More than 50 centimetres of snow had fallen in Toronto in a series of snowstorms from February 12 to 16; something which the City recently admitted could take as long as three weeks to remove. Since I needed to do my weekly grocery run in Chinatown, I took the Mozzmobile (cargo bike) this morning to see the status of the bike lanes.
The westbound Bloor bike lanes from Sherbourne to Yonge Streets were reasonably clear.
Near St. Paul’s Bloor Street Church, I saw a snowplow which was allegedly clearing the bike lanes.
Unfortunately, the bike lane was impassible once I approached Yonge Street.
After getting through a small windrow at Avenue Road, the bike lane was somewhat passible again.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t fully plowed all the way to St. George with a cyclist in front of me also struggling. As with the Yonge to Avenue stretch, I had to take the lane again for a brief spell.
While it appears the protected intersection was cleared, the pedestrian crosswalk accesses were not. I did see some pedestrians wait within the intersection to cross because of this.
On St. George, parts of the northbound bike lane were accessible, but the southbound bike lane was not.
On Beverly, I am reminded again as to why door zone bike lanes are a bad idea. Because of the difficulty for plows to clear right up to the curb, the bike lane inevitably gets blocked.
Aside from the first bike, the rest of this bike share station was still snowed in one week after the last snow had fallen. This was the case for other bike share stations including one near my home, though the one at Bloor and St. George was easier to access.
Montréal’s BIXI network plows their limited number of stations, which makes me wonder why can’t Bike Share Toronto do the same for some of their more heavily used stations?
BIXI stations are getting cleared with a snowblower.
— Oh The Urbanity! (@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social) February 18, 2025 at 9:47 PM
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Some of the side streets such as D’Arcy and Baldwin only had wheel tracks.
Bike parking was difficult to find, so I had to lift the Mozzmobile slightly to get it locked to the post.
Here’s a snowed in bike rack on Spadina.
On the way back, the road conditions going eastbound were even worse. Just past Avenue, there was a false sense of security with part of the bike lane plowed. It was blocked shortly past this post, so I ended up having to backtrack a bit to take the lane.
While the Yonge to Church segment was cleared, the area where I saw the snowplow did a poor job clearing a short gap from the church to Ted Rogers Way. A similar issue was also spotted just before Sherbourne.
To be fair, this snowstorm has been difficult not just for cyclists. There were some sidewalks in Rosedale which still weren’t cleared while walking Mozzie, while this garbage bin by Sherbourne and Elm has been overflowing. Another garbage bin by Elm and Glen was almost completely snowed in.
If there’s one more gripe I have about winters in Toronto, it’s the excessive use of salt at TTC stops. Even in places without bus shelters.
Given Toronto had another major snowfall event on January 17, 2022, it makes me wonder whether the City of Toronto learned anything from that storm. Especially with the persistent problems I noted here one week after the last storm. This lack of bike lane and sidewalk clearing has serious repercussions for vulnerable road users, while having garbage pile up is simply unsanitary.
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| An unplowed sidewalk on Roxborough Street East |
One last thing. If you haven’t done so at the advance polls, don’t forget to #VoteFordOut this Thursday! You can also vote by special ballot at your local returning office by Wednesday at 6 PM. If you need help deciding who to vote for, please check out these resources from Common Ground Ontario, Not One Seat, and Co-operate For Canada.
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