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 @canadaposthelps ...” Ashley
publicly scolded the federal Crown corporation.
It is surprising music to the ears of a bike community used to fraught relations with Toronto 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.
Toronto parking enforcement officer Kyle Ashley cycles through downtown streets on the lookout for vehicles parked illegally in bike lanes. During a two-hour ridealong with the Star, he issued 14 tickets, despite taking breaks to be interviewed and photographed. (jesse winter / Toronto Star) | Order this photo
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, 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 training 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 frontline parking officers working full-time to try to keep bike lanes free of vehicles.
Ashley has also been freed from daily ticket targets — some say quotas — officers are usually expected to issue. Critics say such targets push officers to spots where they can easily write many tickets for vehicles not posing a safety hazard rather than harder-to-catch bike lane invaders forcing cyclists into vehicle traffic.
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.
Back on the road, a Mercedes SUV turning from Queen St. W. onto James St., between Old City Hall and the Eaton Centre, almost slams into Ashley. As the driver angrily throws up his arms, the officer says it happens often.
He doesn’t give cyclists a pass, saying they have to follow the rules too. He gently scolds one for leaning his foot on the curb at an intersection — it makes for a wobbly push-off — and gives others safety pointers.
But it’s the motorists who get his tickets. A large SUV has avoided the bike lane on Richmond St. but is instead fully on the sidewalk beside a construction site. The owner, wearing a fluorescent construction vest, is summoned by a subordinate. “You wrote it already?” he says to Ashley of the ticket. “You guys are f------...”
The driver stresses, like most of the rest of Ashley’s targets, he was only going to be there for a couple of minutes. He does not seem mollified by knowledge that his fine would have been only $50 had he parked in a vehicle lane.
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.
Ashley also wants corporations to take responsibility for their lane-invading drivers — he has also called out Tim Hortons and FedEx — and says maybe tickets should be more expensive for them than for regular motorists.
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.
“When Kyle arrived on the scene it was, for a lot of us, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, what is happening here?’” Kolb says during a pitstop Ashley made at the Cycle Toronto office.
“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, Toronto 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.”
