I feel this proposal is…

I feel this proposal is incredibly short-sighted, particularly for large urban centres. I live in Toronto, I own a car but I also bike and use the roads as a pedestrian. I live near High Park where density has only increased and the ability to drive, conveniently is not going to be improved by reducing options for bike lane. Making safer alternatives to driving is key. This is similar to the congestion tax in London, England, where for a short time traffic improved but as folks accepted this surcharge it went back to being as full of gridlock as ever. Large cities need to think about driving differently.

I am a woman, a mother who works full-time and pays taxes. I do not take my safety on the roads lightly - i started cycle commuting several years ago and always look for safe options but many are restricted by areas that have rail corridors, or river crossing where there are few crossing options without venturing into higher car traffic areas that feel unsafe. I was using the Bloor bike lane near Lansdowne earlier this year and noticed that there were 4 bikes at the red light and there were 4 cars. And the cars, all with single drivers took up more than 4 times the space of all 4 of us bikes.

I have been quite pleased with my city's investment in cycle infrastructure and making it safer and more convenient, particularly connecting sections of road that are more dangerous to cyclists to make it a more viable option to cycle (around rail crossings, bridges, etc). I have noticed that more women are cycling, in my office i am heartened by my peers who are mothers and are very safety conscious, who have felt safe enough start to cycle to work. Large cities are never going to be traffic free and this proposal just makes it more difficult to begin to have alternatives or even experiment with how to offer alternatives and even just plant the seed that maybe there might be an alternative.

I grew up in Southwestern Ontario where we drove even the shortest distances but it would be amazing not only for the environment but also for our collective health if it were easy and safe to cycle for short trips.