'Clunky and chaotic' campaign to stop Toronto bus lane relies on fake AI people
A slew of local businesses and concerned residents in one Toronto neighbourhood are working together to fight a proposed bus lane... only, the residents you'll see featured on their community Instagram account aren't actually real.
Take a stroll along Bathurst, particularly the strip between Dupont and Bloor, and you'll be immediately inundated with flyers in the windows of nearly every local business proclaiming that they "might have to close." I mean, seriously, you'd have an easier time listing off the businesses that aren't flying the flag. It's quite the sight.
So, what's all the fuss about? Zoning issues? A proposed condo development? Nope — a bus lane.
The TTC and City of Toronto are proposing to convert curbside lanes along Bathurst from Eglinton to Bloor into priority bus lanes, and Bloor to Lake Shore West into priority streetcar lanes as part of their city-wide RapidTO project, meant to tackle congestion and accelerate TTC service in traffic-plagued arteries across the city.
"The TTC's interest in the RapidTO program is providing the best transit service for the most people – biggest bang for the buck, so to speak," TTC Spokesperson Stuart Green tells blogTO.
"RapidTO has already proven successful in Scarborough, so building on it only makes sense."
Other proposals also exist for Dufferin, Eglinton East and Jane in various states of implementation.
To the untrained eye, it looks like a no-brainer. Faster TTC service, particularly on routes as slow as the Bathurst 7 and 511, seems like it should be a good thing. To Protect Bathurst, the group of local business owners and residents behind the aforementioned posters, though, the proposal poses a serious threat to the community.
Should the proposal go through, they say, it would result in the permanent removal of nearly 500 curbside parking and stopping spaces along Bathurst, and those spots are integral not only to the businesses along the street, but to the people who access those businesses.
"Although the project is framed as an 'equity-focused transit improvement,' it carries significant, measurable harms for several groups: residents, seniors, people with disabilities - visible and invisible, caregivers, parents, small business owners, and adjacent neighbourhoods - our community," Emily England and Paul Macchiusi, two representatives from Protect Bathurst, tell blogTO.
"The curb is where daily life meets infrastructure: where small businesses receive deliveries, where parents unload children, where disabled and aging residents are helped into vehicles, where groceries are carried from trunk to door," they add.
"In a neighbourhood where many homes lack driveways or laneway access, curb access is not a convenience, it is a means for participation in the community."
For Brad McMullen, President of Summerhill Market, whose Annex location falls smack-dab in the middle of the action, a more holistic solution to the congestion issue — one that incorporates the best interest of both local businesses and the TTC — has the opportunity to be a "huge win-win."
"We are not anti-transit, we are pro-keeping our business, and are always looking for solutions, improvements and positive conversations," he tells blogTO, noting that he's "hopeful for some accommodation that can improve this situation for everyone."
Perhaps the greatest charge that Protect Bathurst is raising against the City of Toronto is the perceived "lack of meaningful engagement" they feel their concerns have been met with.
Public consultations for the project were held on May 10, 12 and 14, and an ongoing survey is collecting public responses and feedback up until May 26, at which point it'll all be compiled and presented to the Executive Committee, but Protect Bathurst feels that it wasn't enough — and that their street could be a casualty in fast-tracked transit plans to prepare the city's infrastructure for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
"We are all [in favour of] a faster, more reliable TTC," Protect Bathurst tells blogTO.
"What we are asking for is that we not have to make that kind of trade-off. We are asking that the city pause this proposal and invest time in listening to our concerns and coming up with a solution that works for TTC riders, and the people for whom TTC is simply inaccessible, or who need proximity-based arrivals in our community. Equity shouldn’t be a trade-off between groups."
The story, strangely, doesn't stop there, though.
As Protect Bathurst's cause has continued to gain more traction across the city, so too have the criticisms against them — criticisms that started when Toronto journalist Shawn Micallef took to Bluesky, exposing the "concerned residents" who appear in Protect Bathurst's videos as being AI.
"Yes. This is true," Emily and Paul tell blogTO.
They admit the optics aren't great — it's hard to wrap your head around an issue supposedly backed by the entire neighbourhood when the people talking about it online aren't actually real — but, they say, the use of AI was merely a choice made to get the message out as quickly as possible.
"Civil engagement can be clunky and chaotic, especially for the inexperienced, and we’re doing our best," they tell blogTO.
"We’re just trying to get our voices heard, and represent our community; we made mistakes and we’ll probably make some more - and we believe that it has to be part of the learning experience for us in this; but it shouldn’t stand in the way of our voices being heard."
Despite Bathurst residents' feelings that their concerns haven't been adequately addressed by the TTC nor the City of Toronto, Stuart Green reiterates that the project is still in the consultation phase, encouraging everyone to voice their opinions and feedback on the matter.
But, he adds, "we also know that 35,000 people are riding transit every day on this corridor, and many of them are local residents who rely on transit as their sole primary mode of transportation, and that needs to be factored in."
fotografiko eugen/Shutterstock.com
