Today, representatives from five schools held a press conference at Bloor and Christie to press the city to make the Bloor Bike Lanes permanent. 
The largest group was the bike club from Central Toronto Academy, who were all wearing green shirts, and many of them were riding matching green bikes. They were announced as the largest bike club in the TDSB.
The bikes were acquired using Trillium Foundation funding. Four lucky schools in the TDSB have or will have a fleet of bicycles to promote cycling to school. CTA was the first such school.
Three CTA students spoke. Two of them were very recent immigrants to Canada. All of them mentioned the positive impact that the Shaw and Harbord bike lanes have had on the school, and that Bloor is a crucial addition to a bike lane network that ties the school to the surrounding neighbourhoods.
Three students from UTS talked about how the convenience and enhanced safety coming from the Bloor bike lane that runs in front of their school.
This speaker was from Bloor Collegiate near “the very busy intersection of Bloor and Dufferin”. He noted that it was too bad that the bike lanes end near Ossington. In particular he noted that many students at the school would love to have the bike lanes extended west to High Park so that they could bike safely for soccer and other sports activities.
Marika was a teacher at UFA, and she presented a student petition and statement in favour of both making the Bloor bike lanes permanent, as well as extending them west to the High Park neighbourhood.
At the end, several of the speakers took questions from the press.
and then it was time for a group picture.
It was great to hear young and diverse voices in support of the Bike Lanes on Bloor.
It was equally inspiring to see youth engaged in activism for a cause in which they believed, particularly the students who were very recent immigrants to our city, and to Canada.
Update:
And a reminder that there will be a public meeting about the Bloor Bike Lane Pilot on Monday, June 5 from 4 to 8 pm at Trinity St. Paul’s. This will probably be the last public meeting before the report to City Council is written. City Council will consider the future of the bike lane pilot this fall.
