As a downtown Toronto…

As a downtown Toronto resident whose primary modes of transportation are cycling, transit, and walking, I'll keep my comments specific to that context. It's plain that vehicles are bigger than they used to be, largely contain a single occupant, and that there are many more of them on the road than what our streets were designed for. There isn't a real option to expand vehicle capacity on our city streets. Bike lanes are hardly the problem here, millions of dollars spent on reclaiming a four foot path on a handful of arterial roads will not ease congestion.

We need to look at transportation efficiency. We should encourage people to take transit by investing in transit expansion, efficiency, and frequency. We should encourage people to cycle by expanding cycling infrastructure safely and in harmony with other road users (look at Paris, London, NYC for e.g.). Remember that highway expansion outside of the city with no consideration for other modes of transport within it will only worsen gridlock.

Scapegoating one mode of transportation to obscure a failure of imagination regarding a holistic transportation system might provide some short term political benefit, but will not have any real positive effect for people on the road. The city itself has a lot to work on in this regard (e.g. remove street parking on arterial roads, especially those with streetcar routes) but the province should be a partner, not an adversary. Save taxpayers money and boost infrastructure management efficiency by allowing cities to make these decisions for themselves. The province does not need to micromanage this.

There will always be cars on the road, but not everyone should feel the need to drive a car. Give people options. Fewer cars on the road will be a net benefit for commuters, commercial vehicles, tourists, etc. Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians need to find a way to work together to ensure safe and reliable transportation for everyone.