Bill 60: Cyclists, Bike Lanes & More

Bill 60, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 is Doug Ford and Prabmeet Sarkaria’s most recent volley in the war on bikes. Of course, it’s much more than that, as omnibus bills often are. Aimed at “flooding the zone” to distract and confuse. Political maneuvers like this generate noise on a bunch of issues in the hopes that real debate and opposition is drowned out, that people are distracted.

TTC Riders have noted how this Bill could affect pedestrians and transit users.

The York South-Weston Tenants Union is fighting hard against provisions in the bill that would deal critical blows to tenants rights in this province. We could go on…

Our focus is to highlight what this means to people on bikes in Ontario. We know thanks to Cycle Toronto’s legal challenge and successful courtroom fight against Bill 212, that Ford cannot at this point rip out existing bike lanes. So, with Bill 60 he’s trying with to prevent the development and implementation of future bike lanes. The Bill 60 wording that would amend the Highway Traffic Act is as follows:

SCHEDULE 5 - HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ACT

A new section sets out situations in which a municipality shall not reduce or permit a reduction in the number of lanes that are available for use by motor vehicles and makes changes to the related regulation-making powers. Amendments are also made respecting the reimbursement of municipalities that provide support or information respecting the removal or reconfiguration of bicycle lanes required under the Act.

Prohibition re reduction of lanes

195.3(1) Except as permitted by the regulations, a municipality shall not, by by-law or otherwise, reduce or permit a reduction in the number of marked lanes available for travel by motor vehicles on a highway or a portion of a highway under the municipality’s jurisdiction and control for any of the following purposes:

   1.  A bicycle lane.

   2.  Any other prescribed purpose.

What this means we believe is that no new bike lanes will be permitted after Bill 60 becomes law that require the reduction of a lane of travel use “by motor vehicles”.

This presents a huge barrier to the implementation of safe infrastructure. The removal or reconfiguration of traditional lanes of traffic are often how we create new bike lanes and safely/efficiently get people on bikes around our cities and towns.

Bike Ottawa puts it well explaining the need for road reconfiguration:

These retrofits are the single most important tool Ottawa has to make our streets safer for people outside of a vehicle. They are how the city has decided to build a connected grid of safe, separated bike lanes across the city, because it is MUCH cheaper and easier than redesigning an entire roadway, curbs, sidewalks and all. This bill stops that work cold.

Here’s a partial list of planned bike infrastructure projects that would immediately be prohibited or have already been put on ice indefinitely: sections of Orléans Boulevard, Gladstone-Gilmour bikeway, Kent Street, Slater Street, Albert Street. Expect this list to get longer.

Like advocates and the local government in Ottawa, cities and towns that use local knowledge and community input, logically have the best insight into how to balance traffic flow with active transportation, road safety, and community needs. Cycling is demonstrated means of combating congestion; ‘bike lanes are an essential element of multi-modal planning that removes cars from the road for short trips and transit connections, thus alleviating congestion, not causing it’.

Ford is stripping communities and local governments of that power and making decisions without their input or wealth of knowledge. Minister Sarkaria and Premier Ford are again overstepping their mandate. Ford was elected to serve the people of Ontario, not squabble over a side street in Windsor or the Sault.

Further, the wording around ‘regulation making powers’ contained in Bill 60 also creates real uncertainty over what further steps the Minister of Transportation could take against bike lanes and the yet created hoops Sarkaria promises will be created for municipalities hoping to install safe infrastructure. We suspect legislation wise, there is more bad news for cyclists to come.

To add insult to injury, Bill 60 also contains loose language around costs. What seems apparent is that any costs put into developing bike lane plans where construction hasn’t been initiated will not be reimbursed. For municipalities that put years of work and consultations into infrastructure changes, this is a heavy burden and represents resources wasted in the Premier’s political culture War on Bikes.   

We can and must fight back.

What You Should Do:

1.      Sign up to comment on Bill 60 BEFORE NOVEMBER 22, 2025.

2.      Contact your local MPP and the Premier and voice your concern over Bill 60 and its impact on safe cycling (and other issues with the too if you’re so inclined, we need to find intersections with groups similarly targeted by Ford to build a broad coalition of support)

3.      Sign the multi organization letter of opposition to Bill 60.

4.      Support organizations like Cycle Toronto, Cycle Hamilton, Guelph Coalition for Active Transportation, Cycle WR, Bike Ottawa, London Cycle Link and so many more promoting safe infrastructure and opposing provincial overreach.

5.      Listen to other groups targeted by Bill 60 and find similarities and issues we can find commonalities on. Supporting each other is how we keep one another safe and ensure a better Ontario for all.

6.      Attend town halls and infrastructure consultations to share your support for safe infrastructure and new bike lanes. Help push existing projects through before the provincial wrecking ball swings (meaning when Bill 60 and whatever is to follow becomes law).

Cyclists are vulnerable road users. Bill 60 aims to make it more dangerous for people on bikes to navigate their communities, commute to work, get exercise or work (by bike). If you’re injured as a result of dangerous infrastructure, contact our office immediately. We are experts in helping cyclists navigate post-collision injuries not just when motor vehicles are involved but where governments have failed to keep our roadways safe for use by people on bikes.

If you’ve been injured on the road, contact us: info@thebikinglawyer.ca/800-725-0754.

STAY INFORMED