This bill is antithetical to…

This bill is antithetical to so many of its supposed goals that it boggles the mind that it could possibly be considered even remotely reasonable.

For every single one of those bikers you take out of the bike lane (a number that, mind you, is immensely understated by the proponents of this bill), another massive car is added to the road; a car that is much more ingestion-inducing than a bike lane is.

For every car lane that you add to a road, as it is eminently well understood by civil engineers the world round, you do not get a linear amount of increased car throughput. Induced demand from increasing road area means that ingestion will rise to its limit no matter what, making such a small impact on traffic that it is barely distinguishable from the throughput before expansion.

These car lanes are actively harmful to the small businesses that improve Toronto's culture and economy. Cars are expressly NOT vehicles of urban exploration. Bikes are, public transit is, and foot traffic is. A car user will not pull over to investigate a thrift shop or a florist or a new restaurant on a whim. Cars are also an incredibly expensive mode of transportation, leaving less spending money for people who are already stretched so thin. Overall, cars are toxic to small businesses.

Cars are also toxic in a very literal sense. Air pollution is, by-and-large, the single most damaging forms of pollution from a health perspective. An estimated 15,000 Canadians die every year from the effects of air pollution and expanding car infrastructure also expands that number.

Another dubious increasing statistic from putting more cars on the road is car deaths. Car deaths are one of the most dangerous forms of transportation accessible in cities. Unfortunately, the danger is mostly to pedestrian and, indeed, cyclists. That danger is minimized significantly with bike lanes, separating the two forms of transportation and providing a buffer zone to pedestrians. In 2022, nearly 20% of the 1931 vehicle fatalities in Canada were pedestrians and cyclists; a sobering number considering the share of commuting that this bill purports them to have.

Lastly, for many, we will not go away if you tear out these bike lanes. For many of us we have no alternative. You are putting bikes back in car lanes. You are putting bikers into early graves. You are putting pollution in the air. You are putting businesses into bankruptcy. Speaking frankly, I fail to see even a single solitary redeeming quality in the entirety of this bill.