A BIKE LANE BLITZ, A SHAMING ONLINE
Kyle Ashley, Toronto’s ‘favourite tweeting cyclist cop,’ tracks down offenders with your help — and shares what he finds on social media
Kyle Ashley stops chatting mid-sentence, head turning like a pointer to prey. “I’m getting him,” he whispers, sprinting his bicycle at a pickup truck as it invades a bike lane on Adelaide St. W. near Trump Tower.
The driver, surprised and then angry, eyes the $150 ticket, just as another trucker had done in the same spot minutes earlier. The plumbing contractor grumbles. Ashley firmly tells him: “Your vehicle has airbags — mine doesn’t.”
Over the past month, the 29-year-old Toronto parking enforcement officer has shocked and delighted city cyclists by zapping lane invaders with boundless energy while cheerfully documenting his public safety mission on Twitter.
“#BikeTO cyclists spoke. @TorontoPolice listened. I’m yours. Going to be doing ONLY #bikelanes. Everywhere. M-F-Tweeting/Engaging. For you!” he recently tweeted as @TPS_ParkingPal.
Another included a photo of cyclists forced into vehicle traffic to get around a mail delivery truck completely blocking their bike lane. “C’mon @canadapost- helps . . .” Ashley publicly scolded the federal Crown corporation.
It is surprising music to the ears of a bike community used to fraught relations with police. The parking unit previously ignored tweeted pleas from cyclists. When traffic officers did speak they seemed keen to blame cyclists — even one killed by a motorist — in what many saw as evidence of a car-centric view of streets.
Ashley’s online fans include Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, who called him “a favourite tweeting cyclist cop, who is adamant about making our streets safer,” while broadcaster George Stroumboulopoulos cheered: “You’re fighting for cycle safely and inclusion!”
The sudden fame has surprised Ashley, who is not a cop but rides a white “Toronto police” bike 75 to 100 kilometres a day on downtown streets including the protected — but oft-breached — bike lanes.
“I never wanted the attention,” he told the Star during a two-hour ridealong that saw him write 14 tickets despite taking breaks to be interviewed and photographed. “I simply wanted to help move the Toronto police forward and give myself a sense of purpose at work.”
The lifelong cyclist, raised in the country outside Guelph, Ont., lives in a Mimico condo with his fiancée Dean Sela, an Air Canada pilot, and their dog Kijiji, named for the website where they found her. He joined the parking squad three years ago and moved full-time to the bike, customized with a rainbow flag, a year later.
Ashley volunteered for social-media training at the police college. “They said find your voice, find your community and be part of it and I thought, ‘What better way than to help bring light to the issue than by jumping into the conversation . . .” and bridging the gap between cyclists and the police service.
His bosses agreed. Not only is he a fixture on social media, for the rest of June at least, he is alone among about 300 front-line parking officers working full-time to try to keep bike lanes free of vehicles.
Brian Moniz, Ashley’s boss, says the officer “has been instrumental in a very short amount of time in engaging, appealing and listening to the concerns of the cycling community via social media.
“This was a community in which we lacked engagement in previously. Kyle’s consistent engagement, determination and dedication to duty has been noticed and appreciated by all levels in our organization.”
Discussions are underway about the “blitz,” which will likely continue and be expanded, he added.
“Kyle’s engagement in this community and their concerns have been noticed, and we will be training more officers in social media and have a much greater presence within the cycling community,” Moniz said.
Still, Ashley has no illusions that he is keeping Toronto cyclists safe. “As soon as I issue a wave of tickets and leave the scene, the cars change over,” and re-invade the lane. “It is like swatting flies away.”
Enforcement will only do so much, he says, venturing out of his jurisdictional lane to say Toronto needs improved infrastructure to better protect cyclists. He is no fan of the “sharrows” — “shared lane” markers that aren’t actual bike lanes — that help make Adelaide St. in the financial district a confusing mess for motorists and cyclists.
One frustration — motorists simply driving away before he can affix the ticket — should soon be solved by a new administrative tribunal system that will let parking officers mail the ticket along with evidence, such as a photo.
Jared Kolb, executive director of Cycle Toronto, agrees with Ashley that enforcement is one part of the solution to a problem that routinely sees pedestrians and cyclists killed by motorists.
Still, Kolb is delighted parking enforcement is starting to prioritize the safety of cyclists over motorists’ convenience.
“The work Kyle is doing is really important, but of course we do need more bike lanes to catch up to other cities like Montreal and New York, much less Europe and Asia, and better-quality infrastructure to really protect cyclists.”
He looks at the parking enforcement officer and says, “We want to put you out of business.”
Ashley laughs, “I’d love that.”