---
title: "Bike lanes divide Chow and Bradford voters, Nanos poll finds"
description: "A Nanos Research survey conducted for CP24 and CTV News found that 74 per cent of Chow voters support bike lane expansion while 74 per cent of Bradford voters oppose it, with traffic congestion the top transportation concern for all Toronto voters."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/toronto-2026/news/nanos-bike-lanes-poll-toronto-october-15"
last_updated: "2026-10-17T18:40:00.106Z"
---

Bike lane expansion splits Toronto's two leading mayoral candidates' supporters almost exactly in half, according to a Nanos Research poll published by CTV News and CP24 on October 15.

The poll, conducted between October 8 and October 10 among 757 randomly selected Toronto residents, found that 74 per cent of [Olivia Chow](/on/toronto-2026/candidates/olivia-chow) voters backed bike lane expansion. Among [Brad Bradford](/on/toronto-2026/candidates/brad-bradford) voters, 74 per cent opposed it, Nanos Research chief data scientist Nik Nanos said in a statement. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

## Traffic and transit top the list

For all Toronto voters, traffic congestion was the biggest transportation concern, named by 46 per cent of respondents. That view was shared by supporters of both candidates and across every borough, gender, and age group surveyed. TTC reliability came second at 19 per cent. In Scarborough, about 23 per cent of respondents named transit, the highest share of any borough.

Nine per cent of all respondents said too many bike lanes and paths was a concern, making it the third-biggest transportation problem. Eight per cent said there were too few.

## What each candidate has said

Chow, as mayor, continued to expand Toronto's cycling network. Under a 2024 provincial law that barred municipalities from removing traffic lanes to add bike lanes without provincial approval, she narrowed some existing lanes rather than remove them.

Bradford has promised to remove the bike lanes on Bloor Street West between South Kingsway and Resurrection Road and redirect cycling to side streets. In Scarborough, he pledged to remove some bus-priority lanes he described as redundant and convert some to high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

## Investment priorities

When asked who should have the final say on bike lane placement, 45 per cent of respondents said transportation experts and city staff, 29 per cent said Toronto City Council, and 13 per cent said the Province of Ontario.

On investment priorities, Chow voters ranked TTC improvements first at 32 per cent. Bradford voters ranked congestion relief first at 37 per cent. Across all respondents, congestion reduction led at 32 per cent, followed by TTC improvements at 26 per cent, subway expansion at 14 per cent, and road repairs at 10 per cent.

Voters in Toronto choose their mayor and city councillors on Election Day, Monday October 26, 2026. Polls open at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Find your voting place at toronto.ca/Elections. See all mayoral candidates at [/on/toronto-2026/candidates#mayor](/on/toronto-2026/candidates#mayor).

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/on/toronto-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.