The total lack of news from the City of Toronto is due to the fact that there is a new mayor in town, John Tory, and the Ford brothers are pretty much gone, with Rob Ford fighting cancer and Doug back at the family business. Many have complained that Tory is just Ford without the personal issues, particularly after he selected as Deputy Mayor the dismal Denzil Minnan-Wong, who ripped up the Jarvis Street bike lanes, told the Chief Medical officer to get a new job after he suggested lowering speed limits. (Although he did redeem himself in some cycling advocates’ eyes when he installed bike lanes on two major east-west streets)

Today, however, Mayor Tory showed that the bike-hating Ford Era is over. He showed up (on time) at a press conference to announce that Toronto’s Bike share system is «here to stay» and that «Great cities have an integrated transportation system that includes cycling and Toronto should be no different.»

The system is going to be expanded, with twenty new stations in 2015. The TD Bank, which has a history of supporting environmental initiatives, is kicking in serious bucks to sponsor the bikeshare program.

No word on why a bike share system is treated differently than a road or a subway and has to operate without government subsidy if it is part of «an integrated transportation system» but I’ll take what I can get. The new «sheriff» who has promised to clear the roads of congestion sees bikes as part of the solution, where the last mayor saw them as part of the problem. This is progress.