Albert Koehl never planned to be a cycling advocate—but he became one of Toronto’s most persistent ones

The name Albert Koehl is a synonym for cycling advocacy in Toronto, but if you ask him, it is not something he ever really set out to be.

Growing up in Windsor, Koehl was surrounded by a spirit of service. His father was involved in church-related organizations and his mother was active in the women’s league at their church. Koehl said that sense of community responsibility was passed down to him.

For him, he never really thought about it in terms of advocating for a cause. Instead, if there were things that needed to be done, Koehl just got involved.

Before cycling or environmental law, Koehl was focused on education rights. He was part of the Education Rights Task Force, a group that fights to ensure the right of children to attend school, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

Koehl said his career path was anything but conventional. After graduation, he travelled through Africa on the backs of pickup trucks and rickety buses, even floating up the Zaire River on a barge. His first job was as a duty counsel in legal aid, followed by a year prosecuting at the Crown’s office in North York. From 1990 to 1996, he worked at the Ministry of Environment, where his engagement with environmental issues began.

In 1999, Koehl ran as the Liberal candidate for the provincial riding of Trinity-Spadina. He finished second to NDP incumbent Rosario Marchese, receiving 27.48 per cent of the votes.

“That was a time that the Conservatives were in under Mike Harris; the whole kind of right-wing agenda of cutting taxes, less government, less social programs,” Koehl said. “So I thought it was important to run against that type of government.”

“I wasn’t successful, but I remained engaged. I think it’s very important for good people to run for office and contribute to their community.”

He continues to support political campaigns. He recently worked on the campaign of Lee Fairclough, the Liberal candidate in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, who unseated the Progressive Conservative incumbent Christine Hogarth in the provincial election in February. 

His legal work has taken him far beyond Toronto. He got a role as an investigator for the United Nations in Guatemala, documenting the genocide of indigenous peoples by the military dictatorship. Back in Toronto, he worked at legal clinics and eventually joined Ecojustice, an environmental law organization. He said that working part-time allowed him to dedicate more time to community activism.

It was in 2007 that Koehl entered the world of cycling advocacy. He remembers seeing a flyer imagining a crosstown Bloor-Danforth bike lane. To him, it just made sense. The street was already busy with cyclists, but it was dangerous and lacked infrastructure.

“People would say, ‘It’d be nice to have a bike lane, but it’s not realistic.’ Their concept of reality wasn’t one that I was able to agree with,” Koehl said.

That was when he co-founded Bells on Bloor. At first, the mission was simply to show City Hall how vibrant and joyful a Bloor-Danforth bike lane could be. They organized a parade and in the first year, 500 cyclists showed up. Then, 1,000 in the second. Then 2,000 in the third.

But joy was not enough.

To impact change, Koehl said they had to prove the bike lanes would not hurt business, and that they would improve safety and benefit the environment. The group wrote letters, made videos, built alliances and conducted research on everything from parking to climate. It took nearly a decade to just get the pilot project in.

Through that process, Koehl learned that community support is not enough. Advocacy depends on strategy, research, planning and persistence.

He is a founding member of the Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition, the Avenue Road Safety Coalition and the Coalition to Reduce Auto Size Hazards.

Koehl said it is positive that different advocacy groups in Toronto often collaborate effectively on issues like the recent push by Premier Doug Ford’s government to remove bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue.

“The objective was to set up a group that could be a unified voice on certain cycling issues,” Koehl said. “A place where we could come together as advocates, have a voice to speak for us at City Hall and undertake collective action on various issues.”

That collaborative spirit is how he connected with Jennifer Alexander, who serves on the steering committees of Walk Toronto and Toronto Community Bikeways Coalition. Koehl invited her to join the We Belong on Bloor working group, a community bikeways campaign that supports the extension of the Bloor West Complete Street.

“I’ve learned a lot from Albert. He knows everybody and he had his hands in everything,” Alexander said.

But for Koehl, cycling advocacy is part of a bigger picture. He calls himself a “road safety advocate,” someone who sees cycling, walking and public transit as all part of the same equation for a healthy city.

Koehl said he is frustrated by political leaders who scapegoat cyclists instead of leading with facts. He said cities like Paris, London and Montreal have raced ahead in building cycling infrastructure, while Toronto’s progress has been slowed by political leaders like Ford.

He said that is the worst kind of politics.

“To me, that’s an unscrupulous type of leader. Somebody who scapegoats cyclists instead of trying to educate,” Koehl said. “Whereas Donald Trump will say immigrants eat dogs, Doug Ford will say cyclists cause congestion.”

With all his experience in cycling, Koehl wrote Wheeling Through Toronto: A History of the Bicycle and Its Riders to support future advocates. He said the book offers a deep dive into Toronto’s cycling history with the goal of giving readers the knowledge and tools to be effective advocates.

“it’s supposed to be a useful advocacy tool to teach people, but also give them the skills and the knowledge in the background to be effective advocates,” Koehl said.

Even with Koehl’s accomplishments, he continues to look ahead. Koehl said the advocacy groups he participates in will remain committed to holding City Hall accountable. But he also wants cycling advocacy to feel joyful.

Koehl said that there is a perception that cycling advocates are angry people, which is something he is focused on proving wrong moving forward.

“It’s really important to show the positive side, show the smiles, show that the world we’re talking about isn’t an angry, dour world,” Koehl said. “It’s a better place not only based on research but based on the activities that we do and how enjoyable it is to ride a bicycle.”

Just like in 2007 or during his time with the Education Rights Task Force, when something needs doing, Albert Koehl gets involved.

And he still is.