Montréal, QC: Luc Ferrandez, mayor of Montréal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, discusses street-level changes in his community designed to slow down and redirect suburban commuters cutting through the neighbourhood. Road space has been taken back from vehicle traffic, in exchange for widened boulevards, gardens, markets and pedestrian spaces, putting the needs of people above the wants of commuters. Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford blasts any such proposal in Canada’s largest city, labelling any idea to return precious urban space to the people as “the war on cars” and proposing to spend billions of dollars extra on infrastructure projects, just to prevent the loss of vehicle lanes.
Minneapolis, MN: the recent winner of Bicycling Magazine’s award for most bicyle friendly city in America shows off its famous Midtown Greenway, a dedicated bicycle route attracting new development and business in the city centre. In Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford’s bike plan calls for removing bike lanes from many city streets, because as he says, “roads are for cars and trucks.”
Detroit, MI: in response to sharply increasing use of bicycles by commuters, America’s Motor City plans to add to its network of almost 60km of on-street bicycle lanes. Despite sharply increasing demand in Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford will delete 7km of existing bicycle lanes this year, and vows to never install new lanes in the city.
Curitiba, Brazil: Former mayors and transportation experts discuss the city’s pioneering BRT system, which includes fare prepayment and dedicated, grade-separated bus lanes, and operates at the capacity typical of subway lines for a fraction of the cost. In Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford cancelled the city’s rapid transit plan, vowing to eliminate streetcars and promising no new surface transit ever again, focusing instead on one prohibitively expensive subway line.
