Dear Sir, Madam, I am…

Dear Sir, Madam,

I am against this bill in its current form.

I don’t understand what the province trying to achieve through this act. If it is to truly save the people some commuting time by fighting transportation delays, this bill doesn’t address the real issues.
As your ministry has found through its own reports, bike lanes reduce transit time for all users, including those driving cars. The Ontario government is also looking into the environmental implications (as stated in the Bill 60) of this submission. If the idea is to lower the environmental impact, wouldn’t on the contraire encouraging cycling help attain that goal? By encouraging municipalities to review as needed their infrastructure (such as incorporating bike or bus lanes where most optimal) they would encourage people to use safe bike lanes or transit instead of a car, and thus reduce emissions. Cars aren’t a luxury everyone can afford. Yet most of us pay for it through our taxes. Let’s share the road also with users who have a lesser budget.

Through bill 60, the province is looking to strip the decision power from municipalities, those who are the closest to knowing what their constituents need. Why would the province want such control? What about communication?

I take the Bloor-Danforth bike lane regularly, and the fact that there isn’t enough space to have a protected bike lane everywhere makes it really dangerous. In one bike trip alone last week, I missed being hit by car doors and turning traffic three times. I used to commute from Markham and Eglinton down to College and Jarvis every day on my bicycle when I went to school. Most of my commute wasn’t in protected bike lanes (15 years ago). Today there is a project to include a bike lane on Kingston road from Birchmount and eastwards, that would reduce the width of car lanes in order to include a bike lane. Does that mean such projects would be put in jeopardy by the province? Against the logical conclusion that bike lanes fluidify traffic and prevent loss of life?

Why is the government wanting to strip Ontario of the small bit of progress it has made in terms of alternative types of commutes? I have lived in many cities (Berlin, Grenoble, Paris) where bikes are a lot more prominent and infrastructure much safer, and surprisingly not, people use them. It really seems like this is boiling down to some sort of personal political agenda. Let the people decide for themselves.