The City’s vision statement…

The City’s vision statement establishes that St. Catharines will be a safe, innovative, sustainable, and caring city today and for future generations. Following review of Bill 212, the intention of reducing gridlock to transport people and goods in a more efficient manner is clear, however the approach proposed by the Bill does not align with the City’s vision of a safe and sustainable community. For the City to be able to grow its population, and to meet its sustainability goals, the City must become a model of doing more with less with regards to transportation – which means using more efficient forms of mobility like walking, cycling and wheeling to expand access across the community. To this end, the City has suggested solutions outlined below to help the Province adopt a low-maintenance plan addressing these goals:
1. Focus on Provincial guidelines to support local level decisions.
The Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) has produced a series of traffic engineering and traffic control reference manuals for use by municipalities in Ontario. The series includes Ontario Traffic Manual (OTM) Book 18 – Cycling Facilities, which provides practical guidance on the planning, design and operation of cycling facilities in Ontario. It would be helpful if the Province could maintain these existing manuals as a tool to provide guidance to local municipalities on how the Province wants to see bicycle lanes designed and implemented across Ontario. Implementing guidelines while maintaining local municipalities as the authority to create appropriate transportation strategies for their communities will reduce red tape and ensure these decisions can be made in a more efficient, timely manner, and that extensive work already completed or underway does not get undermined. Through maintaining these manuals and guidelines, the Province can look to policies contained in the PPS (2024), #CycleON: Ontario’s Cycling Strategy Action Plan 2.0, and local municipal Official Plans.
These policy frameworks emphasize a need for building cities that are transit supportive and facilitate the creation of complete communities. The PPS (2024) provides a definition for transit-supportive development. This requires development that makes transit viable, optimizes investments in transit infrastructure (including bicycle lanes), and improves the quality of the experience of using transit (i.e. a lane dedicated to cycling). It often refers to compact, mixed-use development that has a high level of
employment and residential densities, in proximity to transit stations, corridors and associated elements within the transportation system (including bicycle lanes).
2. Combine bicycle lanes with carpool vehicles such as taxis and buses.
Should the Province decide to proceed with a framework requiring re-instatement of a vehicular lane removed to facilitate a bicycle lane, the City encourages consideration that the reinstated vehicular lane be dedicated for use by transit and cyclists only. This method will keep cyclists out of roadways used by individual drivers and goods transporters while maintaining a lane for vehicles that encourages group transportation and reduces the number of cars on the road. In addition, keeping cyclists in their own lane has the benefit of minimizing roadway conflicts between vehicles and cyclists. This will help drivers anticipate the location of cyclists, making it easier to spot and avoid them, which reduces the disruptions often seen when cyclists, buses, taxis, and other vehicles share the same road.
Conclusion
The Province’s leadership in ensuring guidelines for multi-functional, active transportation lanes are kept up to date, would be instrumental in supporting municipalities as they develop communities that are transit-supportive. Such measures align with broader goals of reducing congestion, promoting safety, and fostering sustainable urban growth.
These comments are intended to highlight the importance of maintaining and enhancing bike lanes as essential components of modern transportation systems. A commitment to well-planned, strategically located bike lanes will yield long-term benefits for traffic management, public safety, and community connectivity. Further, the City, not unlike many other municipalities, undertakes significant work to develop policies and strategies at the local level that respond to the needs of the community. Decisions regarding the City’s transportation network, including active transportation, should remain a municipal responsibility, guided by best practices, manuals, and data shared by the Province and subject matter experts.