As a suburban resident of…

As a suburban resident of Ottawa, and as someone who's lived both urban and rurally in Ottawa, and other cities in Canada and internationally; I have an in-depth understanding of what it means to navigate throughout the city (and the frustrations of lengthy and/or inefficient commutes). I have used and had to rely on many forms of transportation to make my way around the city; including, by car, car-share, bus, LRT, bike, and on foot – or some sort of combination of them.

I think often about making transportation better, not only for myself, but for everyone in the city. This requires that we prioritize safety, accessibility, efficiency/timeliness of travel, and the environment. There is also a need to recognize the limitations – primarily being that an infinite number of roads and/or addition of lanes on any highway, simply does not exist.

I have read about this subject quite a lot, and have talked about it with friends/family/community/etc. The thing that comes up the most is an emphasis on multi-modal transportation, and maximizing the use of each of these modes. This means investing in walking and biking infrastructure (i.e. bike lanes, shared use paths, bike parking, etc), that allows people traveling in this way to get where they need to go safely and efficiently. It also means leveraging/investing in public transit, like buses/subways/light rail/para-transpo/etc., to move large numbers of people across the city. Driving by car should become something used for absolutely necessary trips only (i.e. deliveries to businesses), or used in the absence of other options (i.e. rural-to-rural).

It really saddens me to see the province talk about the removal and disinvestment of bike lanes and other forms of active transportation. Not only will this not address concerns of timeliness and safety of commutes, but it will worsen them. Because, there will be the people who will still bike with or without any sort of bike lanes, either because they can't afford alternatives or they simply enjoy to bike – either way, they will experience higher risk to their safety as a result of a change of this nature. And the people who currently bike, but decide to change their mode of transportation (likely to driving), means there's increased volume and pressure on an already inefficient system. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not reduce bike lanes, or destroy existing ones – it will be costly to the province, cost people their safety, and provide no relief to car drivers.

I would also really like to see greater investment and respect be paid to the importance of public transportation. I think it is easy (or convenient) to view it as simply an "option" for people to commute to work this way – but public transit is so much more than this. It is an essential mode of transportation, that provides anyone access to the city for various kinds of trips. For example, anyone who's unable to drive themselves (i.e. youth, elderly, disabled, etc) can independently get around this way. Or for folks who are technically able to drive, but do not have access to a car (i.e. for financial reasons, or maybe they don't have access to parking etc.), they rely on public transit for all trips. And anyone who's had to take public transit in Ontario is familiar with the frustrations and the struggle of it lacking prioritization and funding from the province. Please invest in public transportation. Please view it as a serious and viable solution for cities across the province. Please do not limit the access of citizens to their city!

I am very confused and exhausted that solutions for road congestion and traffic (etc.) is always more roads/road-widening. I have found that it never goes further than this. Why not have more paid parking (see book "High Cost of Free Parking") to disincentivize driving, or get people to consider carpooling? Why not build nicer and more convenient carpooling/park and ride infrastructure to increase the efficiency of one car driving on the road (have multiple people in the car vs just one). Why not encourage people and businesses to allow people to work from home, and decrease reliance on long commutes into the city for work – while increasing their investment and participation in their community. If you're going to make us prove to the province why active transportation or public transit are worthy and worthwhile modes again and again, why is it that driving is just accepted as is?

I need a result from this that is not an approach of just "build more roads". Where, once implemented, the province can show that they've tried, but in reality, we just keep doing the same thing repeatedly...hoping for a different result. Where is the gusto for experimentation? I often wonder, what is the end goal of more and more and more roads – where does it end, and where are people left? Are we just going to start building multi-level roads – is Google maps going to say "the fastest route is the 5th floor of the 401"? This is a bit extreme, but maybe it's not.

(tone: sincere)
Lastly, a note for the dearest Ontario public servant(s) reviewing these consultation comments: thank you for your work and dedication to this review. I hope the voices of Ontarians will be heard, and I appreciate the opportunity to provide input.