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Finally we're going to RIP up all those cycle lanes!

I'm going first to the office to get my cyclist's license!

Who's with me!?

You won't be smiling when all those cyclists are now the people in cars in front of you a the next traffic light.

No need to worry about bike infrastructure any longer, because - guess what!! Now, with our bright, young, intelligent, progressive new mayor, there won't be ANY MORE new inner city bike lanes to worry about!!! It will practically be a non-issue! Afterall, roads are for cars and trucks, not anything else. Oh, if you do want to bike (why anyone would want to bike is SO beyond me when they could guzzle oil and sit in their very own armored palace 500x their weight) then we are going to build for you a fantastic 'network' of OFF ROAD cycling paths! YES! So when you do your daily commute from the city's far west end into the downtown core, rest assured, there is a long, oh so long and city spanning, off road parkspace just waiting for your two wheeled use. No, we do not know where this is or how this could be feasible or how you would continue to transport yourself (you won't), but you don't belong on roads, so hey!

I suppose sarcasm is the only way I can cope with the incredibly tragedy of watching the city I was born and raised and devote my biking heart to be torn to the ground. Rest in peace, beautiful city.

Yo, cycling commenters:

Stop whining! Jeez, you'd think you guys were surfing the internet on day passes from CAMH! No streetcar tracks are going to be ripped up, no bikes are going to be forced off the road, and definitely no off road trails are going to be designed, built, installed, or maintained within the coming years. (Don't get me started on how disorganized, dysfunctional, and positively backward our off road community is - you guys look pro compared to that lot)

There are still plenty of cycling-friendly and mushy-middle councillors on council (Mihevc, Parker, Shiner, Davis, DeBaermaker, Vaughan) and the best thing the cycling community could do would be to work positively and informatively with the newcomers to help them learn the issues, overcome the obstacles, and move cycling forward.

And for heaven's sake, stop attacking Ford, and start teaching him. Who of you have actually spoken with the man and discussed cycling with him one on one? I have, and let me tell you, he's nowhere near as vehemently opposed to cycling as people make him out to be - he's actually vehemently opposed to any special interest lobby that expects entitlement and special treatment for the paltry effort of whining and posting on internet forums. The Toronto Cycling community needs to work together more than ever, more than before, and cooperate.

rider

Alright pinheads, stop your goddamned whining and get a grip! The results of the municipal election were entirely predictable in the wake of the past seven years. Richard Nixon once observed (quite accurately) that despite the incessant drumbeat from the liberal media, there is in fact a "silent majority" which often goes unrepresented and unheard from. However, when sufficiently antagonized, irritated and persecuted, the silent majority makes itself known in no uncertain terms; hence, the Rob Ford juggernaut!

If you wish to ride your bicycles around town, go right ahead. Bicyclists coexisted with automobiles quite well for decades UNTIL some "genius" decided to make cycling a political statement as well a means of transportation and method of exercise. Cyclists were no longer to defer to motorized vehicles as common sense would suggest; no, they were instead to be treated as equals and demand equal space on the roads. Not surprisingly, tension, hostility and occasionally madness ensued.

The Michael Bryant case well illustrates the zenith of the insanity that has been propogated by the voices of madness. Things like "critical mass" are entirely counter-productive as they only exacerbate the divide metaphorical divide that already exists between the strident cycling community and motorists. The fact is, cars are not going to disappear from the streets, period! So, ride your bikes, just refrain from the deliberately provocative maneuvers that will only further antagonize motorists and endanger lives.

You guys are right, cycling isn't swimming with sharks! Rob Ford totally doesn't want bicycles off the road! This election is a farce, if not a tragedy. At least we'll all get one free DUI like our leader did. Laugh. Silent majority is hilarious, i'm always surprised how people vote to their fears. Rob Ford knew this and he also is forgetting his election promises by the second now.

A mayor who makes Mel Lastman look like Pierre Trudeau on a particularly witty day.

Why has no one mentioned the cost to the taxpayer of obesity during this election?
Rob Ford promotes an unhealthy lifestyle and he and his.. big buddies will cost us all a lot of money in the future. Ford has the mentality and look of a 1950's politician. However, what can one expect from Toronto, world class city? The rest of the world now will see Rob Ford as the face of Toronto :)

Now that bike lanes will not be an issue perhaps the city could sponsor more bicycle education to teach cyclists how to integrate and get along with traffic like every one else. I support the growth of cycling but not at any cost. Integrated cycling is the way to go!

And the big one, nicely cartooned in the Star today, won't have the votes to do as much of his agenda as was promised.
Cyclists are not going away - we continue to ride, and for a diversity of reasons, including trying to fight climate change by bike-riding, and issues of peak oil etc. aren't disappearing, despite the broad desire to have our collective head up a tailpipe.
Wayne Scott observed that in some ways Ford is the best thing to happen to us - he's such a large target for almost everything I've felt that the progress under Miller etc. was really kinda foul. The "progress" also includes the Jarvis bike lanes, which helped promote this bikelash, and quite honestly, while change was needed for Jarvis, if we got the Sherbourne St. bike lanes repaved, we aren't Europe yet, so no real need for another parallel facility when lower west end old core needs a bike lane, or Lawrence.
Yes, I've talked to Rob Ford, and of all the Councillors on the last Council that I wrote to on a theme, often the Bloor bike lanes, Ford was the only one to respond. He's vulnerable on this argument too: if we could expand the packed Bloor/Danforth subway by the mere cost of paint, how stupid would we be if we didn't do it?
So sure, we have a figurehead that again accurately represents Caronto to the rest of the world - and it's aligned with Canada getting the Fossil of the Year Award, and more recently the Dodo award at a Biodiversity congress.
We may need to change venues for change - ie. laughing at him - some great Youtube videos FF*Ford and John Barber; and maybe we have allies in other parts of the world, and there's a whole different shystem called the legal one, which admittedly doesn't seem to work all that well given the Sheppard killing that's true, and some other things, but it is still a useful lever. Or work on the provincial level. Or have a huge die-in in Nathan Phillips Square on the first day of this Council. Or give him all sorts of free lunches and snacks like poutine to help a heart attack. And try to keep our collective noses cleaner - it can be really aggravating at times to see how many of us blow through reds, even though I know it's often justifiable given the road surfaces and very tight roads at times.
Right now, I see some sunshine!

1200 folk lie-in for every bike accident every year in TO