Ontario Premier Doug Ford sided with people who claimed some bike lanes in the city hold up traffic and endanger emergency vehicle response times.
Recommended Videos
Using provincial power, he will big-foot the city to take out some of the lanes, with a stretch of Bloor St. in the city’s west end becoming the flashpoint of debate.
Last Friday evening, a group of bike-lane enthusiasts, led by David Shellnutt, who fashions himself as “The Biking Lawyer,” organized a protest ride through that section of Etobicoke.
As I live in the area, I went to a local pub called The Old Sod, on Bloor St. just east of Royal York Rd., to see how many cyclists would participate and how they would behave.
I was curious about behaviour due to rumours of vandalism and how Shellnutt responded to that threat ahead of time.
John Kiefte had earlier written on X, “My advice would be to bike along all the bike lanes, obey traffic, be super friendly and get the general public on our side.”
Shellnutt responded, “The time for niceties has ended.”
As a large group of cyclists rode by that night, chanting about road safety and filling the street, not just bike lanes, I stepped onto the sidewalk to watch.
A young woman holding a bike helmet engaged me in conversation about how the bike lanes could have been installed on Bloor St. in a way that might work for everyone.
Next to us, the owner of The Old Sod was offering Tim’s doughnuts and hot coffee to the cold cyclists.
Whether he was mocking them or stretching out a hand of cooperation, I don’t know. But he did it pleasantly.
I won’t go through the woman’s plan for bike lanes, because the point is that she was of the mind we could all get along if we tried. She told me she had been on the ride in support of the lanes, but got off her bike to talk to people at the bar as she was upset many of the riders were screaming at the bar owner, who has taken a stand against the bike lane in front of his establishment.
She is the Good Rider.
Suddenly, next to us, a disturbance took place. A masked man from the bike crowd had dismounted to grab a sandwich board on the sidewalk, property of the Old Sod, and tried to smash the sign with his foot.
Before anyone could grab him, he hopped back on his bike to escape, anonymously. Cowardly.
He is the Bad Rider.
How is the organizer of the ride, by his apparent opposition to peaceful and law-abiding demonstration, not partially responsible for vandalism? He is a self-declared leader.
I reached out to Shellnutt for comment Friday morning.
I asked whether he meant that vandalism was fine. Was it encouraged? I would have asked if he had got back to me, but he did not.
A crowd can become a mob in an instant.
Society could work out issues of difference if everyone wanted to.
There are good, well-meaning people like the Good Rider on both sides of this debate.
But the Bad Rider is on one side.