Ontario promises to pay for ripping out bike lanes that fail unannounced criteria [Video]

The Ford government is promising to pay the cost of removing bike lanes from major city streets that fail to meet its unannounced criteria as it ploughs ahead with a plan to limit biking infrastructure and rip out some routes.

The government has been teasing its changes to bike lanes for a week, with Premier Doug Ford announcing recently that his party “will remove and replace existing bike lanes on primary roads that are bringing traffic in our cities to a standstill.”

Transport Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria confirmed Monday that bike lanes could be removed from some roads as part of a “reasonable” approach to transit planning in Toronto and across Ontario.

“Not everybody can use a bike to get around — these are some of our major arterial roads, whether it is Bloor, University or Yonge Street — people need to get to and from work,” Sarkaria said.

“What we don’t agree (with) and don’t think — …