I approve of Bill 212 and…

I approve of Bill 212 and was pleasantly surprised that Premier Ford was proposing a solution to an ongoing problem that has personally affected me as a Torontonian.

I have experienced firsthand the impact of the new bike lanes on Bloor St W in the High Park area. These have added delays and extreme stress to my work commute, including much frustration as I look upon empty and underutilized bike lanes that were once motor vehicle lanes while I inch my way to work in standstill traffic. Travelling from Bloor to Symington post-Covid has been a daily struggle; what should be a couple minute drive has turned into a 10 minute crawl (and this is after an already arduous journey on the Gardiner). Additionally, I worry about the negative effects on the environment due to the additional congestion/vehicle idling.

To hear there are intentions to forge ahead with bike lanes on Parkside Drive is appalling - the morning and evening commutes along this major route to and from Lakeshore are already congested; the justifications I've heard for this vaguely refer to increasing the safety of pedestrians, but lacks transparent, concrete data to support this. The current mayor of Toronto has made me feel vilified as a motor vehicle driver by pushing this agenda, but I am a safe driver whose only desire is to commute to work without battling additional, unnecessary congestion. Arbitrarily removing driving lanes in favour of cycling lanes is a rash and oversimplified solution to a complex problem.

This is a prime example of why the Ontario government needs to assume decision-making powers on the installation of bike lanes. The new bill, as I understand it, will require data collection and analysis to approve and plan the installation and removal of bike lanes. This is the correct approach so that: careful examination, impact analysis, and proper planning are performed; and any bias is eliminated so all taxpaying citizens of Ontario are considered, not simply the subset that will help a mayor get re-elected.

I am not anti-cycling or anti-bike lanes by any means, I just wish to see the installation of bike lanes done strategically going forward and that's what I am optimistic this bill will achieve.