As a car commuter, I am…

As a car commuter, I am deeply opposed to this proposed bill. This bill would make commuting worse given that it would remove viable alternatives for people to use instead of driving, which will induce more demand for car travel and lead to higher congestion and travel time, the opposite of what this bill intends to achieve.

By limiting or outright removing the limited bike infrastructure that exists today, this bill has the potential to undo much of the progress that Ontario has done to increase mobility and sustainable transport from the last several years.

I advocate that more bike lanes should be built, not removing them. Cyclists should be able to safely travel to their destinations away from car travel while remaining on main roads. Especially as a driver, I prefer for cyclist to be removed from traffic given that accidents involving cars and cyclist can often lead to unnecessary fatalities.

Giving people access to safe bike lanes to use is not only beneficial environmentally but also helps families save money as a cheaper means of transportation and provides greater mobility to people with disabilities. This government should seek to give more options to people commuting to work, school and shopping, not lock them into only a single viable means of transportation.

While some people may argue that the bike lanes are underused, I believe that that is mainly due to the fact that our bike networks are in their infancy and ridership will continue to grow as complete, car separated bike networks begin to be accessible to a larger population as opposed to the patchwork of unconnected and unprotected painted bike lanes we have currently.

I would invite members of the legislated assembly to try biking on any major road to understand why so few people choose to cycle there due to safety concerns.

In summary, I am opposed to this proposed bill as this would increase red tape for municipalities, decrease the safety of cyclists on our roads, increase congestion and travel times for the majority of Ontario and be a step back for the progress we need to make towards reducing our environmental impact.