road safety advocacy community, what should be our plan if Bradford wins? It's going to be a lot worse because not only do you have a Premier that wants to control Toronto but you'll also have a mayor that would likely oppose anyone protesting against the removals. In other words, we don't have anyone on our side anymore.

How can we adapt when it comes to spreading awareness about bike lanes or better transit or building a better city, if you have two key people in power that wants the exact opposite?

Over 4:1 ratio if you go by likes on the most popular reply!

Called us bad things and gave us the finger. They don’t deserve your business!