I oppose the premise and…

I oppose the premise and intention of Bill 212 - Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 - Framework for bike lanes that require removal of a traffic lane for the following reasons:

1. Removing existing bike lanes puts human life at risk. Over the past decade in Toronto, there have been 28 cycling deaths and 380 seriously injured cyclists. Nearly 70% of these cycling incidents occurred on roads without safe cycling infrastructure as reported by The Guardian news site.

2. Removing bike lanes discourages cycling that displaces car/transit traffic for short commutes. More vehicle traffic will increase air pollution that is harmful to health (e.g., harmful smog/particulates from vehicle exhaust) and harmful to our climate (GHGs from internal combustion engines).

3. Removing existing bike lanes will create short-term disruptive construction noise, dust, and air pollution as diesel-fueled construction vehicles are needed to remove existing bike lane infrastructure. The removal of infrastructure will also increase landfill waste streams.

4. Removing duly approved bike lanes in Toronto is undemocratic and inappropriately creating costs for Toronto citizens. The current City Council has voted 21-4 to oppose this bill and 22-3 to oppose paying the costs of removal which are reported to be $48 million.

5. Bike lanes have been built on Bloor Street after almost two decades of study. City of Toronto decisions to install bike lanes are based on extensive data-based research to determine where they would achieve the following goals: supporting safe cycling, supporting the local economy, and minimizing additional traffic congestion. As published in recent newspapers, bike lanes are good for business, according to Bloor-Annex BIA chair Brian Burchell.

6. The Ontario Government’s rationale for this bill is lacking. The government has said that only 1.2% of Toronto’s residents are cyclists. However, this statistic is based on Statistics Canada’s data for the Toronto CMA area, an much larger area than the downtown Toronto area bike lanes in question (e.g., Bloor St. / University Ave. bike lanes specifically mentioned by the government as in-scope of the proposal to remove bike lanes). Data for more geographically relevant areas show that 8.3% of residents in the University-Rosedale riding are actually cyclists. A 2019 Nanos survey showed that close to 70% of Toronto’s residents either bike commute in good weather (44%) or bike for recreation/fitness (26%) – as reported by CBC News.

7. The Government of Ontario claims that commuting times will be reduced, but they have not provided any data-based evidence for these claims. At best, these claims are anecdotal in nature. Considering that these bike lanes were approved by local municipal governments, it would be fundamentally undemocratic for Ontario’s government to overturn local democratic decisions based only on ideological beliefs.