I am a 40 year resident of…

I am a 40 year resident of Scarborough Ontario who regularly cycles to my job downtown in the City of Toronto. My wife over the past 4 years has had jobs in the downtown area and in the middle of Scarborough, and she cycles every day to work.

The bike lanes save my family between $5,000 and $8,000 every single year because we no longer own a truck. I owned a 2003 Honda Pilot, a large 8 seat SUV, but only drove to work when I broke my leg in the middle of winter. The added stress on the vehicle caused by driving every day downtown and back to Scarborough led to one of the highest maintenance bills over the last ten years, and I believe significantly contributed to the vehicles decline. I broke my leg in 2018, before the pandemic and before bike lanes on Bloor Street East or Danforth Avenue.

At the start of the pandemic, before the bike lanes on Danforth Avenue were installed, I was forced to cycle with my wife each morning to the downtown where she worked and then race back to our home to start my day. Even with the reduced volume of cars, cycling in the morning without protected cycling infrastructure was dangerous. I continued to cycle with her after the protected bike lanes were installed to Dawes Road, both for the increased safety in numbers and because we enjoyed the morning commute. She, a small Asian woman, continued to cycle all winter long. I previously would never cycle to my office from Scarborough during the winter because it was too dangerous to do without the protected bike lanes. In order to ride safely with the rest of the traffic on an unprotected street, I need to maintain a high rate of speed. If I cannot maintain the high rate of speed, then I risk being hit from behind or sideswiped by a distracted driver. In the winter, maintaining a high rate of speed is dangerous because if I hit a patch of snow, ice, salt; or if a car turns in front of me, I will likely not be able to maintain my balance. Protected bike lanes which are cleared of snow & ice all winter long have allowed us to cycle to and from our work safely. Protected bike lanes save my family between $5,000 and $8,000 every single year.

This past summer I had an early morning medical appointment in the downtown hospital district. On my bike I noticed something about the riders along my commute: There were A LOT of women, and A LOT of new cyclists. These people were along Danforth Avenue, Dundas, Shuter Street in sufficient numbers that I would argue the bike lanes were congested for a speedy cyclist like myself. Protected cycling infrastructure allows all manner of people, rich and poor, to get into biking as a mode of transportation. Ripping out these lanes will either force these people onto dangerous streets or back into their car ... causing more congestion through traffic fatalities or additional cars on the road. Emergency trips by an ambulance to one of the hospitals in the downtown are easier now with the bike lane on University avenue because those lanes are wide enough for an emergency vehicle to drive up or down. Same for police cars. Maybe same for fire trucks.

My wife now works in the west end of Toronto. The route by car avoids all bike lanes across the Scarborough to the 401, across to the west end of Toronto, and south to her work. The estimated google trip in each morning is 55 minutes, without an accident on the 401. It takes her 63 minutes to cycle the 18 kilometers through the traffic and construction. Biking is about the same speed as taking the highway where there are no bike lanes. We are both in favour of keeping the existing bike lanes.

The bike lanes in Toronto did not cause the congestion. 20+ years ago when I was a student at the University of Toronto Scarborough College, I saw Ellesmere packed each morning bumper to bumper. After graduating I took a language course downtown at UofT, offering to drive to the hospital district to pick up my classmate once because the congestion was insane and frustrating. This was 20 years ago when there were fewer people in the downtown, fewer condos, and fewer cars. It is not possible to out-supply demand for the road, more so when that road is free to use. I strongly advise the panel to use their powers to install more cycling infrastructure in the City of Toronto, all other large important cities and encourage smaller cities to build out protected bike lanes.

To summarize: I live in Scarborough, commuting ~12 KM to an office every days. I save $5,000-$8,000 each year, more than 10% of after tax income, because I don't have a car. My car died during the pandemic and even though I make decent money I cannot afford a new car. The protected bike infrastructure should be expanded. Congestion has been an issue for a long time & ripping out the bike infrastructure will not solve congestion.