Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford is promising to remove some red bus lanes in Scarborough in an effort to address gridlock.
Bradford made the announcement on Wednesday morning.
He explained that he would return 12 kilometres of Scarborough roads to general traffic by removing red priority bus lanes on Kingston Road, Morningside Avenue, Kennedy Road and Midland Road.
Bradford said that he would maintain the bus lanes on Eglinton Avenue East, which he said are used by more buses than any other road in Scarborough.
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Bradford said the lanes were initially intended as a temporary measure while the city waited for the 18.6-kilometre Eglinton East LRT, but he argued the project has not moved forward or secured funding under Olivia Chow’s leadership.
The criticism comes months after Ontario’s transportation minister said the $4.65 billion project is not currently on their list of priorities.
Bradford previously announced that he would make the Eglinton East LRT his top transit priority if elected.
Olivia Chow has also pushed to have the project prioritized and in April tabled a motion at Toronto City Council to make the Eglinton East LRT its top priority among unfunded transit projects, and to call on the federal and provincial governments to each fund a third of the cost.
What lanes would be removed?
Toronto began installing red priority bus lanes in 2020 and has significantly expanded its network in the years since.
The penalty for driving in a red bus lane is a $110 fine plus three demerit points.
Under Bradford’s plan, he says the red bus lanes on Kennedy Road and Midland Road would be removed immediately and turned over to general traffic, while the lanes on Kingston Road and Morningside Avenue would be converted to high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
“We’re going to convert the lanes on Kingston and Morningside to HOV lanes to help parents who are driving their kids to soccer practice or to school,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chow’s campaign pushed back on the proposal, saying Bradford was announcing changes that her administration had already planned for Kennedy Road and Midland Road following the opening of the Scarborough Busway.
Her team said a transition plan to remove the red bus lanes on Kennedy and Midland is already coming forward for the new term of council, following an announcement by Chow in August.
The campaign also pointed to Bradford’s role in accelerating the rollout of priority bus lanes in 2020, when he introduced a motion at the TTC Board calling for the fast-tracking of bus-priority measures.
Chow’s campaign also said the mayor has secured support from council to make the Scarborough East Rapid Transit line the city’s top transit expansion priority and has allocated $15 million to expedite its design.
Bradford said he would make a personal push to Queen’s Park and Ottawa for funding within his first 100 days as mayor, with a goal of getting construction underway by 2030.
“These changes will stay in place until the LRT that Scarborough was promised is funded and under construction. It’s not going to be renamed. It’s not going to be studied further. It’s going to be funded and under construction,” he said.
Advocacy group pushes back
In a statement to CTV News, transit advocacy group TTCriders said that they are calling on Bradford to “reverse his proposal to remove priority lanes.”
The group noted that the painted lanes are “part of a continuous RapidTO corridor that has made transit faster and more reliable for thousands of daily Scarborough riders.”
“Removing successful bus lanes would mean deliberately making transit slower for thousands of Scarborough riders,” said Andrew Pulsifer, Executive Director of TTCriders.
“Scarborough riders constantly tell us that these lanes are working. They move tens of thousands of riders, giving them a faster, more reliable trip. We should be expanding measures like these, not ripping them up.”
Chow touts housing jobs
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Chow, was also in Scarborough, highlighting her past work and the impact her housing plan has had on construction jobs.
Speaking to reporters at 26 Gilder Drive, where construction is underway on a 341-unit rental development, Chow said her housing plan is “supporting 40,000 jobs” across the GTA.
The project includes 80 affordable homes and is being built close to transit and other services.
According to figures released by Chow’s campaign, 40 affordable housing projects that have started construction since 2023 have generated about 37,000 jobs.
The campaign also says 51 housing projects are currently under construction across Toronto, representing more than 15,000 rental homes, including affordable and rent-controlled units.
“When we get housing moving, we get people working,” Chow said.
Chow’s campaign says the development where she made her announcement received more than $11.4 million in city incentives, including development charge deferrals and waivers, as well as nearly $150 million in federal funding and financing through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Occupancy is expected in the second half of 2027, according to the campaign.
Chow’s campaign also says the city has secured up to $1.5 billion in federal-provincial infrastructure funding through the Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build.
The funding is expected to support development-charge reductions and the next phase of the city’s rental housing incentives program, which is designed to support 20,000 purpose-built rental homes, with at least 20 per cent designated as affordable.
“Your children can grow up, leave home, and still afford to stay close,” Chow said.
