"The war on the car, as seen from the bicycle seat"

Article in the National Post with a brief profile of URS.

(snip)

On May 31, Bells on Bloor held its annual ride from High Park to Queen’s Park in support of the stalled bike lane. The group has been organizing Bloor rides since September, 2007, while fellow cycling group Urban Repair Squad resorts to more direct forms of protest.

URS uses grassroots, guerrilla-style tactics and paints de facto bike lanes all over the city (especially on Bloor) to garner public attention. The lanes are usually removed by city staff, but one URS symbol — a bike stencil under two “sharrows” — painted over a year ago near Ossington Avenue and Dupont Street remains untouched.

“There are a lot of people involved who have been at it for 10 or 15 years, advocating for change. And they keep getting told no... we beg to differ” said Martin Reis, URS photographer and web site organizer.

“We can say yes, it can be done. It can be done for next to nothing.”