Office of the Mayor (City Hall, 2nd Floor, 100 Queen St. W., Toronto, ON M5H 2N2)

Dear Mayor Tory and Toronto City Council

On Thursday, May 14, over 50 community organizations signed on an open letter calling on the City of Toronto to implement the following recommendations as part of ActiveTO:

1. Immediately install cross-town ‘spine’ bikeways on Bloor St., Danforth Ave., and Yonge St. (approximately 40 km);
2. Install 60 km of additional bikeways on an urgent basis (after expedited engagement of neighbourhood leaders) to mirror the busiest TTC surface routes; and
3. Implement lower speed limits on roads with new bikeways to protect vulnerable and novice riders.

We join organizations such as Bells on Bloor, Cycle Toronto, David Suzuki Foundation, TTC Riders, and Walk Toronto – among others – in calling on the City of Toronto to urgently improve the safety of people who bike during COVID-19. We believe bikeways on Bloor, Danforth, Yonge, and on other busy TTC surface routes – along with lower speed limits – is the best way forward in accomplishing this goal. The recently announced quiet streets and weekend closures are not enough.

The original letter and full list of signatories can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d5Ine3-Zehb4qe2zm5y6luOk6bZlXxr4/view.

CC:         Dr. Eileen de Villa (Toronto Medical Officer of Health), Chris Murray (City Manager), Barbara Gray (General Manager, Transportation Services), Saad Rafi and Dr.David Mowat (Office of Recovery and Rebuild), Jacquelyn Hayward (Transportation Infrastructure Management), Becky Katz (Manager, Cycling and Pedestrian Projects Unit)