Toronto bike snow

Toronto cyclists upset with city for failing to clear snow from bike lanes

Complaints of icy, snow-covered, inaccessible bike lanes have been pouring in from around the city this week following Toronto's most-recent winter (er, technically spring) storm.

The City of Toronto says that crews have been working around the clock to keep roads, bridges, walkways and, yes, bike lanes safe in recent days — but there's a lot of repair work still being done as a result of the storm.

Mayor John Tory reminded the city in a press release on Monday that our "patience and cooperation" is appreciated.

Patience is wearing thin for many, however, as winter drags on and on and on...

Aside from the hardcore all-weather bikers we see out in January and February, most cyclists would just be getting back on their bikes for the season now.

A lot of people had already switched up their method of commute, in fact, when the ice storm came blasting through late last week. 

This might explain why people seem particularly irritated about this snow-in-the-lanes during spring business (especially when the city has proven it can keep up with clearing lanes in the dead of winter).

Toronto's 311 Twitter account has been taking a lot of heat today over the uncleared lanes, and cyclists continue to notify their councillors, city officials and even the TTC about existing bike blockages. 

"We have heard our residents' frustrations with the ongoing efforts to clean up from this weekend's ice storm and have raised those concerns with City staff," reads a joint statement from Tory and Public Works chair Jaye Robinson.

"We have directed them to deploy all available resources and to secure additional resources to help deal with the remnants of this storm as quickly as possible," continues the statement, which was published in a press release on Tuesday afternoon.

"Transportation crews have been working 24/7 since Friday to deal with the storm and its aftermath."

Lead photo by

Andrew_Urbanist/Twitter


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