---
title: "Province to remove Bloor West bike lanes Tuesday, Chow and Bradford respond"
description: "The Ford government said work on Bloor Street West in Etobicoke will begin October 13. The two Toronto mayoral candidates disagree sharply on the move."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/toronto-2026/news/bloor-west-bike-lanes-chow-bradford-october-8"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:10:29.489Z"
---

Ontario's transportation ministry told CityNews Toronto on October 8 that work to remove the protected bike lanes on Bloor Street West in Etobicoke will begin Tuesday, October 13. The announcement drew sharp reactions from both Toronto mayoral candidates.

Mayor [Olivia Chow](/on/toronto-2026/candidates/olivia-chow) called the move outrageous. She said she found out about the construction start date on Thursday afternoon, after a debate with [Brad Bradford](/on/toronto-2026/candidates/brad-bradford). "I just learned that Premier Doug Ford is taking out our bike lanes, it is outrageous, he's overstepping," Chow told CityNews.

Chow said she had been preparing drawings for a plan that would have kept both bike lanes and car lanes on that stretch of Bloor West. She said Bradford's repeated public support for the removal ended that possibility. "We had Coun. Bradford inviting (Ford) in to say 'come and take it away,'" she said. "That is trampling on local democracy, the right of Torontonians through their municipal government to have a say over the municipal affairs of the city."

Bradford said he supports removing that specific Etobicoke segment and cited traffic numbers from the debate. "Part of Bloor from Resurrection Road to South Kingsway, where you have 38,490 cars per day, and 197 bikes," he said. He added that he does not oppose bike lanes on other streets. "There's a lot of bike lanes that have a lot more usage, Richmond, Adelaide, University even, Danforth out in the east end."

Bradford acknowledged he had previously voted the wrong way. He was one of 21 city councillors who voted in 2023 to add the lanes on that stretch. In August 2026, he said local business owners had suffered and were suing the city over the lanes, and called the vote a mistake.

The province announced in September 2026 that it planned to restore motor-vehicle lanes on several Toronto corridors, starting with Bloor Street West. Yonge Street, University Avenue, Queen's Park and related streets are also listed, though Ontario has given no start dates for those sites.

Voting day for the Toronto municipal election is October 26, 2026. Advance voting is open from October 6 to 11. To see what both mayoral candidates have said on transit and other issues, visit the candidate pages at [/on/toronto-2026/candidates#mayor](/on/toronto-2026/candidates#mayor).

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