More than 600 healthcare workers have signed an open letter demanding Ontario Premier Doug Ford stop his plan to remove three major bike lanes in Toronto.
The province first mandated the removal of 19 kilometres of bike lanes along Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue under Bill 212, a plan previously ruled “unconstitutional” by an Ontario judge due to safety concerns. Ford’s government challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal, which overturned the lower court’s ruling in August and gave the province the power to take out the lanes.
Although the construction timeline is unclear, a provincial announcement on Sept. 1 said work would begin “immediately” to reinstate motor vehicle lanes on Bloor Street West and a request for proposals to complete the work remains open.
With the start of construction imminent, Ontario healthcare professionals under the banner of Doctors for Safe Cycling released an open letter denouncing Ford’s plan.
The letter calls on the province to allow municipalities to make their own decisions regarding bike lanes and urges Ford to stop the project, arguing that bike lanes protect the health and safety of everyone on the road.
“As healthcare workers, we often bear witness to the trauma inflicted on patients and families by road violence [and] traffic collisions,” said Samantha Green, a family physician and Doctors for Safe Cycling member, to Canada’s National Observer.
Green pointed to studies showing bike lanes reduce the risk of injury for cyclists by up to 90 per cent and make all road users feel safer, including drivers. She also said investing in bike lanes is an important step to prevent chronic diseases — like diabetes and heart disease — because cycling infrastructure makes it “more desirable” for people to ride their bikes, increasing physical activity.
Internal documents revealed by the court litigation process showed that removing the bike lanes along Yonge, Bloor and University could increase collisions by 54 per cent without reducing traffic congestion.
The project is expected to cost more than $48 million, according to City of Toronto estimates — in addition to the city losing the $27 million invested in building and upgrading the lanes since 2016.
Critics are concerned that, in addition to the costs of replacing the bike lanes, their removal could further burden Ontario’s healthcare system.
Dr. Adil Shamji, Ontario Liberal Party MPP and emergency physician, told CNO that removing bike lanes will “add to the demands in our emergency department [and] to the staffing demands that we face in our hospitals, which almost certainly will lead to rising costs in healthcare.”
Whether the city or province will pay for the bike lanes to be removed has not been disclosed, but the funding could “be saving hundreds of jobs at hospitals in Hamilton,” Shamji said, referencing Hamilton Health Sciences, which plans to cut 413 frontline healthcare jobs in response to their projected $150-million deficit.
Ford’s office did not respond to CNO’s request for comment in time for publication.
The premier has previously defended his government’s decision to move forward with bike lane removal, claiming in a video posted to LinkedIn last month that the plan would help “fight gridlock and get drivers moving again.”
Documents from the City of Toronto suggest removing the bike lanes could, in fact, make traffic worse.
— With files from Cloe Logan
September 29th 2026
