Toronto’s late mayor Rob Ford was notorious for his crack cocaine consumption, but there were some other white lines he didn’t care for. The Chris Farley-esque politician, who famously called bicyclists “a pain in the ass to motorists,” made a point of having existing bike lanes removed to create more room for cars. This led to a memorable showdown in 2012, when protesters temporarily stopped the removal of the Jarvis Street bike lanes by laying down in the street to block the pavement-scraping machine.
And since Toronto is a sister city to Chicago, there’s been some sharing of ideas when it comes to improving conditions for biking. The Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bicycling Ambassadors outreach team was directly modeled after Toronto’s Road and Trail Ambassador program.
Another distinctive feature of the city’s transit system is the many streetcar lines, whose bright-red cars offer a smoother, more civilized ride than a bus—although the tracks present a hazard for cyclists. While some lines run in mixed traffic, meaning they aren’t any faster than a typical CTA bus, a few lines, such as the one on Spadina Street, have dedicated right-of-way.
Bloor Street, a busy east-west thoroughfare lined with funky mom-and-pop businesses and the quirky Bata Shoe Museum, recently got protected lanes on a trial basis. The city removed one mixed-traffic lane, as well as a parking lane on some blocks, to make room for the bikeway.
After a gray day of riding, the sky cleared up once I reached Ward’s Island, and I was treated to a transcendentally beautiful view of the skyline, including the needlelike CN Tower, which is, appropriately, featured on the cover of Views, Drake’s latest album. (Yes, it’s touristy, but if you’ve never been to the Six, you’ll want to ride one of the scary-fast elevators to the top for the paronrama—trust me.)
