Bathurst business owners are using AI-generated “concerned residents” to fight a proposed bus lane

Another day, another battle over Toronto transit—only this time, one side has called in some questionable reinforcements. A group of Bathurst business owners are bent out of shape over a recent proposal for priority transit lanes between Eglinton Avenue and Lake Shore Boulevard, part of the city’s new RapidTO program. According to the city, the transit lanes would shave up to 7 minutes off some trips during peak commuting hours. It’s good news for anyone who has ever cursed the TTC while waiting to catch a bus in inclement weather.

Of course, the added convenience for transit commuters would come at a slight cost for drivers, requiring the removal of at least 138 paid street parking spaces to make way for the new lanes. Opposition to the development has sprung up under the banner of Protect Bathurst, a group of hopping mad local business owners claiming that the lack of street parking will make shopping a nightmare for car-bound customers and will cause problems for people with mobility issues.

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Notably, Protect Bathurst has no spokesperson or contact info listed on its website. The page is registered to a food marketing consultant employed by Summerhill Market and looks eerily similar to Protect Dufferin, another group of “concerned residents” advocating for the same cause. But this cookie-cutter approach goes even further: author and urbanist Shawn Micallef has found that the people speaking out in the group’s allegedly grassroots videos appear to be AI-generated.

Brad McMullen, the president of Summerhill Market, which opened an outpost on Bathurst in 2019, says he doesn’t know anything about the campaign’s use of AI. He says he isn’t necessarily opposed to the new bus lanes but believes that three weeks’ notice from the city is not enough time for his business to adapt. “We purchased and invested in this location because of the available street parking, and then we figured out the loading situation, which happens on the street,” he says. “I don’t think Summerhill Market would work here with these bus lanes.”

While McMullen acknowledges that his Bathurst location does have a sizable parking lot, he says only half the parking spaces belong to the market and that delivery trucks would take up the “entire driveway,” then have a nightmarish time trying to back onto the street. He adds that the space issue would be compounded by Uber and Instacart drivers, who need somewhere to park while they pick up orders for customers. “Between Covid, rising food prices, minimum wage hikes and tariffs—this one is simply way too much and way too fast,” he says.

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This may be the first Toronto transit controversy involving angry AI, but tensions have been simmering between drivers and, well, everyone else for some time. Our city has been ranked the eighth worst in North America for congestion, and Doug Ford’s battle against bike lanes rages on. But, according to experts, the key to reducing bumper-to-bumper traffic is exactly what the humans and robots of Protect Bathurst are rallying against: better public transit.

“Buses move more people than a parking spot,” says Jay Cockburn, a producer on City Space, the Globe and Mail podcast about how to make the city more livable. “Accessibility concerns are a red herring that assume driving is accessible. Transit is good for business. Opponents of transit choose to ignore these facts because they like their mobile living rooms.”

Residents have until May 26 to participate in a survey on the Bathurst bus lanes and have their voices heard.