I live in Toronto on one of…

I live in Toronto on one of the streets off Yonge between Bloor and St. Clair. There has been significant negative reaction to the bike lanes by my neighbours. However, I am in favour of KEEPING these bike lanes and in fact, adding more to the city. My comments are as follows:

- We know from international cities who are a decade ahead of Canadian municipalities on bike lanes that it takes time for usership to increase. Therefore basing decisions on short term, point in time data from when the bike lanes are relatively new does not make sense. It has to be based on projections (including the significant multifamily/ condo development happening along many of these corridors)... it should be noted that many of those developments are NOT putting in a lot of parking spots and as such, residents will be looking for alternative modes of transport.
- It must be noted that if bike lanes are removed, ebikes and bikes do NOT go away, they simply get mixed with the traffic in the right hand lane. With the increase of ebikes in the city, this causes safety issues particularly in parts of the city that are residential such as my neighbourhood. The safety associated with the area of concern should also be taken into account along with cars. Bike lanes offer a traffic calming effect. There are many young children in my neighbourhood and increasing traffic just leads to safety issues and health issues.
- Prioritizing a car culture literally makes zero sense in a growing municipality and there is significant data globally to support this. If you build more roads, you will have more cars and in only a few years be back to the gridlock situation. This isn't about climate, its about the economy and keeping people moving.
- Beware of NIMBY interests.
- Find other ways to keep traffic moving. There are many examples globally of how to use traffic lights more effectively, separate types of users of roads (pedestrians, cars, ebikes, bikes etc.) that help traffic move. More lanes for just cars isn't always better.
- Let's create a world class city and actually learn from best practices globally. It is VERY difficult to find cities that have found doubling down on roads and highways to be the best way to grow a city and get people moving irrespective of environmental interests.