November 20, 2024…

November 20, 2024

Environmental Registry of Ontario submission, re: Bill 212 - Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024

According to INRIX’s 2023 traffic data (1), Toronto ranks 7th in traffic delay time in North America. While we shouldn’t be content with that number, for the city that ranks 4th in population in North America, it also doesn’t point to an unprecedented crisis that merits the outlandish solutions being proposed in Schedule 4 of Bill 212 - Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024.

On September 19, 2024, CBC reported (2) that this government was “considering bringing forward legislation that could prohibit the installation of bike lanes when lanes for motor vehicles are removed”. The next day, Cycle Toronto launched our “I Love Bike Lanes” petition (3):

"Help us tell the province that we love our communities’ bike lanes, and we don't want the province saying where they can or can't be built because:
● Bike lanes are good for business
● They’re good for the environment
● They’re good for public and personal health
● They give us freedom and mobility
● Bike lanes save lives"

To date, 23,083 people have added their voice asking the province to stay in their lane.

Schedule 4 of Bill 212 isn’t about bike lanes. It’s not about tackling congestion, working with municipalities for data-driven solutions, or giving people more safe transportation options. It’s unprecedented jurisdictional overreach undermining local democracy that will cost taxpayers millions of dollars and put lives at risk.

Before you vote, did you know…

● Association of Municipalities of Ontario (4), Ontario Professional Planners Institute (5), Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (6), and Ontario Traffic Council (7) have all come out against Bill 212?
● 120 physicians and researchers wrote a joint letter (8) opposing Bill 212?
● It is false that only 1.2% of people bike to work in Toronto (9), and according to the province’s still confidential data nearly 10% of all trips in the city that end in downtown Toronto are taken by bike or other micromobility vehicle (10)?

The government has yet to produce any data to justify Bill 212. Why is this government so distracted by 11 km of bike lanes in Toronto? Why should voters outside of Toronto care?

Repeatedly Premier Ford and Minister Sarkaria have insisted they’re not against bike lanes, just want bike lanes where they make sense. I don’t doubt their sincerity. But municipalities like the City of Toronto are not casual about how and where it plans its cycling network, and each step is approved by democratically elected city council members. In the case of the bike lanes Bloor St., University Ave., and Yonge St., no alternate routes exist that wouldn’t also involve the removal of traffic lanes (11). People riding bikes want to get to the same places as people driving or taking transit. Not every trip is bikeable and not every person will choose to ride a bike, but people need more safe and convenient transportation options. Ripping out these bike lanes will leave people without safe options.

The words “safety” and “health” do not appear anywhere in the bike lane sections of Bill 212, and the only consideration to approve or remove bike lanes would be “the orderly movement of motor vehicle traffic”. And adding more red tape to the Ministry of Transportation to do detailed corridor studies each time any one of Ontario’s 444 municipalities proposes a new bike route is neither an efficient nor effective use of provincial resources. And it's an insult to families who have lost a loved one riding their bikes by removing tools from local municipalities. At the end of the day, we all just want to get home safely.

We urge you to keep working with municipalities and your local communities, and not to pass Bill 212.

Best regards,

Michael Longfield
Executive Director, Cycle Toronto

References
1 https://inrix.com/scorecard/

2 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-government-bike-lanes-1…

3 https://www.cycleto.ca/ilovebikelanes

4 https://www.amo.on.ca/policy/finance-infrastructure-and-economy/provinc…

5 https://ontarioplanners.ca/OPPIAssets/Documents/Policy-Papers/OPPI-Stat…

6 https://ospe.on.ca/advocacy/response-to-bill-212-why-we-need-to-rethink…

7 https://assets.nationbuilder.com/cycletoronto/pages/4543/attachments/or…

8 https://healthydebate.ca/2024/10/topic/legislation-road-design-safety-t…

9 https://www.thetrillium.ca/news/municipalities-transit-and-infrastructu…

10 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/province-led-survey-suggests-higher-cy…

11 https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2024/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-250545…