Premier Doug Ford’s bike lane removal and street reconfiguration plans may already be underway in Toronto but the battle over the future of cycling in the city continues.On Saturday, dozens of cycling advocates took that battle to the streets of Toronto, not just to the protected bike lanes along Bloor Street, but to the so-called secondary roads that Ford wants to move them to.“There’s a reason why the City of Toronto builds bike lanes where they do, there’s a reason why Bloor, Yonge and University have the bike lanes that there are. City council has voted on these lanes multiple times under multiple mayors, this isn’t something that Olivia Chow decided to do by pointing at lines on a map,” said Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto.“I think a lot of the criticism is pretty bad faith. If the premier and the minister would ask their own experts at MTO what to do, they would tell them keep the lanes and instead focus on other transportation issues.”Premier Doug Ford’s plan to rip out nearly 20 kilometres of protected bike lanes that stretch across Yonge Street, Bloor Street and University Avenue was originally blocked by an Ontario court last summer. But in August, the Ontario Court of Appeal reversed that decision, overturning a previous lower-court decision which found the plan created an unconstitutional risk to cyclist safety. Cycling advocates called the ruling an unfortunate setback, vowing to continue fighting to protect Toronto’s bike lanes.Related:Cyclists rally against the removal of downtown bike lanesBrad Bradford vows to remove Bloor bike lanes he voted in favour of, admitting he ‘got it wrong’“I’m car-free, I get around by bicycle, and the huge change that these lanes made for me and other cyclists – and pedestrians, by the way, because there’s traffic calming involved,” said one of the cyclists who showed up for the rally.“We bike not just for leisure, but to go to work, for our appointments, to do our shopping, and keeping citizens safe and protected is really important,” said another cyclist.Mayor Olivia Chow has said that the city presented the province with a plan to not only restore traffic lanes but maintain the protected bike lanes. But the province rejected that proposal, walking away from the discussions.“Doug Ford, stay in your lane,” was the message from NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park Alex Gilmour, who also took part in Saturday’s ride. “The municipal government, the mayor, the city councils that are elected are doing a great job, and at the province, we need to do a good job of what is ours to do. So, I’m here to protect the bike lanes, to protect the safety of the childre in Parkdale-High Park, and I’m here to tell Doug Ford hand’s off and focus on the things that are crumbling around us.”“He pretends to be Captain Canada, he pretends to be a mayor of Toronto, where is our premier? We need someone who is looking at health care, affordability, good jobs, housing, and leaving the municipal affairs to the good people of Toronto.”Ford has long complained that bike lanes create gridlock, even citing a report from the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis, which found gridlock costs Ontario $56 billion annually.Earlier this month, the province issued a new request for proposals (RFP) to study and propose design options for restoring vehicle lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street, University Avenue, Queen’s Park, Queen’s Park Crescent and Avenue Road.The RFP will also identify options to retain or reconfigure Toronto bike lanes “where they make sense and do not make gridlock worse,” the province said.