Toronto bike lanes now protected by three parking officers
Positive response from cyclists in Toronto and beyond prompted city to dispatch two more officers to protect bike lanes.

TheStar.com
Aug. 3, 2017
David Rider

Cyclists who cheered on Toronto’s famous bike lane guardian — and demanded more like him — got their wish.

Kyle Ashley, the parking enforcement officer who has zapped lane invaders with $150 tickets since June, and shamed corporate offenders on Twitter, is now part of a three-person squad.

Sabrina Kloetzig and Erin Urquhart joined Ashley this week as officers dedicated to ticketing motorists in bike lanes and on sidewalks and spreading the message through social media that it’s unacceptable to put cyclist and pedestrian safety at risk to grab a coffee or drop somebody off.

They will be rolling and writing Monday to Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“In the past two-and-a-half months the cycling community has basically been asking the city to clone me,” and parking enforcement listened, Ashley said during a ridealong interview Thursday.

“We’re really looking to expand our reach to the entire city,” including suburban bike lanes, he said. “The goal of this is to expand our reach to protect all the cycle networks, so Sabrina and Erin will be handling complaints for bike lanes east of Spadina Ave. and I’ll be focused on the west end.”

Not long ago, relations were fraught between Toronto’s growing cycling community and parking enforcement. Cyclists complained officers seemed more focused on ticketing cars that posed no safety hazard than vehicles forcing cyclists into streets often deadly for them and pedestrians.

Parking enforcement decided in June to give Ashley social media training, aim him solely at bike lanes and free him from daily ticket-writing targets.

Toronto cyclists, once they got over their shock, applauded loudly. Social media helped spread his work and pleas for similar crackdowns came from riders as far away as British Columbia and even cycling mecca Copenhagen.

After the Star wrote about Ashley’s frustration with Canada Post delivery drivers, the Crown corporation directed drivers to stay out of bike lanes.

Parking enforcement, a unit of Toronto’s police service, decided to make the pilot project permanent and beef up the unit.

Urquhart, a parking officer for two years but on a bike since last October, said she received training on how to use Twitter “to really get the attention of people without going too far over the edge, making sure I stay on the facts.”

She hopes to educate motorists “that pulling over for a coffee really isn’t worth $150,” while reminding cyclists they have a responsibility under the Highway Traffic Act to respect one-way signs and red lights and stop signs.

Kloetzig, who has patrolled Toronto streets on a bike for 14 years, said: “I think the city has taken to (Ashley’s) Twitter, and people are paying a lot more attention now to where they’re parking, which is a great thing.”

A ride with the trio on the protected bike lanes on Richmond and Adelaide Sts. during Thursday’s rush hour saw far fewer lane invaders than when the Star made a similar ride with Ashley in mid-June.

A UPS driver, however, argued — unsuccessfully — that because Ashley crossed the street to ticket him they were equally guilty, and he shouldn’t pay.

Ashley is convinced that even conversations like that, where he reminds drivers they have airbags that cyclists don’t, can help change minds.

“I’m glad people are finally joining in because the right to safe passage is universal and everyone deserves it, whether they are in a car, bike or walking.”