Ford won't scrap Jarvis bike lanes yet

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says there's no rush to remove bike lanes on Jarvis Street in the city's downtown, but said he would like to see them gone "eventually."

Ford on Thursday addressed media reports that he wanted to get rid of the bike lanes on Jarvis that were installed last summer.

"I've never supported the bike lanes on Jarvis. You know, eventually would I like to see [them go?]. Absolutely," he said.

"But is it a priority right now? I haven't got any documentation or anything like that. No, it's not something that's going to happen immediately." 

It's estimated it would cost around $68,000 to remove the lanes.

Meanwhile, a plan to introduce a network of dedicated bike lanes throughout downtown will be introduced at a June 23 meeting of the public works and infrastructure committee.

The chair of the committee, Denzil Minnan Wong, says the plan focuses on introducing curbed, physically separated lanes on downtown streets like Sherbourne, Wellesley, St. George and Beverly. He also wants to add a major east-west bike lane on Richmond, a one-way street running west.

Further details  — such as where the lanes stop and start — have not been released yet.