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Lanrick Bennett

@lanrickbennett.bsky.social

13K followers 320 following 3.3K posts

Working within the active transportation, environmental protection, affordable housing and placemaking sphere. Always advocating #BikeTO #TransformTO #BLM #TweetsAreMineByDefault

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · Oct 3

The broken record will continue 🚲The War on Cars is over. We need to decouple our dependency on single occupancy vehicles!

Appreciate @tvotoday.bsky.social allowing me space for this important discussion.

h/t #UofTCities

#ActiveTransportation + #PublicTransportion = #LeaveTheCarBehind

The Rundown | TVO Today @tvotoday.bsky.social · Oct 3

"Single occupancy vehicles are not the way to continue to move people forward." – @lanrickbennett.bsky.social. How can Toronto's traffic be fixed? Tonight at 8/11pm with Jennifer McKelvie, Giles Gherson (Toronto Region Board of Trade), Baher Abdulhai (uoft.bsky.social) & @spaikin.bsky.social #topoli

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 8h

Watch/Read this thread

The #AISlopIsReal

h/t @lukesteuber.com

Luke Steuber @lukesteuber.com · 14h

Generative video is going to destroy the world. Here I am, at a protest I never went to in a city that doesn’t exist being arrested by cops I’ve never met

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 8h

#WANTITALL

NO BRAKES NO QUIT @lesleynope.bsky.social · 9h

The railing LEDs look AMAZING

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 12h

“urban thinkers see another way: cities designed for people, not cars. It sounds utopian, maybe even naïve, but.. it’s achievable if city builders are willing to take bold steps & rethink the status quo.” @byaseale.bsky.social
h/t @brenttoderian.bsky.social
www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article...

A world without traffic?
Three urban experts rethink how cities move
ANDREW SEALE
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 6, 2025
Rethinking working hours could radically change traffic patterns.

Dedicated lanes for buses and bikes
"Traffic is often an indication of success, and you have to manage the consequences of success," says Brent Toderian, a global advisor on city building, founder of Toderian Urban Works and former chief planner for Vancouver. "People want to be there. The question is, how are they getting there? And is it in a smart way or a dumb way?"
Toderian says it's easy to be distracted by futuristic innovations like electric cars, drone delivery networks and hyperloops. "The real solutions are a lot less sexy and a lot more common sense," he says. "It's not about utopia. It's about practicality in the context of the real challenges we face. Tech won't save us if we get the fundamentals wrong."

separated cycling lane on Southwark Bridge in London, UK.
GETTY IMAGES
For him, the key to a low-traffic, human-centred city is proximity - dense, mixed-use neighbourhoods or 15-minute communities where housing, work and amenities are close together. It's about "creating less car dependency," he says.
Alongside that, he argues we need to reprioritize street space with bus-only lanes to allow public transit to bypass congestion and protected, connected active transport lanes for cycling, mobility aids and scooters.

Most importantly, says Toderian, we don't need to look at these as tomorrow's solutions. "Everything we talk about is urgent now," he says. "Further' and 'faster' are the two most important words in urban change."
Congestion charges and mobility-as-a-service
Amer Shalaby, an expert on transportation engineering and director of the Transit Analytics Lab at the University of Toronto, looks at congestion reduction through the lens of improved mobility. He points out that most of the social costs of driving - like those highlighted by the CANCEA report - aren't paid by individual drivers, but by society as a whole. In other words, the stress and inconvenience of constant gridlock can degrade our ability to connect with each other and make our cities worse places to live.

Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 13h

Bike Lanes Cause Traffic

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 13h

Hat Tip @tomflood.bsky.social
✊🏾📢🚲🚊

Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 13h

Tackling congestion in #TOpoli needs the relevant levels of government & our elected reps to flex their #PoliticalWill & speak honestly to their constituents that are drivers.

Creating space for bikes lanes, investments in public transport, doesn’t cause traffic.

Your singe occupy vehicle does!

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 16h

Informative thread on the Life and Times of Bixi via @stateofthecity.bsky.social

Cc: @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social @chrisjamesdrew.bsky.social ‪ @observingthecity.bsky.social @cbkemp.bsky.social @modacitylife.com @davidzipper.bsky.social

Explore TIME

by
Merrill Fabry
In 2000 TIME’s editors sat down to select three inventions of the year, one each in consumer technology, medical science, and basic industry. They found so many interesting ones along the way that they included dozens of others, from an unbreakable lightbulb to paper that was easier to recycle. It was the start of our annual hunt for the most exciting innovations changing our lives, and the future. Since then, TIME has covered hundreds of inventions, from the esoteric (clouds featured more than once) to essential, including life-changing medicines, technological breakthroughs, new foods, nearly every new Apple product category, and even a few great ideas that didn’t quite catch on. As TIME publishes the 2025 list, we’re also assembling the Best Inventions Hall of Fame: the 25 most iconic inventions we covered in the past quarter century.

