For her dedication to better transit, Ginette Lapalme was awarded the 2026 Business Road Safety Champion Award on April 23 from Albert Koehl and the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition (TCBC) in front of the Bathurst subway station.

Koehl, who is an environmental lawyer, adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, and founding member of TCBC said that “Ginette stood up and courageously defended the RapidTO busway proposal, and TCBC appreciated the fact that she was willing to stand up for good transportation planning.”

TCBC is a volunteer advocacy group that believes the priorities of municipal transportation should be improved cycling, transit, and walking facilities. They advocate for the reallocation of public road space from motor traffic to cleaner, more efficient transportation options.

Ginette Lapalme, an artist and Bathurst street business owner, decided to speak out in favour of the RapidTO lanes that the city planned to install along Bathurst ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The purpose of the RapidTO plan was to enhance bus and streetcar reliability and improve travel times across Toronto through the implementation of transit priority solutions such as reserved lanes and intersection and signal improvements.

One of the more controversial parts of the RapidTO plan was to eliminate parking along Bathurst Street including north of Bloor. Some, however, felt this would have a negative impact on businesses along the street, and most business owners in the area opposed the plan. Ginette stood uniquely in favour of the bus lanes, and she felt that opposition from businesses along Bathurst Street was a form of fearmongering.

We are nearly eight months into RapidTO’s implementation along Bathurst Street, and Ginette stands by her initial sentiments. 

“[At the time], I attempted to remind everyone that there are many people in this city, including me, who do not own or drive cars and that it would be important to recognize that faster and more reliable public transit would allow more potential customers to peruse our businesses,” Ginette said.

In addition to helping (as opposed to harming) the businesses along the street, Ginette saw RapidTO as a means of improving safety for cyclists and pedestrians in the area. 

“[I also] pointed out that actual pedestrians and cyclists have died and/or been injured due to unsafe streets, and this issue is much more important than an imagined loss of business,” Ginette said.

Ginette’s stance was an unpopular one and drew waves of hate and slander from her fellow business owners. 

“Some business owners disagreed with me politely, and others not so politely,” She continued, “A woman I didn’t recognize even barged into my store just to yell and call me names because of my pro-bus poster.”

Ginette also noted multiple other incidents, such as ones involving AI-generated videos depicting resident of Bathurst disagreeing with her, as well as Instagram posts claiming that she was paid by the government to support RapidTO. 

Aside from business owners along Bathurst Street, another notable opponent of part of the RapidTO plan was Ward 11 Councillor, Dianne Saxe, who in April of this year, hosted a town hall that sought to address city-wide congestion.

Saxe attempted to foster a compromise between transit advocates and anxious business owners by suggesting the Bloor to Dupont stretch be exempt from the TTC’s RapidTO Bathurst project.

To this day, Albert Koehl remains confused by this decision, as he believed Saxe to be a champion of congestion mitigation and sustainability.

“This would have been great for transportation, great for climate action, and great for affordable transportation. So we were very disappointed that the local councillor, Dianne Saxe, didn’t support the busway,” said Koehl.

Overall, despite the flak she received, Ginette noted that much good came of her advocacy.

“I met a lot of residents. I was connected with the activist group TTCRiders, and they invited me to speak at a press conference, and I felt encouraged to register to speak at city hall for the first time.”

Ultimately, the city scaled back RapidTO Bathurst (thanks in part to the compromise put forth by Saxe). The planned RapidTO bus lanes north of Bloor were cancelled, but the priority streetcar lanes between Nassau Street and Bathurst Station should be completed by late May, just in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The city is expecting around 300,000 visitors to Toronto. Metrolinx is projecting about 44,000 additional riders, and the TTC is preparing for roughly 1.5 million additional transit trips.

—Damola Omole/Gleaner News

READ MORE:

• FORUM: Bathurst Street: Not yet RapidTO (Aug. 2025)
• NEWS: Pushback on Bathurst bus lanes (July 2025)
• LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Empty cars don’t buy things responses (July 2025)
• OPINION: Empty cars don’t buy things—people do (May/June 2025)
• FORUM: Easing congestion into summer (May/June 2025)
• NEWS: Annex honoured for pioneering Bloor bike lanes (May/June 2023)
• FORUM: Changing times and travel modes (October 2018)
• FORUM: A magical new supply of parking spots (Oct. 2017)
• FOCUS: An early advocate for bike lanes (June 2016)
• FORUM: The faster we lower speeds, the more lives we save (Oct. 2015)