YONGE STREET BIKE LANES The…

YONGE STREET BIKE LANES

The gridlock caused by the removal of 2 lanes of traffic from the narrowest part of Yonge Street for bike lanes (that are even a hazard as they to are too narrow) has made life living and working in the neighbourhood unbearable. The bike lanes are rarely used especially in poor weather. The biggest user of these lanes are E-bikes and food delivery

There are over 30 developments proposed or approved from Yonge to Heath street bringing with it large trucks. There is a 2 year watermain project expected to start shortly at Rowanwood. There again there will be large construction trucks.

Between Bloor and Heath streets there are 18 dead end streets whose entrance and exits are only to and from Yonge Street.

Business are suffering and the Rosedale BIA told the City this in writing and they lied to Council. I was in the room.

The usage of the was fudged by averaging out winter usage and poor weather usage.

Met and wrote with the City several times and all comments were met with deaf ears. Any changes made by the city of Toronto only pushed traffic on to a few side streets (Roxborough, Farnham and Balmoral as well as through Rosedale. This has brought large trucks and service trucks and commuters into the community neighbourhoods.

People living in this area have difficulty getting service companies to their homes due to the gridlock.

Seniors and disabled have difficulty getting across the street.

I have 2 every good studies done I would like to share with the minister

Also there are a few hundred letters of objection to these lanes that were ignored.

MOST importantly EMS union complained about the gridlock.

Emergency vehicles are often stuck in traffic and 18 streets are only accessible by Yonge. The stats provided by EMS and FIRE are an average no one has provided stats for the strip of Yonge Street with bike lanes during 6am - 8pm. They won’t provide that after being asked via the City.

Mike Merriman, the Unit Chair, Paramedic Services, CUPE Local 416 after viewing a viral video posted on X, formerly Twitter, by user @markrmcqueen, on Dec. 18 showing an ambulance delayed at the Toronto intersection of Yonge St. and Macpherson Ave., south of Summerhill TTC Station, due to cars and one big truck unable to get out of the way because of the bike lanes.

McQueen wrote: “Thanks to the Yonge St. bike lanes, this ambulance wasted 30 valuable seconds at a single intersection. There was no where for the cars to pull off to. There are dozens of intersections coming up. If it’s your family member waiting for a defibrillator, I can’t imagine.”

GET rid of the bike lanes. ASAP

You are doing the right thing