2008, Montreal's Public Bike System

Peter Macdiarmid—Getty Images

Many major cities now have some version of a bike- or scooter-share system, but Montreal revolutionized the trend. In 2008, when Montreal introduced its bike rental system, TIME selected it as one of the year’s best inventions, writing, “When lots of people use a communal resource—like, say, a cheap public bicycle-rental program—they tend to abuse it. So when the city of Montreal built its Public Bike System, nicknamed Bixi, the designers packed in all the technology they could find, in a desperate attempt to out-engineer human iniquity.” Equipped with solar-powered docking stations, RFID tags to make the bicycles themselves trackable, and fully enclosed parts (to resist weather, accidents, and human intervention) the bicycle-sharing system took off. Paris’ Vélib started the year earlier, and Copenhagen had started a system in 1995, but the tech behind Montreal’s scheme became the backbone for bike-sharing programs in London, New York, Chicago, and dozens of other places, turning two wheels into a genuine option for navigating cities. In 2022, Lyft Urban Solutions bought the hardware and software firm that spun out from Montreal’s bike-sharing program. In 2024 riders took over 13 million trips on Bixi bikes, and more than 180 million globally.

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Reposted by Lanrick Bennett

Brian F. Kelcey @stateofthecity.bsky.social · 17h

Praise for Montreal's bike-share system, from TIME. Worth a holiday thread on a couple of operational + political aspects of Bixi's history that are intriguingly left unsaid.

Cult MTL @cultmtl.com · 18h

“Montreal revolutionized the bicycle-sharing trend. The tech behind BIXI became the backbone for bike-sharing programs in London, New York, Chicago and dozens of other places, turning two wheels into a genuine option for navigating cities.”

BIXI named among top 25 inventions of the past 25 years by TIME magazine

TIME magazine has released a list of the top 25 inventions of the past 25 years, and Montreal's bicycle-sharing system BIXI is on it.

cultmtl.com

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Reposted by Lanrick Bennett

Observing The City @observingthecity.bsky.social · 1d

Did you know Toronto has 15 permanent bicycle counters around the city? I have created a portal that should be updated monthly when the city updates their open data. It's live now at: observingthecity.ca

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 20h

No yelling but as Black man with a wife & kids living in Canada "Twitter may be horrible, but it's still shaping policy" I can assure you 110% the anti-Black / anti-Indigenous racism that is celebrated there has no relevance to shaping any policy period. We as a society do better without it. Cheers!

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 2d

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it is still shaping policy. So were we all wrong to leave?

Was the left wrong to leave X for BlueSky?

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it's still shaping policy

www.newstatesman.com

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 20h

#HearThis Sharing 3 pieces of Black specific content with my kids this week.

1. ‘Reading Rainbow’ Comes Back
2. Drag pioneer Michelle Ross
3. Black Opportunity Fund 2025 Annual Impact Video

I think these stories are all worth #Amplifying

h/t @btpublicmedia.bsky.social medium.com/@lanrickbenn...

The Week of October 12th

#HearThis Sharing 3 Pieces of Black Specific Content With My Kids This Week

‘Reading Rainbow’ Comes Back With a New Host, but the Same Mission

The popular children’s television show has returned, with Mychal Threets trying to recapture the magic of the original show for a streaming audience.

Mychal Threets, a librarian who built a large following on social media, is the host of a new version of the children’s show “Reading Rainbow.”Credit...Marissa Leshnov for The New York Times
Alisha Haridasani Gupta
By Alisha Haridasani Gupta
Oct. 4, 2025

Arts
Celebrating the late, great drag pioneer Michelle Ross
Filmmaker Alison Duke chats about her new documentary on the legendary Ross

Peter Knegt · CBC Arts · Posted: Oct 09, 2025 2:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 9

Alison Duke on the set of Here & Queer. (CBC Arts)

Image of a Black Female in gold silhouette

"Year 5 Highlights We Back Black. Black Opportunity Fund"

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 1d

Wait
…wait
…WAIT!

🚲📢❤️

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

It’s pronounced cyclist.

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 1d

“Bike lanes create cyclists because they largely eliminate the risk of being crushed by careless or aggressive suv drivers.” - @dlknowles.bsky.social

Seems like a reasonable ask to our elected municipal reps here in #TOpoli

E-bikes are #SustainableUrbanVehicle
🚲 #ThisMachineFightsClimateChange

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 3d

By me this week - the happiest thing I've got to report of late, with a glorious trip over the summer to Montreal

"Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport."

www.economist.com/internationa...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport

Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

www.economist.com

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 1d

“A project to restore coastal wetland leads to astonishing discoveries of a host of life: seeds and plant scraps, as well as water fleas, worms, larvae and plankton” - @leylandcecco.bsky.social

@utoronto.ca @waterfrontoronto.bsky.social @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Creatures buried in soil for over a century burst back to life in Toronto waterfront

A project to restore coastal wetland leads to astonishing discoveries of a host of life: seeds and plant scraps, as well as water fleas, worms, larvae and plankton

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Lanrick Bennett

kanchan m @kayehm.bsky.social · 1d

Many many things are still happening behind the scenes.
Besides what's listed below. . we have #BikeTO work happening on Power St, Burnhamthorpe/Mill, Centennial Park ...
and more.

Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 2d

A nod of thanks to the unsung heroes behind Toronto’s Cycling and Pedestrian Projects Teams. So many of us in #BikeTO #WalkTO #AODA advocate on a daily basis, the need for our elected representatives to prioritize the safety of vulnerable road users.

This team continues to deliver. 1/2

Image 1: The West Don River Trail over the CN Rail line south of Gateway Boulevard is now open to the public!
Installations include an accessible path to the West and East Don River Trails, and a mirror to facilitate vision around the existing blind corner.

Image 2: Ongoing work on The Esplanade includes the installation of a two-way cycle track on the south side from Market Street to Scott Street, conversion to one-way westbound from Church Street to Scott Street for motor vehicles with on-street parking and loading on the north side, and modifications to the traffic signal at The Esplanade and Church Street. The current phase of work on The Esplanade is anticipated to be complete by the end of October.

Image 3: Road safety improvements are complete along Sentinel Road from Lamberton Boulevard to Sheppard Avenue West, including raised cycle tracks, widened sidewalks, accessible pedestrian crossings and green infrastructure, where feasible.

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 1d

Just taking it all in on the brand new Cherry St

#EastEndLove

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 1d

My mom hopped on a GoTrain from Mississauga to explore @waterfrontoronto.bsky.social’s Biidaasige Park in Ookwemin Minising

#ThisIsTorontoDanforth #EastEndLove

A map of Toronto highlighting our walk in orange

Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 1d

fuck

h/t @skullmandible.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/skul...

Cohen is a Ghost @skullmandible.bsky.social · 1d

"even if it's AI, it's at least true" hard to overstate the damage this stuff is doing to people's brains. we're gonna be cleaning the slop out of archives for decades

Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 2d

PSA: Humans do not have three arms.

Be careful with what you share #AISlop is a real issue - vt.tiktok.com/ZSUBPAsCK/

Cc: @socialmedialab.ca

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 2d

Grab a bike. Lace up some shoes. Roll if you can, but get outside this weekend.

2/2

h/t @chrisjamesdrew.bsky.social @ffsafestreets.bsky.social @kayehm.bsky.social @cycletoronto.bsky.social @torontopublicspace.bsky.social @toronto.ca

#VisionZero #TransformTO 🚲 #ThisMachineFightsClimateChange

Image 4: Road resurfacing at the Yonge Street/Queens Quay intersection provided the opportunity for the City to add concrete islands as a protected waiting area for people cycling northbound. Upcoming additions include a bike box, chevrons, crosswalks and hazard markers on the islands.

Image 5: Integrated bike/bus platforms have been constructed on Davenport Road at the Dovercourt Road and Christie Street intersections. These platforms keep the bikeway clear for people cycling, while providing sidewalk-level access for people boarding and exiting TTC buses.

Image 6: Concrete planters, permanent curbs and sidewalk restoration have been completed on Harbord Street and Hoskin Avenue between Grace Street and Queens Park Crescent West. Cycle track curb and concrete planter construction is ongoing between Grace Street and Ossington Avenue.

Image 7: Havelock Street has been resurfaced, allowing for a smoother cycling ride, with concrete planters constructed at the cycling-only block between Dewson Street and Sylvan Avenue

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 2d

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 2d

Pre-orders from my local book shop #QueenBooks. Always appreciate your voices and advocacy @sgoodyear.bsky.social @brooklynspoke.bsky.social

#EastEndLove

LIFE AFTER CARS
FREEING OURSELVES FROM THE
TYRANNY OF THE AUTOMOBILE
SARAH GOODYEAR DOUG GORDON
HOSTS THE WAR ON CARS PODCAST AND AARON NAPARSTEK

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 2d

Our city officals fight tooth and nail for these vehicles.

To make sure drivers can speed, can park, can take over spaces and places and finally so that they can put vulnerable road users in dnager.

h/t @derek.bike

skáld @danglinghemmie.bsky.social · 2d

it's dope as hell that the world builds 100 million cars per year and all that plastic, metal, glass and rubber eventually ends up like this

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Reposted by Lanrick Bennett

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 2d

Three newly published books argue that cars are destroying society as well as the planet.

Is the world finally ready to rein in the automobile?

My essay, in @bloomberg.com (gift link below)

‘Car Brain’ Is Making the US Unhealthy and Dangerous. EVs Won’t Fix It.

A trio of new books argue that we need to confront the full range of costs that car-based living has imposed on our cities, our health and our society.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Lanrick Bennett

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 2d

If you only read one of this trio, make it Life After Cars by @brooklynspoke.bsky.social & @sgoodyear.bsky.social.

It’s the most accessible and informative, as well as the most practical.

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