Bike Union Director Andrea Garcia rallies the crowd at the Ride to Save Jarvis.

Think back to the heady days of July of 2011. The Toronto Cyclists Union was leading the charge against the mayor’s plans to remove the bike lanes on Jarvis St. The Bike Union was hoping that their allies on council could convince the now infamous mushy middle that an 8 to 10 minute delay in traffic on the arterial road was worth sacrifice for bike lanes.Council decided it wasn’t and voted to remove the bike lanes. But at what cost?It’s common knowledge that the lanes cost $86,000 to install. But the Mayor’s office (and everyone really) has remained tight-lipped about the uninstallation costs.Until now. Information obtained by the Toronto Bike Union shows that removing the Jarvis bike lanes and reconfiguring the street will cost over three times what it cost to install them in the first place. The total: $272,000. Meaning that this debate will cost the city some $358,000 all told.Or maybe not. When Dave Meslin, founder of the Bike Union tweeted the details yesterday, Mark Towhey, Director of Policy & Strategic Planning in the Mayor’s office, tweeted back that his information was “false”.

So. Stay tuned.